Call centre software solutions are designed to help businesses deliver excellent customer service experiences, streamline operations, and improve efficiency. For small businesses, it’s also an excellent way to differentiate from the competition.
With features like skill-based routing, interactive voice response (IVR), call queue management, and CRM integration – small businesses can handle any call volume effectively even with limited resources, deliver personalised service experience, and ensure high first-call resolution rates and customer satisfaction scores. That gives small businesses a competitive advantage.
Below is a quick overview of some of the best virtual call centre software solutions for small businesses in the UK, along with the key features they offer.
What is virtual call centre software and how can small businesses benefit from it?
Virtual call centre software, also known as cloud-based call centre software, enables your agents to work remotely from literally anywhere, as long as there’s a reliable internet connection, without being tied to a single office location. This flexibility is especially valuable for small businesses as it allows them to reduce operational costs associated with a physical office.
With virtual call centre software for small business, you can also easily scale your operations up when your business grows. And, with features like call reporting, analytics, and real-time call monitoring, you can stay on top of your team’s performance and monitor the efficiency of your call centre operations, no matter where your reps are working.
Best virtual call centre software for small businesses in the UK
1. VoiceSpin
With over 15 years in the call centre industry, VoiceSpin is one of the most reliable virtual call centre software providers, offering solutions for both SMBs and enterprise organisations. It provides a full range of features to handle customer service interactions, including custom call routing, IVR, in-queue callbacks, missed call alerts, call reporting tools, and much more. It’s also known for its advanced auto dialler solution that operates in multiple dialling modes and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to intelligently connect leads to the best-suited sales reps, making it an excellent solution for sales teams.
VoiceSpin integrates with 50+ CRM systems and business tools and can be accessed through a mobile app. Besides that, it allows you to integrate multiple digital channels (like email, live chat, social media, and WhatsApp), which means you can handle customer interactions across different channels through a single platform. What’s also distinctive about VoiceSpin is that regardless of the plan you choose, you get 24/7 customer support.
Key features:
- Custom call routing
- Interactive Voice Response
- Call queueing and in-queue callbacks
- Call monitoring and recording
- Custom reporting and analytics
- AI auto dialler with intelligent lead distribution
- Speech analytics and AI call summary
- Omnichannel text messaging
- API developer support
2. CloudTalk
CloudTalk is a cloud call centre software provider that offers lots of inbound call management features, including skill-based routing, IVR, VIP call queues, call transfers, callbacks, real-time customer cards, live call monitoring, call reporting, and more. In addition, you can leverage a power dialler with automated voicemail drop to run outbound calling campaigns and integrate WhatsApp, allowing you to send and receive WhatsApp messages directly in CloudTalk's phone app.
CloudTalk offers flexible pricing models, a mobile app for iOS and Android, and a rich library of integrations with CRM systems, helpdesk tools, and other business apps. However, third-party integrations are not available with the lowest-tiered plan, so you must upgrade to use them. There’s also 24/7 live human support, but again, it’s not available for the lowest-tiered subscription.
Key features:
- Skill-based routing
- Interactive Voice Response
- Call queuing and VIP queues
- Call recording and live call monitoring
- Real-time analytics and custom reports
- Call summary
- Power dialler
- WhatsApp integration
- Access to API developer support
3. CallHippo
CallHippo offers a solid cloud-based business phone system with a bunch of features for small businesses, such as skill-based routing, multi-level IVR, custom greetings, call transfer, call recording, reporting and analytics, SMS text messaging, and more. With a power dialler, predictive dialler, and advanced outbound call management features, you can also run outbound calling campaigns. What’s more, CallHippo offers an omnichannel communication platform that allows you to integrate multiple digital channels like email, social media, and instant messaging apps.
CallHippo has mobile apps and supports integrations with lots of CRM systems, helpdesk software, ecommerce tools, and productivity apps (but these integrations are only available with the highest-tiered plan). You can also integrate WhatsApp at an additional cost.
Key features:
- Multi-level IVR and skill-based routing
- Smart call forwarding
- Conference calling
- Voicemail transcription
- SMS text messaging
- Call recording and monitoring
- Call summaries and transcription
- Call reporting and analytics
- Predictive/ power dialler
4. Dialpad
Dialpad is a popular virtual call centre software solution that offers a set of basic and advanced call management features, including custom call routing, auto attendant and IVR, hold queues, in-queue callbacks, call forwarding, call recording, call and voicemail transcriptions, real-time analytics, and more, making it a great fit for customer-facing teams. It is also known for its sales dialler, team collaboration tools, and AI-powered features.
Unlike some of the solutions listed here, Dialpad has rather limited integration options. Besides, integrations with basic third-party tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk aren’t available with the lowest-tiered plan. Dialpad offers mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Key features:
- Custom call routing
- Multi-level auto attendant
- Visual voicemail
- Call forwarding
- Call recording
- SMS, MMS, and team messaging
- Unlimited meetings
- Real-time analytics and reporting
- Power dialling
5. OpenPhone
OpenPhone is a virtual VoIP phone system built specifically for small businesses and start ups. It has all the basic features to handle customer communications, such as call forwarding, phone menus, custom ring orders, call hold, auto replies, call recording, voicemail transcripts, and more. What’s distinctive about OpenPhone is that despite being a basic business phone system, it offers a range of AI features like AI call summaries and AI message responses.
OpenPhone has mobile apps for iOS and Android. Compared to other virtual call centre solutions we’ve picked, it offers only a few integration options with CRM systems and third-party tools – and some of them (like integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce) aren’t available with the lowest-tiered plan.
Key features:
- Phone menus
- Group calling
- Call forwarding
- Call transfers
- Voicemail transcripts
- Auto call recording
- Analytics and reporting
- SMS text messaging
- AI call summaries and transcripts
6. AirCall
AirCall is another popular cloud-based business phone system for small businesses. Offering features like IVR, smart call routing, shared call inbox, call queueing and callbacks, conference calling, power dialling, and basic analytics, AirCall might be a good option for SMBs across different industries. But because AirCall requires a minimum of three users to sign up for the service, it’s unlikely to be a good value for money for a single-person team. With AirCall, you can also take advantage of AI-powered features like call summaries and advanced analytics, though these are only available as paid add-ons.
AirCall offers mobile apps and a rich library of integrations with CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, helpdesk solutions, sales automation tools, and productivity apps. However, Salesforce integration isn’t available with the lowest-tiered plan.
Key features:
- Smart call routing
- Flexible call distribution rules
- Interactive Voice Response
- Call queuing and queue callbacks
- Call recording and monitoring
- Call transcription and summaries
- Power dialler
- Standard and advanced analytics
- SMS and MMS business text messaging
7. Nextiva
Nextiva is a cloud-based call centre system that can be used to manage inbound and outbound communications with features like skill-based routing, IVR, call forwarding, voicemail transcription, reporting and analytics, auto dialling, and more. With Nextiva, you can also integrate email, live chat, social media, and messaging apps to handle omnichannel communications. Additionally, it offers a range of team communication and collaboration tools, including audio and video conferencing, video meetings, and one-on-one messaging for team members. But what really sets Nextiva apart from other solutions listed here is that in addition to call centre software, it also offers business phones, headsets, and other equipment.
The platform integrates with many leading CRM systems and other third-party tools, but these come as paid add-ons and aren’t available with the lowest-tiered plan. Nextiva is available in a downloadable desktop app and a mobile app compatible with Android and iOS. Beyond that, Nextiva provides 24/7 customer support across all plans.
Key features:
- Smart call routing and IVR
- Voicemail transcription
- Reports and real-time dashboards
- Video conferencing
- Team collaboration tools
- Transcription and summarisation
- Power dialler and predictive dialler
- Business SMS
- Omnichannel messaging
Wrapping up
With the right virtual call centre solution, small businesses can improve operations and deliver outstanding support experiences to their customers by handling inbound and outbound calls effectively. But with so many call centre software providers for small businesses, choosing one might be challenging.
The ultimate choice will always depend on the features you need (inbound vs. outbound or a mixture of both), integration options with third-party apps, the ability to add other communication channels, and other capabilities that might be critical for your small business, such as the tool’s scalability, customer support, and pricing that fits within your budget.
Copyright 2024. Guest post