Difference between a call centre and a contact centre

Contact centres and call centres are some of the terms that are commonly used in the Customer service industry. Most often people think they both are the same thing and some think the contact centre is a modern way of saying the call centre. Both of them have the same goal which is to customer service more effectively and efficiently. They both function in a similar way but a few differences set them apart.

What is a call centre?

A call centre is traditionally an office space where a lot of incoming and outgoing calls between agents and the customer happen through a telephone. The contact centre has been in use since the 1960s. Contact centre usually handles outbound and inbound calls for businesses and have dedicated agents for each type of call. The main channel for communication is through telephone and KPIs used in call centres are Average Speed of Answer (ASA) and Average Handle Time (AHT), optimizing the phone channel, and many others to make the customer experience as efficient as possible.

What is a contact centre?

What all is possible with call centres, contact centre takes it to a new level. Call centres offered telephone as a communication channel while contact centres have multiple channels for communication including telephones. Contact centres have live chat, social media, store, web, email, and many other channels for communication. Customers are given the flexibility to choose the channels that they are most comfortable with. If a call centre offers more than one channel other than the telephone, it can be considered as a contact centre. Since there is a lot of channel in the contact centre, there is a lot of data metrics generated each day in a contact centre. Here are some of the KPIs in a contact centre Average Time in Queue, Average Abandonment Rate,  First Call Resolution, Cost of Operations, and many others.

What is the difference between a call centre and a contact centre?

The main difference between a call centre and a contact centre is that call centres are based on a single channel while a contact centre provides multiple channels including channels from call centres. Both call centres and contact centres can now function in the cloud with the advancement of technology. Call centres use software for handling incoming and outgoing calls while contact centre software manages multiple channels of communication like email, chat, web, and many others in an integrated part of a platform. Call centres and contact centres have a few differences but they have the same goal, which is to do customer service. Most of the call centre function in an office environment and while contact centre is flexible offering remote/ work from home.

How to choose between a call centre and contact centre

If a company or an organization only wants the telephone as the communication channel, the call centre is the best option. Whereas if the company or an organization has multiple channels of communication and they want their customers to use whatever they are comfortable with then a contact centre can fulfil its needs. All contact centres can be considered as a call centre but not vice versa. A contact centre is the modern iteration of call centres with flexibility for customers and agents. A call centre is a more traditional option while a contact centre offers a more futuristic upgrade path.

What is a CX marketplace?

A CX marketplace is like a regular marketplace for the CX industry with contact centres, agents, and many other things related to the CX industry. Companies and organizations can find and hire agents or outsource their customer support. VOIZ is an all-in-one remote customer experience marketplace with a curated CX talent pool and cherry-picked contact centres to outsource your CX. With VOIZ, companies and customer experience teams shift their CX seamlessly from legacy systems to a self-serve people-plus platform.