Inbound Call Centres have specific issues when it comes to optimising Call Centre performance, much different from Outbound Call Centres.

Inbound Call Centre Software, therefore, needs to consider the key challenges of Business Process Management and a Unified Front End to integrate all Software on one single agent screen. In order to optimise Customer Interaction Management processes, the latter need to be streamlined. The key here is to have one single tool that allows you to build and improve Customer Interaction Processes in a drag & drop editor, similarly as with the well known Business Process Mapping tools. But we need to go one step further: along the processes we need to build the according agent screens. These screens contain all the information that a Call Centre agent needs to see at that particular step in the conversation with the customer. Depending on the customer's decision how to move forward, alternate next steps can be taken. These steps should be mapped in a process chart for your customer operations.

Here is an example: a customer receives a flyer, and he calls the insurance provider, wanting to learn more about the proposal. When the call comes in, the first step may be to explain the proposal. Once this is understood, the question is whether the customer
1) wants to learn more about this enquiring some literature about it or
2) wants to invite a sales representative to visit him at home to explain the options or
3) wants to book the service immediately.
Depending on the route the customer wants to go down to, we can do something called "intelligent branching": for option 1) the next step would be to get the customer's (email) address and send out the information. For 2) if would be to book an appointment and set the latter on the follow up list for the sales rep. For 3) it would be a sales and billing procedure.

Intelligent inbound Call Centre Software can suggest these 3 alternative options to the Call Centre agent, making his conversation with the customer much smoother and more productive. The agent can focus on the customer rather than on "getting the process right". Inbound Call Centre Software should have a process engine to allow such intelligent branching. Call Centre planners and team leaders can map the processes, test them, and improve them step by step. Both processes and the according unified frond ends that agents can see at each particular process step can be changed at once. This makes planning and improving inbound call centre work much easier and more efficient.