Top 10 Inbound Call Center Software

A single call can shape a customer’s entire perception of your business. Most call centers strive to meet the 80/20 rule, i.e, answering 80% of incoming calls within 20 seconds to meet the popular industry standards for the best customer service. With the right call center software, managing inbound calls becomes easier.
An inbound call center helps you eliminate long wait times, reduces unnecessary call transfers, and ensures that your call center delivers exceptional customer service.
Key Highlights:
- Inbound call center software efficiently manages and routes incoming calls for customer service teams in a call center.
- Top inbound call center software like Calilio, Nextiva, RingCentral, Talkdesk, Aircall, and Dialpad offer advanced call handling, real-time analytics, and scalable solutions for businesses of all sizes.
- IVR, skill-based routing, live call monitoring, call reporting, and omnichannel support are some of the essential features for inbound call center solutions.
- To choose the best inbound call center solution, decide the business needs, look for the must-have features, and evaluate ease of use through free trials or demos.
Benefits of Inbound Call Center Software
Inbound call center software offers several benefits for businesses, including enhanced customer experience, increased sales opportunities, improved agent productivity, and better data insights. It streamlines call handling, allows for efficient routing, and provides tools for monitoring and analyzing call center performance.
1. Improved Efficiency
An inbound call center software allows agents to handle more calls efficiently. Smart call routing tools can direct calls to the right department and agent, enhancing first call resolution and minimizing call transfer rates.
2. Improved Customer Experience
The right inbound call center system effectively manages incoming calls. It reduces customer waiting time and also directs calls to the right agents, and reduces unnecessary call transfers.
3. Enhanced Reporting and Analytics
Real-time and historical data of the call center can be used to assess performance, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and identify trends. It helps businesses to improve service and customer satisfaction continuously
4. Scalability
Inbound call center software can scale to meet the demands of growing businesses. The software can grow with you, whether you need to add more agents or expand into new channels.
5. Cost Saving
Modern inbound call center solutions are mostly based on VoIP technology. So, it reduces the need for costly hardware and reduces expensive IT maintenance costs.
Best Inbound Call Center Software
Several inbound call center software solutions stand out for their comprehensive features and ease of use. Top contenders include Calilio, Nextiva, RingCentral, Dialpad, and Five9. These platforms offer a range of functionalities, from basic call handling to advanced analytics and customer relationship management (CRM) integrations.
1. Calilio
Calilio provides inbound call center solutions for enhanced customer experience. Its IVR system helps you route the calls to the right department, and multiple ring strategy options ensure the calls are distributed to agents equally.
Calilio is one of the most affordable telephony solutions for inbound calls, with all the essential features required for small to large businesses. You can customize every feature, from call routing to voicemail setup, to fit your needs and enhance efficiency.
Calilio’s Features:
- Unified callbox
- AI-powered call report
- Call analytics
- IVR
- Call notes and tags
- Call routing
- Live call monitoring
- Call forwarding
- Virtual call queue
Pricing:
Packages | Annually | Monthly |
Basic | $12 per user/month | $15 per user/month |
Business | $28 per user/month | $ per user/month |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Get a Feature-rich Inbound Call Center at an Affordable Price!
2. Nextiva
Nextiva empowers customer service teams with efficient tools for managing interactions and ensuring seamless resolution of inquiries. Nextiva stands out as a top-notch inbound call center solution provider with its versatile call center solution tool.
Nextiva’s Features:
- IVR
- Voice recognition
- Workforce management and optimization
- Alerts and escalations
- Intelligent virtual agents
Pricing:
Plan | Price |
Essential | $18.95 per user/month |
Professional | $22.95 per user/month |
Enterprise | $32.95 per user/month |
3. RingCentral
RingCentral is a leading provider of call center solutions, offering advanced features designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of inbound call centers. It is designed to apply to every business, like healthcare, financial services, education, government, and the retail industry. RingCentral offers a top-notch call center solution and efficient workforce management tools to adjust their agents’ schedules to prevent understaffing. Skill-based routing ensures incoming calls are directed to the best-qualified agent available for speedier issue resolution.
RingCentral’s Features:
- IVR voice recognition
- Alerts/ escalation
- AI workforce management
- Business sms
- Queue management
Pricing:
Plan | Price |
Core | $20per user/month |
Advanced | $25per user/month |
Ultra | $35per user/month |
4. Dialpad
Dialpad provides an inbound call center solution known as Dialpad Support, allowing your agents to focus on inbound calls that genuinely require the assistance of a live agent. It offers multiple digital channels to provide a better omnichannel experience for customers.
Dialpad’s Features
- Web and chat support
- AI-powered call and voicemail transcription
- SMS and MMS
- Easy Integrations
- Unlimited call recording
- Real-time assistance
Pricing:
Plan | Annually | Price |
Standard | $15 per user/month | $27 per user/month |
Pro | $25 per user/month | $35 per user/month |
Enterprise | Custom | Customer |
5. Five9
Five9 is a cloud-based contact center designed to improve customer interactions. It includes features that assist both agents and customers, such as gamification, analytics, call recording, and performance management to facilitate employee oversight.
Five9’s visualization widgets let users customize their data views. Businesses can utilize automation to identify the best opportunities for smooth operations.
Five9 Features
- Gamification
- Automated workflow
- Call recording
- chatbots
Pricing
Optimum | $199 per user/month |
Ultimate | $229 per user/month |
6. Talkdesk
Talkdesk is an AI-powered call center platform with most of the essential features required to provide an exceptional inbound call center service. It is useful for businesses in several industries like financial services, healthcare, retail, staffing, and more.
With features like AI-powered workflows, CRM integrations, and self-service options, Talkdesk aims to improve the productivity of support agents to deliver a better customer experience. It also has the no-code or custom-code option for businesses to customize their self-service options.
Talkdesk’s Features:
- Automated workflows
- Self-service options
- Unified agent interface
- Auto dialer
- Session routing
Pricing
Plan | Price |
Essential | $75 per agent/month |
Elevate | $95 per agent/month |
Elite | $125 per agent user/month |
Experience Cloud | Contact support for pricing |
7. CloudTalk
CloudTalk helps your team answer customer calls smoothly from anywhere in the world. It reduces dropped calls and improves call quality. It also tracks and records calls automatically and lets you use local phone numbers in over 160 countries.
CloudTalk’s Features
- Seamless integration with your CRMs
- AI-powered analytics and automatic conversation insights
- Number porting
- IVR
- Call duration and tracking
Pricing
Packages | Annual Billing | Monthly Billing |
Starter | $25 per month/user | $34 per user/month |
Essential | $29 per month/user | $39 per user/month |
Expert | $49 per month/user | $69 per user/month |
Custom | Contact for customized offer | Contact for more details |
8. Zendesk
Zendesk’s inbound call center software helps businesses of all sizes deliver smooth, personalized customer interactions. It's easy to use and provides full customer insights through detailed profiles and data-driven tools.
Zendesk Features:
- Leading omnichannel workspace for agents
- Call Routing
- IVR
- Reporting and analytics
- Customized greetings
- Zendesk offers a free trial and a demo.
Pricing:
Plan | Pricing |
Suite Team | $55 per agent/month |
Suite Growth | $89 per agent/month |
Suite professional | $115 per agent/month |
Suite Enterprise | $169 per agent/month |
9. Aircall.io
Aircall’s call center solution offers the best features required to handle inbound calls smoothly in a call center. It includes CRM integrations, analytics, and an automated workflow to keep the operations in the call center well organized.
Aircall lets users create a custom blocklist so agents won't have to deal with spam calls and bots. It also offers call conferencing, queueing, and monitoring features.
Aircall’s Features
- IVR
- Call tagging
- Call analytics
- Integrations available
- Intelligent call routing
Pricing
Plan | Pricing (Annual Billing) |
Essentials | $30 per month per license |
Professional | $50 per license/month |
Custom | Contact support for details |
10. LiveAgent
CloudTalk helps your team answer customer calls smoothly from anywhere in the world. It reduces dropped calls and improves call quality. It also tracks and records calls automatically and lets you use local phone numbers in over 160 countries.
LiveAgent Features
- Omni-channel support
- Call Button
- Call notes and tags
- Internal calls
- Built-in ticketing system with a unified inbox
Pricing
Packages | Annual Billing |
Small business plan | $15 per agent/month |
Medium business plan | $29 per agent/month |
Large business plan | $49 per agent/month |
Enterprise plan | $69 per agent/month |
Key Features of an Inbound Call Center Software
The best inbound call center solution should include IVR, ACD, and skill-based routing to direct calls to the right agents. Also, check whether a solution has other call monitoring features like call recording, real-time reporting, and analytics.
1. Interactive Voice Response
An interactive voice response (IVR) system uses pre-recorded voice messages to manage and route incoming calls in a call center. You can customize greetings, prompts, and menus to route callers to the right agent quickly. It reduces the need for unnecessary transfers that otherwise would result in customer frustration.
For example:
A caller can hear, “Press 1 for general inquiries, Press 2 for live agent support, Press 3 for billing queries, or Press 4 to connect to sales.”
2. Skill-based Routing
Skill-based routing directs inbound calls to the most qualified experts to ensure issues are resolved in the initial calls. Connecting with the right agent from the start significantly improves the first call resolution rate. It results in faster problem-solving, fewer transfers, and ultimately, more satisfied customers.
3. Automatic Call Distribution
An automatic call distribution routes incoming calls to the most appropriate agent based on the settings. The routing of the calls can be based on agents’ skills, availability, location, priority, product knowledge, or language.
4. Call Recording
Supervisors or managers in a call center can monitor and improve customer service through these recorded calls. They can listen to them, identify mistakes, and train agents to improve their interactions. Call recordings are valuable for solving problems and clarifying misunderstandings.
5. Call Queue
A call queue places incoming calls in an organized virtual line when there is a high volume of calls. Customers are kept on hold, informed about their queue position and estimated wait time, instead of disconnecting them when agents are busy with other customers on call.
6. Omnichannel Support
The best call center software should provide support through different platforms, including phone, email, text, and social media platforms. Omnichannel support makes the call center an omnichannel contact center that allows customers to contact the call center through any channel and ensures that, regardless of the platform, they receive the same level of service.
7. Real-Time Reporting and Analytics
The best inbound call center solutions include automated call reporting tools for interaction analysis. An AI call reports offers automatic voice transcription, speech, and sentiment analysis, and call summaries. It highlights key points, helping managers monitor calls quickly.
8. Call Notes and Tags
Call notes and tags allow agents to record key customer information and important details from a call and also categorize calls using customizable labels to sort details for smooth follow-ups. It ensures agents can quickly view the customer issues and eliminates the need for the customers to repeat themselves. It improves efficiency and makes the follow-up process faster.
How to Select the Best Inbound Call Center Software?
To select the best inbound call center software, evaluate features like call routing, CRM integration, analytics, and scalability based on your business size and needs. Also, compare user reviews, pricing, and customer support quality to ensure it aligns with your operational goals.
1. Define Your Business Needs
Set clear expectations and requirements for the inbound call center software. Depending on your business size, overall call volume, use case, and channel used, find the best solutions for your company. List specific features you need, like automatic call distribution, detailed automated reporting, or IVR to route calls easily.
2. Look for Must-Have Features
Ensure the software includes all essential features for an inbound call center. IVR, ACD, skill-based routing, call forwarding, call queue, call analytics, and reporting are some of the key features required to handle incoming calls.
3. User-Friendly Software
Select the solution with a user-friendly interface so your team can operate it with minimal training. A complicated UI slows down operations, decreases agents' efficiency, and affects the customer service quality.
4. Free Trial or Demo Sessions
Most of the providers offer free trials or demo sessions to help users explore their platform before buying the subscription. Test the system to evaluate its usability, navigational ease, UI, and whether the system will be good for your business or not.
5. Choose the Cost-effective Solution
Choose the best software that fits your budget and includes the most essential features. Small businesses often struggle with affordability and the need for efficient tools. By comparing pricing plans and features from different vendors, you can find a solution that meets your needs without exceeding your budget.
Conclusion
The right inbound call center software manages your incoming calls efficiently. With smart features like IVR, call routing, AI-powered reports, call whispering, and other analytics, your team can deliver better customer service and improve customer satisfaction. Despite the high volumes of calls in peak hours, it keeps the call center well-organized, routes customers to the right agents, and provides faster and more personalized support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which software is used for inbound call centers?
Inbound call centers typically use software like Calilio, RingCentral, Five9, Zendesk Talk, or Freshdesk Contact Center to manage incoming calls, route them efficiently, and integrate with CRMs. These platforms offer features such as IVR, call routing, real-time analytics, and cloud-based scalability.
How can I improve my inbound call center?
To improve your inbound call center, train your agents regularly, optimize call routing with IVR and ACD systems, and use call analytics to identify performance gaps. Additionally, integrate your call center software with a CRM to provide agents with real-time customer information for faster, personalized support.
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