Create a Call Center in 5 Minutes

The Soft Sell

The Implications of Softphone Technology for Your Company

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 Introduction

TABLE OF CONTENTS Establishing a call center for your growing company or

replacing an old call center system can be a daunting
task. As you contemplate selecting a call center solu-
Introduction
tion, one consideration looms large: Should I invest in
softphone or hardphone technology?
Chapter 1: Primer on Softphones
This choice is central to the efficiency, reliability and
Chapter 2: A History Lesson overall feel of your call center. Moreover, your call
center is likely to form the foundation of your customer
Chapter 3: Head-to-Head Comparison support strategy as a whole. Thus, the implication
of your decision to implement one technology over
Chapter 4: Talkdesk as an Example of Softphone Excellence another can have a ripple effect into all areas of your
company’s customer service.
Conclusion
In this Ebook, we investigate softphone technology to
help you evaluate whether it is the right choice for your
business. In Chapter 1, we go over the basic differences
between softphones and hardphones. Chapter 2 gives a
brief overview of the evolution of telephone technology.
In Chapter 3, we pit hardphones and softphones against
each other in a head-to-head battle. Finally, in Chapter
4, we hold up Talkdesk as an example of softphone
excellence.

So, what’ll it be? Welcome to Talkdesk’s soft sell…

 Chapter 1 : Primer on Softphones The modern world advances quickly. One minute you’re
Dr. Hardphone or How I Learned to Stop Worrying using a typewriter and struggling with your keys getting
and Love the Softphone crossed. The next, you have a personal computer under
your fingertips and struggling with auto-correct.

Let’s get started with the basics. Even though you’re look-
ing into call center solutions, you shouldn’t be expected
to know all the jargon off the bat. Come on, ‘softphone’
and ‘hardphone’ aren’t exactly everyday words. So let’s go
through some definitions.
Call center technology doesn’t seem to have gotten the
memo about modernization. For various reasons, man-
agers and business owners are clinging to their hard-
phones for dear life.
In the next few chapters, we’ll dissect these reasons.
For now, let’s address the specious justification at the
heart of most arguments against softphones:

“I’ve always used hardphones.”

This is an argument based off of aversion to change

and perceived convenience. Let’s analyze these justifi-
Hardphone Softphone cations individually:
A conventional, hardwired A software-based
telephone. telephone. Aversion to Change
Examples: Landlines, SIP Examples: Talkdesk, In our fast-paced world, some things are sacred. Your
phones, pay phones Skype, Google Voice call center technology shouldn’t be one of those things.

If your company currently has a hardphone call center

technology, do not feel wed to it. It’s true that your
current phones and database systems suffice, but
there’s a world of possibility with softphones.
Think of the legacy technology you use as a library
full of books. People love libraries. There is a place for
libraries in this world. But, nowadays, when you want
information fast and all in the same place, it’s only a
click away on the Internet.
Softphone technology enables you to have not only call
functionality but also centralized data. At Talkdesk, in
particular, we’ve made it our mission to design an easy
to use, easy to set up and easy to customize interface.
Our cloud-based call center software will save you
time which will translate into increased customer satis-
faction and help your bottom line.
Perceived Convenience
Especially if you already have a system in place, it can
feel like a sisyphean task to replace it. Softphones are
a relatively new technology and perhaps you’re not
willing to risk the setup costs.
Day-to-day, your hardphone is a hassle to operate. You
probably have a devoted IT person, if not a whole team.
When you want to make changes to the system or add
agents, you have to call in to the call center company.
Let’s not even get started talking about the maintenance
hassle of the hardware.
Even if softphone technology wasn’t going to save you
time, improve your efficiency and make your agents’ lives
easier, it would still be worth it to switch so that you
don’t have to be constantly troubleshooting,
updating and optimizing your legacy system.
In the future, we suggest you operate by this new motto:
When a better option comes along, drop that
obsolete nonsense like it’s hot.

Lean in close, we’re going to tell you a secret: The

reason you feel like it’s a huge deal to replace your
current call center is because your current call center is
 Chapter 2: A History Lesson The original telephone transmitter was a drastic tech-
The Evolution of Telephone Technology: nological leap that had implications Alexander Graham
From Transmitters to Softphones Bell and the many other inventors could not have fore-
seen. As such, it had the major pro of being the first of
its kind. As to cons, there are too many to list. The call
Let’s take a look back at how far we’ve come and where
quality was poor, the cost was exorbitant, the tech-
we’re headed with telephone technology.
nology was not commercially available and there were
The Wikipedia article on the History of the Telphone does some serious geographic constraints.
a great job of giving an overview of telephones generally
Telephonic infrastructure improved over time, from
and citing a variety of sources. For our purposes, we’re
switchboards to telephone poles to fiber optic cables.
going to skip tin can telephones, the telegraph and the
These were high-level changes, literal ‘changes from
dispute over who was the actual inventor of the tele-
above.’ They paved the way for every innovation that
phone. If you want to fall down that rabbit hole, try this
enabled personal telephone use.
article about a 1,200 year old gourd-and-twine device.
On the individual level, there were a series of updates
In this chapter, we’re going to drill down to your funda-
in telephone hardware. The candlestick telephone
mental concern: What features can I expect from my call
was an affordable commercial solution with a sepa-
center solution? To do this, we’ll trace the history of tele-
rate receiver and mouthpiece. Next, the French phone
phone features by citing the major advances throughout
merged the two, often with a rotary dialer. The push
the years. As with any technology, telephone innovation
button phone followed thereafter, with the innovation
has been iterative, so you can safely assume, unless
of no-spin dialing.
otherwise specified, that each telephone has all the pros
of the previous technology.
 Next came portable/ cordless phones. This again
was an improvement on hardware. Now, callers could
support
hold the headset without being bound to the base. Of
course, there were spatial limits but this made way
for the mobile phone, which was not only a hardware
upgrade but also software, as telephonic infrastructure
changed and texting was introduced.
All roads led to the smartphone, which turns out to be
a heck of a lot more than just a phone. The essential
innovation of the smartphone was the idea that phones
didn’t have to just make and receive calls. In the world
of modern technology, integration is key.
A few auxiliary technologies came about during the
evolution of the telephone, including answering
machines, call waiting and caller ID. All of these
were meant to supplement the deficiencies of the
telephone itself.
The first call centers emerged in the 1950s. This is the
technology being used by the all the smiling women in
all those black-and-white photos. The concept of a call
center was itself a revolution. It redefined the concept
of customer support, reshaped the sales landscape and
transformed fundraising efforts. Call centers allowed
companies to connect with their customers and pros-
pects in ways that were simply unimaginable before.
Hardphone technology is generally what you picture at
the mention of a call center. Agents are sitting at their
desks, tied down by a phone jack. Those black-and-
white women? They’re using hardphones.
In conjunction with their hardphones, agents are likely
using a computer to access customer information.
At the very least, they’re using two different pieces of
technology. It’s probable, however, that they are also
accessing numerous systems on their computer to find
the information they need.
Hardphones, like early telephone technology, are not
particularly user-friendly. The technology is expensive,
complicated and requires trained IT professionals to
implement and alter even the slightest change.
Softphone call center technology can be seen as
analogous to the smartphone. With softphones,
developers asked themselves, “What if call center
technology could do more than make and receive calls?”

Softphones empower agents to work from wherever

they have Internet access. The errors made by manually
dialing are eliminated by click-to-call functionality. And,
best of all, call center software enables agents to record
data and integrate their systems with other technolo-
gies like CRMs and helpdesks.

Softphones are also much cheaper and much easier to

use than hardphones. Further, they don’t require trained
IT staff.
The history of telephonic features is a clear evolution
towards greater ease of use, lowered costs and integra-
tion of technologies. Why should call center software
not follow this pattern? Innovation and iteration enable
individuals and companies to accomplish tasks in
smarter ways.
Chapter 3: Head-to-Head Comparison
Winner Take Call: Softphones vs. Hardphones
In our Winner Take Call grudge match, we pit hardphones
against softphones to see which technology can take the
heat. Blow for blow, which call center
solution is better?

One fight, winner take call. Let’s get ready to rumble.

Setup and Upkeep
Hardphones come with baggage, literally. As you might
guess, hardphones have hardware. This means that for
your initial setup and for every new agent onboarding,
you will need to physically install the call center tech-
nology. This is not only costly, but time-consuming.
When considering both setup and upkeep, realize that
hardphones require specialized IT professionals, either
provided by the vendor or present within your ranks.
It’s great to have a friendly specialist there to help you.
On the other hand, this means that any time you’d like
to change the settings or scale, you’ll require assis-
tance. Again, this is going to cost you.
Softphone setup is plug-and-play. All you need is an
Internet connection and a headset. The cost is minimal
because there are fewer moving parts. Dependent
upon the softphone you choose, the initial customiza-
tion of the settings and integrations may take time.
Luckily, even if you don’t choose a call center software
known for its quick and easy set up, you’ll be able to
configure any settings yourself from within the
softphone interface.
In terms of upkeep, softphones do not require a team
of experts, which will save you money. Softphones are
designed to be easy to customize, change and scale in
real-time. If necessary, headset replacement is a cheap
and easy fix. Softphones rely on the Internet, so there
would be some very important IT needed if the Internet
went down. Then again, you’d need that no matter what
because the Internet is indispensable to modern busi-
ness generally.
Winner: Softphones
They’re a cinch to set up and a breeze to maintain.
Easy of Use
Hardphones have an advantage here, given that they’re
an older technology. People of all ages know how to
use a hardphone. But there’s more to ease of use than
knowing how the technology works.
Hardphones require manual dialing, which can reduce
efficiency because it takes time to do so and increases
the odds of misdials. Further, hardphones are not inte-
grated with data systems. Your agents will have to
operate both their hardphones and a CRM while they
are speaking with callers.
As a newer technology, it may seem that softphones
would be difficult to adjust to. This turns out to be
incorrect. The whole point of new technology is that it
is an improvement upon legacy systems. It’s designed
to be user-friendly.
Softphones tend to have one-click dialing functions,
which reduce the time it takes to look up a number
and to dial it, as well as decreasing dialing errors. Each
moment of saved time and frustration each day can
add up to a serious amount of gained efficiency.
Further, softphones are tied directly into your
computer. This means that both your phone and your
data system are in the same place. Deep integra-
tions with CRMs and helpdesks bring your company
to the forefront of business technology. Imagine full
call center functionality from within the same window
where you can view customer data and history, transfer
callers and write notes in contacts’ files.
Winner: Softphones
They’re designed to be intuitive and
allow for a variety of functionality that hardphones
simply can’t provide.
Flexibility
Hardphone technology is about as flexible as the
hardphone itself. That is to say, it’s not. Customizing
the settings of your hardphone call center software
requires assistance from trained IT professionals.
You’ll have them on speed dial; for helping onboard
new team members, changing your IVR settings,
customizing your business hours and so on. So much
for quick scaling.
If there’s a chance you’ll have an agent who needs
to work remotely, even once, a hardphone is not for
you. The ‘hard’ in hardphone stands for hardwired.
Your team is literally tied to your offices. That’s fine if
you’re from the 1950s, but, nowadays, modern tech-
nology is specifically designed to release you from the
binds of time and space. Can you imagine only being
able to check your email from your office computer?
Softphone technology is about as flexible as gymnas-
tics gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas. Softphones
enable you to customize your call center settings from
within the software itself. No need to speak to repre-
sentatives or train IT staff. Onboarding? No problem.
Changing menu prompts? A snap. Scale effortlessly.
Since softphones are software-based, they are
extremely nimble. This means that your agents are free
to work from home or on their mobile device, anytime
and anywhere. You can even set up international call
centers tied to the same softphones that operate in
your office. There are no geographic restrictions; the
world is your call center.
Winner: Softphones
They’re flexible, so your company can adapt,
grow and change unhindered.
Reliability
This is hardphone technology’s strong suit; the one
legitimate reason to think it has a fighting chance.
Hardphones are very reliably connected to a telephone
line. You will not have trouble placing or receiving calls
with hardphone technology. The call quality will also be
reliably strong, with minimal echoing.
In the past, hardphone vendors beat this point into
the ground. And they were right. Softphones echoed,
dropped calls, didn’t connect easily. But that’s simply
not the case anymore. Softphone technology evolves, it
iterates and it’s able to fix problems.
High-speed Internet access is ubiquitous. It’s afford-
able, available and reliable. Companies rely on Internet
access for many of their other functions, so it’s no
problem to also use it to operate the phone. Insofar
as echoing, technologies like Talkdesk cloud-based
call center software are designed specifically to avoid
reduced voice quality based off of a softphone connec-
tion and better match the audio quality traditionally
associated with hardphones.
Winner: It’s a draw
Hardphones no longer have the advantage, but
softphones haven’t yet surpassed them.
Agent Access to Customer Information
This is a trick question for hardphones. Hardphone
technology does not incorporate data. The amount and
ease of agent access to customer information is not
dependent upon hardphone technology whatsoever.
Softphones shine in this category. As with any improve-
ment on a past technology, softphones incorporate
the past with the present and future. That is, in addi-
tion to a phone, softphones give you a data platform.
By merging the voice and data pipelines, softphones
streamline your agents’ work. They also cut the costs
your company would spend on implementing separate
auxiliary data systems.
Winner: Softphones
This one is not even a competition. Hardphones don’t incorpo-
rate customer information and therefore
necessitate auxiliary technology.
Ouch. That was hard to watch. Some fights are over
before they begin. Then again, what do you expect
when you pit cutting edge technology against a product
that has been around more than six times as long as
Miley Cyrus?
The winds of change blow softly, best follow them.
Chapter 4: Talkdesk as an Example of
Softphone Excellence
The Incredible, Intuitive Softphone
Softphones are superior to legacy call center tech-
nology. That’s a no-brainer at this point. But it’s essen-
tial to remember that softphones aren’t all made alike.
Think of it this way: Cars are superior to horses, but
that’s no reason to think that a Maserati is equivalent
to a 1971 Ford Pinto.
Talkdesk cloud-based call center software is designed
to be more than just a standard softphone; it’s built
to be at the cutting edge of cutting edge technology.
Every element of Talkdesk’s call center software
solution has been carefully thought out to maximize
the efficiency of your business.
Softphone technology, in general, is prized for not
requiring hardware to operate. This enables agents to
be flexible in where they choose to work and eliminates
much of the costs of legacy systems. All you need is a
headset, computer and Internet connection.
Talkdesk takes this innovation one step further by
getting rid of the need for coding and downloads. This
means that the interface is easy to implement and easy
to operate. It also . saves you money by negating the
need for IT staff.
Some of the newer softphones are quite powerful, but
not quite so user-friendly or easy to set up. This may
be acceptable for companies with devoted IT staff
interested in dictating every little element of their call
center solution and agents who are willing to spend
weeks learning to use the system, but most business
just don’t have the time.
Talkdesk’s out-of-the-box functionality enables your
business to hit the ground running. Our motto is
“Create a Call Center in 5 Minutes” and we ain’t joking!
For those who would like more control of the interface,
Talkdesk is easily customizable, with most settings able
to be configured with a single click.
Agents will find our interface user-friendly, which will
shorten onboarding time. Essentially, Talkdesk gives
you the benefit of cutting edge technology without
requiring you to spend hours pouring over training
manuals.
Softphone technology enables companies to monitor
their call centers in complex and specific ways. Talk-
desk offers real-time and historical reporting, call
monitoring, call barging and many types of notifica-
tions. There are also tools that allow for call forwarding
and logging call disposition codes and notes. These
combine to enable your company to make data-driven
decisions and compile comprehensive information
about your customers. Advanced technology that helps
your company advance.
Further, many softphones have advanced routing tools
such as interactive voice response (IVR) and skills-
based routing to help your customers get directed to
the right agent every time. Talkdesk offers these, as
well as options like voicemail and forward-to-phone.
Talkdesk’s greatest contributions to the efficiency of
your company are our many integrations. We take the
idea of being at the forefront of call center technology
seriously. We know that your call center is not useful
enough if it’s not integrated with your CRM, helpdesk
and other tools.

Our software was conceived as a way to solve the
problem of disparate data sources slowing call center
agents down. Your agents don’t have the time to click
through multiple systems seeking information and your
customers don’t have the patience.
Talkdesk is an example of softphone technology excel-
lence. We’re not content to just make cloud-based call
center software. We’re looking to redefine the industry.
Our first step is promoting a culture of innovation by
helping companies move towards softphone tech-
nology. Our second step is to lead the way with cutting
edge technology that is both powerful and user-
friendly.
The principal choice you’re facing is whether you should
select a softphone or a hardphone. This is a big one,
but luckily for you, it’s an easy one. Let me ask you:
When you equip your team with technology, do you
offer them typewriters or laptops?
Softphones are the latest, greatest call center tech-
nology. They’ve got everything hardphones do, plus a
range of functionality that is only possible when your
agents work from within their computers. Softphones
save money, increase efficiency, reduce agent work and
scale as your company grows.
Making the choice to invest in softphone technology is
so straight-forward and so obvious, it’s a soft sell.

Conclusion
Investing in a new technology can be intimidating. Your
choice now will have an immediate monetary and time
cost. In the long run, it can make all the difference in
how your company provides customer support.
About Talkdesk
Talkdesk is easy-to-use cloud-based call center
software that enables businesses to provide excellent
customer service with phone support. The intuitive
web-based interface and robust call center
functionality including IVR, skills-based routing and
comprehensive reporting make it possible for your
agents to have real-time, personalized conversations
with customers. With Talkdesk, you can create your
call center in minutes and integrate it with a variety of
top business tools, including Salesforce, Desk.com and
Zendesk. Click the button below for your free trial of
Talkdesk and explore the possibilities of our
cloud-based call center software solution.

For more information, visit www.talkdesk.com.

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