Call Center App Development: The Complete Guide

The global call center market is predicted to reach $494.7 billion by 2030, making now a better time than ever to invest in creating a call center application. 

A call center application can serve different purposes depending on the business’s needs. Businesses create an app like this to help streamline customer communications, giving users a quick and easy way to contact the organization for support. Creating an app also means improving operations and customer experience, as well as potentially reducing operational costs.

In this article, let’s discover the full rundown of call center app development. Learn everything you need to know about:

• How to create a call center application,
• What types of apps you can develop,
• Which call center app features matter,
• And a step-by-step guide on how to develop a call center app.

Types of Call Center Apps

Call center apps aren’t limited to a single purpose. The beauty of developing an application is its ability to define how it can be used, who can access it, and how users can benefit from it. Here are some of the most common types of call center apps to consider before you build a call center app.

Apps by Architecture

When creating a dedicated app for a business, deciding how it will be accessed is essential, as it can impact how users adapt based on available technology and resources. This is what building an app focused on architecture considers. The most popular options are on-premise, cloud-based, and web-based applications.

On-premise apps

On-premise call center solutions are installable hardware. This enables teams to control the data and its systems, saving the business time for data organization, evaluation, and performance oversight. However, the price tag is a caveat, requiring a more significant upfront investment and consistent maintenance.

Cloud-based apps

Cloud-based call center app development means the platform is hosted on a server and is more suited for scalability and flexibility. Not only does this take up less space on company devices, but it’s also the more convenient option for remote-work employees. 

In 2024, 46% of enterprises adopted their workloads onto cloud-based platforms for their cost efficiency and scalable capabilities.

Web-based apps

Web-based call center software is another option that is just as accessible as a mobile app. Because it’s easy to log on with any browser, everyone can use the platform regardless of device and location. 

Like a cloud-based solution, a web-based application eliminates the need to install any software, saving your hardware space and minimizing the cost of updates.

Apps by Purpose 

The purpose of an app dictates who will be able to use the app as features are catered to your target audience’s needs. This means you can create apps dedicated to agents, customers, or both. Additionally, you can even have a specialized app depending on business needs.

Mobile Apps for Agents

Convenience is the key priority when creating a mobile app for your call center. In most cases, its primary users would be call center agents who use it to communicate with customers. 

This means agents can be more mobile, meaning remote work can promote work-life balance and save on costs that might otherwise go to office spaces. 

For agents, the benefits of a call center app on mobile are the capability to receive notifications when a call comes through, access to essential customer information, schedule management, and internal communications with their team for cases requiring additional data from other departments. Additionally, integrating a call center dialer system streamlines all outbound calls, subsequently improving employee efficiency and customer response times. 

Customer-Facing Mobile Apps

An app can have two sides: one for internal use, usually by agents, and the other for customers. 

Having a call center app that customers can access easily opens up the possibility for self-service options. This way, users can find the answers to FAQs in a trusted and credible knowledge base before deciding to call or chat with a customer service representative.

Ideally, a mobile app that customers can use should be easy to use and have handy functionality like browsable FAQs and chat or call features.

Specialized Apps

There are also some cases where specialized apps are an option. These are fully customized apps for niche audiences in specific industries or are equipped with particular functions that might require things like emergency response seen in healthcare or dedicated help desk support for SaaS companies that need to cater to enterprises.

Understanding the Core Features of a Call Center App

Given the range of ways businesses can approach call center custom app development, it’s important to factor in the features needed for it to be an effective and easily adaptable platform for its identified users. This can, after all, impact the likelihood of a customer wanting to engage with the brand again.

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Here are some crucial call center app features, organized by purpose, that can make the application an effective platform. 

Inbound Call Handling

Handling inbound calls is essential for call center agents if this is their main mode of communication. Features that can support this include:

• Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
  It’s no secret that calls can come in bulk at a call center. With an ACD feature, a customer’s requests for an agent are noted and checked against criteria that help efficiently route the call to an agent with specialties that align with the customer’s needs while balancing the agent’s workload. The best part for customers? Reduced wait times.
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
  IVR is a great way to manage calls. It serves as an automated menu that callers can use to navigate to the most suitable department. If not, they can connect with self-service options by pressing a key on their phone. This also significantly lessens a call center agent’s workload.
• Call Queuing and Routing
  Call queuing and routing become especially useful during peak hours when many calls are waiting to be connected. With this type of feature, customers are lined up in a queue for more efficient customer management. Each person is then connected with the first free agent.
• Caller Identification (Caller ID)
  Caller IDs are valuable features for call center apps. They allow agents to access essential customer information, allowing for a personalized experience and faster issue resolution.
• Call Recording
  Supervisors and stakeholders will be able to reap the maximum benefits from this feature in operations as it can help them oversee call quality. A call recording allows them to listen to customer conversations for performance reviews, training, and company compliance purposes.

Outbound Call Handling

Outbound calls are helpful for campaign initiatives, where agents are tasked to promote the business’s newest launch.

• Predictive Dialing
  When promoting a new product, feature, or campaign, predictive dialing can call up a bulk of numbers and then connect agents to answered calls by real people (not answering machines). 
• Progressive Dialing
  Numbers can be dialed sequentially, depending on how soon a customer picks up. Instead of simultaneous calls, however, each number is called based on a list provided by the agent, ensuring they try every person. The downside is that this may take longer than predictive dialing.
• Preview Dialing
  Before speaking to a customer, the preview dialing feature briefs agents on the customer’s background with any necessary information they might need to provide the best support possible. 
• Campaign Management
  Campaign management features are essential for organizing and tracking all outbound calls. Managers or team leaders should be able to monitor agents’ performance, success rates, and other metrics to keep the team on track with business objectives.

Agent Management Tools

Agent management features benefit supervisors and stakeholders who need to oversee daily operations.

• Agent Dashboard
  A dedicated dashboard for centralizing all metrics in real time can significantly streamline workflows. One glance can inform the team whether the work is on track and key performance indicators are being met. 
• Call Monitoring and Coaching
  Supervisors or team leads can use call monitoring and coaching features to observe an agent’s live calls. This is useful for training or providing immediate feedback to keep calls satisfactory.
• Performance Analytics and Reporting
  Tracking features for performance analytics, like average handling time to first call resolution, allows managers to make data-backed decisions quickly.
• Workforce Management (WFM) Integration
  WFM tools provide valuable support during peak hours when call volumes are high or if the available agents have full workloads. Supervisors can step in to make more informed decisions in managing tasks to keep operations running smoothly. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Integration

CRM integrations streamline a call center’s workflow by offering customers a more holistic experience. The right integrations can enable agents to view customer interaction history and their profiles to better assist with issues. It also ensures data across the business database is updated.

Reporting and Analytics

The most significant benefit of having reporting and analytics features in a call center app is the capability to customize reports and pull specific information as needed. Businesses can effectively review the most relevant data based on their required parameters. 

The Development Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Here are the six steps you need to take to turn your product idea into a fully functional solution.

1. Requirements Definition

Whether you’re looking to build a call center app for a small business or an enterprise, defining objectives and requirements helps guide the development process. 

Having a list of requirements that meets pain points your call center operations regularly experience helps address customer concerns immediately, improving their overall experience. A quick business assessment can help you identify these significant areas for improvement.

It’s also highly beneficial to identify who will use the app. This can include agents, supervisors, or customers. Knowing who will benefit from the call center app can shape which pain points and features developers prioritize. For instance, if the app is primarily for inbound calls, they can implement ACD and IVR features in the shortlist to develop and launch the app quickly. Build the experience around their intent to ensure seamless usability and efficient workflows.

2. Technology Stack Selection

A technology stack is a combination of frameworks, tools, and programming languages that developers use for the frontend and backend of any application being built. In this breakdown, you can see the key components that go into every aspect of app creation, its importance, and how to select the right tool.

3. UI/UX Design

A well-designed user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) can enhance an app’s efficiency and usability in solving your identified pain points. 

The necessary user research must be conducted through feedback from real-world call center users and usability testing. Using this information, UX/UI designers can map out the ideal customer experience with low-fidelity wireframes for the app’s structure and then progress to interactive prototypes to help developers visualize how various elements in the app will work. 

A dashboard-centric layout can simplify navigation, especially for a call center app. The designer can effectively create a clean layout that allows quick access to data and optimizes it for real-time tasks like call transfers or hold options.

4. Mobile App Development

Specific design and performance factors must be addressed for businesses keen on investing in mobile call center app development.

• Challenges and Best Practices
  Optimizing a mobile call center app for high call volumes will keep workflows stable and can improve real-time responsiveness. It’s also important to consider the risks associated with mobile apps, such as network connectivity, battery life, and other security risks.
• Native vs. Cross-Platform Development
  Native apps (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android) often perform better but require separate codebases. Choosing a native app for multiple platforms may exceed the budget. Cross-platform (React Native, Flutter) apps can significantly reduce development and launch time. This approach is also more affordable, but it’s worth noting that it may lack platform-specific optimizations.
• Mobile UI/UX Considerations
  The app should fit for a smaller screen, but it shouldn’t compromise functionality and data accessibility.

5. Development and Testing

A structured approach to app development verifies that the final product is a fully functioning and secure application for the call center that can perform as expected. 

One common approach is agile development. Here, developer teams need to stay flexible as they iterate based on feedback. Developers will make changes to the app according to user insights.

Additionally, experienced QA testing teams need to conduct QA and testing before launch to check the platform for any flaws or bugs that can affect the user experience. This certifies the app is reliable and something that users can trust. Some tests that are useful at this stage include unit testing to verify and screen each and every element in the app works properly, load testing to check that the app can handle peak call hours at any point in time, and security testing to ensure that the app’s security protects sensitive customer data effectively against various threats and attackers.

6. Deployment and Maintenance

After development, the app must be deployed and continuously maintained to keep it efficient, scalable, and usable in the long term. Here are the key things to consider at this stage.

• Deployment Options
  Cloud-based app development is quick to deploy because it requires minimal hardware. On-premise promises greater control but requires higher infrastructure investments.
• Ongoing Maintenance and Support
  Standard app protocol includes regular updates, bug fixes, and feature enhancements to keep operations going regardless of day or hour.
• Scalability Considerations
  Businesses are bound to grow, which is why having the scalable option open allows the business to accommodate even more customers in the future. This may entail continued optimization for database queries, load balancing, and ensuring the infrastructure only goes through minimal downtime.

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Cost Considerations for Call Center App Development

Budget allocations for app development can be tricky as costs heavily depend on factors like feature complexity or the platform it’s being made for. Fortunately, you can stay prepared with insight into what factors may be driving up the price of your call center app development. Learn how to go about them and what other hidden costs to watch out for, too.

Factors Affecting Cost

The call center app development cost can vary depending on several factors:

• Complexity of the App and its Features
  Keeping it simple and designed for inbound calls and routing can minimize costs. The AI software market is estimated to reach nearly $251 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 31.4%. This indicates that any feature complexity contributes to higher costs. Opting for an app with AI-powered analysis and dashboards or even implementing omnichannel support can increase the final price. 
• Development Approach
  A fully customized call center software development project is undoubtedly more expensive than standard software on the market. A good workaround to cut costs is to use an existing platform that can be customized to meet business needs. Gartner projects that by 2026, 80% of software engineering businesses will have respective teams to develop services and tools for different platforms. This means there’s a better chance you can build your app more efficiently with platform engineering to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that can launch faster.
• Developer Location
  Finding a good developer can be challenging. Take note of their location too as specialists in locations like North America or Western Europe are definitely more expensive than Asia and Eastern Europe-based developers.

Mobile App Development Costs

For businesses interested in mobile call center app development, the factors that may affect cost include the following:

• Platform Choice
  Native app development, which is created for specific devices, is more costly than cross-platform solutions, as the latter requires more coding.
• Feature Complexity
  In a report from Grand View Research, the complexity of an app’s features can impact the cost of development expenses and longer production timelines. Functions that use AI chatbots, for instance, are a premium that can be more expensive depending on whether intensive coding and subscriptions are required. You can expect to spend between $10,000 and $50,000 on a native or hybrid call center app.
• Third-Party API Costs
  Third-party APIs, such as VoIP or customer engagement platforms like Twilio, incur additional costs for subscription plans.

How to Effectively Manage Budget for Development

There are a few ways to manage a budget for app development. The best starting point is creating an MVP, as this option is intended for fast production and immediate launch. It can be produced fast because it only has the features identified as high-priority that positively impact the workflows.  

Find the best developer who offers decent rates for the scope of work you need. The best way to do this is to consider different options from in-house and outsourced developers.

Hidden Costs

Maintenance and support are essential beyond the development process to launch a call center app. This annual payment can range from 15 to 20% of the total cost it took to develop. Plus, if the business needs to scale the product as the operation grows, upgrades to the application will have added costs.

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Final Thoughts

Creating an app for call centers may be a complex move, but it’s also highly strategic for the business. Having one dedicated to your team or customers can boost communication efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and effectively garner a better brand image.

With a deeper understanding of the types of call center apps, essential features, and a complete development process overview, you can quickly build call center software based on business priorities you can seamlessly integrate. By working with the right software development team, you can proactively evolve the app based on user feedback and technology advancements to keep it scalable and adaptable in the long run.