Olivia Maier
We are here to dive into all the things you need to know about call monitoring systems. From the technology behind call monitoring systems, and the use cases for businesses, we’re going to be going into the details your business needs to know. From there, we will go into how you can determine the best system for your business. We will give you a comparison on some of the top business call monitoring options, including:
We will be framing our comparison by discussing the call monitoring features available, as that is probably the most relevant question to your business phone search right now. We then will look at the big picture of these systems, as well as how they provide additional value to their customers.
We chose to look at cloud based phone systems today, because they are often able to provide the most robust phone systems that can leave your team with additional benefits of being affordable, scalable, and flexible. While traditional phone systems may provide call monitoring services, we believe that a cloud based system can simply do it better, while providing more value.
If that sounds good to you, then we are excited for you to read and become an expert on call monitoring systems in just a matter of minutes.
Call monitoring systems are quickly becoming a must-have feature for every business phone system. Call monitoring systems are often included in the TOP modern day business phone systems, but they aren’t a guarantee.
Call monitoring software allows your business to listen to, record, and analyze the calls that your team is making. Call monitoring systems are a collection of business phone features that when added up can create an effective way for teams to better manage their calls.
We wanted to break down some of the most important features that EVERY call monitoring system should have so that your team can make the most of these systems.
For their sales teams: When your sales team is taking advantage of call monitoring it can lead to better coaching of new and existing representatives, allow managers to gain new insights, and see the processes their teams are using live.
For their support teams: Support teams can use call monitoring similarly to a sales team, but they will benefit most from being able to collect data on common issues. Being able to store and categorize call recordings will allow your managers to determine what some of the most common customer concerns are. That way, your team can act proactively as you revise your own processes.
For their call centers: Call centers, as well as any team that handles inbound calls on any scale, can especially benefit from live activity feed features. You will be able to know who is already involved in an existing call, the length of time spent on it, as well as which team members or agents are available for incoming calls. This will allow managers to better delegate, know when to jump in and lend a hand, as well as determine the best ways to staff your call center.
This will largely depend on your business phone needs in general. Call monitoring systems will often come as a part of a business phone system, so you need to make sure that you are getting the full picture of the potential phone systems.
You should first start with understanding the call monitoring features that your team specifically will need. From there, think about the ways your current phone system could be upgraded to a more robust business tool. We recommend thinking about big picture ideas such as scalability, pricing, and ability to receive support. From there, drill down into the added features that could give your business big benefits, such as smart integrations or international phone numbers.
That’s the framework that we are going to use to compare some of the top call monitoring systems in 2022. We’re going to:
This framework should leave you with a comprehensive understanding of different providers that your business could consider adopting in 2022.
Call monitoring features available
Yodel.io is able to provide call monitoring features across the different types. Their call commenting features are composed of actual call commenting, where you make notes that can be shared during a live call, call whispering which allows you to give your teammate audio information without your caller hearing, and call conferencing features. They also have a live activity feed and call recordings and transcripts.
Looking at the big picture
Yodel.io’s support options allow you to get started in a worry free environment, as they prioritize being easy to implement and always easy to use. Whether you want to take advantage of demo calls, trial periods, or their always available resources, you are covered. Yodel.io is also affordable with two pricing plans available, the first at $25/month/user, and the second at $35/month/user.
Additional value added features
One of the best value added features of Yodel are the integrations available. Whether you love your CRM, live inside of Slack, or have another business tool your team can’t live without, Yodel makes it easy to connect your phone to your other software. Other value added features include a voice based IVR routing system, business text messaging, and voicemail transcriptions.
Call monitoring features available
Aircall appears to offer call conferencing as well as general call commenting features. Their call recording capabilities also allows your team to effectively monitor calls. It appears they are missing some features such as call whispering but that doesn’t mean that it fails as a call monitoring software. This is where it really boils down to how your team will want to use call monitoring. If you are hoping to subtly give your team a hand without having to interrupt, the apparent absence of call whispering could be significant. However, this type of functionality may be possible through the use of other features or a combination of features.
Looking at the big picture
Aircall tends to be at the higher end of pricing options, so it makes sense to understand how Aircall fits into your business big picture in general. Aircall’s pricing starts at $30/user/month and goes up to $50/user/month. Be sure to check out how Aircall can grow with your business before you commit to their higher end pricing scheme.
Additional value added features
The value added features that Aircall can offer ranges from SMS messaging to some smart integrations. It does not appear that their IVR system is a fully intelligent voice based system, but they can route callers as they respond to voice prompts.
Call monitoring features available
Dialpad was mentioned on this list as it will frequently appear as a top business phone system, especially as you are looking for a cloud based phone solution. However, it is worth noting that despite their frequently good reviews as a general phone solution, they fail to mention call monitoring features that we believe would be essential in 2022.
Looking at the big picture
Dialpad does seem to check a lot of the big picture boxes, as they are a omni-channel solution that can give your team access to unified communications. If your business phone system needs goes beyond phone and text communication, it may be worth looking into a platform that can offer video and online meeting channels. While Dialpad may not be the best solution for call monitoring alone, it could still meet your big picture needs.
Additional value added features
As we said, Dialpad is able to offer a wide range of communication channels. Their pricing ranges from $15/user/month up to $25/user/month. However, their pricing plans significantly impact which integrations are available to your team. If you have a specific business tool in mind that you would like to connect Dialpad to, it is definitely worth checking out what is available in each plan.
Call monitoring features available
RingCentral has a wide variety of call monitoring features available for your team to take advantage of. This includes being able to have simple call monitoring, call whispering, call commenting, and more. Call monitoring is free for RingCentral Office Premium and Enterprise customers, but is is unclear how accessible these features are with RingCentral’s other pricing plans.
Looking at the big picture
With RingCentral, there are a couple factors that are taken into consideration before the final pricing is computed. The pricing depends on the range of employees using your system (1, 2-20, 21-50, 51-99, 100-999+), and then what features you want to have included. That means that the Essentials plan will cost a different amount for businesses of different sizes. This can make the system a little trickier if your business is planning on growing, downsizing, or just aren’t sure what your team is going to look like in the future. The inconsistent pricing can lead to issues in budgeting, but it may not be a big issue to some teams.
Additional value added features
RingCentral is able to provide advanced customer experience features which can really contribute to the overall value added of RingCentral. You can also unify your apps through different business tool integrations.
The best call monitoring system will be built into a robust business phone solution. When you are looking for a call monitoring system, start by looking at the call monitoring features that your team will really benefit from. Then take a look at the big picture of the phone system as a whole, and look specifically at the value added features available.
If you are looking to take advantage of a call monitoring system built into a robust cloud based phone solution, test out Yodel.io with a free trial today. You can reach our team through individualized demo calls that will make sure that all of your call monitoring, and business phone questions are addressed.
