Contact Centre Guide: Everything you need to know
How good the customer service team of a company really is, often only becomes apparent when things become urgent or something goes wrong. At that very moment, it takes just a few minutes to determine whether customers will view your customer service, and by extension, your entire business, in a positive light.
This is precisely where a contact centre’s strength lies. In this article, you’ll find out what matters most and what a contact centre can achieve.
Key points of the article
- A contact centre is the central point of contact for customer enquiries via telephone, email, chat, messaging apps, social media and other channels.
- Unlike a call centre, it is not just about telephone calls, but about structured, cross-channel customer communication.
- Contact centres take the pressure off internal teams, improve accessibility, reduce response times and ensure a consistent customer experience.
- Modern contact centres are increasingly using AI and automation, but should ensure that human support is available for complex or urgent enquiries.
What is a contact centre?
A contact centre is a central point of contact that manages customer enquiries across various channels. These include telephone, email, live chat, contact forms, messaging services, social media, self-service portals and, in some cases, video support. This can be handled either in-house or by external service providers.
A good contact centre recognises that customer service today rarely follows a linear path. Customers often get in touch with the same enquiries via different channels. Ideally, the contact centre should recognise this and not always have to start from scratch. A study by VT and Avaya also highlights just how important this is. 57% of respondents stated that they would like a conversation started via, for example, web chat to be seamlessly continued over the phone. Companies that can guarantee this have a clear advantage!
Typical tasks in a contact centre
- Receive and understand customer enquiries via various channels
- Classify, prioritise and forward enquiries
- Resolve cases directly and escalate them appropriately
- Document contacts in the CRM or ticketing system
- Measure service quality using key performance indicators
- Take the pressure off internal teams
- Pass on feedback from customer contact to specialist departments
- Complaints management
- Order taking and processing
- Implementing customer retention measures
- Market research
Contact Centre vs. Call Centre: What’s the difference?
The traditional call centre focuses on telephony. It handles incoming or outgoing calls, for example in support, sales or on service hotlines. Of course, many call centres nowadays offer more than just answering calls. Nevertheless, the basic principle remains the same: in a call centre, the call is the central focus.
A contact centre takes a broader view of customer communication. It brings together multiple communication channels and links them to customer data, workflows, reporting and quality management.
|
Criterion |
Call centre |
Contact centre |
|---|---|---|
|
Primary channel |
Primarily telephone |
Telephone, email, chat, messaging apps, social media, self-service |
|
Focus |
Handling calls |
Managing cross-channel customer communication |
|
Data basis |
Often channel-specific |
Centralised customer history |
|
Applications |
Hotlines, 24/7 availability, sales |
Customer service, technical support, omnichannel support |
|
Objective |
Availability by telephone |
Consistent customer experience across all touchpoints |
What types of contact centres are there?
Not all contact centres are the same. Their structure and focus vary significantly depending on the business model, volume of enquiries and sector.
- Inbound contact centre: Handles incoming enquiries, such as support cases, complaints, technical issues or contract-related queries.
- Outbound contact centre: Actively reaches out to customers, for example to make call-backs, arrange appointments, build customer loyalty or qualify leads.
- Blended contact centre: Combines inbound and outbound functions. This is particularly useful when the volume of enquiries fluctuates.
- In-house contact centre: Operated directly by the company. The advantage here is the proximity to the brand and to internal teams. However, it also involves significant effort in terms of staffing, tools and management.
- Outsourced contact centre: An external partner, such as XELEO, takes over parts or all of the customer service.
What services does a contact centre offer?
A contact centre is far more than just a partner that answers incoming enquiries. It plays a central role in customer communication and ensures that enquiries are recorded in a structured manner, correctly categorised and resolved as efficiently as possible. Depending on the sector and the structure of the company, its responsibilities range from traditional customer service and technical support to sales-related services and customer loyalty initiatives.
Customer service and support
- A contact centre provides quick and reliable answers to general customer enquiries about products, services, processes or areas of responsibility.
- In first-level support, technical issues are recorded, assessed and, where possible, resolved immediately. More complex cases are forwarded to specialist departments in a structured manner.
- Complaints management is also often part of the service. Complaints are recorded, documented and handled in a way that prioritises both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
- In addition, many contact centres handle enquiries regarding invoices, tariffs, contracts or contract amendments, thereby relieving the burden on internal teams.
- Emergency and on-call hotlines are also frequently managed. This ensures that fault reports are always received and processed in the best possible way.
Sales and customer loyalty
- As well as handling service-related tasks, contact centres also support sales-related processes, such as providing product advice, taking orders or arranging appointments.
- In the outbound sector, leads are pre-qualified, call-backs are organised and existing customers are actively looked after.
- Customer retention initiatives and after-sales service can also be efficiently managed through a contact centre.
Benefits of a contact centre
A professional contact centre brings order to the often hectic or chaotic day-to-day work of customer service. Customers get in touch with questions, problems, complaints or when they are under time pressure. It is precisely at such times that reliable processes, good availability and clear communication are essential. This benefits not only your customers, but also your business.
Benefits for businesses
- Internal teams are relieved of some of their workload and can focus more on their core tasks.
- Availability improves even when there is a high volume of enquiries or during peak periods.
- Response times are reduced and service requests can be processed more quickly.
- Processes become more measurable and can therefore be managed in a more targeted manner.
- Fluctuations and peaks in enquiry volumes can be better managed.
- Communication becomes more consistent and professional.
- Reporting ensures greater transparency in day-to-day operations.
- Service quality can be measured more clearly and continuously improved.
Benefits for customers
- You’ll receive a response to your enquiry more quickly.
- There are fewer transfers between teams or departments.
- Multiple contact channels make the service more flexible and accessible.
- Customers can track the status of their enquiry more easily.
- Information remains consistent across different contact points.
- Many enquiries can be resolved at the very first point of contact.
Contact centre KPIs: How can you tell if customer service is good?
For businesse good customer service must be measurable. At XELEO, we guarantee exactly that. Our service is continuously measured and improved using a range of KPIs that are relevant to you. Here is an overview.
|
KPI |
What is being measured? |
|---|---|
|
Service Level |
Proportion of enquiries answered within a target time |
|
Average Speed of Answer |
Average waiting time until the enquiry is answered |
|
First Contact Resolution |
Resolution on first contact |
|
Average Handling Time |
Average time taken to handle an enquiry |
|
Bounce Rate |
Proportion of customers who abandon the process before making contact |
|
CSAT |
Customer satisfaction following contact |
|
NPS |
Willingness to recommend |
|
Customer Health Score |
Indicates the strength and stability of a customer relationship |
|
Backlog |
Open cases that have not yet been processed |
|
Schedule Adherence |
Adherence to scheduled working hours |
|
Cost per Contact |
Cost-effectiveness per enquiry |
|
AI Resolution Rate |
The proportion of customer enquiries that have been fully processed and resolved by an AI solution |
It is important to note that KPIs must not work against one another. If processing times are reduced too drastically, the quality of the solution may suffer. If the focus is solely on friendliness, processes may remain slow. It is therefore essential to view KPIs as a whole.
Here you will find more detailed information on KPIs and how they are taken into account and implemented at XELEO: Category: Performance & Key Figures
Technology, automation and AI in a contact centre
As well as CRM systems, omnichannel routing, IVR voice menus and knowledge bases, modern contact centres are increasingly making use of AI-powered features. This brings with it both opportunities and risks.
Opportunities in the use of AI
AI can support contact centres in many areas: for example, by providing suggested responses, summarising complex processes, automatically classifying enquiries, or offering agent assistance during ongoing calls.
At the same time, AI cannot and should not completely replace human agents. This is also shown by a Zendesk survey from 2025. Particularly in urgent or stressful situations, 61% of respondents prefer to discuss these matters with people. Furthermore, whilst more than half see AI as an option for faster service, 58% emphasise that it must still be possible to hand matters over to human staff.
In practice, therefore, AI is used in many companies primarily to support service staff.
Limits and risks
A study by Roland Berger shows that, whilst AI is becoming significantly more important in customer service, many companies have so far only used it as a supplementary tool. At the same time, data protection, regulatory requirements and high customer expectations remain key challenges.
There is also another risk: studies on large language models suggest that incorrect or inconsistent responses can negatively impact customer trust. In an international consumer survey by Pegasystems, 46% of respondents stated that they had ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ had positive experiences with AI in customer service.
At XELEO, we utilise AI wherever it makes our service faster, more efficient and more reliable. Standard enquiries can be resolved directly using AI, whilst complex issues are handled by our staff. In addition, we also use AI successfully behind the scenes. Through agent assistants, next-best-action solutions and conversational analytics, we guarantee optimal service, ensuring automation without compromising on customer satisfaction or trust.
Contact Centre Outsourcing: When is it worth using an external partner?
Outsourcing is particularly worthwhile when in-house customer service reaches its limits. This often becomes apparent gradually: response times lengthen, tickets remain unresolved, and other teams increasingly take on support enquiries. By this stage at the latest, it makes sense to relieve the pressure on existing structures and supplement them with professional support.
Typical triggers for outsourcing
- A strong increase in the volume of enquiries
- Seasonal or campaign-related peaks
- Long waiting and response times
- Overburdened in-house teams
- Lack of cover during off-peak hours or round the clock
- Lack of multilingual support
- New markets, products or services
- Unclear reporting structures
Requirements for successful outsourcing
For outsourcing to work, an external service provider needs a clear framework. This includes product knowledge, escalation procedures, scope for goodwill, a defined communication style, system access and much more. This framework is discussed and established as part of a clearly defined onboarding process.
If these fundamentals are missing, friction and inefficiencies will arise. Even the best partner cannot fully compensate for a lack of structure.
XELEO’s industry solutions: telecommunications, energy, e-mobility and payments
Requirements and reasons for contact vary significantly depending on the sector. In the telecommunications sector, the focus is often on contract enquiries, switching tariffs, faults, initial technical support or billing issues. High call volumes are therefore usually part of everyday life in this sector.
Find out more here about how XELEO supports telecoms companies: Telecoms category
In the energy supply sector and at municipal utilities, the focus is often on meter readings, tariff information, change-of-address notifications, changes to instalment payments, service disruptions or communication regarding price adjustments. This requires precision, resilience and reliable customer communication.
You can find out more about our energy supply services here: Energy Supply category
In the field of e-mobility, enquiries often centre on charging issues, app or map errors, billing, availability or technical escalations. Customers expect fast and reliable support, particularly in urgent situations.
You can find everything relating to our e-mobility offering in our ‘Electric Mobility’ blog category.
In the payments sector, merchant and customer support is one of the major challenges facing modern payment systems. Enquiries cover a wide range of topics, from error messages on the display and questions about merchant settlements to end customers who are unable to drive out of their garage.
You can find out more about our services for the payments sector here: Payments category
XELEO: Your contact centre partner
As you can see, a contact centre is far more than just an additional service for businesses with a high volume of calls. It is a strategic component of reliable customer service.
In XELEO, you have found a reliable partner with whom you can optimise your customer service in the long term. With 18 years experience in customer service, our portfolio ranges from comprehensive customer and user communication through to technical support and bespoke reporting. Our agents are always thoroughly trained and can therefore handle every customer interaction competently, courteously and professionally.
Ultimately, it’s not just about tools, tickets or dashboards. What matters most is that customers feel taken seriously whilst companies can operate efficiently. This is precisely where our strength lies: at XELEO, we combine speed, structure and high service quality.
We’d be delighted to discuss your project with you. Please feel free to get in touch – simply use our contact form or call us directly on +43 2742/28520!
