In 2025, businesses or organizations are looking to offer superior customer experience. In this regard, call center and contact center are frequently used consistently. While both terms are the main hub for customer support specialist services, they are not the same thing as most individuals assume. The decision of contact center vs call center affects everything from your team’s structure and technological needs to how customers view your brand.
As customer expectations continue to rise, it’s critical to develop a service infrastructure that strikes a balance between operational effectiveness and first-rate customer experiences, as this will ultimately affect your capacity to keep clients and expand your company.
As the name implies, voice calls are the main emphasis of a typical call center. The interactions remain restricted inside the separate channels, even if a call center offers some multi-channel customer assistance. A clear picture of the entire client journey is not given by this. Conversely, an innovative contact center, as the name suggests, enables clients to get in touch with a business by any channel they like, not simply phone calls.
Keep reading and exploring to learn the difference between a call center and contact center. Moreover, in the end, you will have a clear idea of which center you should apply to provide excellent customer support in 2025.
Contact Center vs Call Center: What Are They?
Before getting into the contact center vs call center debate, let’s talk about key concepts of both of them:
What is a Contact Center?
A contact center is a customer service hub that supports a multitude of connection channels, including phone, email, social media platforms, chat, SMS and conversations, video conferencing, screen sharing, and more. Depending on their team structure, agents usually possess the knowledge and skills to operate across all of these channels or a specific subset.
The technology deployed in these office or hybrid settings is referred to as contact center software. But we generally think about it in relation to personnel taking outgoing calls or responding to incoming transactions.
A contact center handles all sorts of client engagement. The following digital channels ought to become supported:
- Phone Calls
- Emails
- Video
- Live chat
- Escalations of chatbots
- Social media
- Text messages (SMS)
Before the COVID-19 epidemic and the rise of new technologies, call centers were regarded as the gold standard for customer service. These changes, nevertheless, changed customer interactions as well as how many companies operated.
Many call centers naturally evolved into more intricate, multipurpose contact centers as analog and basic telephone communication gave way to numerous digital channels. After knowing what is a contact center, we’ll now discuss what is a call center before jumping into the main contact center vs call center debate.
What is a Call Center?
In call center vs contact center, a call center is a collection of customer care representatives that work remotely or on-site and answer phones. For small to medium-sized enterprises, call centers may have a few agents; for huge organizations, they may have hundreds.
Although you may provide multiple means of assistance, many people keep these touchpoints separate. For instance, your call center staff isn’t going to respond when a consumer phones to inquire about the status of their Twitter/X post.
Customer support specialist representatives, referred to as call center agents, answer incoming and outgoing calls at a contact center for small businesses. Agents who accept inbound calls assist clients with account queries, scheduling, technical assistance, complaints, and concerns about products and services.
Telemarketing, fundraising efforts, lead creation, scheduling, client retention, and debt collection are the main topics of outbound calls. By offering prompt, trustworthy customer specialist support via the phone, a traditionally trusted medium, call centers contribute to the customer experience. Call center and customer care are two terms that are also the same things. We’ll now come to the main contact center vs call center key differences so that you have a clear idea about the working mechanism.
Contact Center vs Call Center: Key Differences
Here is the key difference between a call center and contact center for small businesses, which you must know if you just started your business in 2025:
Channels of Communication
The sole purpose of call centers is voice communication. Experts in managing phone conversations, agents are skilled in verbal problem-solving, tone, and timing.
Customers and support staff may communicate directly thanks to our voice-centric strategy. This special phone line is still very helpful for companies where confidential conversations or complicated explanations are frequent.
On the other hand, contact centers use social media, chat, SMS, email, and other forms of communication in addition to voice. Whether clients prefer text-based communication that works with their schedule or instant phone discussions, this multi-channel system enables businesses to reach them where they are.
The phone is still the primary means of contact for call centers, which came into existence before digital networks. Therefore, it is the main difference between the call center and contact center. Moreover, a contact center is excelling in our contact center vs call center comparison.
Nevertheless, a lot of organizations gain from them since live agent phone calls may provide a customized experience that other channels frequently don’t. Nonetheless, contact centers’ many channels give clients the flexibility to communicate with a business via the channel of their choosing.
Also Read: Front Office vs Back Office: The Backbone of a Successful Business
Automation Levels
Many customers expect to interact with a professional to handle their difficulties, even though contact centers might use software-driven menus to route calls. Businesses must always have the opportunity to communicate with human customer care representatives to achieve high levels of client satisfaction.
Businesses may utilize more automated features with a contact center and customer care, which reduces expenses and human manual work. Common issues may be promptly fixed with the help of tools, including chatbots and self-service choices. Growing businesses could end up able to manage many communication responsibilities through automation without having to add more staff.
Customer Support Agent Skills
The skill sets of your agents will also influence your decision of contact center vs call center. Opens in a new window, along with the resources and funding allocated for agent training.
Contact center agents must be proficient with digital technologies and have multitasking skills since they employ greater use of digital and asynchronous networks than call center agents. However, to resolve events in real-time, call center personnel must be able to think fast and maintain composure.
To achieve client expectations, customer service representatives must possess the proper balance of hard and soft abilities. In terms of soft skills, they must be skilled listeners and communicators, capable of critical thinking and problem-solving, and able to settle disputes in complex circumstances.
In order to do their jobs effectively and provide consumers with more individualized advice in real-time, they must have proficiency in the use of dashboards, service tools, devices, automation tools, and access to client data.
Types of Client Information Gathered
Contact centers may gather more diverse consumer data, increase client profiles, offer more concentrated customer care, and enhance customer experiences since they offer more communication channels than call centers.
For instance, contact centers can uncover consumer connections and sentiments using social media data that may not be visible over the phone. Nevertheless, contact centers may analyze phone conversations using speech analysis tools to learn more about a customer’s purchasing habits and behavior. Therefore, it is the main difference between call center and contact center.
Task Complexity
Task complexity is another big difference in our contact center vs call center comparison. For a variety of sectors, call centers are perfect. With a staff of agents trained to handle sales, inquiries, support, and other consumer problems, callers may navigate through lines with ease. Callers can be sent to the right department with the use of call transferring software.
In contrast, contact centers employ a range of tools to manage intricate tasks. When offering exceptional to satisfactory customer service, can be a huge benefit. It’s more likely that contact center agents have the resources necessary to facilitate multitasking without requiring lengthy wait times. They can also skillfully hop from one channel to another to reference earlier exchanges or handle more complex challenges. These linkages tend to deliver the smooth customer service that contemporary customers want.
Expansion Capabilities
Today, choosing a call center vs contact center affects more than simply your agents and consumers. Furthermore, we’re discussing more than just call volume.
You must transition from a call center to a contemporary contact center if you intend to call for channels like social media, email, and SMS.
Agent training is another consequence of this modern technology. It entails installing updated software. It’s a sign of change.
Your consumers will likely prefer to use a contact center vs call center different channel. It doesn’t follow that people can’t locate them or don’t want to utilize them just because you don’t make them available in one place.
You might solely use your Instagram account to advertise new items. However, what occurs if a client would rather use Instagram than give you a call? You don’t check the direct message that they give you. After all, Instagram is a one-way route for advertising communication, and you plan your postings. Your client is unaware of this, receives no response, and grows irate. They eventually depart for a rival.
Furthermore, multi-channel contact centers typically give you the upper hand over the competitors.
If there’s a possibility that your clients are using channels other than voice, don’t fall behind.
Which One Should Choose Between Call Center vs Contact Center?
It’s subjective, is the response to this.
Your customer service objectives and preferred method of client interaction will determine whether you choose a contact center vs call center. A call center with queueing, routing, and auto-dialing can be a cost-effective and effective option if your communication requirements are telephonic and largely linear. It’s also critical to remember that contact centers are most effective for companies that don’t intend to significantly expand their customer service operations.
When you need to provide your clients with a variety of service channels and guarantee that they receive consistent assistance across all of them, a contact center is ideal. Contact centers are also perfect if you want to improve brand recall and forge closer bonds with your consumers.
What is a BPO Company?
Business process outsourcing, or BPO, is the practice of a firm assigning specific functions, such as finance, IT support, or customer care, to an outside organization with expertise in those fields. And no, call centers aren’t the only factor! Call center BPO services are frequently used by companies of all sizes to save expenses, grow more quickly, and increase productivity. Therefore, when someone asks, “What is a BPO company?” consider it a business strategy that enables organizations to focus on their central competencies while contracting out the rest to professionals.
Managing a business is difficult since there is always a lot of work to be done. Businesses frequently find it difficult to balance everything, from answering consumer questions to handling payroll and IT problems. Empowering Era, a BPO business is a game changer in this situation. It excels in providing many services regarding call centers in US.
The answers to the questions “What is a call center BPO company, and why do companies rely on it?” include efficiency, cost savings, and 24-hour operations.
Conclusion
Selecting what works best between a contact center vs call center for your consumers is all that matters in the end. While some organizations require the flexibility of a multi-channel strategy, others thrive on the focus and simplicity of contact centers. The actual key?
Ensuring that those who depend on your service find it straightforward.
Consider a call center as a well-maintained machine that maintains efficient and straightforward communication. On the other hand, a contact center functions more like an Army, prepared to meet clients wherever they may appear. When utilized properly, both could prove quite effective. Comment below your thoughts on call center vs contact center. Moreover, you can also suggest which one you think is the future of customer support.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
What Is The Difference Between A Contact Center And A Call Center?
The channel or media utilized is the main difference between call center and contact center. While contact centers manage communications by phone, SMS, email, and social media, call centers handle voice calls. Both the sales and support teams use them to start or handle incoming client requests.
What Does A Contact Center Do?
A contact center is a department that handles client contacts via many channels, including social media, phone, and online chats. The phrase might also refer to the software that the team employs to manage these interactions.
What Is The Difference Between A Service Center And A Call Center?
The client experience is significantly impacted by customer service agents (CSRs). As the name implies, voice calls are the main emphasis of a typical call center. The interactions remain isolated inside the separate channels, even if a call center offers some multi-channel customer assistance.
What Is An Example Of A Contact Center Service?
Across several channels—including phone, text, email, web chat, and social media—a contact center delivers more complete customer service. Furthermore, contact centers have technical tools to enhance customer interaction, speed customer support, and simplify operations and process management.
