VoIP providers are integrating phones with other business technology platforms, demonstrating their advantage over legacy landline systems.
The linkage of Voice over Internet Protocol phones with your company’s sales-focused Customer Relationship Management software can form a unified communication platform. It will bring all your communications and data management functions under one umbrella.
Until recently, it was extremely difficult to connect Internet phone systems with cloud-based applications like CRM, but new upgrades are coming from CRM developers to ease the process.
How the modules work
Cloud-based CRM vendors are introducing modulesOpens a new window that can automatically match incoming calls to client records. The modules access the appropriate contact or account record when a call is answered and provides immediate visibility of an existing customer’s account history.
The key to the functionality is flexibility, of course. One CRM vendor, Really Simple SystemsOpens a new window , recently rolled out a VoIP connectivity module that it claims is compatible with most VoIP software and is configured using a URL link to connect the systems.
From a practical perspective, these integrations are designed to kick in when a call is received.
Really Simple Systems’s module responds by sending a string of numbers to the CRM, which then automatically searches the available telephone fields to find a match. Once a match is found, the relevant screen is pitched to the user.
Helping with large loads
The technology is valuable for companies that field a large volume of calls, for example those with big, customer-facing call centersOpens a new window , or where there is an emphasis on the speed at which a sales person can respond.
There’s little time delay between the call’s reception and the agent seeing the caller’s details. This has an impressive effect on customers while at the same time allows call centers to process a higher volume of calls.
There are additional benefits of this integration for your company. You can feed calling data into your CRM platform to generate what’s known as “closed loop analytics†for your marketing team, helping it test different tactics to evaluate the customer reaction — for example, which sales tactics and techniques are most likely to close the deal?
It also allows better oversight of sales agents, yielding more detailed metrics that can inform management concerned with mentoring and coaching sales teams and customer service agents.
Factor for upgrades
VoIP integration is also becoming a factor in deliberations over new VoIP systems or upgrades.
While such advances are no guarantee of better customer satisfaction or higher revenue generation, they do mean that your company will have a better handle on what’s happening within phone-based customer interactions and can react accordingly.
After all, telephone-based sales and customer relations now make up an essential component of many companies’ sales strategy. If you’re dealing with a high volume of calls and thinking about upgrading to Internet phone systems, why not consider how it can now connect directly to your CRM sales software?
Key takeaways:
- The latest generation of VoIP technology is integrating more tightly with CRM and other business platforms, providing new advantages for companies working to develop unified communications functionality across their businesses.
- By linking VoIP and CRM systems, you can create faster reaction times for your sales and customer services personnel because client records are called up instantaneously.
- Additional advantages accrue from the new layer of data such connectivity provides with the addition of calling data and customer behavior. This enables your management team to analyze your sales team in more granular detail.