Today’s customer expects a seamless experience no matter how they choose to do business. To be competitive, organizations must provide customers with multiple communications options, including phone, email, instant messaging, text and social platforms. Employees need immediate access to detailed customer information in order to answer questions, troubleshoot problems and nurture a profitable relationship.
Many organizations have adopted customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to capture customer data and drive sales and marketing processes. When properly implemented, CRM tools can create a 360-degree view of the customer and provide the information needed for more informed decision-making. CRM analytics tools up the ante even further, enabling organizations to use customer data to gain new business insights.
For many organizations, however, CRM software is little more than a glorified Rolodex. Implementing a CRM solution is one thing. Integrating it into processes and workflows, and making it a strategic component to the business, is something else entirely. Organizations struggle to gather the data they need to better understand customers and perform meaningful analytics.
This challenge can be overcome by linking the CRM application with an IP phone system. This is possible because the IP phone system is software and voice calls are data that moves across the network. As a result, the phone system can be integrated with key business applications to increase productivity, improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience. A great example is the integration of the ShoreTel Unified Communications system with Salesforce, the world’s No. 1 CRM application.
Together, CRM software and the IP phone system can improve the quality customer of interactions by automatically delivering pertinent information along with each call. A “screen pop” can provide a holistic view of the customer, reducing wait times and ensuring that the call is routed to the appropriate person. Calls can be recorded and played back from within the CRM application. Employees can collaborate in real time, sharing call notes and comments to speed problem solving and decision-making.
Integrating both the phone system and CRM software into business processes can help speed decision-making and provide an edge over the competition. For example, marketing campaigns can be linked to a specific phone number so that agents know how to respond to each call. Call data can be tracked automatically so that the campaign’s success can be accurately measured.
Savvy organizations are also collecting detailed information related to average hold times, first-call resolution rates, abandoned calls and other key metrics. When the CRM software and phone system are tightly integrated, all the data related to a call can be automatically entered into the system, reducing the time employees spend on administrative tasks while providing management with more accurate reports for evaluating service levels and understanding customer needs.
CRM analytics is more than traditional call center reporting — it encompasses a variety of techniques for tracking and measuring data related to the customer experience. Data from a wide range of sources can be collected and analyzed to create a comprehensive customer profile and provide insight into demographics, behaviors and engagement. Sophisticated speech analysis can extract a wealth of information from recorded calls. Analysis of customer interactions and escalations can help organizations identify problems and inefficiencies and resolve them at their source.
CRM applications are among the most widely used business software, and CRM analytics is on the rise.
Eastern DataComm has expertise integrating CRM software with IP phone systems in order to capture and mine the data generated with every customer interaction. Let us help you implement the tools you need to better measure performance, answer key business questions and gain an advantage over the competition.
