In this digital era, customers anticipate a seamless experience irrespective of the channels used to conduct business. To attain a competitive advantage, your company should render customers with various communication options, for instance, email, social platforms, phone, and instant messaging. In addition, employees also require quick access to comprehensive customer information to allow your staff to respond to customers’ interests swiftly. Furthermore, recent research also indicated that an average organization misses about 25 percent of its customers. Most companies lose the majority of such customers because of poor customer service. Nevertheless, CRM phone system integration help companies retain around 89 percent of their customers.
What is CRM Integration?
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tactical tool that is leveraged by companies to better fathom the identification of the customers and how they interact with the organization. Although to properly benefit from the CRM system, system integration must be done with the remaining technology stack. Hence, CRM entails the management and consolidation of the organization’s relationships with probable and existing customers to improve their experience. To accomplish the CRM goals, leading organizations deem CRM phone integration solutions from reliable providers. As a result, it allows them to:
- Tackle customer issues rather swiftly and hence enhance their satisfaction
- Create screen reports of vital customer information, for instance, their preferences and contact
- Integrate and amalgamate information from other sources and software on the same screen.
How to Incorporate Your Phone System with the CRM?
The implementation of a CRM solution and its amalgamation into the workflow and process of a company is as easy as following the ensuing four steps.
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Analysis Requirement
Research is the initial step because it helps in the allocation of sufficient time to evaluate the management needs and distinctive users. Furthermore, it is better to have a well-defined understanding of an organizations’ business needs.
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Mobile Design Stage
The second step after the analysis of needs is ‘design’. Mobile devices have restricted screen size and storage. Use should have accessibility to an intranet if there is a need to recall precise information at brief notice. It also entails the data input for utilization across the organization.
Hence, the company must determine the essential data demonstrate, then render suitable screens that can observe the information within the device’s limit. In addition, it is important to attempt to equalize the local storage with real-time accessibility on the device. As a result, it allows the users an option of working offline with enough data.
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Testing of Mobile App
Moving on, you collect user acceptance through education. First of all, you have to choose a group of approximately 20 percent of your anticipated user base. Such a group of improved testers is prepared and trained for implementing the CRM integration.
Precisely, this phase includes testing the performance and operation of the software infrastructure and mobile to make sure the project goals are met. In addition, you verify the security and environment of the live application server.
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Mobile Rollout
Here, it is time to introduce the latest program to the users. This phase involves providing comprehensive training of your users’ training to make sure buy-in. In addition, it also assists them in fathoming vital technical features.
Some users might find it perplexing to adapt to phone CRM. Especially, those users who originally utilized CRM on a PC with a keyboard, dashboards, expansive database, and large screen.
Major CRM Integrations
Any business can gain several specific advantages through the integration of significant business processes. Although, there are key CRM integrations that every business should consider, as described below.
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Chatbots
LiveChat or chat capability is attaining a more prominent role in business operations. CRM integration with a chat feature embedded on the mobile application or sales website allows chatbots to mechanically create leads from mobile app users or website visitors. Such integration of such leads and communications with the CRM system can make sure a swift response.
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Lead Management
The generation of leads from outside systems must be processed previously to loading into the system of CRM Sales Automation to establish if the lead is a prior customer or if any prior communication or engagement exists with the lead. As a result, the leads are analyzed, organized, and recorded grounded on qualifying standards. For instance, it includes source, demographic and psychographic elements, and social media. It improves the productivity and efficiency of the sales team by helping them aim for the best leads with reliable information easily.
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Contact Management
The CRM system usually has a function of contact management. Information preserved in the CRM system is usually needed to automatically keep in alignment with the ERP system. As a result, it supports both the processes of order fulfillment and billing. Furthermore, custom information is usually apprised in the ERP system. Moreover, there is a need to apply such updates to the CRM system. Hence, the smart CRM integrations assist in ensuring the alignment of data amongst various systems and further aids the replication of customer records.
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Marketing & Sales Automation
A quality CRM system often offers the capability to systematize various aspects of the marketing and sales processes. Such processes tend to encompass several applications needing process integration and data. Programming recurring tasks assist the staff to dedicate their focus and time to additional complicated tasks. As a result, it leads to an increase in employee productivity. For instance, it entails the collection of data, its analysis, marketing campaigns, outgoing calls, and various more tasks that were priorly conducted manually. In addition, it eliminates errors and enhances the quality of data.
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Email
Integration between the CRM application and the email system further allows the internal email client UI from within the system. In addition, the salesperson usually depends on email as the principal communication method. Sales staff uses it with CRM, so it places the present account and contact data within their reach without having to log in to various systems. As a result, it further renders accessibility to communal accessibility to shared sequences and templates. Hence, it also enhances the productivity of the sales staff as a whole.
In terms of email marketing, such abilities are often restricted in the majority of CRM systems. Furthermore, some organizations utilize a rather stronger marketing system of external direct email. In addition, these systems need integration and admission to data dwelling in the ERP and CRM systems. For instance, it involves lead demographics, customer demographics, and their purchase behavior.
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Social Media Marketing
The integration between the social media platforms and CRM further streamlines the tasks of social media marketing, such as automatic posting. In addition, it also simplifies and orchestrates the cooperation of various departments and employees together. Hence, the integration of CRM with the social media accounts of a company allows the staff to know what customers engage with and share the most.
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Approvals & Workflow
The usage of preconfigured workflows is an effective method to attain prompt efficiency and productivity. Such preconstructed workflows are rendered in both your ERP and CRM systems. The integration of CRM with the other edge applications also renders workflow engines. As a result, the company can create custom workflows in their respective edge application, CRM, and integration middleware. Distinct workflows can be incorporated to further offer automatic end-to-end workflow across various applications.
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Proposals and Contracts Management
Integration between a doc signing platform and CRM is also helpful for businesses. Furthermore, such an integration assists companies to find, negotiate, and e-Sign contracts straight from the CRM. As a result, it offers a quick transfer of contracts from Oracle Projects or another external contract system. In addition, such CRM integration lets the process of transferring and signing the contracts and proposals straight from the CRM system.
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Management of Events
Furthermore, another key CRM integration includes the incorporation existing between an event management software and CRM. In addition, it will offer access to data to fathom the way ticket sales of an event and its attendance affect the sales funnel of an organization. Moreover, it further renders insightful information about the contacts that attend the events. As a result, it helps companies to better connect with the attendees in the future.
Moving on, the integration between a business card scanner system at tradeshows and CRM swiftly registers leads and contacts effectively. Such integration also sends details about the contact, company, prior, and present opportunities in the CRM to the staff at tradeshows. As a result, it leads to an effective engagement of the lead.
The communication process is easier when a virtual event platform or webinar or virtual meeting platform is integrated with CRM. Hence, it allows the employees to effortlessly direct reminders of the event’s registration to your contact list. As a result, it creates robust funnel reports to understand the ROI of the event. In addition, it also assists in creating the targeted follow-up campaigns.
Benefits of CRM Integration
As companies increasingly develop their technology portfolios, the requirement for a robust integration strategy is highly important. As a result, it compels the organization to make the most of its technology investments. Furthermore, it also accomplishes efficiencies and makes sure seamless communication between applications. There are many more benefits of using a CRM integration, as discussed below.
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Better Customer Experience
One of the greatest benefits of CRM integration includes an improved efficiency in handling customers. Puzzled customers frequently come at the great costs of decreased business, lost sales, and lessened customer interest. Luckily, the amalgamation of CRM with marketing automation is a diminution in an increase in clarity. Such clarity originates from the newfound ability of the marketer to deliver a constant and accurate message. For instance, it also aids from additional time attained from automatic efficacies, which assists employees to spend additional time on the establishment of relationships.
Furthermore, a recent study showed that 1 in 4 customers contacting a company on social media to express a complaint, such customers expect a response within an hour or to a lesser extent. In addition, 42 percent of customers expect a swift response within an hour or lesser time frame. Based on such expectations, it is important that businesses swiftly respond to customer messages and queries. Luckily, CRM integration with automatic systems enables organizations to respond faster. As a result, it increases the quality of positive brand communication and interactions.
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Increased Productivity
Another report by the HubSpot State of Inbound showed that 32 percent of sales representatives spend more than an hour on data entry per day. Hence, if the CRM and website are not integrated, then the company is wasting time on data entry. For instance, it wastes time in exporting data from the website then transferring it into the CRM system, or manually copying and pasting the entire data rather than capturing data in the CRM. If you choose an automated integration amongst such two systems, then you decrease the administration overhead because the process of manual copy and paste is removed. As a result, it leads to an enhanced level of productivity as it releases the sales and marketing teams to concentrate on other important tasks.
Furthermore, the CRM integrated marketing automation further enables businesses to better assess the failures and successes of the marketing department. Consequently, organizations can enhance the focus on the growth of succeeding aspects of the business. In addition, such integration also lets the organizations successfully identify the robust departments and staff. This leads to more precise and available information, which makes it easy for companies to identify the achievements. Hence, it assists in rewarding the particular employees and departments for their efforts towards such progressions.
There are additional benefits of CRM integration into business operations. Such advantages are the main reasons why more companies are considering CRM integration. Most companies are discovering the way CRM integration renders them efficient. In addition, its automated systems help avoid errors from happening in the CRM systems. As a result, it prevents errors that lead to sales loss and impacts the sales base of a company. The integration of business processes and programs render a personalized touch to the companies, as well as assists the companies to grow and succeed.
