The CRM centralizes customer journey data within one application. CX teams can then better manage data throughout the customer lifecycle, share that information, and understand the conversation history of each customer.
Yet, it is through integrations where CRM delivers immense value. Perhaps most notable is its integration with a contact center as a solution (CCaaS) offering.
Nowadays, many CCaaS providers will integrate with several CRM systems. Users may then experience the best of both worlds within one streamlined interface.
For contact center agents alone, this provides many mission-critical features. As Dibyendu Roy, Director of Product Management at Five9, says:
“Based on data such as customer purchases, conversation history, and sometimes sentiment, agents can deliver personalized service experiences that satisfy rising customer expectations”
However, managers may also add other tools into the contact center ecosystem to draw further benefits from the data held within the CRM. Speech analytics, bots, and reporting tools will all drink from this centralized data lake to not only improve operational performance but CX too.
5 Crucial Contact Centre Integrations to Drive CRM Value
Leading CCaaS providers are infusing their solutions with AI. As such, they require a healthy data stream to unlock their full potential. The CRM plays an integral role here, generating the necessary data flow that enables the following technologies to enhance CX.
- Speech Analytics
Speech analytics allows contact centers to isolate customer journey pain points, anticipate customer needs, and track new metrics. Yet, with a CRM integration, it can do much more.
First of all, it adds to the 360-degree view of every customer, which aggregates within the CRM of omnichannel contact centers. An excellent example is inserting emotional insights into this view, thanks to the ability of speech analytics to measure sentiment.
Such data can enhance the sophistication of outbound campaigns and proactive strategies that aim to increase customer retention. Yet, it also adds to the arsenal of customer experience management teams.
After all, emotions elevate CX. Understanding this, companies can adapt their personalization and engagement strategies to provide a more emotionally stimulating experience.
As a Deloitte article suggests: “We all know that customers are humans and that humans have emotions. But sometimes, brands forget to connect those dots.” Combining sentiment analysis with the CRM creates the opportunity to do so.
Another possible use case is speech analytics automating call dispositioning. In doing so, it stores contact reasons within the CRM, improving data accuracy and accelerating the After Call Work (ACW) process.
- Reporting Tools
“Weighing the pig doesn’t make it fatter.” A fabulous saying with particular significance across the contact center industry, a space where analysis without action is commonplace.
Why? Because getting to grips with contact center data is often overwhelming, and leaders have little time to action that data – aka. fatten the pig. Luckily, the CRM arranges the data, making critical insights easier to access.
Yet, reporting tools mine insights to accelerate data analysis further. In doing so, they give contact center leaders the gift of more time to improve customer service experiences through data-driven decision-making.
As a result, execution is no longer the contact center’s weakest link. Operations can learn and act quickly to increase agility, which is a critical facet of the future contact center. Another is collaboration, which Dibyendu Roy highlights:
“By mining data and uncovering critical insights, contact centers can develop a unified view of the CX. Sharing this with other departments enables customer-centricity, which also strengthens the position of the contact center within the enterprise”
- Virtual Assistants
“We see AI and CRM coming together to support intelligent customer-facing chatbots, both enabling self-service and allowing organizations to qualify opportunities before a salesperson gets involved,” says Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst at Metrigy.
Yet, the potential capabilities of integrating the CRM with a virtual assistant extend further. For starters, consider the voicebot. Assessing insights available within the CRM, it facilitates data-driven routing and enables better contact center conversations.
Also, the CRM paves the way for personalized self-service experiences through the voice channel. By allowing the voicebot to dip in and out of the system - retrieving and storing customer data - CX teams can automate multiple contacts. In doing so, they meet the needs of the modern, autonomous customer, who may resolve their queries without lifting a finger through a smart speaker.
Finally, consider virtual agents that work side-by-side with agents. Infused with real-time speech analytics, these monitor customer conversations. As a result, they can proactively present relevant insights from the CRM to the agent as the interaction progresses. Doing so streamlines contact handling while enhancing agent experiences.
- The Agent Desktop
When there is no integration between the CRM and agent desktop, agents must copy and paste information from one system to another. Not only is this process prone to error, but it also slows down the conversation, frustrating customers and agents alike.
An integration paves the way for process automation, limiting such laborious tasks. These extend far beyond copy and pasting. For example, perhaps an agent wishes to send a purchase confirmation message to a customer. Ideally, a simple click of a button will trigger a workflow that harnesses information from the CRM and completes the task in a matter of moments.
By developing such workflows, agents may fully focus on the matter at hand. As contact center contacts grow in complexity - thanks to the rise in self-service and virtual agents – this ability becomes ever more crucial.
- Proactivity and Personalisation Tools
Proactive alerts inform customers and adjust behaviors to optimize their journeys. However, a strategy is necessary to ensure that proactive notifications are helpful, not a nuisance.
Adding rules to customer journey maps is the ideal approach. Companies can trigger proactive notifications at particular touchpoints to push customers along the optimal path and increase their satisfaction. Automatically embedding customer information into these communications – through a CRM integration - also helps to increase engagement.
Yet, to be more adventurous in growing and retaining a customer base, CX teams can connect AI-enriched proactivity tools to the CRM. These scan the system to determine the optimal moment to engage with customers.
