Contact Center CRM: A Fresh Look

Customer relationship management software has become the top way to collect and organize customer-related information. In fact, recent studies find that CRM adoption rates have jumped significantly as companies compete through service and relationships more than ever.

If you’re not yet taking full advantage of this technology for your contact center, how can you gain the maximum benefits of a CRM? Discover everything you need to know about using a contact center CRM. 

Key Takeaways:

• A quality contact center CRM is essential for productivity and providing top-notch customer service.
• Your CRM also helps your team collaborate and collect data.
• A CRM can improve your employee tracking and evaluations.
• Look for cloud connectivity and third-party integrations as important features of your CRM.
• Choose a CRM by determining how well it works with your contact center and its potential return on investment.

Why Is a Contact Center CRM Critical to Your Success?

Contact center CRM software collects and organizes the data about your leads and customers in a single, easy-to-use program. The application lets your agents manage interactions with customers and leads across all your communications channels. 

With the exploding popularity of contact center CRM solutions, you can count on your competitors to use the software to manage customer relationships and put their best foot forward. You should do the same.

In particular, small and medium-sized businesses should take advantage of the technology. The software helps these companies provide the type of personal attention that buyers often expect from modest operations.

What Are the Advantages of a Contact Center CRM?

A contact center CRM offers multiple benefits that will enhance your operations when you implement the tool correctly.

More Information for Agents and Better Team Collaboration

Your contact center CRM provides your agents with all the up-to-date information they need on a caller’s situation at any time of day. As a result, your agents can provide more personalized service and increase first-call resolution rates.

Plus, a CRM also helps your team work better together to solve customer problems. Everyone can access the appropriate information without forwarding files back and forth and wasting time.

Easy access to essential tools and happier customers mean agents feel a sense of accomplishment and offer greater engagement.

An Improved Customer Experience

The primary goal of contact centers is to improve customer satisfaction and boost revenue.  Because you have more information and better collaboration when using a CRM, your customers can enjoy a more seamless customer experience and build loyalty to your brand.

Remember: People view your brand as one entity and expect quick, personalized interactions on every contact. Your company appears less attentive and even seems incompetent when customers have to repeat themselves to agents on follow-up communications.

With a contact center CRM, the details from every connection are in one place. Any agent who interacts with a caller can quickly pick up where the previous one left off for a fluid customer experience.

Enhanced Data

Data has become the most valuable resource for businesses. Your contact center CRM provides better access to information about your clients and operations to help you improve. As a result, you can make better decisions that lead to increased revenue.

Additional data also helps you improve employee training. As you understand what works best during caller interactions, you can direct agents about how to communicate more effectively. Teams learn what types of information have more value to your bottom line.

What Features Does Your Contact Center CRM Require?

You can only get the benefits out of your contact center CRM if it has the right features. Ensure your software contains the following characteristics.

Cloud Connectivity

Your CRM needs to be more than a program running on local machines. Like your contact center software, you should look for a cloud-based solution that your team can access from any location. Then you will be able to manage remote and hybrid teams effectively.

Software Integrations

Another essential feature is the ability to integrate with your contact center as a service and other productivity solutions. This capability saves you time and money. Of course, quality contact center software will have development tools to integrate with any quality CRM.

Excellent Customer Service 

Check a contact center CRM provider’s record for customer service. Technology is never flawless, and you may run into issues with integrations or specific operations. Be sure you can count on the vendor to give you the help you need if challenges come up.

Effective Employee Tracking

CRM software can be an excellent tool for monitoring employee activity. You can track hours, tasks, meetings, sales figures, and current objectives. 

Find a program that tracks the specific metrics that are valuable for your business. Then use the data to evaluate performance, provide incentives, recognize high-performing employees, and identify areas for improvement.

Automated Customer Reporting and Analytics

Find a contact center CRM that automates the lion’s share of data collection and analytics. When you have to make decisions about marketing, products, services, and operations, you can rely on the data to help you make good choices. 

With automation, you also save your team from dealing with manual data entry. Reports find that manual processes are still a top challenge for teams using a CRM.

How Can You Choose the Best CRM for Your Contact Center?

Numerous options are available for CRM software. You can locate the right program by looking for something that caters to your industry. For example, companies in health care may need an application similar to MEDITECH, which helps manage electronic health records.

Further, your business expenses should always work toward generating more revenue. Calculate the return on investment that a contact center CRM can bring. Use the figures to decide how much to spend and which add-ons are worth the extra cost.

Which Communications Software Is the Best Fit for Your Contact Center CRM?

The effectiveness of your contact center CRM depends on various factors, including the quality of your communications software. Work with a provider you can rely on at Intermedia. Contact us to learn more about our Contact Center solutions that integrate seamlessly with your CRM.

Rob Oscanyan

Robert Oscanyan is a Senior Director of Product Marketing at Intermedia, where he focuses on helping businesses improve their customer experience using Intermedia's award-winning cloud communications solutions. Rob has over a decade of experience spanning market research, messaging, and elevating the voice of the customer. In his free time, he constantly creating new adventures with his wife, seven kids, and a small army of pets.