CRM with VoIP: 11 Reasons Why You Should Combine Them

When it comes to being one of the top companies in today’s times, it is necessary that the company takes the help of latest technological advancements in order to provide the best products and experience to their customers. A happy and satisfied customer automatically means that the company will prosper and continue growing towards a positive future.

What is VoIP?

VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and it is a technology that is used to make voice calls over the internet. This is good if you want to eliminate different connection lines for your broadband and phone and want the same connection that can be used to perform both tasks. You can make calls to anyone as if you were using a traditional phone call and it can be local, international, mobile or long distance. Some VoIP services might need you to use a special VoIP phone or a device while other services will just work with a traditional phone which is connected to the VoIP service using some sort of adapter.

When you use a VoIP service, your voice is converted into digital signals and the signal travels over the internet in the same way as other internet traffic is transmitted.

CRM with VoIP: 11 Reasons Why You Should Combine Them

You can make VoIP calls directly from a computer system, a VoIP phone device or just a normal phone which is connected to the VoIP service with an adapter. It is not necessary that a VoIP service always has to be wired. Some services even allow you to make VoIP calls over wireless hotspots which makes VoIP a better option than old phone systems.

There are many VoIP services that one can use for free, but they are quite limited and cannot be used for business purposes. If you want to integrate VoIP in your business, then you need to buy service licenses from companies that provide these VoIP services for a company like yours. A company might be able to use VoIP to reduce costs and to make their system more efficient. All you need is a broadband connection that is high speed and a VoIP service license to get started and that is everything.

You will find many companies that integrate VoIP systems in their CRM or Customer Relationship Management in order to make the CRM more efficient. Let us take a look at what CRM is and then we will move forward and see how and why one can integrate VoIP with CRM.

What is CRM?

CRM is an acronym for Customer Relationship Management. The term is used to define the practices, technologies and ways that an organization has in their system to manage the interactions and relationship with a customer. This system is used to keep an eye on the data coming from a customer in order to provide them a better service along with the goal of increasing sales and improving business relations with a customer. CRM systems can be used to collect and organize the customer data with regards to different purposes.

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The staff of the company in which the CRM is in play can find customer’s information and origin of that information like a website, chat, emails or other sources through which the customer can contact that specific company. The company will be able to keep an eye on customer’s purchase history, support prompts and tickets and more important information that will help them in having an organized customer relation with all their customers.

To have this all in one place, a company needs to have a CRM software set up on their concerned department’s systems and this software will be able to help the CRM team to manage the customer relations in a much better way. Not only does a software make it easy to manage customer data, but there are some additional features that come along with the CRM software that helps a CRM team in various other ways. Take a look at some of the features.

Why Every Business Needs a CRM to Organize Contacts

Automation of Marketing

What good is all that customer data if you cannot convert it into profit for your business? This is where a CRM software comes in. Many good CRM software out there help in automating the whole marketing process. Example of this can be presented as the emails, SMS messages and mails that are sent to the customers automatically as a company adds new products to their portfolio. Instead of alerting the customers manually one by one, a CRM software can easily do the job automatically which means you will not only save time, but also money! For better understanding, you can check the infographic by Niel Patel and Ritika Puri that will explain you all about Marketing automation.

Automation of Sales Force

A sales force is important to make sales of your products to customers. A CRM software can help a sales force by easily managing all the follow-ups, contacts and procedure tracking etc.

Being Able to Contact Customers Directly

A CRM software can make it easy for people operating it to contact a customer in a much easier way instead of manually contacting them. This can be done with the help of SMS messages, emails or even VoIP which means a CRM operator will be able to contact the customer over the phone and this will result in a much better contact service.

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Integrating CRM with VoIP – Introduction to the Idea

VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol can be integrated with Customer Relationship Management i.e. CRM to manage interactions with your customers in a better way. Not only does integrating VoIP with CRM makes it easier to manage contacts with a customer, but it is also a cost effective addition that will improve performance of your CRM department.

Integrating VoIP along with CRM will result in better business related communications with the customers and in a time like right now, it is important to reach out to the customer to stay ahead of the competition. This is one of those integrations/additions that a business needs to do with their company that will make their functions not only better, but it will also be a way to get traction in a competitive market to attain best possible productivity and success when it comes to business.

The main target if combining CRM with VoIP is providing better customer service to the customers. What better way is to contact a customer, other than just calling them and asking about the problem they are facing with your product or service?

Not only does this reduce the hassle to get the things fixed from the customer’s point of view, but talking to the customer will also help your support team understand the issues in a better way to be able to solve them as soon as possible. This service is fully compatible while you use NordVPN servers Have we not experienced the same when we can talk to the support representatives on call when we run into issues with our day to day products & services?

The integration of CRM and VoIP will streamline both systems to create an interface which, when used correctly will give your company a better name and the customers more confidence in your products and services. A happy customer has the potential of bringing more customers with the good things that they have to say about your company.

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The combination of CRM and VoIP will also help your company to save time and manpower and hence money. Let’s say a customer calls your support to help, the CRM system which integrates with VoIP will be able to pull all the details about the customer just by detecting the phone number! The data like their contact numbers, names, support tickets and more can be used to solve their issues at the earliest.

Case Studies with Real Companies/Organization

uShip – Shipping Marketplace

uShip is an Austin, Texas based shipping marketplace which required a centralized access feature for all the contact information like contacts, their membership status, notes and more. You can check the case study here and see how the integration of VoIP and CRM helped them.

Exacq Technologies – Surveillance Equipment

Exacq Technologies is one of the biggest IP & Hybrid surveillance equipment provider. They are one of those companies who were keeping support request in hardcopy form in the form of notebooks. They later on chose to upgrade to a CRM and VoIP combined system which helped them in making their support staff’s workflow smooth. Read the case study here.

Byram Healthcare – Medical Supply Company

Byram Healthcare required a way to deal with the immense amount of customer support quiries that were coming in through the support number and the integration of VoIP in the CRM helped them organize the support in a better way. Read more about it here.

How to Integrate or Combine CRM with VoIP & How it works?

How to do it?

Now that you know the possibilities of having a combined system of CRM and VoIP, it is time to see how they can be integrated.

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There are countless number of CRM Software that companies use. Many companies use publicly available CRM they buy licenses of while others spend money and resources in order to develop their own CRM systems. In both cases, these systems need proper networking in order to work in a better way. This networking is provided by high speed broadband internet lines which help this CRM software to fetch and send data from servers and mainframes where all the data about the customer is saved.

This is where one can decide if they want VoIP integrated into the CRM systems or not. If you have read this post so far, I am sure you will be able to realize the advantages of having VoIP integrated with CRM. But we will cover that topic in detail in the next section. Anyway, after the decision of integrating a VoIP system has been made, it should be decided which VoIP service you are going for.

There are many free VoIP services out there, but they cannot be used in business applications and hence you need to license your VoIP and move forward. Now, depending on the type of VoIP service you are going for, you might need to buy some specialized VoIP phones to be able to make calls. But you can also choose to have regular phones and headsets connected to your PC to be able to make the calls.

Many companies choose to go with headsets that have microphone integrated into them to save some money. But you should only choose the system that will work best for your requirement. The specialized VoIP phones provide a bit extra features that are useful in VoIP applications. A normal phone can also be used in VoIP practices with the help of an adapter which is a good thing.

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How does it work?

The combination of CRM and a VoIP system can prove itself to be a very solid tool when it comes to improving business operations and customer service. Not only is the cost of a VoIP solution lower to that of a proper phone system, but it can also make the communication flow better in a company and with the customers at the same time. Being able to pull all the data about the customers with the help of their number in a system that has CRM software and VoIP integrated is a very efficient solution of data management. Not only is the tracking of support tickets easier, but the communication means that a customer has with the company is made easier.

With the integration of VoIP in a companies CRM, the efficiency and productivity of being able to solve a customer’s issue in the best possible way and that too at the earliest. The tracking of support tickets filed by the customer also becomes easier as the CRM operator can see the history of orders, support tickets and open tickets in order to help them. A business with a better customer service is known to flourish faster than a business that is known for the mediocre service they offer. You can perform following things in a system where CRM and VoIP are integrated.

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• Access customer’s data like name, phone, orders etc.
• Access past support requests & tickets
• Track the progress or tickets, orders etc.
• Market products to the customer in a better and productive way.

With all these advantages that we have mentioned in fragments, it is important that we sum, these benefits up in a section to show how well a system in which the CRM and the VoIP is integrated working when it comes to improving customer service and profits of a business.

Benefits of Integrating CRM with VoIP

There are many benefits of integrating CRM with VoIP and we will be listing them down one by one in this section.

1. A Lot of Money is Saved

A regular phone system in addition to an existing broadband connection will only end up increasing the costs in the CRM. But if you choose to go for a setup in which both CRM systems and VoIP are integrated, a lot of money is saved as the calls will be made through the broadband connection itself.

2. Improved Communications between People

When it comes to communicating with the customer, what better way would be the go to form of communication except for calling them on their phone? Emails & chats are good ways of communicating, but when it comes to voice calls, they are preferred by everyone, including the customer as well as the support staff. Customers feel comfortable while speaking to explain their problems or issues and at the same time the support staff will be able to understand the issues in a better manner.

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3. Better Data Management

A CRM system that has VoIP integrated can be used to save time as well as money. As soon as the call with the customer is connected, all the data about the customer, including their names, phone number(s), address, orders, support tickets etc. are fetched from the system and hence this saves a lot of time which could have been spent in asking the customer about the details. This not only makes it better for the CRM support staff, but also makes the customer feel known.

4. Calls are Handled in a Professional Way

There are only so many calls that the support staff can take at a single instance and this is handled well by the CRM system integrated with VoIP by providing proper wait times. The calls are queued and then forwarded to the next free support staff who is available to take the call. This is good for handling all the incoming calls when there is a surge.

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5. Phone Call Quality Does Not Degrade

In an older call center system, the phone call quality degrades with respect to the number of calls that are coming in. This does not happen in a system that has integrated CRM and VoIP as the voice calls are made over a digital connection thanks to the broadband connection.

6. Less Annoying Call up Menus

Ever called a support number and faced a plethora of options through which you had to dial the correct numbers? Well, a system with combined CRM and VoIP can result in a better menu and callers don’t have to go through a long sequence of automated voice to choose the correct department they want to talk to.

7. Faster Call Connection

The calls are connected faster and there are no manual actions required. This system actually automates many things and calling is one of them. Instead of manually pulling and dialing the number, you can just call the numbers from the CRM readily using the integrated VoIP service. This not only saves time but also provides faster connection.

8. Reduced Data Entry Needs

Older systems required the CRM staff to refill the details every time a customer called them up. This took up a lot of time and it also added into the already existing problem of data ambiguity. With the introduction of CRM and VoIP systems that are integrated, the data entry needs are reduced to a bare minimum as only updates were needed to be recorded in the already existing pool of data about the customer after the call.

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9. Highly Scalable Support Solution

The integration of VoIP with CRM can be easily scaled with time if it needs to be done. This can become an important step to take as the number of customers starts growing and the support line needs more support staff to be added in order to provide service to the customers. It is a good idea to prepare for the future while doing a business and this system helps a business to scale easily without much expense and addition of commodity.

10. Call Recording & Monitoring is Possible

With the help of VoIP, a business can easily record calls with their CRM in order to keep track of the service being provided by the support staff. These recorded calls can also be used to keep track of the requirements, issues and demands stated by the customer for future purposes. This feature can also be used to provide training and feedback to the support staff so that they will be able to work more efficiently.

11. Automation of Marketing & Sales

The CRM tool built-in features that allow the CRM staff to manage all the customer data. But if the CRM system integrates with VoIP, this can be extended to improve the marketing and sales tactics that a company uses. A company can choose to broadcast information about products while the customer is on hold which will expand the reach of the product and the sales will be boosted. There are several other applications that can be put into use in a similar way and they are all meant to provide both the customer as well as the company a better means to communicate and advertise.

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Final Words – Verdict

Many companies out there are already reaping the benefits of integrating VoIP into CRM to make the service experience better for customers and why not? Better experience will get them the good word in public about the company and its services that they expect after putting in the amount of work that goes into providing support to customers. This work can be reduced by combining CRM with VoIP and the benefits have been reported a countless number of times in this post. Technology has come a long way and one can easily take advantage of tech to make their business prosper easily.