CRM Integration: What it is and why it's important

CRM Integration: What it is and why it's important...

Integrating your business activities, contact and data into your CRM is a great way to ensure your business runs efficiently and effectively.

HubSpot defines CRM integration as the “seamless connectivity between your customer relationship management (CRM) software and third-party applications.” Integrations result in automated actions that expand the functionality of your software, eliminating the need to toggle back and forth between systems.  

CRM systems are extremely useful for businesses as they can centralise important business information into one, easy to use system. Ideally, your CRM system should be home to all of your customer interactions, but in reality the average business uses more than 900 applications, of which only 28% are integrated. 

Integrating as many external tools as possible with your CRM, such as social media, live chat, and email integrations, can improve productivity, customer interactions and ensure that different departments of your business are collaborating and functioning effectively. Without these integrations, your team may be making decisions about an account without all of the relevant information. As CRM software Monday.com says ‘CRM integration is important because if the left-hand doesn’t know what the right is doing, it will inevitably lead to gaps in your customer experience.’ 

Another crucial aspect of your business that you need to think about integrating with your CRM is telephony. One of the key features of 3CX is the ability to easily integrate it with your existing telephony system, without the need for a plugin or manual configuration. CRM software such as HubSpot, Zendesk, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics can all be integrated with your 3CX system to centralise all information on your customers, including contact and company details, purchase history, interactions and more. 

There are many benefits to integrating your CRM with 3CX, including: 
Screen Popping 
Screen popping pulls up the client contact record when a call comes into the company, saving the agent time in pulling up their details and being able to answer the call in a personal manner. This will then store a record of the contact into the client CRM which creates an audit log for any management teams to track or pull management information from.
 
Journaling 
Journaling is a similar function to screen popping in that it prompts the agent to make notes in the client CRM, so all calls have a record associated to them for better client management. Additionally, with both of these features, if a new number is calling in it will prompt a new record within the CRM to make a new customer profile off the back of the call, prompting better lead management and trackability. 

Make calls and store contact information 
Integrating your telephony with your CRM can improve the performance and productivity of your team. 3CX’s CRM integration allows you to launch calls directly from your CRM, without having to pick up a telephone so it has never been easier to reach out to your prospects. 3CX allows you to have all your customer information at your fingertips, with just a click of a button in your CRM you can bring up all the information you need about a customer including contact information, notes, tasks and meetings. 
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Call recording 
CRM platforms offer voice recording functions that can be beneficial to your business in a couple of ways. Firstly, keeping a log of call recordings is essential for when you have a complaint or issue with a customer as it will enable you to revisit the conversation in question and find a resolution. Secondly, the performance of your agents and quality of calls can be tracked and monitored by senior managers to ensure that sales messaging is kept consistent and whether the current script is working correctly. This can also signpost whether certain employees need extra training or, in some cases, disciplinary proceedings. 
 
If you would like to find out more about 3CX and its CRM integration features, then please use the button below to talk to a member of our friendly team who will be more than happy to talk to you about your needs and arrange a free demonstration.