Benefits of Integrating Telephone Systems with CRM Software: Guest Editorial

By Elie Rubin, CEO, INNITEL

Few things have helped to shape the modern business world as much as the idea of treating software as a platform rather than as a purely single-purposed application. When built around a core goal, the ability to integrate software packages with one another opens doors that have long since remained closed.

Prior to this technological breakthrough, companies had to rely on a patchwork of applications to accomplish their goals. Information could not flow between these applications; they were unable to communicate with one another. An application that controlled customer communication and relationship management was separate from the one that would actually manage the act of communicating. An application that managed call center operations would run independently of the agents responsible for actually making the calls.

As we’re aware, communication is key for any business to not just survive, but to thrive. That communication has to flow among the people that work there and within the applications and software that keep the business running. If the accounting department doesn’t talk to the marketing department, then issues arise. Likewise, if the PBX can’t talk to the CRM suite, that creates a disconnect between the two that can leave gaps in the business and critical opportunities will go unexplored.

Using modern programming techniques and highly-functional APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, applications can be combined and plugged into one other. Custom environments can be created that take the best of what each program brings and uses that to create the perfect solution to meet a given company’s needs.

Advancement of FX and binary options CRMs

Conversations about these types of software integrations happen at Innitel all the time. We specialize in integrating top-tier CRM platforms, as well as specialized Binary Options and Forex CRMs, with telephone and PBX systems. These systems are necessary to keep agents and sales representatives talking to the customers that depend on their software solutions.

To do this, we’ve developed three critical pieces of software that, on their own, would be incredibly powerful. However, our software integrates with industry giants like Zoho, SalesForce, and Vtiger. We can directly connect to Forex and Binary Options CRM suites including TechFinancials, SpotOption, and Tradologic. And we’re even in the lottery and gaming industry working with partners like LottoYard and Lottotech. So how did we take these giants in their respective verticals and make them even better?

The first thing we did was create Click2Call. Click2Call takes the responsibility of making outbound phone calls away from the agent and puts it in the hands of software that can do it faster and without errors. A global company knows all too well that long, international phone numbers can become difficult and tedious to dial. Over time, those extra minutes can add up. costing untold hours of productivity. Click2Call puts one-click outbound dialing at the fingertips of the agent viewing a customer’s record.

Changes made to the customer’s record are instantaneously updated across the CRM. And, Click2Call watches for special characters, wrong numbers, and ring-no-answer situations that may indicate that there is a problem with that customer’s record. Adapting to the situation in real-time, the software chooses the option that is most likely to lead to successful client contact.

For inbound call situations, we thought about how we could change the customer/agent relationship and strengthen that bond from the moment the agent takes the call. We drew on our own experiences and frustration with being forced to reintroduce ourselves to every support and call agent we’ve ever had to contact. This led us to wonder about what could happen if we put a caller’s information on the agent’s screen the moment a call was connected, with no interaction from that agent.

The result is our Information PopUp. Information PopUp polls the organization’s CRM and, when a match is detected between a client or customer’s contact information and the number that the inbound call originated from, it instantly displays that customer’s record on the agent’s screen.

No more asking your customers to hold while their information is retrieved. No more informal greetings when answering a customer’s call. Now, clients can be greeted by name when they call and the agent can have full access to their entire call history from the moment the first words are spoken.

Finally, our Predictive Dialer is nothing short of revolutionary. Working in the background, Predictive Dialer completely integrates into your PBX and monitors vital statistics like call volume, idle agents, average call times, and average numbers of open lines. Using this information along with our advanced algorithms, Predictive Dialer then manages outbound call activity to ensure that agents are operating at peak productivity. Predictive Dialer also ensures that call recipients only get live human voices on the other end of the phone when they pick up. Live call data can be fed to call center managers who can manually modify the call environment while simultaneously dropping in and listening to agent calls, evaluating agent performance, and offering assistance when needed.

Each of these products were born out of our customers’ needs for a communication package that would set them apart from their competition. Some are starting from the beginning and building from the ground up while others are established juggernauts in their industries looking to solidify their leads. Our products are built to help both.