What is CRM Integration?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools help businesses organize, track, and analyze interactions with current and potential customers. CRM integration is the process of connecting these tools with common business platforms, such as a phone system. By integrating your CRM platform to communicate with other software programs, you can improve efficiency and workflow throughout your organization.

How Does CRM Integration Work?

To facilitate CRM integration, a reputable CRM platform will provide customers with an Application Programming Interface (API). The API provides the necessary programming to allow data to flow seamlessly between your CRM database and your phone system, keeping both programs in sync. Once these systems are integrated, users can input comments, orders, and customer information while speaking with a client. These interactions will automatically generate new records that will be tied to that unique customer’s profile. For example, if a customer places an order over the phone with a representative, that order would be logged into the integrated platform. If that customer calls back the next day, the phone system would recognize the customer's phone number and pull up the appropriate account, including the record of the order placed the previous day.

Benefits & Advantages of CRM Integration

The major benefit of CRM integration is a more detailed analysis of customer interactions without the need for manual input. CRM integration might require a bit of programming on the back end, but once it is set up, tracking your customer interactions becomes a seamless, automatic process. Call logs, talk time and end-of-call survey data would be logged into the system automatically once your systems are integrated. The more detailed data can also help your sales team more accurately identify potential customers and customize offers that are likely to be of greatest interest to them, based on their previous interactions with your company. Any team member who receives a call from a customer will have immediate access to their complete customer record, including previous orders, contact history, and contact attempts made by other employees.

Types of Companies That Can Use CRM Integration

CRM integrations are used heavily in businesses that perform detailed customer analysis, such as marketing organizations, professional services firms, or manufacturers and warehousing companies. It is also helpful in companies with large call centers or support departments where many different employees might interact with the same customer over time.