Bridging Customer Relationship Management and Telecommunications

Businesses that deal with large call volumes are faced with offering a good customer experience via the telephone for all of their customers. Customer relationship management may be the deciding factor in cultivating customer loyalty for these companies. Businesses or call centers with technical or customer support departments or large sales centers (whether centralized or decentralized) typically have robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs to monitor interaction with each customer. They interface with each customer via CRM databases which are software applications that contain all vital customer information.

A company’s survival depends on a company’s ability to provide better service, more “personal” service and faster service in order to deliver a good customer experience. Traditionally when incoming calls are answered, these departments handle calls with either Automatic Attendants, IVR (Integrated Voice Response), or a live voice (a rare commodity). Often times, the telephone experience, establishes a “less than personal” experience and companies are faced with implementing solutions that reinforce a “bond” with each customer individually.

So how does telecommunication technology form a “customer service” bridge with your CRM database to personalize phone calls? Today call center businesses have an array of technology and application offerings that enable them to improve the manner in which they handle their customer calls. “Screen Pop” which is a software tool that provides very specific functionality for these businesses. Screen Pop displays vital call information to call center staff as each call arrives. Through integration of inbound and outbound calls with your CRM database, “Screen Pop” modules populate all key information about the caller (previous call history, account numbers etc.). Having all pertinent information allows the staff to interact with the customer expeditiously, allowing for a more personal communication. Clipboard applications are also available with this functionality for complete documentation.

There are countless CRM applications on the market to meet any size of company’s needs. A telecommunications system provides the conduit necessary to interface with the CRM program, which provides the ability to access the customer records instantly. When a telephone call is received, the Caller ID is captured. The telecommunications system sends this information to the CRM database matching the Caller ID to a customer record. The customer information is sent to the agent receiving the call and the customer is now greeted with a personal touch.