The combining of telephony platforms and CRM is a process that makes total sense. They’re often the two most used software in any business.

If you’re customer-facing, you’ve got customer records. The more detail you have on them, the better and faster you can serve them. But a CRM is no good if you’ve your phone system as a barrier to entry.

Have you ever called a business you’ve interacted with before (knowing they’ve got all your details) but it’s taken forever to get through to the right person? And once you’ve connected, they spend forever typing up notes and not paying you full attention?

Integrating a CRM with a UCaaS platform means you shortcut all the hassle in between phone systems and CRM. Instead of a disjointed experience, where you feel like you’re causing an inconvenience, integration introduces a number of benefits:

• Less duplication and reduced potential for error: When data gets shared between systems in real time, humans don’t need to double type or copy and paste.
• More personalized customer experiences: Call center agents have access to past interaction history and can recall key events and transactions.
• Fewer clicks and less chance of misdialing: For outbound campaigns, use click to dial directly from CRM records or web pages.
• Enhanced data security and compliance: Fewer transfers of data between platforms means there’s low risk of duplication, misinformation, and data leakage.

As a direct result, your customers’ customer receives a more efficient and overall better experience, leading to higher renewal rates and low churn. 

When you think of CRM integration as the glue for customer retention, it becomes a must-have for customers and a serious consideration for your portfolio.

Genuine integration requires the middleware to combine the data and functionality of both platforms. 

Some bespoke platforms might have CRM integration built in. But, for the most part, this will look like it’s built in because a technology partner (i.e. you) has done the customization behind the scenes.

For example, Nextiva sells CRM integration as a native feature as part of its UCaaS platform. Behind the scenes, it’s using Akixi to provide an enhanced service as part of its solution.

There are some potential workarounds but they don’t provide the full experience:

• Custom API integration: High-effort development and customization required at all times; expensive and time-consuming to maintain.
• Manual processes with automation tools: Continue working as normal but introduce other third-party tools to automate different parts of the process.
• Browser extensions: Run the CRM and/or UC platforms in a web browser and build or buy extensions to enable extra functionality.
• Custom scripts: High-effort development and customization required at all times; expensive and time-consuming to maintain.

If your customers truly need CRM integration, they’re going to get it from one provider or another. When this is the case, not having this tool in your arsenal only disadvantages you as a service provider.

In a perfect world, you’re the one-stop shop for your customer’s UCaaS needs:

• UC licenses
• Call recording
• Call reporting and analytics
• Contact center
• Mobile integration
• Professional services
• CRM integration

Missing out this vital component means your customers must source a third party to join up their CRM and telephony experience. In some cases, this means you lose the deal entirely. That provider of CRM integration could also provide the same services as you.

Leaving the door open to other suppliers could be the difference between securing a new $100,000 ARR deal and handing it to your biggest competitor.

In fact, 61% of businesses opt for a single supplier approach as they believe it improves relationships and reduces costs. Having a fully stocked kitbag is an obvious choice when it’s the minority that settle for bit-part solutions.

Access and gratification is available at the click of a button in our personal lives and we now demand this in our business lives too.

As we become accustomed to a world where expectations are higher than ever, customer-facing businesses are looking for every advantage. 

The efficiencies gained through integrating a CRM and UC solution stand out considerably. If you can improve first call resolution while reducing average handle time, you provide what is coined as a “memorable experience”. 

In reality, these might not be all that memorable. But what’s important is that they’re not memorable for being bad experiences.

Simple things like having account information on-screen by the time a customer connects with an agent and routing callers to the most appropriately skilled agent go a long way to meeting expectations.

There’s no friction. Customers get what they want. There’s no long-lasting ill taste or bad memory.

The ultimate win for service providers is the enablement of better experiences for your customers’ customers. 

As a rule of thumb, the happier your customer is, the longer they will stay with you and the more they will spend.

For service providers, there are many more benefits too:

• Increased customer stickiness: A CRM is an integral part of any customer-facing business and not something that will become surplus one day.
• Extra revenue stream: Simple to deploy and manage while generating new annual recurring revenue.
• Differentiation in a competitive service provider market: Advantage over bit-part solutions with few options for tying a solution together.
• Lower churn rates: Offering an end-to-end solution often means customers rely on you for a partnership and are less likely to seek alternatives for their entire communications estate.

Features like Caller Preview, Contact Popping, Call Activity Logging and Related Data are provided through our easy-to-use desktop application.

Caller Preview
Search the integrated CRM for callers info when you make or receive a call, and “preview” the details in a “toast” pop up.

Contact Popping
Allow users to “pop” caller’s records within the integrated CRM from a live call or directory.

Call Activity Logging
Manually or automatically create an activity record of a call received within the integrated CRM and allows addition of notes.

Related Data
Display additional insights like related company information, open support tickets, or other relevant CRM records directly in the interface. This feature provides a holistic view of the customer, enabling better-informed conversations and quicker resolutions.

Deployment is as simple as a few clicks per user. You can choose to hide the interface or make it front and center, depending on the softphone interface you’re using.

Akixi supports integration with 300+ CRMs across the following UC platforms:

• Avaya
• Cisco BroadWorks
• Cisco Webex
• Intermedia Ascend
• Intermedia Elevate
• Ericsson LG
• Microsoft Teams
• Mitel
• NetSapiens
• NEC Univerge Blue
• uaCSTA
• Unify

The power of such a simple tool is not to be underestimated. Making CRM integration readily available will create retention opportunities for existing customers and uncover new prospects looking for a complete provider.

Choose to add CRM integration into your saleable toolset if:

• You have UC/phone system customers who use CRM systems
• You sell supplementary services outside of core licenses
• Your goal is to be the single supplier for your customers
• You want to be viewed as a technology partner—not just a provider

Don’t add CRM integration to your portfolio if:

• Your customers don’t use a CRM
• Your business model is reselling licenses only
• You operate an agent model
• You don’t have pre-sales or implementation resource