Getting started with your first Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software might seem daunting at first. But once you understand how CRM integrations make your business life easier, you’ll wonder why you didn’t switch to using a CRM sooner! If you already use an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, you will double your benefits with the data integration between the planning and management software programs.
Basics of CRM Integrations
Regardless of how feature-rich the customer relationship management software you choose, is you’ll get the most out of it with high user adoption. That means the people you employ have to use it and use it as it was designed. While you can link it to other programs and your website, your people have to willingly input data.
You will find many CRMs available, but no one-size-fits-all program. CRMs exist for sole proprietorships, small to medium businesses, and enterprises. Your choice will depend on your business’s needs. Look for software that provides you the greatest number of CRM and data integration opportunities. You’ll typically have at most nine options for integrations, but it’s nearly impossible to find software that includes all nine. Determine which integrations would serve your business best in consideration of your processes and information gathering.
Different Types of CRM Integrations
Calendar Integration:
Many CRMs link to Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Apple Calendar to make usage simpler. This lets your staff set appointments using their preferred product which the CRM imports automatically. This option can help you gain employee buy-in since it means they do not have to change the scheduling and task management software they use.
Email Integration:
One of the first CRM integrations developed since email functions as one of the main forms of contact used in business. These software platforms tie into the company’s branded email system. Many CRMs integrate with Insightly for Google Apps and Maximizer for Outlook.
Phone Integration:
Most companies continue to provide phone support, and it continues to be the main type of outgoing contact from companies, too. If you make sales calls, you need a CRM that lets you integrate your VoIP numbers. Freshsales and Close.io offer one-click calling integration for VoIP. This means the salespeople can make calls from inside the CRM, so they never have to change programs.
Helpdesk Integration:
You can integrate many common helpdesk software including Zendesk with your CRM. This lets your employees add to the synced helpdesk tickets and access information on prior customer reports or questions. By automating workflows, your customer service representatives (CSRs) can access customer profiles, account data, correspondence, and service history. This can improve customer responses and speed problem-solving.
Cloud Integration:
CRMs typically reside in the cloud and this software as a service (SaaS) platforms also integrate with on-premises installations and mobile apps. Maximizer CRM is one of these. You get better scalability from these options.
Marketing Automation Integration:
Marketing automation linkages in the CRM let you automate information sharing between marketing, sales, and CSRs. This provides empowerment to your sales team who now has added-value information to better identify customer pain points and offer products to solve them, moving qualified leads through the sales funnel with less effort. You can find this in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SugarCRM and Salesforce.com. Infusionsoft provides an all-in-one solution for small businesses.
Social Media Integration:
Track customer engagement on social media and pull this into your CRM. Internal metrics let you import this into a pool of business data, so you can analyze the latest consumer opinions on your products and services. Zendesk provides this type of integration as does Zoho CRM. Improve customer segmentation with this data to better reach consumers via social advertising.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Integration:
Perhaps your company already deploys an ERP. You need to ensure the CRM you purchase integrates with the ERP otherwise, you cripple your automation. Neither should have exclusive data and the two programs should fully integrate and sync. Doing this saves you from duplicated data entry. If you use Oracle’s NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, or SAP CRM you can easily integrate the ERP with the CRM.
Mobile Integration:
We live on our mobiles nowadays. Modern CRMs offer mobile platforms for managing key features. These mobile apps let you update account data on the go. Some let your update events, tasks, contacts, and lead modules. Base CRM offers some of these integrations.
Let Bake More Pies Help!
Collecting and analyzing all of your customer data in one place makes it easier to both serve and sell to the customer. Let Bake More Pies help you determine the best CRM solution for you! Don’t wait – jump-start your sales through better marketing data today. Contact us!
