Accelerate innovation with contact centre apps and integrations

An integrated call centre connects inbound and outbound calling with a variety of other technologies to provide a better experience for customers and make call centre agents’ jobs easier. Integration does more than just help handle phone calls. It helps agents manage customer interactions across all channels, from inbound calling and phone support to text messages, chat and more. An integrated call centre pulls in customer data from all over the business, from sales teams’ CRM inputs to the products a customer has shopped for, to give agents the information they need to help.

Call centre integration streamlines operations by connecting technologies and communication channels into a unified system. This allows call centre agents to manage customer calls far more smoothly, providing capabilities ranging from accessing customer data from various parts of the business quickly and easily to call monitoring for later training and assessment. An ideal solution enhances efficiency, provides agents with quick access to vital customer information and promotes a seamless customer experience across various platforms.

A customer relationship management (CRM) system manages and analyses customer data and interactions to improve business relationships. A contact centre directly handles customer interactions and service across various communication channels, such as incoming calls and emails.

The main difference is that a CRM is a tool that a business may use to help improve a customer’s experience, while the contact centre is one of the venues where that customer experience takes place. In fact, customer service agents working in a contact centre often use data sourced from CRM systems in the process of assisting customers in need — anything from a phone number needed to call back after a bad cell connection to a customer’s purchase history.

A call centre app is a software application that supports call centre operations. It often includes features such as call routing, call recording, performance analytics and integrations with other systems, such as a CRM system or help desk software. Some apps may also offer capabilities for handling other channels, like email, live chat or social media.

When a call centre software platform is designed to integrate with your company’s data, it seamlessly connects to the platforms where that data is recorded and stored — like a CRM system — and allows call centre agents to access relevant data to the customer interaction they’re engaged in. In some cases, the best virtual call centre software can go even further, using artificial intelligence (AI) to surface the right data at the right time so the agent doesn’t have to hunt it down.

The specific integrations that will be most helpful for a business will depend on the specific needs of that business. No two situations are identical, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer that’s right for every business. That said, there are a few integrations that will provide the biggest benefits more often than not.

In almost all cases, integrating your CRM within your contact centre software is going to be helpful. When a customer calls for help, they want that help to be delivered as quickly and painlessly as possible. The more information your customer service agents have about individual customers who contact you, the more quickly they can solve customer issues. The CRM contains a wealth of information about the customer’s interactions with your brand, from start to present, and integration within the right call centre software puts that info at the agent’s fingertips.

Also, integrating your call centre solutions with unified communications and collaboration (UCC) platforms makes communication including video conferencing easy. Not only can customers converse with agents, but agents can communicate with colleagues across the organisation to get support and information as needed.

Finally, bot and AI integration can be a supercharger for your customer service offerings as well. A chatbot presence means that you can provide a level of support for your customers 24/7/365 without demanding any more from your agents and staff. Integrating your bot instance within your call centre software allows the bot to access more information and do more, while also providing agents with valuable information about what customers need, what they’re asking the bot and what they’re not getting from the bot.