CRM INTEGRATIONS COMPARISON

Although most vendors have out-of-the-box CRM integrations, they are not all created equal. Salesforce, for example, provides a number of different ways to partner and integrate with their CRM. As part of a cloud contact center vendor evaluation process, companies should determine their specific integration needs and assess vendors on how well they address these needs.

Bright Pattern consultants obtained information on CRM integration from major cloud contact center providers: inContact, Five9, and Genesys’s Interactive Intelligence.

What Can Expect from Cloud CRM Integrations These Days?

  1. The integrations must be built-in and supported – both services upgrade regularly and the integration must keep up
  2. Multichannel conversation support – having different or no CRM integrations for some media channels is confusing and inconsistent
  3. Predictable license costs and implementation time
  4. Integrated agent user interface – the products must help each other to increase agent productivity
  5. Data synchronization and single sign-on

See below how these facets are addressed by major cloud contact center players.

OUT-OF-THE-BOX CHANNEL SUPPORT

[hmg_builded_table id=”1″ class=””]

OMNICHANNEL FUNCTIONALITY WITHIN CRM INTEGRATIONS

Over the last 10 years, cloud contact center vendors have adopted a multi-channel strategy and innovated their platforms in order to provide all the channels used by end consumers. As contact centers use more channels it has become necessary to integrate all channels seamlessly with their CRM in order to measure KPIs, track the customer journey, and report on all customer interactions. Figure 3 shows the channels in which the vendors evaluated integrate with different CRMs.

[hmg_builded_table id=”3″ class=””]

CONFIGURATION AND REPORTING

When dealing with multiple SaaS solutions, you want the process to be as seamless as possible. Contact center managers and supervisors need the ability to access all information in a single system for operational and reporting best practices. In order for this to happen the integrations need to be configured so that if information is updated in one system, it is automatically propagated to the other system. It is also necessary for the contact center to be able to access reporting in a single system instead of having to pull information and reports from separate solutions. Figure 4 shows the configuration and reporting of these vendors.

[hmg_builded_table id=”4″ class=””]

PRICING AND DEPLOYMENT

[hmg_builded_table id=”5″ class=””]

EASE OF USE AND AGENT USER INTERFACE

Out-of-the-box CRM integrations are created with agent ease of use in mind. To increase agent productivity and customer satisfaction these integrations work to provide pertinent customer information to the agent when handling an interaction. Figure 2 shows a number of criteria implemented to create an easier agent experience including CRM screen pops, click to dial and automatic propagation of new information.

[hmg_builded_table id=”2″ class=”tablecomp”]