Many businesses today need to institute effective ways to simplify their sales funnel and customer relations processes. However, the way technology has rapidly expanded in such a short time has contributed to more disjointed communications. For example, customer relationship management (CRM) software is designed to integrate every aspect of an interaction with an individual buyer, whether it involves touches on website pages, phone contacts, or emails. Businesses need to retain every interaction with each customer, but the rise of the mobile workforce makes this a difficult challenge.
Unified communications (UC) service providers seek to alter that dynamic. By developing a “single pane” of interaction that includes every customer “touch” and integrates resource planning systems with CRM software, a method is established for combining the information gathered through various connections. Yet problems occur when a salesperson makes contact with a buyer using their personal device.
Ideal Function
Ideally, UC should integrate all the information gleaned about a specific customer. The various forms of interaction, such as email, phone calls, and purchases made either online or through electronic POs would exist in one unified system, which could be accessed through a customer-specific dashboard. In principle, this would streamline service to create a comprehensive view of the customer history and simplify compliance performance by creating records of every contact.
As mobility options grow, more and more employees have the ability to connect with clients through their personal devices. In light of this, UC needs to be able to integrate the data accumulated within any mobile device management (MDM) program that the company utilizes to keep mobile interactions secure.
Creating a Comprehensive Customer Journey
Since CRM and ERP systems are part of mission critical operations, but there are countless ways to make phone calls, the idea of UC is beginning to evolve. Much like the expansion of software-defined networks, UC as a concept is adapting to become more effective. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are expanding and traditional telephony is receding, allowing companies to integrate more and more communication options into their operational systems.
This is good news for businesses. Building an infrastructure that has the ability to integrate mobile, web, and office-based activity into one system helps reduce costs and improve productivity. Moreover, it simplifies compliance performance so that businesses are able to effortlessly conform to volatile regulatory statutes.
Although the definition and execution of UC continues to evolve, the concept of retaining and being easily able to access the entire customer journey is one that businesses will continue to embrace because of the benefits it is able to produce.