It wasn't long ago that CRM solutions were limited to departmental silos such as customer service, sales, or marketing. As technology evolved, specifically in the areas of unified communications and data analytics, strategic companies quickly realized the benefits of applying those technologies to their CRM systems to effectively reach clients in more direct and customized ways.

As we've learned, linking CRM and unified communications (UC) brings together the various customer touch-points into one integrated system. This can help track customer interactions, decrease the time customers spend waiting in the call center queue, and create comprehensive customer profiles. While integrating CRM and UC is ideal for cultivating an existing customer base, adding search engine optimization (SEO) capabilities and analytics goes a step further by helping companies transform prospects into clients. More important, when applied appropriately, it can provide a real time, 360-degree view of the business.

There are five critical factors to consider when bringing these technologies together.  When these factors are prioritized, CRM systems can deliver higher ROI on marketing campaigns that can be more accurately tracked and verified...

Five Requirements for Success

1. Establish a cross-functional team. This team should include CRM experts and representatives from different parts of the business.

2. Conduct an IT audit. Before you invest in an entirely new CRM solution or consider fusing CRM and UC tools and functionality into your existing infrastructure, assess the value of your current IT investments.

3. Create a workflow system. The system should track the customer experience from the initial interaction through customer conversion. At each step in the process, make sure all relevant departments have access to and are aware of customer transactions.

4. Adopt an outward-facing infrastructure. Resist the urge to build the IT architecture from a solely inward-focused perspective.

5. Gauge success through dashboard capabilities and adjust regularly.

Conclusion

Although companies have various technologies in their infrastructures that are in place to perform complementary and sometimes overlapping functions, there is real value to integrating technologies that aim to improve the customer experience and streamline business operations.