5 ways in which call centers benefit from CRM

CRM systems have come a long way since their introduction in 1999, when they basically worked with a deeper spreadsheet.

Today, CRM systems have the power to reduce overhead, automate what used to be human processes and increase sales in your call center. What makes CRM systems so unique is that they benefit both the call center and your staff, improving profitability and staff satisfaction.

However, we've spent enough time with call center owners and managers to understand that every call center is completely unique. So, we've broken down five ways call centers benefit from CRM so you know if an automated, cloud-based CRM is worthwhile for your call center.

The 5 ways call centers benefit from CRM are:

- Automation of processes and tasks - Global phone lines

- Complete data retention

- Increased staff productivity

- Increased staff retention

Let's take a closer look at these five benefits.

1. AUTOMATION OF PROCESSES AND TASKS

This year, the UK has launched the largest ever trial of the four-day week, with more than 3,300 workers from 70 companies, ranging from a local French fry store to large financial firms, starting to work four days a week.

Aside from the demand for better wellness practices, automation has been one of the biggest drivers of the transition to the four-day week, as staff need less time for administration and record keeping.

CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

However, automated CRMs have developed even further, with the customer lifecycle fully automated, from sales and service to renewals and complaints. These processes are automatically recorded and supported in the CRM.

IMPROVE PROFITABILITY

From a business standpoint, this high level of automation allows your call center to handle up to two to three times more inquiries and leads each day, as all administration and record keeping is now covered by your CRM system. Your staff can spend more time doing what they do best: communicating. Secondly, your call center can generate more revenue and achieve more ambitious goals. Everyone wins.

AUTOMATED COMMUNICATION

Secondly, with fully automated SMS and email communication optimized for peak engagement times, you can improve the quality of your call center at the same time. Finally, your leads and inquiries will be distributed automatically. Not only this, but leads can be distributed to the most appropriate team member to close them, saving time and improving conversion rate.

2. GLOBAL PHONE LINES

With the rapid development of new technologies giving rise to new industries every year, globalization and the growth of markets around the world has never been faster. This means that your call center must be able to communicate effectively with more countries than ever before. With a CRM you will have access to a large number of geographic numbers. For example, with Datalyse you can access over 60 countries and make affordable phone calls with a high quality phone line.

TARGET SPECIFIC AREAS

With a global CRM like Datalyse you can be even more specific with your international calls, giving your team the ability to choose numbers by region or city at low cost without reducing service or call quality. At the same time, call data is automatically recorded and backed up.

BILLING PER SECOND

With an intelligent global CRM, the days of expensive overseas call bills are over. Your calls will be billed per second consumed and not per minute, reducing indirect costs that are almost always unnoticed, but are a reality. No more rounding and no more transparency on call bills.

3. COMPLETE DATA RETENTION

Without a complete CRM system, you are likely to be working with different programs for your various processes, from sales to contact management. In an ideal world, all of these programs would communicate with each other and synchronize seamlessly, but this is often not the case, as compatibility and renewals cause data gaps.

With a complete CRM system, your call center will be able to record all call and sales data and keep it stored and backed up in one easy-to-use system.

This will enable your call center teams:

- View all previous communications and interactions when initiating an incoming call

- Have the entire call recorded for quality management and customer relationship management.

- Automatically make and save notes during the call

This means that the next time the same customer is called, whether it is the same call center agent or a different person, all the data will be available and easy to use during the call.

CLOUD INTEGRATION

Your call center data is not only recorded and stored within the CRM, but also backed up to the cloud. This not only ensures that data is completely safe and secure, but also allows your remote workers to have constant access to the same information as on-site agents.

4. INCREASED STAFF PRODUCTIVITY

From full access to data via the cloud to automation of communications and administrative tasks, call center agents' time is saved in all aspects of their work. This allows agents to spend their time doing what they love and what motivates them: talking to customers.

But that's not all, call centers that use CRM will save their agents time in:

 - Sending e-mails to customers

- Sending bulk SMS to any country

- Automatic data logging

- Search for data of any customer, order, etc.

- Call preparation and call logging

- Lead generation

- Renewal of services and control of the same

Time savings and full automation mean less stress and greater staff satisfaction, which is a great starting point for our last section: staff retention.

5. INCREASED STAFF RETENTION

Without a doubt, employees are a company's greatest asset. When they are cared for and motivated, employees, and more specifically call center agents, are happier and work harder.

However, this has never been further from the truth in the call center sector, where staff turnover averages 30 to 40%. Compared to the national average of around 15%, the problem is serious indeed.

Increased staff turnover means higher spending on recruitment and training, which happens to be one of the top five costs of a call center.

However, an automated CRM system that eliminates repetitive administrative tasks, sets automated goals and generates a large number of quality leads offers a complete turnaround to these causes.

REDUCTION OF STAFF TURNOVER

Eliminating these causes means your staff can not only spend time making more calls and generating more leads, but can also enjoy a shorter work week, higher productivity and more time for training and development.

It's another simple win-win case. Your call center agents enjoy higher job satisfaction, and your call center enjoys higher productivity and lower hiring and training costs.

Want to try Datalyse CRM?

- Datalyse is a fast and easy-to-use CRM that allows you to unify your company's needs, centralizing all your operations in a single application. Find out how a CRM can help your team on our website and blog, or contact us.

Written by Aled Nelmes for Datalyse.