Year: 2015

What’s new in ConvergeHub (Release Update on 11th December 2015)

Cloud CRM software ConvergeHub has released a crucial set of updates. These updates have been implemented based on the needs of the existing and potential ConvergeHub users. The highlight of this feature release is QuickBooks Online integration. It has already got a lot of appreciation from CRM experts as ConvergeHub is one of the very few CRMs that offers a two-way sync with QuickBooks Online. Read the blog to get a more detailed view into the list of features integrated within ConvergeHub,

We have something special for you.. a better and improved ConvergeHub with new features that will make you more efficient and save you time.. just what you need for the New Year.

#1. QuickBooks Online Integration

This is one of ConvergeHub’s most awesome features!!! If you use QuickBooks Online to manage your accounting, you can integrate your #QBOnline account with ConvergeHub and synchronize Customers, Contacts, Products and Invoices between both the platforms. Forever.

ConvergeHub + QuickBooks: Bidirectional Sync 

Yes, you read that right! ConvergeHub now offers the exclusive functionality of two-way sync with QuickBooks Online. That means – Data can be entered once in either QuickBooks or ConvergeHub, and the other system syncs up automatically. This ensures that both platforms are always up-to-date and in-sync.

  • Get 360 degree view of QuickBooks Customers in ConvergeHub
  • Track invoices from either QuickBooks or ConvergeHub
  • Provide replies to customers’ invoice and product queries, directly from ConvergeHub
  • Maintain up-to-date customer information across both the systems to eliminate double data entry, reduce errors and increase productivity.

Check QuickBooks App Store to get a more detailed view of the functionalities that ConvergeHub+QuickBooks Online provide.

How to integrate QuickBooks Online within ConvergeHub?

  1. Go to ConvergeHub Apps Store
  2. Read details about QuickBooks Online Application
  3. Click on Get App. Provide the login credentials to link QuickBooks Online account to ConvergeHub.

#2. Deals Module Send Agreement Functionality

The deal is halfway over and you generate the agreement and mail it to the client wondering – if only I could send the agreement directly from ConvergeHub deals section and close the matter in a few minutes. 

If this sounds familiar, it’s time to start rejoicing! We have added the ‘Generate Agreement’ functionality in the deals module also.

Now you can automatically generate and send agreements from ConvergeHub Deals – to enhance productivity, reduce human error, and ensure fast communication.

How it Works?

  1. Click on a Deal from the Deals Listing Page
  2. Click on Generate Agreement in the Action dropdown
  3. Choose the Agreement Template
  4. Click on Generate
  5. Send the Agreement to the related account via Email/FAX/DocuSign.

Note: Generated agreements are listed in the subpanel of the Deals Details Page, in the Library section. Sent agreements are listed in the subpanel of both the Deals & Accounts Details Page, in the History section.

Benefit: You can keep an easy track of, which agreements have been generated and which sent.

  1. Last Activity module tracking functionality

It’s the end of the day and you are set to cross-check the daily activities done by your team. Your sales agent John has written in the report – ‘Called up 50 leads for product demo discussion’. You want to check which 50 out of 400 leads stored in ConvergeHub. Checking each one of the 400 leads is impossible. So how will you do that?

We thought of several solutions and came up with an idea. Please meet brand new three options:

Last Activity: It shows the latest activity done on the Leads/Accounts/Contacts/Deals

Last Activity By: It shows the name of the person who has created/done the activitty

Last Activity Date: It shows the date on which the activity has been done/created.

These options will allow you to navigate easier and faster and keep a tab on all recent activities. For example, in a few minutes you can precisely know:

On which date, which leads have been called up and by whom?

OR

On which date, which accounts have been emailed and by whom?

How it Works?

  1. Go to Leads/Accounts/Contacts/Deals Listing Page
  2. Take the cursor on ‘Show Custom Fields’ icon and click on the three options – Last Activity, Last Activity By and Last Activity Date
  3. Get an immediate view on the recent activities done along with the date and creators’ name.
  4. IF condition in formula field

The recently introduced custom formula field is popular but functionality is limited to only calculate the sum of fields. We wanted to improve it further, and that’s what we’ve done. Now, with the ‘if’ condition, you can empower the fields to automatically set values, provided certain conditions are met.

So let’s say your sales agents set scores for all leads. But how do you determine which score makes a lead sales-ready? To simplify and speed up the whole process, you can set values for automated lead qualification.

How it Works? 

  1. Click on New in My Custom Fields
  2. Fill in the Module, Tab and Field name
  3. Choose the field type as ‘Formula’

 

  1. Select the Operator as ‘If’. Select the field for which the formula will be set (In this case, the field is Lead Score).
  2. A formula will appear. Put the field name in the formula with the related values. For example, in the given screenshot, we have set the formula as:

IF( {Lead Score} >= 4 , “Hot”, IF( {Lead Score} < 4 && {Lead Score} > 1, “Mild”, “Disqualified”))

That means:

  • If the lead score is above 4 then the lead ranking will be hot
  • If between 2-4 then mild
  • if 1 or 0, then disqualified.

 

  1. Click on Check Syntax
  2. Click on Save.

The custom field ‘Lead Qualification’ is created and will appear in every lead details page. Based on the scores given by your sales agents, the field will get automatically filled as Hot; Mild or Disqualified.

Final Thoughts

All these features are live and are sure to improve your experience of using ConvergeHub. So go ahead and give all a try in your CRM account. We’ll be waiting to hear your comments on how you’re using these new additions.

Thank you!

ConvergeHub

P.S. Twitter is also a great place to reach us.

https://twitter.com/convergehub

Looking forward to see you there.

Strategic Importance of listening to the Voice of Customer through the right system

Businesses have realized that they need to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction through VoC program, in return of which, they can expect customer allegiance towards their brand. However, doing this is not so easy. Businesses need to invest in the right VoC platform that helps them listen to the customers, understand the underlying causes of customer feedback and take actions to drive tactical and strategic advantage.

There is an Importance of listening to the Voice of Customer and we need to look in to that. Voice of the Customer (VoC) is no longer an add-on but a must-have strategy. It has become a key part of Customer Service. Businesses have realized the importance of understanding their customers’ preferences and viewpoints. They are incorporating the voice of the customer in their sales, marketing and customer support process to make them more effective.

– (Jim Davies, research director at Gartner)

VoC Software Systems

While businesses have clearly understood the concept of VoC and implemented VoC strategy, they are not being able to gain maximum benefit out of it. Reason? The wrong choice of VoC system.

There is a wide array of VoC systems available in the market. Right from social media monitoring tools to web analytics tools – all these and much more fall under the category of Voice of the Customer. So there is a tough choice for the businesses to make.

Neil Davey, editor of MyCustomer has commented on this problem. In his opinion there are two major reasons why the success rate of VoC programs is not up to the expected level:

  1. Looking at the popularity of VoC, many vendors have just jumped into this bandwagon with a below-par software system. These software systems ideally do not fit into the VoC category. As a result, businesses who have invested in these VoC systems have got stuck in a soup.
  2. To gain maximum benefit out of VoC initiative, many businesses have invested in multiple VoC systems, regardless of whether they actually need it or not. And hence, what they have got is a ‘’disjointed and fragmented” work landscape.

The challenge of using different standalone VoC platforms

With multiple VoC technologies operating under different departments, individual benefit is only getting increased. That is because the siloed technologies and departments are keeping the customer feedbacks to themselves. There is no sharing of customer data among the departments. It is like businesses are capturing some great customer feedbacks that they as a whole are simply not aware of.

However, gradually businesses have started acknowledging the importance of having one unified VoC system. They are demanding a single technology that incorporates feedback from a range of channels, shares it across departments and helps get a complete idea of the customers opinion. And it is ideally at this juncture that cloud CRM solutions have emerged as the ideal VoC platform.

CRM as the Perfect VoC Platform

New-age cloud CRM tools capture customer feedback from all sources and organize them together to provide a holistic view of the customers opinion. No additional effort required from the businesses’ side! Using the CRM, businesses find it easy to answer questions like –

  • Most active customer feedback channels
  • Kind of data getting generated from these channels.

Most importantly – Businesses easily analyze customer feedbacks to derive actionable insights and implement those in marketing, selling and customer service strategy.

Del Martile comments –

Businesses now interact with their customers through multiple channels. In view of this fact, developing a clear view of the customer feedback across all these touchpoints is necessary. Functioning as an organization-wide solution – CRM permeates to all aspects of the business unit and aligns the VoC programme to the organization’s overall goals. It maps all the customer touchpoints and put the processes and channels in one centralized place to ACT UPON.

Final Thoughts

Customer journey right from marketing, sales to service is all stored and recorded within the CRM. This means that as a business entrepreneur, you can capture and analyze customer feedback in real-time. You are also empowered to use the CRM to share the customer insights within/outside your organization. Along with your team, you measure customer experiences at all the key touchpoints which helps to:

  • Re-engineer processes and drive change across the board

So choose a cloud CRM software to make your VoC programme a success! However, with more than 200 CRMs available in the market, you just have to be sure to select the best cloud CRM software for your business. But how will you do that? Do you have any tips? Share with us below

How to use OmniChannel Customer Service with more engagement

The present and future is omnichannel engagement where customers are looking forward to receive a seamless and consistent experience across both traditional and digital channels. Brands that fall short of fulfilling this expectation are sure to bite the dust. To avoid this, it is essential to focus on developing omnichannel strategies that empower to cater to customers across any possible medium.

How to use OmniChannel customer service with more engagement i.e. seamless and consistent customer service across all channels has become crucial. That is why, the biggest names like Accenture and Zendesk have started delivering this type of customer service.

Zendesk (with the help of Loudhouse) has surveyed 7,000 consumers in seven countries to identify consumer trends.

Here are a few of the key findings:

  • 67% of online shoppers have made purchases in the past six months that have involved several channels
  • 37% now expect to be able to contact the same customer service representative regardless of which channel they use and 47% expect to be able to return goods / purchases through a different channel than the purchase channel
  • In the past six months, consumers have tried to resolve a query by – calling customer support (54%), emailing customer services (48%), using online self-service portals (27%) or going in store (26%).

The Conclusion from the survey–

Omnichannel customer service is on the rise. As a result, businesses really need to brainstorm ideas to deliver it. Any ignorance towards delivering the omnichannel customer service will only damage their reputation and revenue in the long term.

What the Small and Medium-sized businesses need to do?

Small and medium-sized businesses need to immediately ditch their old belief:

‘Customers will not leave unless extreme inconveniences arise’

They need to recognize the fickle-mindedness of the customers and acknowledge the fact that with many competitors in the market, they need to be ‘tough in the best sense’ to maintain a strong foothold. Unless small businesses do not understand this, they will either lose market share, or worse, struggle to stay profitable.

What is the roadmap to delivering omnichannel customer service?

Break down the traditional silos – that’s the first step to meet the customers’ demand for seamless omnichannel service. SMBs (small and medium businesses) need to integrate all the processes together and use the combined data to provide personalized services across all channels.

Accenture experts (Donald Carroll and Inés Guzman) have spoken in detail about Omnichannel customer service approach:

We bring to you a summarized version of a few of the sections mentioned in the Accenture Report.

1. Businesses should combine all Communication Channels

Traditionally retail stores, call centers, social media, and other channels have been separately managed. However, now businesses cannot take the risk of handling these channels separately as it will result in a disjointed customer service.

Today the objective should be to have a broad single channel with multiple touch points. And that is only possible when all channels are merged.

Then only will businesses have a consolidated view of the customers and deliver consistent experience across all channels. So whether customers want to make a purchase, renew a service, or resolve a problem, they can do so in any of their preferred channels.

As the customers move across physical store, online e-commerce, social media and call centers, businesses can map the entire customer journey to provide a unified experience.

2. Businesses need to have a Flexible, Integrated and Responsive technology platform

We suggest: investing in a CRM solution that handles marketing, sales and service and seamlessly tracks customers across the different channels that they use.

With all customer interactions handled together in one database, businesses can easily share customer data and efficiently provide smooth customer support.

The Benefits of Omnichannel Customer Service

Once, the small and medium-sized businesses start delivering omnichannel customer service through CRM, they will successfully meet customer expectations in three ways:

  • Personalized Interactions: Identifying the customers past purchase orders, buying patterns and interaction history and tailor the oncoming interactions based on these
  • Targeted Marketing: Promoting products and services that matches to the customers’ present context and requirement
  • Customers’ Convenience: Empowering the customers to control entire purchase process by interacting with them across any channel.

Deliver Omnichannel Customer Service easily with ConvergeHub

Talking about CRM to help in omnichannel customer service – ConvergeHub is one of the few CRM solutions that does that! It has the capability to manage your customers throughout the journey. Right from the time your customers first interact with your brand till the time they continue to do business with you – ConvergeHub tracks the interaction and streamlines it within one database.

With a 360-degree view of the customers, it becomes super easy for you to provide customer service across all channels. What say?

Check out our ConvergeHub product section to know more. We are keen to clarify your doubts. So share your comments below. We will provide you a detailed consultation on both Omnichannel customer service and ConvergeHub!

Build VoC strategy to provide meaningful results

To succeed in the present age, a business needs to listen to its customers and that is precisely what Voice of the Customer initiative involves. However, to gain optimum return from a VoC program, it is imperative that the business builds a robust VoC strategy first. Then only will the business get empowered to acquire customer insights and customize products and services accordingly. This blog delves upon the tactic to build the right VoC strategy, that helps you to acquire, analyze and work upon the customers’ feedback to grow your business rapidly.

Build VoC strategy for meaningful results for any business. The trend of VoC (Voice of the Customer) is on a rise and businesses (especially the startups) are in a rush to implement it as soon as possible. However, this temptation to adopt the VoC trend is not correct. Businesses need to understand that only collecting feedback from customers is not what involves VoC. There is much more to it.

Ideally, businesses need to have a clear defined strategy in regards to:

  • How they plan to implement the VoC strategy?
  • What actions will be taken out of the data collected from the VoC program?

In short, businesses need to have a robust and well-planned VoC strategy.

And just in case you wonder how to build a VoC strategy – what we have for you below are SIX essential elements suggested by Neil Davey (Editor of My Customer Blog Forum).

Read about these elements in detail and include them in your VoC strategy.

1. Define the objective

There is no point in implementing the VoC strategy if there is no objective attached with it. Hence, it is important that you make the VoC program a part of your company’s future goals. This ideally needs to be done right at the start, before the customer feedback data starts flowing in from all corners.

Doing this will ensure that you have a clear picture of the issues that you would like to address through the VoC program.

Example: If increasing revenue is what tops your priority list – you can build a VoC program more inclined towards improving your organizational revenue.

2. Have one dedicated team

While many businesses implement Voice of the Customer program, success ratio is very less.

There are two reasons for it:

It is observed that more than the majority of businesses have multiple teams handling VoC. Separately, they capture customer feedback across different touchpoints. However, this approach is not correct because it leads to a siloed VoC program.

Confused? Read below:

Example: Customer feedback garnered by the marketing team remains only within them. The marketing agents do not share the valuable insight with others. In this way while the individual team of marketing benefits, sales and customer service teams remain where they are. They do not get to know about the crucial customer feedback.

That is precisely why it is imperative for you to have a centralized VoC team, instead of multiple ones. With one single team responsible for listening, analysis and reporting of customer feedback, actionable insights will be implemented across the business. The problem of customer insights only getting leveraged by a particular process will be removed permanently.

In fact, surveys also show that businesses who have one VoC team enjoy faster benefits because it drives change across the departments.

3. Show the survey value to the customers

In order to gain deeper insight into customers’ needs and preferences, businesses are now over-surveying their customers. They are either putting the same questionnaire in front of the customers or asking questions on those areas that they do not plan to work upon.

Needless to say this a big turn-off for customers!

It is a result of this wrong attitude of businesses that customers have become hesitant about participating in feedback forums, because they really do not see these responses getting implemented in anyway.

To ensure that you gain the right customer feedback through surveys, focus on:

      • Actions to be taken on the survey results.

In the survey itself, demonstrate the activity planned with the customers’ responses. Then only will the customers see the real worth in sharing their experiences, feedbacks and preferences with your VoC team.

4. Act upon the VoC Data innovatively

Examine data to identify the key areas of improvement. Based on which, plan the impending actions that will drive change in your business. Instead of following the run-of-the-mill strategies, brainstorm to come up with creative ways.

Tip: Encourage your employees to think of new ways in which you can implement the customer feedbacks. Make it a mix and match of old and new strategies with regular reporting on their implementation.

5. Do not get confused seeing multiple VoC systems

There are VoC software vendors up to the brim. So you have a multitude of choices, when it comes to implementing VoC systems. But are all of them actually needed?

Several cases have been reported where businesses have invested tons of money and effort on fancy VoC systems that they did not required at all. To avoid making any such similar mistake, be careful of the VoC system that you choose.

Example: VoC systems that capture social media data can seem very attractive to use. But do you really need it? Do your customers talk about your brand socially? If yes, then it is an ideal solution for you. Otherwise, does it make sense to invest in this social VoC system?

Certainly not.

6. Use CRM as VoC system

To gain from the VoC program, it is important to combine customer feedback generated across different departments. And this is precisely where CRM software comes into the picture. Use a modern all-in-one CRM tool that empowers you to compile sales, marketing and customer service data together. So what you get from the CRM is a coherent view of the customers’ opinions, needs and preferences about your business.

Isn’t this great? Without much effort, CRM provides you a 360-degree view on what your customers have spoken about your business and its product/service. Based on these insights, you can quickly take the necessary follow-up actions to improve your customer service.
So to summarize, the above-mentioned six elements are the basis of a successful VoC program. Is your VoC strategy based upon these elements? What other elements do you think can be added to this list? Feel free to share them with us below.

Advanced Project Management with CRM software ConvergeHub

Managing projects can be difficult if there is lack of organization in it. That is why, it is essential that businesses use a tool that helps them manage the project right from inception to billing. However, while large enterprises have the bandwidth to invest on dedicated project management tools, SMBs can save their money by getting a CRM that offers Project Management feature integration. CRM software ConvergeHub is now equipped with the capabilities of an advanced project management application. Read the blog to get a detailed tour of ConvergeHub Project Management feature.

John is super excited to get the first BIG project for his business. However, his dream shatters when his team fails to deliver the project ‘on time’ to the client.

But what led to this?

While John had a large team working on the project, none of the members had a clear idea of:

  • What exactly was the client requirement?
  • What were the tasks of the other members?
  • What was the delivery date for each phase?

Result: Tasks got repeated and Deliverables did not meet the client’s quality and deadline.

Do you identify yourself with this situation? Do you feel excited yet petrified, when big projects come to your business?

Project Management is no Rocket Science!!!

But still it has become like that for many businesses. Have you wondered why? To think of it, there is a common reason and that is the absence of a proper tool.

Only if you have a Project Management Software, then all your projects can be better planned, implemented, monitored and controlled. However, with limited resources it is impossible for SMBs (small and medium businesses) to stretch the budget and invest in a separate Project Management tool.

But what if Project Management feature gets integrated within a CRM?

ConvergeHub has developed a dedicated Project Management module within its cloud-based CRM software. It is now equipped to simultaneously function as an advanced Project Management solution where it enables you to:

  • Plan and Define the Project Workflow
  • Set the different Milestones
  • Allocate the Resources on different Tasks and Subtasks
  • Collaborate with Key Associates across the organization
  • Track the Work Progress regularly to ensure that quality work is turned in on time.

Features

1. Project Planning

It is challenging to work upon a project if it is not defined as per a proper workflow. That is why ConvergeHub allows you to define the overall project plan in the form of multiple phases. For every project, you can:

  • Create milestones at each step
  • Create tasks and subtasks and specify a completion date for each.

With the whole project broken down into smaller units, you develop more GRANULAR and REFINED control of what needs to be done and when.

converge-project-planning

2. Resource Allocation

Often project managers struggle to distribute the tasks uniformly to all. ConvergeHub resolves this problem by enabling you to assign the tasks and subtasks from within the CRM itself. This greatly helps as you exactly know who is assigned what, to ensure that everyone is engaged equally and none overloaded.

converge-resource-allocation

3. Progress Percent

To ensure that you are on top of your Project Management at every stage, ConvergeHub uniquely provides a visual on the progress made on each task and subtask. Based on which, you can:

  • Assess how much more time will the tasks/subtasks take to complete
  • Change their order or edit their details, if required.

converge-progress-percent

4. Document Management

You can easily select files (from your computer or ConvergeHub Library) and associate them with project tasks. That means no more endless sifting through emails trying to find the crucial project requirement that your client mailed to you. In one shot, everyone involved in the project can:

  • Access latest project-related files, documents, graphics, spreadsheets and reports
  • Have the same information or update on the project.

converge-document-management

5. Collaboration

When you have a project in hand, ensuring proper communication and coordination among employees, clients and partners can be challenging. This is where ConvergeHub Projects ‘Comments’ feature comes to your rescue.

It gives the convenience to easily communicate in relation to the different tasks and subtasks. So:

  • Collaboration happens spontaneously
  • Problems get resolved real time
  • Things progress fast.

Unlike e-mails that is restricted to a few, here everyone involved in the project actively participates in the discussion through the comments.

converge-collaboration

6. Calendar

Projects involve the delivery of multiple tasks and subtasks. Manually noting them can become a headache; which is why ConvergeHub offers the ‘Publish to Calendar’ option.

Any project task or subtask, you can mark its deadline in the calendar. And the benefit of this is two-fold:

  • Your team never misses out on the deadline for any assigned work
  • In one glimpse, you exactly get an idea of the upcoming deadlines and can accommodate the remaining tasks in the calendar accordingly. In other words, no overlapping of deadlines.

converge-calendar

7. Timesheet

You can set target hours for the project tasks and subtasks, against which your team can log in the total time spent on them. This simplifies the task of recording and calculating the billable and non billable hours. Easy and Accurate way of time tracking! Isn’t it?

converge-timesheet

8. Billing

Whether it is a particular phase of your project that has got completed or the full project in whole, you just need to:

  • Go into the invoices section of ConvergeHub
  • Select the client’s name.

All the completed tasks will get AUTOMATICALLY populated in the invoice. You can send the invoice either through Mail or DocuSign. Short, Simple & Quick!!!

converge-billing

9. QuickBooks Integration

ConvergeHub is integrated with QuickBooks (Desktop & Online), that seamlessly syncs your customers, products, invoices and payments between both these platforms. As a result, you can raise project invoices and email them directly to customers from ConvergeHub. This data will automatically get synced up with your QuickBooks account.

Or

Even if your create and send invoices from QuickBooks, ConvergeHub will have the data updated immediately. That means whichever application you choose to send invoices, the data in the other will remain up-to-date and in-sync.

Benefits:

  • One unified view of your customers financials
  • Track the invoicing status of your project at any time from any application.

Impressed with the feature? So why wait? Get on with ConvergeHub Project Management module and let us know your feedback.

If you are not a ConvergeHub user, we welcome you into our family. Take ConvergeHub Test Drive and discover all the benefits that it brings over to your business. Or reach out to us and we will assist you in the process.
PS: Do not forget to write your remark below. What do you think of ConvergeHub Project Management feature?

ConvergeHub + QuickBooks (Online)

After successfully integrating with the QuickBooks Offline app, ConvergeHub has made a smooth integration with QuickBooks Online app as well. Now all ConvergeHub users who use QuickBooks Online can manage their organization-wide finances straight from the CRM itself. The hassle of changing the workflow or moving back or forth between tabs is history now. This blog delves upon the integration of ConvergeHub and QuickBooks Online in detail, pointing out the benefits that users will gain from it.

Today entrepreneurs are required to wear many hats while managing the different competing priorities. Consequent of which, the presence of an integrated Business Management Application comes across as an essential rather than an optional tool. While there are multiple business applications doing the rounds of the market, we have our eyes set on the New-Age Cloud CRM.

Wonder why? Read below:

The new-age cloud CRMs have bypassed the traditional boundary and expanded their horizon to accommodate sales, marketing and collaboration along with customer service.

They have added a host of third-party applications within their workflow to perform the role of an integrated Business Management Application and provide optimum convenience to the users.

The best example to corroborate this fact is the integration of QuickBooks within CRM application!

ConvergeHub online CRM (Semi-Finalist at 2014 CRM Idol Awards and Community Choice Honoree in the 2014 Small Business Influencer Awards) has integrated QuickBooks Offline three months back, followed now by QuickBooks Online.

What are the benefits?

Tremendous save of time and effort! Learn how:

ConvergeHub offers a seamless integration with QuickBooks Online, thereby allowing users to access QuickBooks data from within ConvergeHub itself.

Post the integration, all the information about customers, products, invoices and payments can be accessed within the CRM, without the need to switch to QuickBooks Online in a new tab. This makes it easy to streamline and accelerate the entire workflow and automate a chunk of activities.

Being at ConvergeHub, users can:

  • Get notified about invoice status, payment information and invoice balances
  • Provide prompt replies to customer queries in regards to invoices, payment histories and products
  • Check invoice histories of customers to identify up-sell opportunities
  • Enter contact information and invoice details in ConvergeHub with automatic update in QuickBooks Online. This ensures that users get to work within the application of their choice. ConvergeHub or QuickBooks – information about customers, products, invoices and payments remain same, consistent and updated in both the systems.

And most importantly, unlike other app integrations that involve hours of technical work, QuickBooks Online integration within ConvergeHub happens in minutes.

Sounds unbelievable? Read below:

Steps to integrate QuickBooks Online within ConvergeHub

1. Go to ConvergeHub Apps Store

ConvergeHub has a comprehensive App Store that allows users to shop for some of the most renowned third-party apps, namely – Microsoft Outlook, DocuSign, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, GoToMeeting, Twilio, QuickBooks, and so on.

2. Read details about QuickBooks Online Application

The details section provides a summarized description of the functionalities that QuickBooks Online app will provide within ConvergeHub.

3. Click on Get App

Clicking on Get App let the users download the plugin and initiate the application integration procedure. Users are just required to provide the login credentials to link their QuickBooks Online account and start accessing the records within ConvergeHub.

Amazing isn’t it? Well, QuickBooks is just one of the app integrations that ConvergeHub provides. There are many more add-ons and features available in ConvergeHub.

So why wait, sign up for ConvergeHub and take a test drive of the application, or reach out to us and we will give you a more detailed insight into our application.

Helping Companies Go Digital – ConvergeHub, Inc Partners with DocuSign to

ConvergeHub, Inc today announced it has partnered with DocuSign, Inc. (DocuSign®), The Global Standard for Digital Transaction Management™ (DTM), to help enterprise customers go fully digital. DocuSign helps organizations of every size…

ConvergeHub, Inc today announced it has partnered with DocuSign, Inc. (DocuSign®), The Global Standard for Digital Transaction Management™ (DTM), to help enterprise customers go fully digital. DocuSign helps organizations of every size, industry and geography keep business digital – eliminating the hassles, costs, and lack of security in printing, faxing, scanning and overnighting documents to complete transactions – to achieve faster speed to results, lower costs, and better customer experiences.

“We are proud to partner with the global standard for Digital Transaction Management as DocuSign’s secure, cloud-based platform is trusted by companies around the world.

The integration of ConvergeHub with E-signature App – DocuSign, will certainly add value and efficiency to the customers’ businesses. In all ways, their record-keeping will become paperless. Since all documents will be delivered electronically and sorted automatically, document management will be accurate, up to date and effortless.

Unnecessary delays like loss of agreement files, delay in counter-signature or failure of mail delivery will not trouble the customers. Most importantly, they’ll be able to provide greater protection with electronic signature serving as legally approved permanent electronic record. ‘’ says Manash Chaudhuri, CEO at ConvergeHub, Inc.

By leveraging ConvergeHub cloud platform with DocuSign’s DTM platform, customers can:

  • Realize revenue faster – DocuSigning takes minutes instead of days or weeks to complete contracts.
  • Improve sales rep productivity– With DocuSign, sales reps can focus on selling instead of chasing paperwork.
  • Automate back-end document processing –DocuSign automatically pulls and updates information in existing business systems to eliminate manual rekeying of data and associated errors.
  • Increase customer satisfaction – DocuSign offers the convenience of signing anytime, anywhere, on any device.
  • Reduce costs – DocuSigning eliminates printing, faxing, scanning and overnighting to complete transactions.

Overall, ConvergeHub, Inc partnership with DocuSign extends the capability of Converge application. More than just contact management software, ConvergeHub functions as document management and collaboration software too. It streamlines all the collaterals for sales, marketing and customer service in one powerful, unified, easy-to-use platform – empowering the companies to use it for all document related requirements right from the stage any new customer is in.

“We believe every successful company will be fully digital by the end of the decade,” said Neil Hudspith, chief revenue officer, DocuSign. “Partners like ConvergeHub, Inc realize this and are helping to bring the power of DocuSign’s Digital Transaction Management platform to more end users around the globe to ensure business is digital.”

Organizations interested in learning how ConvergeHub, Inc and DocuSign work together may find more information at www.docusign.com/partner/convergehub

About ConvergeHub, Inc

ConvergeHub, Inc is a leading Cloud CRM company offering an innovative collaboration network portal connecting Customers, Partners and Employees through social and mobile cloud technology. Founded by a team of highly experienced entrepreneurs (Manash Chaudhuri and Shampa Bagchi) in the year 2013, ConvergeHub, Inc is privately held and is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. Its powerful cloud-enabled CRM application ConvergeHub is designed to enable the SMBs drive better revenue by running all core business activities from a single integrated application.

Within one year of its launch, ConvergeHub framework has been widely acknowledged as the most intuitive yet rigorously functional solution for all business verticals. Renowned names like Boston Herald, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, TMCNet, International Business Times, and The Miami Herald have already featured ConvergeHub news showcasing it as one of the upcoming business management applications in the market.

About DocuSign Inc.

DocuSign®, The Global Standard for Digital Transaction Management™. Global enterprises, business departments, individual professionals, and consumers have standardized on DocuSign, with more than 40,000 new users joining the DocuSign Global Network every day. Today, that network includes millions of users in 188 countries. DocuSign’s DTM platform supports legally compliant electronic and digital signature processes tailored to meet requirements globally with localization in 43 languages. Companies and individuals DocuSign to accelerate transaction times to increase speed to results, reduce costs, increase security and compliance, and delight customers across nearly every industry – from financial services, insurance, technology, healthcare, manufacturing, communications, real estate, retail, and consumer goods to higher education, non-profit and others – as well as every business department, including sales, finance, operations, procurement, HR/staffing, legal, and customer support.

What’s new in ConvergeHub (Release Update on 14th July 2015)

As one of the most preferred CRM application providers, our endeavor is to keep evolving the application to meet the dynamic requirements of the customers. In regards to this, we have rolled out our next production release that incorporates a bunch of new critical functionalities. Check these out and see how CRM application ConvergeHub is now much better at managing business.

At ConvergeHub, we know how valuable is our CRM to your daily business management.  And just to make things even better, smoother and convenient for you – we have launched a set of new functionalities in our application.

These latest additions is sure to make you overwhelmed with their benefits. So without wasting any moment, let us get onto the detailing of each new feature added into ConvergeHub:

1. Gmail:

Many of the best CRM solutions have Gmail integration built in and now your own ConvergeHub has it too.  You can access Gmail right within the ConvergeHub platform.
All you are required to do is add the Gmail app from the Apps Store and seamlessly sync all your sent and received Gmail messages within ConvergeHub. How cool!

Once Gmail becomes a part of the CRM workflow, you can carry out a series of activities –

Associate emails with existing CRM contacts, accounts, leads, partners and tasks
Create new contacts, accounts, leads, partners and tasks in relation to the emails
Share emails with other users and partners within ConvergeHub.
.

2. Google Calendar Sync:

Yes you read that right! We are offering bi-directional sync capabilities of ConvergeHub calendar with Google Calendar.  You can use this functionality, merge your calendars present and upcoming scheduled events; and access the combined information from a platform of your choice  – ConvergeHub or Google Calendar.

It is great for your work productivity as it removes data discrepancy, eliminates double data entry effort and provides flexible working practices.

3. DocuSign Multiple Document Attachment:

We know you are required to frequently send documents for e-signature using the DocuSign app within ConvergeHub. However, sending one document at a time is a laborious job. That is why we have changed this functionality to enable you send multiple documents at once to your leads, accounts and contacts. There is no limit to the number of documents you attach. Time saving isn’t it?

4. Formula Summary Field:

What do you do when you have to calculate the total revenue generated from each account? Manually add up their  invoices/deal value, right. Not anymore.

We bring to you the option of creating multiple custom summary fields that add up the values of the selected module and provide you a sum total.

Example – there are invoices listed in the sub-panel of every account. To find the exact revenue generated from each of them, just:
Create the summary custom field selecting accounts and invoices as the related modules
The summary field will appear in all accounts’ details page, showcasing the grand total of all their invoices.

You can also set a formula and add the value of all the different summary fields created, to see the Grand Total. Plus, we give you the added convenience to analyze the data of the summary fields through customizable reports.

5. URL Custom Field:

We have introduced the URL type custom field. You can create this field type for any of the leads, accounts, contacts and deals and add the required URL there. The introduction of this field type is to help you add more critical information in the details page of your leads and customers.

All the above-mentioned features is live and is sure to improve your experience of working in ConvergeHub. So go ahead and give all a try in your CRM account. We are sure that you will be impressed by each of these new add-ons.

In the meanwhile also check out our latest Press Release on Gmail Integration

Thank you!

ConvergeHub

P.S. Twitter is a great place to reach us.

https://twitter.com/convergehub

Looking forward to see you there.

Objective of omnichannel customer engagement

Today’s customers demand nothing short of a highly connected and personalized experience across a wide range of physical, web-based, and mobile touchpoints. This is what is defined as omnichannel engagement which is one step ahead of multichannel customer engagement. Businesses who are able to deliver these experiences foster customer loyalty, satisfaction, and sales. This is precisely why it has become the prime agenda of every business to do groundwork on omnichannel engagement, invest in a robust customer engagement technology like CRM; and meet to the new customers expectations.

The Objective of omnichannel customer engagement helped build many businesses across the worled. Multi-channel customer engagement which was the new hot thing last year has been shifted to the back gear and replaced by a more advanced and engaging term – omnichannel customer engagement.

Often referred to as the conception of the social media realm, omnichannel customer engagement has been the new kid in the town and received warmly by the business world. This holds specifically true for the business experts like Paul Greenberg and Ian Altman who have advocated the concept of omnichannel engagement and fostered businesses of all sizes and industries to embrace it ASAP.

Omnichannel Engagement

In experts’ opinion, the onset of omnichannel engagement has been expected. That’s because during the phase of multichannel engagement, ‘customers’ have primarily been on the cusp of the wave.  They have been just using a few limited channels to interact with the companies. However, with the omnipresence of all kinds of social channels and effortless switching between them, the transition of customers to digital buyers and consumers has happened big and how!

The reason why we say this is because today’s customers have become digitally-connected who are engaging with the companies on their terms, on a variety of channels.  For instance, a customer today seeks out for a brand online – follows it on Facebook – but finally engages with it through email as that is what is closest to him at that moment.

This flawless jumping from one channel to another has put every company under the constant pressure to be prepared and be on the toes in order to provide a prompt and relevant service. Now they are required to ditch push advertising and understand the finer aspects of omnichannel communication to engage with the customers across all channels.

Experts’ Take on the Issue

In experts’ opinion, around 88 percent of 1,700-plus companies surveyed are investing time and money on framing strategies, programs, and technologies around omnichannel customer engagement. The objective is one:  to get close to customers more than ever. This will help to understand the customers’ psyche and  better figure out how to deliver a Psquare service (personalized and prompt service).

A recent IBM study has also found that more than 75% of C-level executives want to know their customers better and thus have increased their focus on digital engagement.  Below given graph precisely illustrates the survey results:

Image Source: Market Realist

The onset of Cloud CRM software as Customer Engagement Technology

In experts’ opinion, customer engagement technology has risen as the savior for brands looking to engage in omnichannel communications.  And in the market of multiple technologies proclaiming to facilitate omnichannel customer engagement, cloud CRM has come into the picture as the cornerstone of all.

It is precisely through using CRM technology that several companies have been successful to attract and retain customers across different channels.

Reason being that CRM has combined and streamlined the different contextual interactions to empower companies render a coherent and seamless experience that drives more customers. So when companies talk with customers on different channels — say Facebook, website, email and in-store – there are no differences in what they say. With all the interactions stored and accessible from one centralized database,  there is no fragmentation at the core of all interactions.

Paraphrasing the words of Paul Greenberg

CRM has evolved to become a universal favorite of all businesses, considering the fact that it is one of its kind systems that manages and monitors sales, marketing and customer service operations.

With the CRM technology by the side, companies have become empowered to manage the different operational aspects of a customer’s relationship, namely – account management, service case management, campaign management, sales pipeline management etc.  With the initiation of social channels as customer company interaction mediums, CRM too has been integrated with the capabilities of social media support. It’s an upshot of this that today,  social capability is standard in almost all renowned CRM applications.

All this clearly explains why CRM has become a vital part of millions of businesses in managing their day-to-day customer activity across all digital and traditional channels.  Paul suggests that in the next five year span, it is expected for CRM to become the most vital layer for customer engagement. It will be the groundwork of customer engagement technology and  will become an essential part of every business  ecosystem.

Read More with Covnerge:

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ConvergeHub & Google Apps – A Winning Combination!

ConvergeHub has made two Google App integrations within its CRM platform for enhanced office productivity of the users. In view of the large prominence that Google Apps holds in the business community, this integration has been implemented. All ConvergeHub users who use Google Apps should strongly consider integrating the two. Wonder why? Read this blog that describes the central benefits that ConvergeHub and Google Apps integration can provide to a business.

Watch your sales, marketing and customer service agent for a day, and take down their time spent doing double data entry. Multiply these figures and calculate the cost of the time. This is the money that your business is losing daily!

Shocked?

Well, whether you have a 100 or 10,000 member company, making your team invest time on entering and re-entering data in different standalone systems is a mar on your business productivity.

Forrester Research claims that businesses housing data in disparate applications unknowingly withhold customer information that results into missing selling opportunities. If only there is a single, shareable and centralized repository then it becomes easier for businesses to collaborate, communicate and share information, all from a single place.

In view of this fact, many experts have advocated the step of integrating disparate applications into one combined and comprehensive platform. And one of the most suggested integrations in this list is:

Google Apps and CRM

In the present time, when both CRM and Google Apps play a crucial role in every business’s functioning – the combination of both these systems will result into a great synergy and a best-of-breed offering. That’s because businesses can synchronize both the systems’ data and access Google Apps information from within CRM or vice versa. This will accelerate productivity and save ample time.

Google Apps within ConvergeHub

Cloud based CRM application ConvergeHub (CRM Idol 2014 semi-finalist) has announced its platform’s integration with Google Apps that includes Contacts and Calendar. ConvergeHub further plans to complement its CRM with additional Google App integrations that includes Google Docs and Google Mail.

For business owners looking to adopt a CRM that is integrated with essential third-party applications (like Google Apps) and functions as a broad application as opposed to more discrete systems – ConvergeHub is your answer.

ConvergeHub seamlessly integrates with external applications like Google Apps. From merging CRM and Google Contacts to exporting ConvergeHub Calendar events to Google Calendar, users can perform all these activities using the APIs provided in ConvergeHub.

What can you do with ConvergeHub and Google Apps Integration?

Google Contacts

  1. Synchronize in a bidirectional fashion and get access to your total contacts from either ConvergeHub or Google Contacts.
  2. Add/Edit contacts in ConvergeHub with simultaneous update in Google Contacts and vice versa.

Google Calendar

  1. Synchronize ConvergeHub and Google Calendar to collaborate with your colleagues regarding important appointments and events
  2. Login to ConvergeHub to view your Google Calendar or vice versa.

Benefits of Google Apps integration within ConvergeHub

1. Bi-directional Sync

Bi-directional sync capabilities ensure that you can now work in either ConvergeHub or Google Apps and have your data updated and synced in both places. Instead of manually updating data (which often leads to data discrepancies), your whole system gets unified by one set of data that saves time and eliminates any double data entry possibility.

2. Tighter Grip on Data

Google Apps integration within ConvergeHub allows businesses to leverage the power of Google resources from a centralized CRM application. Users get a better and exact perspective of their contacts and events as they can track them anytime anywhere inside ConvergeHub.

3. High User Adoption

Businesses do not have to face any added hassle of training or low user adoption, as most employees are already competent at using Google Apps.

Adding Google Apps within ConvergeHub Account

Users do not have to involve the IT team for integrating and using Google Apps within ConvergeHub. They can quickly integrate their CRM account with Google Apps by following the instructions provided in the Feature Blog.

Read Mor With Us:

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How CRM helping businesses to get profit

Are you carrying out sales, marketing and customer service activities at your business? If you are doing these in the traditional spreadsheet way, you are losing out on a ton of opportunities. That’s because spreadsheets is a time-consuming and ineffective way out. They get misplaced, become outdated, and often slip into the wrong hands. Alternatively, applications like cloud based CRM for small business not only centralizes the data in a safe and secure location but also combine the departments into a single unit. This inevitably helps you get your business kicked into high gear.

How CRM helping businesses to get profit, a study of business and Customer Relationship Management. In a survey conducted by Ovum research body, thirty-two percent of the interviewed entrepreneurs admitted of not foraying into the cloud CRM arena due to the apprehensiveness of the technology being ‘new’.

However, this thinking is nothing but a myth because the concept of CRM has existed since our granny’s time.

Surprised to read that? Well, a section of experts believe so. And to corroborate this fact, they have cited several examples. Here’s what one of it states:

‘Even forty years back:

1. A man who earned his living by ironing clothes, kept a list at hand, noting the different requirements of his regular customers.

2. A milk-seller kept a written track of how many milk bottles he needed to give to each customer at what time in the morning.

3. A grocery storekeeper had a notebook that listed who bought what each day along with the specific demands of products that the customers made. He used that notebook to update the inventory and cater to the buyers’ requirements.’

In each of the above-mentioned cases, the objective was same – making a sale and keeping a customer. And perhaps it is these manual paper-based processes that served as precursors and eventually culminated in the form of cloud CRM applications today. With the onset of technology, people got the power and the impetus to ditch the manual CRM procedures and build a cloud-based software system to take care of it all.

So while the practice existed from before, it’s just that the technique surrounding customer relationship management changed.

And hence, today the businesses who have refrained themselves from investing in a robust cloud CRM platform have either fallen by the wayside or are on the verge of experiencing that. Although they have manually put in a hell lot of effort to acquire new leads and hook onto their customers-

  • they haven’t been able to do it

or

  • are doing it by breaking a chip of their core.

If you do not wish to experience any of the same, have a formal cloud-based CRM (customer relationship management) software in place.

Do not get bothered by the buzz words of the vendors or get tossed in the midst of the innumerable CRM features floating in the market. Before venturing into either of that zones, understand the core functionality of CRM software which is:

‘merging your sales, marketing and customer service efforts with your business process to be able to identify, acquire, pursue and manage customers.

Top implications that a cloud CRM will bring to your business:

While there are a wide range of benefits that a cloud CRM system will provide to your business, we’ll share the top five to get you started:

1. Precise Analytics and Reporting

Whether you have 100 or 500 customers, chances are you don’t have time to manually analyze the purchases of every customer. The beauty of customer relationship management applications (CRM) are that they handle this onus for you by storing all the customer information in one central and always-accessible repository.

So what you get is an instant accession to a full range of customer purchasing data, that you can compare and analyze anytime anywhere. How?

Cloud CRMs provide powerful analytic and reporting tools. Either you can choose from the list of pre-defined report templates that the CRM has or create your own report template to drill down the key aspects, such as –

  • Who are the most profitable customers?
  • How are the sales this quarter?
  • Where are the bumps in the sales pipeline?

It doesn’t even take an hour for you to know and understand your customers’ buying habits or the exact status of the sales pipeline to frame informed decisions.

2. Better Team Collaboration & Synchronization

Cloud CRM’s centralized repository binds all the departments together. Be it your marketing representatives, sales agents or customer support personnel – each one of them use and share a common CRM platform, populate it with the essentials from time to time, that puts all on the same page.

Departmental silos get obsolete and there is transparency throughout the organization. Without a doubt, your team functions more cohesively that gets reflected in the bottomline too.

3. Faster Execution of Tasks

Sales, Marketing or Service – there are mundane administrative tasks in each that take up a few hours daily. According to an article in Business2Community, if the daily administrative activities gets automated, then the business can become up to 10x times more productive.

Customer relationship management system can manage and automate all your day-to-day administrative tasks. Right from scheduling client meetings, keeping customer records up-to-date, tracking customer follow-ups—it can take care of all these, freeing your team to perform the other critical activities that require immediate attention.

4. Improved Customer Service

It’s no news that we are dealing with the modern digitally-savvy customers who demand nothing less than a consistent experience from marketing to service. To match up to these expectations, cloud CRM empowers an organization with 360-degree customer view.

As a result, your team gets prepared to quickly identify the customers, address their needs and proactively recommend additional products or services that match their last purchase. In short, your staff becomes more agile, efficient and productive because they identify the customers at the first instance itself, without searching for their details in multiple databases.

5. Precise Marketing Efforts

Till now what you have been doing is the mass marketing effort where an XYZ campaign has got targeted to a wide segment of audience. There has never been any performance measurement of the campaign and neither have you known what exact percentage of targets have been responding to the campaign.

CRM gives you that far-sightedness to identify and zero in on only those individuals who carry the prospects of becoming into customers later. From a generic mass marketing approach, CRM allows you to polish your marketing efforts to make them more specific and productive. Plus, it gives you a detailed view into the performance of each campaign to understand the results, see the flaws and reset the ball rolling in the right direction.

This saves your time and money!

Final Thoughts

With all this discussion in place, it all boils down to the fact that the kind of power and competitiveness that cloud CRM offers is hard to replicate in any other stand-alone systems. And so it makes all sense to invest in a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management System. Period!

Read More: 9 Powerful Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Business Faster

What is the activity of a modern customer?

Large-scale companies worldwide have started offering customer engagement across multiple channels that involves, web, email, voice, mobile and social media. Following the footsteps are the budding small and medium organizations venturing into the multi-channel environment . However, venturing into this space without exhaustive planning can be dangerous. This blog identifies the key pointers for businesses to consider in the formation of a multichannel roadmap.

Do you know What is the activity of a modern customer? If not here you will get to learn them. With a lot of study What is the activity of a modern customer is the most improtant one. We can know a lot of things from this.

”Jane walks into an electronics brand store to obtain consultative advice from the storekeeper on a television system. Then she surfs online for the product to gather information and finally seeks advice from friends on social networks before making the purchase. Post the purchase, she refers a friend to the brand if she receives a superior service experience on all communication channels.”

Meet the new ‘Modern and Always-Connected Buyer’ who lives in the digital world and toggles across channels to carry out activities. In a sharp contrast to the previous years – these buyers are more informed , more demanding and have higher service expectations.

  • They demand navigating the company’s products and services on multiple communication channels and conduct business in any channel of choice
  • They expect companies to keep a note of their channel preferences and use these insights for future dealings and transactions
  • They need the companies to recognize and reward their purchase that fosters them to continue showing their allegiance.

Industry leading companies who have recognized this shift in customer attitude at the earliest have started providing superior multi-channel customer care. Not only this, they have started valuing the existing customer relationships with the right amount of offers and promotions to increase customer retention and loyalty. Being the pioneers of this paradigm shift, these companies have become examples for others planning to venture into the realm of multi-channel customer care.

Looking at their steps, many have developed strategies and business processes to address the demands of the multi – channel connected customer. However on one one hand where taking references from others’ strategies has been good, blindfoldedly following them have not yielded the expected return. That’s because each company calls for a customized approach! So indeed, companies need to maintain a fine balance between the two.

And in lieu of this fact – what we have provided below is a summarized list of the pointers that every entrepreneur needs to consider while preparing to cater to the multi-channel connected customer:

1. Clear Communication:

It’s imperative on the part of the companies to categorically specify the ‘multi – channel option’ to the customers. It is advisable to advertise about this newly-introduced service aspect to customers through emails and newsletters. This would ensure that every customer comes to know about this facility and uses it much to their convenience.

2. Coherent Service:

A core element of a successful multi-channel customer care is coherency. For instance, when a customer submits a query form online and then speaks to the customer service representative, he does not want to make the effort to repeat the information provided in the previous channel . Rather he expects the information provided in the form to be captured and studied by the agent.

The companies who handle these customer channel transitions smoothly, ease their customers journey and win their support and confidence in the long run.

That’s precisely why it’s necessary for companies to ensure that they provide the same level of expertise across all communication channels for creating a seamless cross-channel experience.

So even when customers move back and forth to traverse multiple channels – companies must be well-equipped enough to capture the information from the past channel and make it available in the present one. In short – providing the convenience to the customers to not start from scratch every time but instead continue from where they left last.

It is advisable on the part of the companies to take the extra effort and deploy programs that monitors the live experience of the customers as they navigate across the channels and captures customer feedback while doing the same.

3. Software Support:

Companies need to have a secure data-rich application (preferably a cloud CRM solution) that helps manage all customer multi-channel interactions in a comprehensive manner than siloed batches. It stores and maintains all solicited and unsolicited, inbound and outbound multi – channel interaction records systematized in a shared, accessible and updateable repository. This provides representatives immediate access to the history of interactions and activities that has occurred across all communication channels.

Obviously, with this 360° multi – channel view, sales, marketing and customer support agents find it easy to understand the customer’s psyche and take appropriate action. They integrate the insights derived from all channels into their sales, marketing and service strategy algorithms. Data like:

  • Which are the most-preferred channels of communication
  • Average response time

can be easily detected to improve cross – channel service .

Overall, CRM helps in providing cradle – to – grave reporting on customer journey. It allows the organization exactly see the point where customers switch channels and increase the richness of each channel to reduce frequent channel switching.

Most importantly having an application like cloud CRM helps in creating a ‘unified journey’ experience for the customers where information provided in one channel is captured by the companies and updated in every other channel to help the customers smoothly cross channels without any roadblock.

Final Thoughts

Case studies have proven that catering to the connected (multi-channel) customers has been taken up mostly by the big-scale enterprises. However, that in no way leaves room for the small companies to do it later or completely avoid it. Because in experts’ opinion – the demand for multi – channel support will grow exponentially as customers become increasingly aware of the benefits and capabilities associated with it.

So it becomes all but optional for each small and medium-sized company to devise a set of contextually relevant strategies to cater to the ‘Modern, Empowered and Always-Connected Customer’.