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Collaboration and Data Protection Preferred in Multichannel CRM Platform

By Michael Guta, Contributing Writer

In today's business environment, organizations have to implement customer relations management (CRM) software in order to more effectively deal with many of the channels consumers use to interact with businesses. CRM applications include customer support, call centers, sales force automation systems, sales, services, and order management. When the right CRM is integrated into call centers and other consumer touch points, it makes the organization more efficient by delivering better customer service as well as providing new opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling products and services. This requires collaboration between everyone in the organization by sharing the information customers entrust to the business, and ensuring the data is protected at all costs.

Recent surveys have concluded that consumers are increasingly more hesitant about providing their personal information to call centers. This has resulted in consumers blaming call centers for security breaches, with millions opting not to use the services call centers provide.

Implementing a multichannel customer service using social media sites such as Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter, mobile applications, company websites, SMS, chat, and email, as well as direct access via the telephone, gives consumers a degree of safety. This flexibility makes the organization more accessible and allows the customers to make contact at their own convenience. This access builds a level of trust which encourages them to provide valuable feedback about the products and services the organization offers, which in the long run builds brand loyalty and improved quality.

Pulling all of this information together requires a collaborative effort within the organization between all departments by providing a consistent experience for the consumer across all channels. Every request a customer makes should be accessible to every department so all of the interactions that particular customer has with the organization are readily available. This ensures the consumer feels safe about providing their input knowing it will be safe first and foremost, but they also feel their view will be valued.

The difference between good customer service and exceptional customer service with CRM technology is using it to organize the customer data and make it available to everyone in the organization, and ensuring it is protected with the best available security. Technology is such in today's ecosystem that there shouldn't be information silos regarding customer interaction in the organization. This doesn't mean all employees get total access, just enough information to let them do their jobs effectively while they are dealing with customers. Because not having the right information when company personnel are interacting with customers can drive them away; not protecting the data will ensure that they never come back.