A recent white paper entitled “Five Ways to Put Your CRM Data to Work for You and Your Customers” provides the basics in sharing and using information from CRM systems to improve customer service.

Since a whole lot of a business’ customer contact comes via the phone, integrating an IVR with CRM is crucial.

Empower your customers: Organizations that use IVR applications with their customer service functions understand that one key to generating a positive caller experience is providing self- service options, or providing callers with fast and efficient phone-based interactions to automatically deliver real-time information at their convenience. Simply put: the best way to serve your customers is to have the information they need, when they need it.

Personalize the customer interaction for more efficiency: Yankee Group (News - Alert) estimates that live telephone conversations still account for 77 percent of customers’ access to enterprise information, and that telephone interaction will remain the dominant form of access for years. Phone (News - Alert)- enabling CRM systems for the contact center provides an environment for decreasing costly live agent time while increasing the overall customer experience by shortening the call transaction length and providing personalized menus and options.

Generate new revenue through cross-selling and up-selling: One of the biggest benefits of integrating phone applications with CRM solutions is the ability to provide targeted sales offers to customers and use these systems as revenue-generating tools. By tapping into customer buying behavior or other information as part of the interaction, organizations can tailor offers to specific customer segments.

Get your sales and marketing lead management in sync: A common frustration among sales and marketing alike is the capturing and tracking of leads. Sales representatives often complain that taking the time to input information about prospects means time away from selling, and when they do use the application, the information is often incomplete. Marketing must deal with leads that are inaccurate, decreasing the efficiency of marketing campaigns and activities.

Be proactive to increase loyalty with outbound campaigns: Outbound campaigns have traditionally been an important part of any businesses customer and prospect outreach strategy. Successful outbound campaigns leverage customer information to provide meaningful interactions with the customer and enhance the caller experience.