Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is a technology that enables your PC to control/monitor your phone. In particular, it closely ties your CRM and phone system together. For this blog, I will be talking about these three common CTI features:
– Click to dial – You can make calls with a “click” – without touching an actual telephone.
– Screen pop – Automatically populate your CRM view with caller’s information and history.
– Call logging – All inbound and outbound calls are logged against the customer in CRM

There are many more advanced CTI features we will deal with in later blogs, such as
– Route callers to the most appropriate agent, based on CRM data.
– Add call recording links to the interaction history in CRM
– Outbound efficiency through Progressive Dialer in CRM
– Tracking marketing success of your inbound phone numbers
– Automating workflows based on CTI information
– IVR and CRM integration
– Callbacks, including web callbacks
– Outbound calling with marketing automation
– See a colleague’s presence before transfer
– Screen and call transfer
– Telephony performance data in CRM – unified reporting
– Customer experience measurement using CTI

CTI has helped contact centers to gain a competitive advantage by enabling them to take a more data-driven approach while interacting with the customers. Call centers have witnessed significant reductions in costs, decreased call handle time, enhanced production and more control of the outbound operation.

In the past, many organizations have shied away from implementing CTI based applications, as they had a reputation for being unwieldy in the extreme and the degree of difficulty in implementing those applications effectively, was only matched by the high cost associated with their purchase.

However, CTI is definitely now available off-the-shelf for most CRMs. Some implementations are highly advanced and suitable for premium contact centers. The feature levels will vary, but you should check out what is readily implementable for your CRM.

So, what are the benefits of our three focus CTI features?

Save time on every call.
It could be that the callers CRM records are automatically popped to the agent event before they answer the call. Or the handy transfer buttons in CRM for a smooth transfer to another agent or department. Or not having to manually log every call in CRM. Or simply saving finger-trouble when making outbound calls. All these will save time on every call. Typically the savings are 15 to 30 seconds per call. That adds up quickly with all the calls you are handling.

If it’s not in CRM, it didn’t happen.
Agents no longer have to remember to log calls in CRM. That’s all automatic with CTI. And that also means you now have the data to plan accurately. Or it will save a lot of heartache when absence of a note in CRM translates to customer conflict.

Save money on every call
The screen-pop and easy transfers offered by CTI will result in shorter AHT (Average Handling Time). So, since agents will get through calls quicker, that will yield an immediate cost saving. Furthermore, since the hold times on your expensive toll-free numbers will be shorter, there is a cash saving there too. shorter hold time on your expensive toll-free numbers

Customers will love you that little bit more – and every little helps
The name of the game in retaining customers is to have them trust and love you so they won’t leave easily. The faster call handling, personalization, smooth and speedy start to the call that CTI enables will add to the trust and love your customers have for you.

To Do: Research the basic CTI available for your CRM and phone-system combination. Google something like: Dynamics crm “screen pop” avaya