Easily measured, such as faster handling through screen pops and an integrated user interface, and perhaps more intangible such as improved customer satisfaction and consistent first-call resolution. There were many complex challenges in the early days of computer telephony integration. Previously APIs were closed and proprietary. Today several standards have emerged to help standardize the industry. Despite these advances, several myths around CTI remain that can make organizations leery of integrating their CRM and contact center applications. Let’s look at these myths that may or may not have been accurate at one point but are no longer. We’re debunking CTI myths below:
Myth #1: Screenpop is only based on a phone number – Screenpop can be found on any piece of data. Contact Canvas allows you to define a hierarchy of searches. For instance, if someone enters an account number via the IVR, a search can be performed on the account number, but if no match is found, the ANI could be used. Some organizations even look for screen-pops on outbound calls or perform data dips into the CRM before routing a call to the agent!
Myth #2: CTI is a costly and labor-intensive endeavor – If you know your environment and have the right resources on the project, CTI can be done very quickly. Like any project, the effort can drag on when you don’t have the right skill sets. Organizations that are transitioning to a new platform often look for feature parity with their old system. Deferring CTI to phase 2 of a project may simplify troubleshooting newly set environments. However, CTI considerations and requirements gathering should be included in phase 1 to avoid rework and reconfiguration.
Myth #3: The softphone from my telephony provider is just as good as one embedded in the CRM – there are a lot of feature-rich softphones that telephony providers and contact solution providers have developed. However, productivity is lost, bouncing back and forth from application to application. You can avoid the swivel chair effect by providing a unified agent experience within CRM.
Myth #4: Out-of-the-box solutions lack flexibility – some out-of-the-box solutions provide ways to extend the solutions to address unique requirements. Contact Canvas Agent offers a robust and flexible development tool called Agent Palette. Through Agent Palette, developers can access CTI and user control events.
Myth #5: Custom Dev or house dev gives an organization more control – while it is true that maintaining your software provides a lot of control over features and timelines, the tremendous amount of overhead associated with acquiring and preserving telephony integration skillsets in the house or through consulting services is excellent.
