• Login
  • Status
  • Support
  • Partners
  • Pricing
  • Careers
  • ENLanguages
    • English
    • Deutsch
    • Français
    • 日本
    • 简体中文
    • العربية
    • 한국
    • Español
NICE - AI Customer Service Automation Solutions
  • NICE - AI Customer Service Automation Solutions×
  • Platform

      CXone Mpower Platform

      • Workflows

        Automate every service workflow

      • Agents

        Maximize agent performance

      • Knowledge

        Centralize data and knowledge

      Customer Service Automation

      • Platform Overview

        Complete AI platform for customer service automation

      • Trust & Compliance

        Ensure secure, reliable, and compliant customer service operations

      • CXexchange Marketplace

        Discover partner solutions to extend capabilities on our platform

      • Integrations & Hubs

        Seamlessly connect your business systems

      • Developer Portal

        Endless customization options with RESTful APIs and robust SDKs

      • User Communities

        Collaborate, learn, and share best practices for customer service excellence

      Discover the full value of AI in customer service

      Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

      Calculate your savings

    • Products
      • Explore all Products

      • AI for Customer Experience

        AI for Customer Experience

        Purpose-built AI for unparalleled CX automation

        Learn more

        • Autopilot

          Elevate customer self-service with an AI-powered virtual agent

        • Copilot

          Empower agents and supervisors with powerful AI to drive productivity

        • Actions

          Unlock complex data with generative AI for CX leaders

        • AutoSummary

          Automate notetaking with Gen AI to summarize every interaction

        • AI Routing

          Match customers to their perfect agent for improved business results

        • Enlighten AI for Complaint Management

          Protect your organization from reputational and financial risks

        • Enlighten AI for Sales Effectiveness

          Increase conversion rates and grow revenue with real-time analysis

        • Experience Optimization (XO)

          Learn from all interactions with AI that builds smart self-service

        • Enlighten AI for Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

          Gain insights on agent soft-skill behaviors on every interaction

      • Digital & Self Service

        Digital & Self Service

        Friction-free customer experiences driven by conversational AI

        Learn more

        • Autopilot

          Elevate self-service experiences with an AI-powered virtual agent that guides customers

        • Conversational AI & Chatbots

          Engage customers with AI-powered intelligent virtual agents and chatbots that converse naturally

        • Knowledge Management

          Meet customers with knowledge and ensure they receive the right content, wherever they are

        • Proactive AI Agent

          Keep customers engaged in conversation from onboarding to installation, service, and retention

        • Web & Mobile Engagement

          Remove friction across the digital journey by proactively delivering the right guidance at the right time

        • Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

          Accelerate resolution, improve routing efficiency and cut costs with AI boosted voice self-service

        • Experience Optimization (XO)

          Optimize digital CX by learning from all interactions with AI that mirrors top agents to build smart self-service

      • Journey Orchestration & Routing

        Journey Orchestration & Routing

        Seamless customer journeys across voice and digital channels

        View Products

        • Actions

          Unlock complex data with generative AI for CX leaders

        • Omnichannel Routing

          Connect customers to the ideal resource, the smart way

        • AI Routing

          Match every customer to their perfect agent with AI that delivers personalized experiences and improves results

        • AI Orchestrator

          Orchestrate AI-driven customer service workflows across the enterprise.

        • Proactive Engagement

          Generate more revenue, minimize hang-ups, proactively connect to reduce friction in the customer experience

        • Digital & Voice Channels

          Meet consumers in their preferred channel, provide frictionless experiences, maintain context throughout

        • Social, Chat & Messaging

          Engage website visitors in conversations on their channel of choice

      • Workforce Engagement & Management

        Workforce Engagement & Management

        Robust applications to optimize the employee experience (WEM)

        Learn more

        • Workforce Management

          Anticipate business demands with smarter, AI-based forecasting that keeps SLAs up and costs down

        • Quality Management

          Deliver better customer experiences through streamlined processes and actionable, AI-based feedback

        • Performance Management

          Meet your organizational goals while engaging employees through personal coaching and gamification

        • Interaction Recording & Management

          Capture your omnichannel interactions, meet your contact center’s regulatory needs and drive better performance

        • Supervisor Workspace

          Turbocharge supervisors to make agile decisions, streamline workflows and improve performance

        • Dashboard & Reporting

          Gain a full operational picture of your contact center, with enhanced visualization of real-time and historical insights

        • Automated Agent Augmentation

          Automatically detect automation opportunities, and effortlessly build automation processes as needed

        • Playvox by NICE

          Seamlessly integrate with CRMs to efficiently manage your workforce

      • CX Analytics

        CX Analytics

        Actionable insights to continuously enhance the customer experience

        Learn more

        • Experience Optimization (XO)

          Optimize digital CX by learning from all interactions with AI that mirrors top agents to build smart self-service

        • Actions

          Unlock complex data with generative AI for CX leaders

        • Dashboard & Reporting

          Gain a full operational picture of your contact center, with enhanced visualization of real-time and historical insights

        • Feedback Management

          Discover actionable insights from omnichannel customer feedback to improve customer satisfaction

        • Interactions Analytics

          Analyze every interaction to understand operational trends and agent performance

        • Desktop & Process Analytics

          Understand and confidently select the processes that will contribute most to your performance success

      • Agent Assist

        Agent Assist

        AI-driven tools for real-time agent guidance and coaching

        Learn more

        • Omnichannel Agent Desktop

          A unified agent workspace provides everything agents need to handle all interactions

        • Agent Assist Hub

          Easily integrate applications that help turn every one of your agents into a customer service superstar

        • Real-Time Guidance

          Helps agents understand where they can improve their behaviors in real-time to boost customer satisfaction

        • AutoSummary

          Automate agent notetaking with the power of generative AI to summarize every interaction

        • Knowledge Management

          Your customer’s journey begins with a search. Meet them with knowledge and ensure they receive the right content

      • Open Cloud Platform

        Open Cloud Platform

        Innovative cloud-native foundation to rapidly scale extraordinary CX

        Learn more

        • Security & Compliance

          Secure your data and enjoy industry-leading guaranteed uptime

        • Resiliency & Reliability

          Keep your contact center up and running with dynamic elasticity

        • CXexchange Marketplace

          Discover partner solutions to extend capabilities on our platform

        • Developer Tools & APIs

          Endless customization options with RESTful APIs and robust SDKs

        • Pre-Built Integrations

          Increase value with pre-integrated applications, UCaaS and CRM adapters

        • FedRAMP

          Give your government agency the tools to act smarter and respond faster

        • Voice as a Service (VaaS)

          Connect agents and customers with cloud-optimized voice & data services

        • Elevate AI

          Improve your customer conversations with accurate STT transcription

        • Multipath to CXone

          Connect vital enterprise infrastructure to our cloud gradually and safely

        • Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)

          Unify your contact center with the rest of the organization

    • Solutions
      • Explore all Solutions

      • By Industry

        By Industry

        • BPO

          Business Process Outsourcers

        • Financial Services

          Customer experiences that count

        • Government

          Elevate citizen trust

        • Healthcare

          Healthy patient experiences

        • Insurance

          Secure policyholder experiences

        • Retail

          Delight customers where they shop

        • Telecom

          CX for Telecommunications

        • Travel & Hospitality

          Boost traveler and guest loyalty

        Discover the full value of AI in customer service

        Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

        Calculate your savings

      • By Business Initiative

        By Business Initiative

        • Grow Revenue

          Boost conversions and win rates to accelerate growth

        • Engage & Empower Employees

          Create a workplace of truly engaged employees

        • Boost Customer Loyalty

          Improve customer loyalty on interactions across the journey

        • Drive Digital Transformation

          Integrate digital technology at the center of CX

        • Small and Medium Business

          Drive growth and boost revenue with smarter, cost-effective customer service built for SMBs.

        • Call Center Software

          Empower agents to provide better experiences

        • Increase Operational Efficiency

          Leverage AI and automation to increase agent retention

        • Move to the Cloud

          Elevate experiences by moving operations to the cloud

        • Improve Compliance

          Protect your consumers with pre-built compliance solutions

        • Proactive Customer Engagement

          Elevate customer satisfaction with proactive conversational AI

      • Integrations & Custom Solutions

        Integrations & Custom Solutions

        • CXexchange Marketplace

          Discover partner solutions to extend capabilities on our platform

        • Pre-Built Integrations

          Seamlessly connect your business systems with our platform

        • Developer Tools & APIs

          Endless customization options with RESTful APIs and robust SDKs

        • Partner Ecosystem

          Embark on a journey of shared success and collaboration

        91% of customers recommend NICE as a preferred CCaaS vendor

        Gartner® named NICE the only Customers’ Choice CCaaS vendor in its 2024 Peer Insights™ “Voice of the Customer for Contact Center as a Service” report.

        Get report

    • Services
      • Explore all Services

      Professional Services

      • Professional Services

        Industry-leading expertise, tools and know-how

      • Implementation Partners

        NICE-certified implementation partners

      • Business Consulting

        Your partner for successful transformation

      Training

      • Contact Center Training

        Tailored education delivered by CX experts

      Support & Assistance

      • Customer Support

        Global support you can depend on

      Make the smartest buying decision with the latest Gartner analysis

      NICE has been named a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for Contact Center as a Service for the 10th consecutive year and is positioned furthest on Completeness of Vision.

      Get report

    • Resources

        Knowledge Base

        • All Resources

          Whitepapers, datasheets, demos and more

        • Analyst Perspectives

          Contact center reports from third party analysis

        • Terms Glossary

          Detailed descriptions of industry-related terms

        • FAQs

          Contact center focused frequently asked questions

        • Guides

          Expert insights for superior CX

        Learning & Insights

        • On-Demand Webinars

          Browse our extensive webinar catalog

        • Interactive Product Tours

          Explore the complete platform with our self-guided demos

        • Blog

          CX industry guidance by contact center experts

        • Why NICE? Video Series

          Step Inside The Room Where It Happened to see CX AI in action

        • NICE & Simple: Video Demo Series

          Brilliant, bite-sized videos from our top product pros

        Community

        • Events

          Upcoming events and webinars

        • Customer Stories

          Our customer's success is paramount. Read case studies about real CX transformation

        • NICE Clubs

          Collaborate, learn, and share best practices for customer service excellence

        Join us at the Largest CX Event of the Year!

        Registration is open! Interactions 2025: June 16-18, 2025. Aria Hotel, Las Vegas

        Register now

      • Company

          Company

          • About Us

            Powering seamless cloud experiences

          • Investors

            Investors relations, reports and filings

          • Global Offices

            Interactive map of locations worldwide

          • Careers

            View job openings and learn about our culture

          • NICE Leadership

            Meet our global leadership and executive team

          News & Media

          • Events

            Upcoming events and webinars

          • Press Releases

            Find the latest updates from NICE

          • Media Center

            Media contacts and resources

          Corporate Governance

          • NICE Trust Center

            Securing your trust with every interaction

          • Market Leadership

            Discover why NICE is the market leader

          • Corporate Responsibility

            In a world where you can be anything, be NICE

          Join us at the Largest CX Event of the Year!

          Registration is open! Interactions 2025: June 16-18, 2025. Aria Hotel, Las Vegas

          Register now

          • ENLanguages
            • English
            • Deutsch
            • Français
            • 日本
            • 简体中文
            • العربية
            • 한국
            • Español
          • Get in Touch
            • Login
            • Status
            • Support
            • Partners
            • Pricing
            • Careers
            linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin

          Company

          • About Us
          • Careers
          • Global Leadership
          • Media Center
          • Investors
          • Awards
          • Global Office Locations
          • Contact Us
          • CCaaS
          • Customer Experience
          • NICE Public Safety
          • NICE Actimize
          • NICE RPA

          Partners

          • NICE Partners Overview
          • Developer Partners (DEVone)
          • CXone Mpower Partner Portal
          • NICE Help Partner Portal
          • NICE User Group

          Customer Support

          • Customer Support Overview
          • CXone Mpower Support Login
          • NICE Customer Support

          STAY CONNECTED

          linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin
          • Terms of Use
          • Site Map
          • Privacy Policy
          • Legal
          • Cookies Settings
          • Accessibility
          © 2025 NICE
          4-benefits-of-integrating-crm-for-small-companies-with-contact-center-software

          4 Benefits of integrating CRM for small companies with contact center software

          by Michelle Melland
          September 17, 2021
          Share

          Small business leaders wear a lot of different hats and juggle multiple responsibilities. As an example, I was once surprised to see the CEO of an SMB updating the company's organizational chart (he didn't have an assistant to perform this task) and the COO of the same business mopping up water after a toilet overflowed (no full-time maintenance staff).

          When small companies run this lean, it's important to be as efficient as possible to get the most from your resources and allow staff and leadership to focus on the right things. These "right things" include growing your business by closing more sales and increasing customer lifetime value (CLV) by delivering loyalty-building experiences to existing customers.

          Growing revenue requires the right tools to make data-driven decisions and personalize offers and customer service interactions. Integrating CRM for small companies with contact center software can give SMBs the capabilities needed to meet their business goals and streamline customer management processes so that COOs can spend more time mopping bathroom floors. Just kidding.

          Features enabled by integrating CRM software with contact center solutions

          CRM systems, at their most basic level, help organizations manage their customer information. CRM for small companies should help SMBs organize customer and prospect contact information, provide a record of past purchases, and help manage the sales pipeline. And when CRM applications are integrated with contact center technology, businesses can add new features to customer service experiences and track customers throughout their journeys. CRM plus contact center solutions is a match made in CX heaven.

          Let's take a look at some of the capabilities that are enabled by integrating CRM for small companies with contact center software.

          Automated interaction documentation

          To be effective at closing sales and retaining customers, sales staff should know what happened during customer service interactions. However, when contact centers are busy, agents can shortchange call documentation in the rush to answer the next call. This problem can be solved when the right CRM software is integrated with the right contact center technology. Contact center software that uses artificial intelligence can create transcripts for voice interactions and automatically write them to the CRM system. Contacts from digital channels can be automatically documented, as well.

          Single source of customer information

          Capabilities such as automatic interaction documentation enable CRM for small companies to become the single source of customer data. This adds accuracy and simplicity to reporting and analysis and streamlines sales and support functions. When customers call customer service, agents have all the information about callers at their fingertips, and before salespeople make upsell calls, they can view service interactions to see if they need to address anything during their conversations with customers.

          Unified agent desktop

          When the CRM system is integrated with contact center software, it enables a unified agent desktop where everything an agent needs is contained in a single user interface. This eliminates toggling through multiple systems as agents assist customers. The unified desktop can include all the channels the agent supports plus all the customer information needed to personalize interactions and bring issues to timely resolutions.

          Screen pops

          Integrated solutions enable customer screens to pop automatically for the agents that receive the calls. When the automatic contact distributor (ACD) receives the inbound contact, it can query the CRM application based on data such as the customer's phone number or data they entered in the IVR system. When it finds a match, the system will automatically "pop" the screen for the agent so he can immediately get down to business.

          Smarter routing

          This same process of querying the CRM application also allows the ACD system to perform smarter routing. For example, if the customer's record indicates she's a high-value, VIP client, she could be routed to a special team that handles VIP accounts. Alternatively, she could be moved to the front of the regular queue, so her call is answered quickly.

          Click to call

          When your contact center uses soft phones, an integrated solution enables your salespeople and agents to simply click on the phone number link in the CRM system to initiate the outbound call. It's a simple convenience your sales team will appreciate, and it will make outbound call campaigns more efficient.

          How integrating CRM systems with contact center software can help small companies reach their goals

          how integrating crm systems with contact center software

          These integration-enabled features aren't just fun-to-have bells and whistles; they can yield tangible business benefits. For small companies that run lean and need to fight for every customer, an integrated solution can provide the efficiency and differentiation needed to be profitable and acquire and retain customers.

          Let's discuss four benefits of integrating CRM for small companies with contact center software.

          1. Personalized interactions

          One of the many benefits of doing business with a SMB is that customers feel more valued and not like just another tiny fish in a giant corporate revenue pond. This is because small companies can provide that extra personal touch that lets customers feel like they are known and appreciated.

          Personalization can be the secret sauce that helps SMBs succeed. How much do consumers value personalization? Epsilon found that "80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences."1 Additionally, Accenture found that "83% of consumers are willing to share their data to create a more a personalized experience."2

          It's clear that today's consumers want personalized experiences, but how do small businesses maintain the personal touch as they're growing? They need the right tools, such as an integrated CRM/contact center solution.

          When customer service agents have access to comprehensive customer data, they know what customers have purchased in the past; the outcomes and types of support issues they've had; and their CLV. This empowers agents to make personalized statements like, "I see you had an issue with a damaged product last April - was it resolved to your satisfaction?" and "You bought my favorite luggage set last month - did you know we now carry a matching makeup bag?"

          Personalized conversations can begin with the automated screen pop, continue when agents leverage customer history, and end with a customer who is satisfied with the interaction.

          2. Increase agent efficiency, effectiveness, and engagement

          Most small call centers need their customer service agents to be as efficient as possible to get the most out of their labor dollars and make sure their customers don't need to wait long in queue. Handle times, one metric that impacts efficiency, can be reduced when CRM systems are integrated with contact center technology. Features like screen pops and automatic call documentation shave time by reducing agent administrative tasks. Shorter handle times increase capacity and allow SMBs to have highly productive agent teams.

          Not only are agents more efficient, but an integrated solution can help them be more effective at delivering exceptional customer service experiences. Having everything they need in a unified desktop allows agents to focus on customers instead of being distracted by awkward system navigation. Additionally, ready access to customer data means agents have the context needed to build rapport and personalize interactions.

          Having modern tools that make them more effective at helping customers can increase agent satisfaction and engagement. Engaged agents are more committed to the organization's goals, which means they'll go the extra mile to deliver loyalty-building CX. And small call centers just might see a bump in agent retention!

          3. Connect customers to the right resource

          The smarter routing that's enabled by an integrated solution means customers are much more likely to be routed to the right resource the first time. This decreases customer effort and frustration and is also a more efficient use of agents - rather than wasting time transferring misrouted customers, agents are routed transactions they are qualified to handle.

          Customers who are transferred multiple times often have repeat their issue. This makes organizations hard to do business with. Customer effort score is becoming a popular metric, and with good reason. The Corporate Executive Board, a consulting firm, found that 94% of customers who have a low effort experience are likely to repurchase. On the flip side, 96% of consumers are more likely to churn following a high effort experience.3

          Revenue from more purchases and higher customer loyalty can make the case for integrating CRM for small companies with contact center systems.

          4. Make better decisions

          make better decisions

          Integrating CRM software with contact center systems also enables better decision making by synchronizing and consolidating data. CRM applications typically contain data such as customer contact information and preferences, purchase history, and where prospects are in the sales process. Contact center systems, on the other hand, contain information like what types of problems customers have had, what channels they used, and who helped them and how. When married together, this data gives SMBs more holistic insights into the customer journey, which allows leaders to make more informed decisions.

          But leaders aren't the only ones who benefit from this consolidated data; it also enables agents to make better decisions while interacting with customers. An integrated solution eliminates data errors caused by manual updates, so agents have access to accurate and more holistic context. This allows them to make better decisions about upselling and cross-selling, offering solutions, and more.

          To learn more about the insights enabled by integrating Salesforce CRM with NICE CXone, read "Seeing the Bigger Picture: Using Salesforce CRM Data to Reveal New Insights that Improve Contact Center Performance."

          Integrating CRM for small companies with NICE CXone

          NICE CXone, the industry-leading cloud contact center platform, simplifies integrated solutions with pre-built integrations with leading CRM applications.

          Visit our CRM integration page for more information.

          1  Epsilon: Press release (2018)

          2  Accenture: Personalization Pulse Check (2018)

          3  CEB Global: The Effortless Experience

          About the Author

          Michelle Melland

          See All Blogs

          Follow Us

          Follow us to get the latest news from your preferred Social Network

          linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin

          Popular Posts

          9 ways to unlock scheduling flexibility and gamify shift management

          May 28, 2025

          9 ways to unlock scheduling flexibility and gamify shift management

          Read

          May 20, 2025

          10 NICE Interactions experiences everyone will be talking about (And why you’ll want to be part of it)

          Read
          3 biggest takeaways on proactive engagement and the future of customer experience

          May 14, 2025

          3 biggest takeaways on proactive engagement and the future of customer experience

          Read
          Jon Heder on Future You is Dynamite video series

          May 7, 2025

          Behind the bang: How Future You got so dynamite

          Read

          May 6, 2025

          Balancing cognitive load: Building smarter schedules to enhance efficiency

          Read

          More from the blog

          9 ways to unlock scheduling flexibility and gamify shift management
          Workforce OptimizationMay 28, 2025

          9 ways to unlock scheduling flexibility and gamify shift management

          Agent satisfaction and retention remain a perennial issue in contact center and back-office environments.

          Read
          AIMay 20, 2025

          10 NICE Interactions experiences everyone will be talking about (And why you’ll want to be part of it)

          Know that feeling when you’re standing at the edge of something extraordinary, when the air floats with possibility?

          Read
          3 biggest takeaways on proactive engagement and the future of customer experience
          Customer ExperienceMay 14, 2025

          3 biggest takeaways on proactive engagement and the future of customer experience

          Customer experience (CX) can look one of two ways: You sit down at a restaurant, ask the waiter for a glass of cold water, remind him a couple of times, and then eventually, when he brings it, you send it back for ice.

          Read