Sales Director
VoIP’s possibilities extend beyond a powerful telephony solution. Its seamless integration with many popular modern tools and platforms offers the flexibility and efficiency that traditional landline connections can’t. With most software now being web-based, VoIP allows your employees to access the systems they need quickly and easily, with minimal fuss.
In this article, we’ll look at how uniting your VoIP system with web-based management tools like CRMs and email clients can save you time and money while building solid, future-proof processes.
If you’d like to learn more about VoIP, what it is and how it works, our article ‘What is VoIP?’ has everything you need.
Web-based management tools are used to help your business run more efficiently by breaking down complex tasks. In some cases, they even allow task automation, saving you the time of ticking off jobs individually.
For VoIP users, they can be integrated with your system to help manage customer information and projects or communicate internally and with customers. Let’s look at some of the more popular tools.
Businesses use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to store and access customer information and interactions, with the largest uses being for lead generation and customer retention. Popular examples of CRM systems include Salesforce and Hubspot, both of which have a huge user base worldwide.
CRMs allow your employees to access relevant information when they need it the most. This works especially well for VoIP users, who often need to check and refer to customer information or previous interactions while on the phone.
Project Management (PM) tools like Jira, Asana, and Trello allow businesses to track project progress. Projects often involve stakeholders from many areas of a company, requiring a simple, easy-to-use central place to record ideas, pose questions, and invite collaboration.
These tools allow project leaders to assign tasks and share information across messenger or note-based functions, enabling teams to communicate easily.
Both CRMs and PMs often feature ‘click to call’ functions. These time-saving features allow your workforce to quickly call customers or team members, without moving to another tool.
Many VoIP solutions also feature handy call logging and analytics. They allow users to log call information against relevant project tasks and store these records within a CRM platform for future reference.
With 124.5 billion work-related emails sent and received daily, email clients are as central to business operations as their phone systems. They’re a base for sending and receiving communication from customers and across their workforce. While instant messaging also works for internal communications that require a timely response, email offers a more professional customer-facing approach and is easier to store for future records.
Combining your email client with a CRM database allows you to access customer details without the hassle of navigating several platforms. This means you can provide faster, more accurate responses during customer calls, meetings or collaborations.
VoIP users also have access to features like ‘voicemail to email’. This feature saves users the trouble of pausing voicemails repeatedly; transcribing them to text and sending them via email.
VoIP’s broadband connectivity makes it easy for remote workers to access your systems, regardless of location. From better communication across distributed teams to improved task management, VoIP works alongside your management tools to bridge the distance between remote and office environments.
Whether it’s system administrators or project leads, VoIP allows anyone with a broadband connection to access systems as they would in the office.
While project work sometimes requires a face-to-face connection, tasks like assigning work and hosting check-in meetings can be done via a combination of VoIP video conferencing, instant messaging, and your chosen management software.
For employers who worry that remote working removes the real-time visibility of being in the office, worry not. Thanks to VoIP integrations and built-in tools like video conferencing, instant messaging, and presence indicators—which work alongside your management tools—you can monitor workflow and volume without missing a thing.
For team and project leaders, it’s useful to understand your staff capacity, especially among your remote workers who aren’t visible. Most VoIP services have a presence indicator (usually built into their instant messaging feature) to let you know who is available and whether they’re occupied with other tasks. When checking capacity, these indicators can often be integrated with your management software to save switching between applications.
Combining your VoIP system with web-based management tools is a winning combination in many areas. This includes streamlining your processes and giving your workforce more time to focus on high-priority tasks.
The great thing about using VoIP alongside your favourite web-based tools is that they create a centralised platform for most of your communication needs. Using a unified communications system like T2K’s 3CX offering, your systems administrators can manage calls, messages, and video conferences from a single interface, removing the need to juggle multiple applications.
To read more about unified communications, our article titled ‘What is Unified Communications?’ breaks down what they are, what they do and how they can help your business.
Systems like T2K’s cloud-based Horizon model have advanced features like call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, and automated attendants, which can be easily managed through your web-based interfaces.
Integrating these features with your web-based tools can automate routine tasks, including automatically routing incoming calls to relevant departments, cutting down the time needed to do it manually.
By integrating your VoIP service with your CRM of choice, you can set a trigger for customer data. When a customer calls, your CRM automatically brings up their data, allowing you to deliver higher-quality, more efficient customer service.
If you’re looking for a way to track workforce performance - CRMs like Hubspot include features for real-time monitoring and analytics of VoIP activities. Your admins can then track call volumes, durations, and patterns, gaining valuable insight into trends and identifying areas for improvement.
Many web-based management platforms include built-in collaborative tools like shared calendars, task management boards, and document sharing. Integrating them with your VoIP system simplifies meeting scheduling, urgent communication, and allocating work among your team. These features have proved effective, with 52% of companies saying their transition to remote working was smooth thanks to this type of software.
One example is the shared calendar function, which allows you to update and schedule calls or video conferences automatically; ensuring your staff are informed and prepared beforehand.
For businesses looking to combine these two powerful mediums, it’s important to understand how to go about it and what to consider. Before making an investment like this, assessing your business requirements is essential.
When choosing your VoIP system, consider the size of your team and the amount of communication you handle daily. Next, review your budget, considering costs like the initial set-up of your VoIP service and ongoing fees. By looking into these areas, you’ll be able to find a system that suits your needs, without damaging your bottom line.
Another area to consider is whether your chosen VoIP solution integrates well with your existing business applications. And while most VoIP systems integrate with CRMs, email clients, and project management tools - reviewing this could save you money, while also future-proofing your telephony operation.
The last thing you want is a cluttered, hard-to-use interface when accessing your web-based tools via your VoIP system. A user-friendly interface should be easy to navigate, reducing your team's learning curve. It’s also worth considering the accessibility of your chosen systems and whether they’re compatible with screen readers, speech recognition software, and magnifiers for staff who may need them.
As a business, you likely deal with sensitive data; whether stored in your CRM or in conversations with customers. This makes choosing a reputable VoIP provider a must. Look for security features like end-to-end encryption and secure data storage when shopping for your service, which adds extra layers of protection for confidential data.
To learn more about securing your VoIP system, our article ’What does the Evolution of Online Security Mean for VoIP?’ covers this in greater detail.
Organisation and efficiency are essential in business, specifically for those handling high phone calls and customer data volumes. By integrating VoIP technology with web-based management tools, you can eliminate unnecessary processes, while boosting productivity.
You’ll also be able to centralise frequently used tools, giving your workforce easy access to the information and systems they need, whether that’s customer data during a call or tracking projects in real-time.
VoIP's flexibility is another huge plus. It allows your remote workers to stay connected and productive from anywhere, adding to your reputation as an accessible and adaptable employer.
And while these benefits are reason enough for any business to feel excited, it’s also important to consider areas like scalability, integration capabilities, user-friendliness, and security. By doing so, you’ll enjoy a telephony operation that saves you time, boosts workforce interaction, and ultimately drives growth and success for your business.
Contact T2K today to learn more about how combining VoIP with web-based management tools can simplify your business processes.
Having worked for T2k for nearly 25 years, it's fair to say that Lee is an expert when it comes to all things telephony and business communications. Overseeing the commercial side of the business, he has helped the company evolve and grow through the decades. In recent years, and with the advent of VoIP and hosted telephony, Lee has made sure that T2k is at the forefront of technological developments. With a firm interest in helping businesses navigate the world of telecoms, Lee is responsible for the majority of the content on this website.
