Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Call Center: How to Leverage Multiple Source Systems through CRM - Third in Series

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Another common challenge in the Contact Center is Customer Service Representatives (CSR’s) having to access multiple systems to get the information they need to do their job. Whether it’s a back-end Billing or Claims system to access policy information, each additional click to navigate adds precious seconds to each customer interaction.

Customer Effective created an Agent Desktop Solution Framework as a streamlined way to search across multiple systems. This Dynamics CRM solution was designed to provide Customer Service Centers with a quick, intuitive, and a consistent user- interface for logging customer interactions via Phone Calls, Emails, Faxes, Letters, etc.

Key Concepts of the CE: Agent Desktop Solution

Multiple Data Sources:  For different reasons, many enterprises will want to have their data stored in disparate systems, but accessed in CRM.  CE’s Agent Desktop Framework creates a streamlined way to search across multiple systems (via web services) and bring the results back in a native CRM way.

Activity Management:  CSRs will often work on a case using multiple communication channels.  As they work through the cases, their activities are tracked in the left hand navigation tab.  Each activity can have different notes and outcomes, but they will roll to the same case, account, or customer.  Each time the CSR accesses an outside system, an activity record is created automatically. 

Activity Threads:  The screenshot above displays how this solution can serve as a CSR email solution. Each correspondence is rolled into an Activity Thread, which is associated with a customer and a policy.

Example:  In a service center environment where each correspondence with customers will require actions to be taken by CSRs, these actions can be spread out over a series of touch points (email/phone call/fax/letter). With this requirement in mind the Customer Effective: Agent Desktop has incorporated custom code intended to rollup multiple related activities and the actions performed against them.

In the screenshot example the following functionality is highlighted.

• Section A: CRM can be pre-populated with the caller’s record, also known as screen-pop,  with integration to the Phone System (For example: it can perform a database lookup in the background based on the Phone# calling in).
• Section B: Ability to populate “Activity Type” along with free form text to capture the issue in the “Activity Notes” section.
• Section C: This section can be integrated with the phone system to prepopulate the Insured or Agency search results.
• Section D: This is the system accessing data from multiple data sources. In this example it shows the system is “Billing”. Search is being performed on the policy number.

The more ways you leverage Microsoft Dynamics to display relevant content to your CSR’s, the more you will alleviate them having to log into multiple systems creating increased efficiencies across the organization.

Post by: Denise Henke, Customer Effective