Having your agents work directly in your CRM is a question that we get on a regular basis, and have crossed that bridge ourselves here at Inflow. This isn’t a flip of the coin type of decision, there are many factors to consider depending on your needs and your data stack.
As with many decisions we make it isn’t an “either-or” proposition, there is always the gray area and that presents a word we all love to hear in our work: options. Data governance is important for a lot of reasons, how you collect that information can be done in multiple ways and still be done correctly for your organization. One of the most powerful partnerships that we have formed is with Genesys Cloud for Contact Center performance.
Creating Efficiencies In Genesys Cloud & Salesforce For Your Contact Center Agents
At Inflow, we have Salesforce as a single source of truth for quotes, orders, contracts, accounting, support cases, marketing, project management…. You get the picture. Our support team has the option to work directly in Salesforce for the Contact Center, Genesys Cloud, or both. This allows them to work comfortably with options. We don’t pull all Salesforce data properties into the Genesys Cloud Agent Interface. The only customer info we sync to Genesys Cloud is which team the customer is assigned to and contract details. It’s a one-way sync.
Most customers choose an omnichannel approach to syncing customer interactions between platforms. We see many variations when we are looking to optimize their contact center operations however the most common we implement would be customers using Salesforce for email and Genesys Cloud for voice, chat, SMS text messaging.
Of course, there are many variations and flavors of how to approach, after all, it is your data that we are talking about, and want to make certain you are well informed! We have put together these handy Pros and Cons based on different scenarios from our team who have been living different variations for years.
Scenario 1: Genesys Cloud for Salesforce – Your Agent works directly in the Salesforce tab
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Access to all of your customer data Single interface for agents – log in/out, off queue/on queue, see schedule, canned responses, send email, transfer calls, etc. (keeps most Genesys Cloud functionality) Caller ID Screen pops built in Omnichannel status syncing Omnichannel integration – mix and match email, phone, chat, sms between Salesforce and Genesys Cloud If you’re a heavy Salesforce shop – having all of your Salesforce info at the ready in addition to ACD and click to dial functionality | Limited to Salesforce call center integration capabilities – which is not fully customizable No supervisor tools – agent app only (Causes mixed reporting between Salesforce and Genesys Cloud) Lose access to Genesys Cloud third party integrations in one window (Brightmetrics, etc.) PureCloud license requirement per agent per month ($15) Salesforce professional license or greater required |
Scenario 2: Genesys Cloud – Your Agents work directly in the Genesys Cloud Agent Interface with access to Salesforce data
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Fully customizable (Inflow customizes each of our customer’s agent interface to meet their spec needs) Full ACD functionality aka priorities, skills, escalations Single interface for ACD and business pbx users No per agent salesforce licensing (No Genesys Cloud add-on license required; No Salesforce user license required) Salesforce data integration available at IVR, ACD and agent desktop layers Full management suite of tools Data action visibilities, ie. record match or identity match (Reporting: We can see what % of callers in Salesforce) All omnichannel communications in one app/screen | May require more web services with Salesforce Salesforce must be open in a separate window (Salesforce blocks iframe functionality) No Salesforce mix/match omnichannel integration – can’t split up calls, email, chat, sms etc between SF and GC Limited Salesforce experience – limited to web services details only (Each data category requires a web service) |
Simplifying Agent Workflow In The Contact Center
Empowering your agents with the right technology and tools to deliver an exceptional customer experience, while ensuring data integrity can feel like a lot to balance. Our team of experts has spent decades delivering on Contact Center strategy for our clients. We have a long list of different approaches we have implemented for our customers, however, putting that experience to work for your unique situation is why we wake up every day! Set up a time to learn more about ways that Inflow can help!
