Custom CRM Integration Overview

Cloud Voice ships with a set of ready-made CRM (customer relationship management) connectors, but you are not limited to those. If the CRM you use isn’t on the list, you can build a custom integration template and link Cloud Voice to any CRM that exposes a REST API (a web-based application programming interface, the standard way one system reads and writes data in another). Calls continue to run through Cloud Voice while the associated call details land in your CRM records, giving your team a single view of every customer interaction.

Requirements

Before you build a custom CRM integration, confirm the following.

• PBX server (PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange, the phone system that runs your extensions and calls)
  • Firmware: version 84.23.0.123 or later.
  • Plan: Enterprise Plan (EP) or Ultimate Plan (UP).
• CRM system: must support a REST API.

Caution

All of these requirements must be met, or the custom CRM integration option will not be available. If the firmware is older than 84.23.0.123, or the account is not on the Enterprise (EP) or Ultimate (UP) plan, upgrade first. The target CRM must also expose a REST API, otherwise there is no way for Cloud Voice to exchange data with it.

Key features

A custom API integration between Cloud Voice and your CRM can unlock the capabilities below.

Note

Apart from click to call, whether each feature is available depends on what your CRM’s API supports and on how you configure the integration template.

• Click to call: Users dial a detected number straight from the CRM with a single click, placing the call through the Cloud Voice App web client. This feature relies on the Cloud Voice browser extension for Chrome, with the web client configured to work alongside it.
• Call popup: When a user who is signed in to the Cloud Voice App (web or desktop) answers or receives an inbound call from a CRM contact, or wraps up a call with one, the contact’s profile opens automatically in the browser. Users can also open that profile manually from the call window while the call is in progress.
• Contact synchronization: CRM contacts are copied into an associated PBX phonebook whenever a call comes in from, or goes out to, a CRM contact.
• Lead or contact creation: For calls to or from a number that isn’t yet in the CRM, a new lead or contact is created there automatically.
• Call and chat journal: When a user tied to a PBX extension finishes a call with a CRM contact, the activity is logged to the CRM automatically. Likewise, when a user has an external chat session and the other party’s number matches a CRM contact, the full chat history is written to the CRM once the session ends, whether the user or the system closes it.
• Call recording playback: From the matching call log in the CRM, users can view and play back recordings that are stored on the PBX.

Where to go next

For the details of building and describing an integration template, see:

• Add a CRM Integration Template
• Manage CRM Integration Templates
• XML Descriptions for Integration Template

To connect the integration and turn on individual features, see:

• Integrate Cloud Voice with a CRM using a Template
• Set up CRM Integration Features