The technology known as Web-based real-time communications (WebRTC) has offered a lot in the way of new products and services in recent days. With the new technology finding its way into everything from video conferencing to gaming, the applications seem to keep growing in terms of sheer numbers. But FreeCRM.com is taking things even farther by incorporating this new technology into its line of click-to-call services.
Under a click-to-call program, all users need to do when planning to call a particular number from a website is to simply click that number, and then the computer takes over to make a call to that number. The call in question can be a voice call—in either a straight voice call or a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) call—or it can be done via text.
FreeCRM.com, meanwhile, is using WebRTC to take this a step farther, allowing users to make calls directly from the Web browser itself. This doesn't require the inclusion of a VoIP app, or any connection to a phone, mobile or other device, and is said to be easier than working with several other programs, including Facetime, Skype and Google Talk. FreeCRM.com is powering the service by offering those who sign up 30 minutes of long-distance calling via WebRTC, and those who find the service particularly useful can sign up for unlimited calling for just $39.95 per month per user.
Naturally, a service like this proves useful on several fronts, particularly when it comes to sales efforts. More commonly, the idea of a click-to-call service might be focused inward rather than outward, providing potential customers with an easy way to contact a business to ask questions or place orders right from a website, which is valuable as the customers are already looking at the product line and are sufficiently engaged to contact the business. But with a click-to-call service built with an outward focus, it can put some extra punch into customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
A CRM tool with click-to-call functionality can then allow a business to save time—and by extension, money—by streamlining the efforts of call tracking and management, making sure the calls that need to get made in a day actually get made. That's actually likely to prove useful for companies that make a lot of outward-bound sales calls in a wide geographic radius, because the rate of calls is fixed—unlimited calling at one price—and the ability to track the calling via the CRM software can come into play.
FreeCRM.com's new tool is likely to be well-received by those businesses giving it a try, though only time will tell just how far this tool ultimately goes. But streamlining sales efforts, and saving money in the process, is the kind of thing that's hard to turn down.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
