Social CRM can trigger a workflow in a traditional CRM system

"Ninety percent of all queries to customer service departments are just that, queries, not issues or problems," said Paul Greenberg, Managing Principal of The 56 Group and Chairman of the CRM Evolution Conference. The goal is to automate those business processes by tying them to business rules that allow for automation of inquiries, or when necessary -- when one of those 10 percent of issues or problems come up -- integration with the customer service area. While that's all standard and necessary, the hottest area in CRM integration is social, said Greenberg as he played out a possible scenario: A tweet comes into the CRM system. Tied to that tweet is a pull-down menu which gives you the option to open a case or open a lead. Choosing that option triggers a workflow that connects to an appropriate party in the traditional CRM system. In such a scenario you're taking external channels, the social sphere, directly into CRM systems, Greenberg said.