Recently the Bitrix24 team has presented a new release, and we are keen to share the upcoming updates with you. Automation, artificial intelligence, stress tracker - in this piece, we have gathered the most exciting new features.
CRM
The largest update goes for CRM. The company has rethought its approach to CRM forms and presented a lot of new features.
Telephony. This year the company has added support for multiple phone numbers in terms of call tracking. Previously, you could connect only one number per channel, but now you can assign multiple phone numbers for each channel and see the stats for each phone number.
Merging deals and eliminating duplicates. If you use Simple CRM and a customer calls you and then texts in chat, the system will create two separate deals. Now, it's easy to merge such duplicate deals while keeping the whole history of communication with the client in a single CRM card. For more, there is now a special automation rule that is executed once a week. It searches for duplicates and suggests to merge them automatically, or manually select the deals one wants to merge.
CRM Presets. CRM use differs greatly depending on the business industry. For instance, CRM is widely popular among real estate agencies, but their use case scenario is a lot different from a scenario of travel agencies, or construction industry. Now can configure CRM in the way that suits best your industry, save it as preset, and the preset will be available for downloading from Bitrix24 Marketplace, or you can share it with others.
CRM Analytics. The company has added new segments in CRM, for instance, by job title or position, which allows you to send an email to all JAVA developers or marketing managers, etc.
Also, you can connect multiple Adwords, Analytics, and Facebook accounts to a single Bitrix24 account.
Multitracking for UTM-tags. Sales Intelligence module is a modern replacement for dynamic call tracking. Using this tool, you can track not only the ad campaign or Google Adwords group that has brought you any particular customer but also what keyword or phrase led them to you.
AI Scoring. The company expands the use of artificial intelligence as part of CRM. Now, if you have 2000 closed leads and deals, the AI can learn from your data and identify the key factors for winning the deal. AI Scoring is a tool that can automatically fill in the "Probability" field and update this metric by itself. This feature empowers more precise financial forecasting.
Tutor. And if you are new to Bitrix24 CRM, now you can use a Tutor, special tool that will guide you through the CRM step by step and show how to use it to the fullest potential. For more, you can create your tutor and share it with new employees. Thus, you will save a lot of time that usually gets spent on training.
CRM forms
Form Builder. Now, one can edit forms not only by coding but also in the new visual editor. You can select one of 20 ready-made scripts for most popular use cases (for example, a form for collecting feedback, a form for a contact center, etc.) and customize it as you like: edit transparency, font, background, number, and names of fields, etc. Also, you can add multiple agreements in a single form (consent for data processing, for receiving promo emails, etc.).
Form Processor. The internal engine has been updated, too. It provides instant forms loading and is responsible for executing any given business logic, saving user data even if the form has not been sent, and guarantees full compatibility with mobile devices. Also, it allows displaying a form several times on a single page and viewing it page by page if the form is too long.
Personalized forms. Now one can send a client a link to a personalized CRM form via SMS, chat or email, send a preorder form to the whole client base or its certain segment, and even make an NPS survey. The user needs to configure a corresponding automation rule in CRM, and the system will fill in the name of the customer (if the system has the data). Personalized forms are a proven way to increase conversion rates.
Tasks and Projects
In Tasks, there is a new checklist, which can become an alternative to subtasks. Now, one can assign each item of the checklist with its responsible persons and observers, give a detailed description, attach files and images. One task can have many checklists. To save time on creating the checklists, one can create several templates in advance and then add them to the main task from the general list.
Also, one can create a template of the project based on an already existing one and use it inside their Bitrix24, as well as import/export projects among several Bitrix24. Based on the finished project, one can copy the structure of tasks, employees involved in the project, files, comments, and automation rules.
Integrations
Bitrix24 has already given its users a possibility to integrate Microsoft Active Directory before, but now one does not need to give external access to AD. With the new integration, users and company structure that were configured in AD are synchronized with Bitrix24, users can log in to Bitrix24 with their AD credentials, and when a user gets disconnected from AD, he automatically loses his access to Bitrix24.
The company introduced native integration with WeChat (free of charge), one of the most popular messengers in the world, that now has more than a billion active users.
Finally, now there is a native integration with WhatsApp. Now you can connect WhatsApp to your Bitrix24 using the app that was developed in partnership with Twilio, official WhatsApp API partner. All you need is to have an approved WhatsApp for business account to get started.
Workflows
The second main novelty of the season is a new tool for Business Automation that is called Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
It is no secret that Workflows are one of the most complex automation tools. In no small part, it is due to a quite complex designer that allows creating and starting a workflow (if you have certain skills), but it is not possible to track its execution in real-time.
Now, it will be much easier to work with the workflows. Bitrix24 team has visualized the process of creating a workflow following the principle of visual representation of sales stages and tasks in kanban. They made the new tool as simple and user-friendly as possible so that the entrepreneurs and employees of any level could automate their work all by themselves.
One can start the workflow both from a PC and a smartphone, and monitor the task in real-time: for instance, a manager will be able to find out at what stage the approval of a needed doc has stuck and reshape the process right away.
Sure, the list of updates does end there. For instance, there is going to be a new Knowledge Base (a convenient alternative for the corporate Wiki). Now it will support multimedia tools, shared content creation, and limited access rights.
Stress management
Bonus :). Bitrix24 stands for not only a healthy lifestyle, but also for a healthy work style, and thus presents a new tool for tracking stress levels. It is the first business service in the world that can track the state of the human psyche. Simply put your finger on the smartphone's camera and press for two minutes, and the app will analyze the variability of heart rhythms and show the level of stress. An employee can share this info in his or her profile and check the stress level of their colleagues. The leader, in turn, gets the opportunity to find out who is at risk and what department needs to be optimized.
Plans and delivery
Down below you can see how new features are distributed among different plans.
The company is committed to the principle of continuous delivery, which means that new features are released almost every week. About 30% of the features discussed in the presentation have been already released to the end users, and the rest is going to reach us in winter/spring seasons. Looking forward! :)
If you want to test novelties from previous releases and other features of Bitrix24, install the portal for free and use our guide on how to activate a fully functional demo more for 30 days.
