Whether it’s work or personal life, a recent study found that as many as 70% of adults rely on a digital calendar to keep them organized and on task throughout the day. Using a digital calendar such as Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar at work is crucial not only for managing time but also tracking critical meetings and customer interactions. Still, you’ve probably often found that keeping on top of conference calls and emails becomes overwhelming very quickly. 

That feeling of being overwhelmed likely intensifies if you have to also track meetings and calls in a second location, such as your NetSuite CRM. You know it’s critical to record this information, but remembering to do it twice is not only a hassle, but extra time spent doing double work. Put off recording your information for later, though, and you may find your pile of undocumented meetings and calls quickly spiraling out of control. 

And that is why we love calendar integration so much. 

What is Calendar Integration?

Integration between your Outlook or Google calendar or your CRM is a combination of the programs that lets the two talk to each other so you only have to do the work in one location, and the information automatically shows up in the other. (How’s that for stopping the double work spiral?) 

With integration, you immediately have better records, improved communication, and better scheduling. Make the effort once to add the event and all relevant details, and integration ensures the details show up in both your calendar and your CRM, no matter where you entered it first. Sure, adding an event to your NetSuite CRM after scheduling it in Outlook or Google Calendar may only take a few minutes, but those few minutes add up to a lot of hours in the course of a year just putting things on your calendar. And you’ve got better things to do than that. 

Calendar Integration Saves More Than Just Time

If you think that saving a few minutes here and a few minutes there isn’t a good enough reason to look into integrating your Outlook or Google calendar with your NetSuite CRM, here are some other things to consider. 

Check Once and That’s It
How many clicks does it take to toggle between your calendar and your NetSuite CRM to enter a meeting or call in both locations? Hint: It’s more than you need to be doing. But maintaining accuracy when you’re manually entering information into both places is critical. Get a time or a phone number or a name wrong, and that can derail your whole day. Integrating your calendar and NetSuite CRM improves the accuracy of the information in both locations. Plus, any edits or changes you make in one appointment location will automatically be reflected in the other. 

Updated Contact Information
Ever had a contact change phone numbers, email addresses, or roles? Sure you have. Employees change jobs all the time, which means your CRM has to stay up to date with all that information, too. An integrated CRM lets you create new contacts and track emails automatically. Got a new contact that’s a meeting participant? Automatically add them to your CRM record so that your whole team knows about the latest changes. 

Remind Yourself of Critical Activities
Set up timely check-in reminders on your calendar for prospect appointments, lead follow-ups, and monthly or weekly meetings, and access all necessary CRM information related to those events without ever leaving your calendar application. Integration also breaks down information silos by making sure all relevant reminders, meetings, and follow-ups are tracked in the CRM as well as your calendar, providing visibility to everyone who has a touchpoint at that account. 

How to Integrate Your Outlook or Google Calendar

Building calendar integration between your Outlook or Google calendar and NetSuite CRM isn’t just a fancy feature, it’s a necessity if you want to build better efficiency and planning into your day. Streamlined information between your CRM and calendar can reduce confusion, improve communication, and keep the day moving smoothly. What’s not to like about that? 

At CloudExtend, we believe strongly in the power of calendar integration. Just this year we added bi-directional calendar syncing between Outlook and NetSuite CRM that lets you automatically connect events in Outlook with your NetSuite calendar (and vice versa!) and show the event on the attendees’ NetSuite contact records. Bi-directional sync with Google calendars too allows edits made in either platform to reflect in both locations. Plus, Calendar Autopilot maintains private / public designations on your meetings, so personal appointment details remain private while still blocking the time as unavailable for other meetings or events. 

Sound like something you want to schedule into your day? Try calendar syncing for Outlook or Google Calendar FREE for two weeks with no obligation.