We are pleased to announce that Tech Hub — a central place where ISOs can come together to chat and share ideas, insights, and other industry-specific information — is now available in your favorite Merchant Services CRM!
By engaging with fellow ISOs, valuable information and best practices may be shared which are mutually beneficial and can lead to a closer-knit ISO community unlike any in existence today!
We encourage all our valued clients to check in at Tech Hub and say hello to your new colleagues and ISO community members. No formal wear required! 🙂
Let’s take a closer look at the Hub!
Tech Hub Permissions
Before your users can start to use the Hub your Admin will need to enable the Tech Hub Chat permissions for the selected user types.
To enable the permissions, the Admin should go to Manage > Administration > Users & Groups > User Classes, open the Permissions page for a specific user class, and then enable the Tech Hub permissions for the Basic, Advanced, or Admin-type users in the Communications accordion:
Once the permissions enabled, users can begin to use the Hub.
Using Tech Hub
Tech Hub has been built as an extension of the existing IRIS CRM’s chat functionality and it includes the same powerful features such as the group conversations, channels, file and image sharing, and others.
At the same time, additional features and chat rules have been added which are specific to the inter-ISO nature of the Tech Hub chat rooms.
To open the hub, click on the Tech Hub button at the bottom of your chat popup:
The first time you open the hub, you will need to select a nickname and configure the other available user options.
You will also be required to read a brief disclaimer on the Tech Hub Usage Rules, and click on the Agree button in order to enter the hub:
Once you’re in Tech Hub, you’ll find the users belonging to different ISOs as well as public channels (e.g. #FirstData) and group conversations.
Use the buttons in the top bar to update your user settings, search for users, create group chats or open a new public channel, mute notifications, or review the Tech Hub Usage Rules:
If you need more room, you can expand the chat popup across your entire screen using the window pop-out button:
Depending on whether you’re chatting with a user (or a user group) or if you are in a public chat room, you will find different options in the top bar of the chat popup.
The options allow you to leave a room, delete the room, add users to the chat, search for text etc.
To see what each option means, simply hover over the option and a tooltip will appear explaining what that option is for.
If you are chatting in a public channel, you can view the participants in the room by clicking on the Users icon in the top chat bar.
This will display all the users in the channel, and also allow you to start a private chat with any of them:
The Benefits of Tech Hub
Let’s talk a bit more about the benefits of using Tech Hub!
In addition to increasing your ability to collaborate with clients quickly and seamlessly, B2B chat has been shown to increase overall client satisfaction.
A few recent studies designed to gauge the results of using B2B chat yielded stunning results. Check them out:
- 305% ROI for sales within a six-month period
- 120% ROI for customer service within a six-month period
- 20% boost in conversions
These are certainly impressive figures, and they highlight the importance of deploying a quality B2B chat solution in today’s markets!
Tech Hub aims to provide one such solution and is inspired by mIRC, the Windows-based internet chat that the IRIS CRM founder Dimitri Akhrin used a lot during the early 1990s.
Dimitri loved the rich functionality and the simplicity of the UI, so he worked to create a chat feature that brought the same benefits to the table for IRIS CRM users.
How Tech Hub Stacks Up
Wondering how Tech Hub stacks up against some of the other similar solutions out there?
No problem, we did our homework and here’s what we found.
Slack
Slack offers a pretty comprehensive chat tool with one-on-one and group chatting capabilities, file sharing using Google Drive and other file-sharing services, archived chats and audio/video conferencing capabilities. But to get started, users have to visit the Slack workspace creation page, enter their email address, wait for a confirmation code, enter it and then follow the directions to create their workspace.
The IRIS CRM’s Tech Hub is built right in, so no confirmation codes are needed and using the Hub makes for a completely seamless experience for IRIS CRM users.
HipChat
This chat app integrates with other third-party applications, including Facebook, Salesforce, and Dropbox. Users chat right from the HipChat website, or they install it on their servers for an added cost.
IRIS CRM is a proven CRM solution for the payment industry and Tech Hub is one of its many powerful tools and features that are provided to ISOs at no extra cost.
Quip
Quip gives businesses the ability to share documents in real time, boosting communication and collaboration all in one place. But, unlike Tech Hub, Quip requires users to download the app. And you have to pay to play. Plans start around $25 per person per month.
IRIS CRM includes Tech Hub with all its other amazing features, with no need to download extra apps. Plus, our unlimited users plan won’t leave you wondering how many licenses you can afford, or if you’ll run out of licenses as your business grows. Simple, cost-efficient and designed to boost your business’s bottom line.
We look forward to seeing you in the Tech Hub and exchanging thoughts, ideas, and initiatives!
Stay tuned for more cool updates on the way!
Don’t have IRIS CRM?
Join over 100 ISOs using IRIS CRM to grow their business.
Schedule a demo to learn more.
For sales tips and the latest electronic payment news check out The IRIS CRM Daily Bulletin and for the latest product updates and company news please join our newsletter.