system
CRM
A CRM (customer relationship management system) stores your contact and deal records; VICIdial can hand calls to it or pull data from it through links and the API.
CRM stands for customer relationship management — the system where your business keeps its contacts, deals, and history. Think Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, or a homegrown database. VICIdial isn't a CRM itself; it's the dialing engine. The two usually run side by side and talk to each other.
The point of connecting them is that the agent shouldn't have to look the customer up by hand. When a call connects, VICIdial can open the matching record in your CRM automatically — what people call a screen pop. The cleanest way to wire this up is a URL (in VICIdial) link on the Campaign: VICIdial drops the lead's phone number and ID into a web address, and your CRM opens straight to that person.
Two ways to connect
- A URL link — simplest. VICIdial passes call fields into a web address that opens your CRM. Good for screen pops with no coding.
- The VICIdial API (application programming interface) — more work, more control. You can push leads in, update records, or trigger actions from your own software.
In day-to-day use, the agent works the call in VICIdial — sets a Disposition when it ends — while the notes and deal stages live in the CRM. Decide early which system is the source of truth for a lead's data, because a busy Agent shouldn't have to keep two screens in sync by hand. Most teams let the CRM own the customer record and let VICIdial own the calling.
Related terms
Agent
An agent is a person who talks to your customers on the phone, logged into VICIdial through a browser screen that VICIdial drives for them.
API (application programming interface)
An API is a set of web addresses you can call from another program to make VICIdial do things or hand back data, without using the screen.
Campaign
A campaign is the container that ties together your lead lists, dialing rules, agents, and disposition options for one outbound calling effort.
Disposition
A disposition is the short code an agent sets at the end of a call to record what happened — sale, no answer, callback, not interested, and so on.
URL (in VICIdial)
A web address VICIdial can open automatically during a call, usually to pop a customer record or pass data to an outside system.