Evaluate

Evaluate

Weigh the pros and cons of technologies, products and projects you are considering.

• Make marketing automation software choices to fit business needs

  Examine what core features leading marketing automation software vendors -- including Adobe, HubSpot and Oracle -- and CRM vendors -- including Microsoft, Salesforce and SAP -- offer. Continue Reading

• Trends to follow: Voice SEO and CX personalization

  Voice and personalization are CX trends to follow as businesses place more emphasis on customer experience, according to analysts at Oracle's Modern Customer Experience conference. Continue Reading

• Choosing between single- vs. multivendor strategy for CRM

  There are two ways to set up a CX tech stack -- either an integrated CRM suite or best-of-breed approach. There are benefits to each model, and the two are compared here. Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of customer service AI

  AI is growing deep roots into cloud-based support services, but there remains a question of whether it can provide the empathy and understanding that brand loyalty requires. Continue Reading

• 3 ways the data scientist role benefits CX teams

  CX teams don't traditionally include the data scientist role, but adding one can help derive more value from customer data than a CX analyst or canned analytics software can. Continue Reading

• AAA discovers benefits of Salesforce Service Cloud software

  Using Salesforce Live Agent and Salesforce Service Cloud, AAA Carolinas increased member engagement by 330% and reduced service response time by 54%.Continue Reading

• CEO plots course for Televerde women's prison call centers

  Working at a Televerde women's prison call center outpays many inmate jobs and sets agents up for careers on the outside. CEO Morag Lucey discusses how the company keeps current.Continue Reading

• Salesforce makes push for diversity in technology

  Salesforce is maneuvering into industry leadership, making a diverse IT community a priority. Its product development strategy seems to have been crafted with such diversity in mind.Continue Reading

• Giving inmates a second chance as prison call center agents

  Televerde staffs contact centers with incarcerated women, where they are paid the federal minimum wage. CEO Morag Lucey and COO Vince Barsolo discuss the model.Continue Reading

• Salesforce-Apple partnership deepens with new SDK for iOS

  The updated Salesforce mobile SDK makes it easier for developers to build native Salesforce apps for iOS devices using Swift, Apple's programing language.Continue Reading

• 4 chatbot success metrics to bolster CX

  Chatbot success can be measured using a number of metrics. Each helps improve the customer experience. Read on to learn which KPIs are beneficial for improving CX.Continue Reading

• How does the chief customer officer role benefit CX?

  The chief customer officer serves in many capacities, some of which include overseeing customer experience, sales, and service and support contacts, as well as unifying customer contact.Continue Reading

• How are Nonprofit Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud different?

  Charitable organizations partner with Salesforce.org through two cloud services: Nonprofit Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud. Read on to discover how the two differ.Continue Reading

• Is dialer technology relevant to CX projects?

  Live chat is still the preferred method of communication in contact centers, and the use of autodialers helps free up salespeople to speak with callers.Continue Reading

• Why is the Salesforce administrator role so crucial?

  Salesforce administrators serve as analysts, trainers and advisers in their roles. Companies can employ one or more Salesforce admins, depending on how the business is organized.Continue Reading

• How Salesforce.org's Philanthropy Cloud and Nonprofit Cloud differ

  Salesforce.org's Nonprofit Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud both partner with nonprofit organizations but in different ways. The uses of each are compared here.Continue Reading

• Industrial engineering company chooses integrated CRM for CX needs

  Through partnering with only Oracle for all of its CX needs, Schenck Process realizes the benefits of an integrated CRM over multiple products.Continue Reading

• AMAC prioritizes first call resolution for a better CX

  AMAC uses TetraVX unified communications and the cloud contact center platform Five9 in its three call centers to improve agent workflow, as well as member experience.Continue Reading

• CRM and CX management at crossroads in the customer journey

  CRM will live on in enterprise IT -- in some form -- for some time to come. But many brands are pivoting to the customer experience management models of doing business.Continue Reading

• CRM vs. CX: How companies are pivoting in philosophies

  It might be time to retire the decades-old concept of CRM now that CX is appearing everywhere. Learn how embracing CX alters the thinking of enterprise leadership.Continue Reading

• CX strategy a vital part of modernizing a business

  Consumers are providing retailers with more data than ever before, with expectations that they will receive a personalized experience. But that can be challenging for retailers.Continue Reading

• CRM for government, Salesforce improve D.C.'s 311 agency

  The Office of Unified Communications in Washington, D.C., said it improved its constituent relationships with Salesforce Service Cloud and Einstein Analytics.Continue Reading

• What was the purpose of Salesforce's MuleSoft acquisition?

  Salesforce completed the acquisition of MuleSoft in May 2018, gaining large customers, such as Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch, and adding beneficial technology to its platform.Continue Reading

• How do Salesforce Success Cloud and Trailhead differ?

  Success Cloud and Trailhead work hand in hand, enabling Salesforce users to make the most out of the platform and overcome obstacles along the journey.Continue Reading

• The differences between CRM vs. CX strategy

  CRM and CX seem very similar, but examining the principles of each shows emerging CX approaches focus on customer retention. We compare and contrast the two.Continue Reading

• Assess priorities before purchasing a marketing automation platform

  The promise of marketing automation is exciting, but the proliferation of tools can be intimidating. Learn how to dispel the confusion when buying a marketing automation product.Continue Reading

• Guide to AI in customer service using chatbots and NLP

  Learn how AI and natural language processing technologies work together to create virtual agents. Examine the benefits of chatbots in contact centers and the skepticism surrounding their use.Continue Reading

• Customer data to play important role in CX software in 2019

  Analysts see customer data continuing to be the main objective for CX companies, and that integration between platforms and third-party applications will grow in importance.Continue Reading

• Acquia transforms from WCM to digital experience platform

  Acquia's product roadmap is a metaphor for many WCM vendors, which must focus on digital experience to remain competitive in a quickly evolving market.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Service Cloud Einstein AI's Next Best Action, Bots

  Salesforce closes the distance between its cloud Einstein AI and IBM's Watson with flashy new features, as Service Cloud bows a no-code bot builder and a next best action tool.Continue Reading

• Salesforce acquisitions a big part of CRM vendor's busy 2018

  Again, 2018 showed how important acquisitions are to Salesforce's growth and expansion into markets such as AI, e-commerce, integration and collaboration.Continue Reading

• Einstein Bot, Einstein Voice create new Salesforce channels

  Born to compete with IBM's Watson, the Einstein cloud AI is in its third year of life and is exhibiting all the traits of a typical 3-year-old.Continue Reading

• Guidelines for navigating the sales software market

  Figuring out whether your organization needs sales force automation, sales enablement or sales forecasting tools can be challenging, and that's before factoring in AI.Continue Reading

• CRM for nonprofits rewires charitable giving

  Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud and marketing automation tools help charitable organizations gain and retain valuable donors, giving them a more positive experience.Continue Reading

• 5 tips for picking a call center customer experience platform

  Change comes to customer contact centers as cloud systems and the customer experience movement force IT leaders to rethink software stacks. Here's advice for choosing your next platform.Continue Reading

• Customer service AI tools can improve contact center

  By adding AI to its Salesforce Service Cloud integration, Nokia is trying to bring a proactive approach to customer service, while adding AI to workflow.Continue Reading

• Customer support automation for B2B requires human touch

  Robert Johnson of TeamSupport and Sandy Crowley of ICANotes offer tips on how B2B companies can use automation to supplement human customer support services.Continue Reading

• Why sending personalized marketing emails is an effective strategy

  For some companies, personalizing email newsletter content still proves to be a highly effective marketing strategy for engaging customers and driving sales.Continue Reading

• Marketing automation tools make personalization possible

  Marketing automation software can be a game-changer for sales and marketing departments, as it helps simplify campaign management and gauge the performance of marketing efforts.Continue Reading

• Using Shuttle to track sales leads and close deals

  Using Shuttle to track sales leads, sales reps at CBC Settlement Funding can focus less on coordinating follow-up emails and nurturing campaigns and more on closing deals.Continue Reading

• Salesforce salary survey details pay among professionals

  A new survey of Salesforce professionals, published by Mason Frank International, analyzes Salesforce salary data, employment trends and diversity.Continue Reading

• 4 signs Salesforce skills demand outpaces talent pool

  Survey points to four reasons the demand and salaries for Salesforce admins, developers and other professionals is high, but talent pool can't meet it.Continue Reading

• Will Salesforce decaNLP model live up to the hype?

  Salesforce's decaNLP model made a big splash at Dreamforce. But can it deliver on its promises? Here's what to expect from the natural language processing initiative.Continue Reading

• Q&A with IBM Watson's call center AI tech lead

  We sit down with IBM's contact center AI lead to talk about chatbots and their evolving role as human customers and support agents learn to coexist with them.Continue Reading

• How enterprises use dynamic pricing algorithms with AI, CRM

  Born out of the '80s era of airline deregulation, dynamic pricing finds new life and popularity when mixed with AI. In this Pipeline podcast, we talk with Ulrich von Beck of Pros.Continue Reading

• Invest in people for better customer experience in marketing

  At the MarTech conference, analysts discussed the importance of customer experience in marketing, customer data protection and designated martech leadership.Continue Reading

• AI sales technology trends for 2019 and beyond

  AI automation tools for sales technology have the potential to lead sales teams toward certainty in their decision-making, grow pipelines and reduce risks.Continue Reading

• How artificial intelligence in customer service improves CX

  AI in customer service enables products and services companies to respond to consumers before the customer experience breaks down and negatively affects retention.Continue Reading

• Salesforce implementation offers window into partner management

  Implementing Salesforce Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Community Cloud has enabled a national window treatment company to streamline its operations.Continue Reading

• Einstein artificial intelligence leaves headroom for AI tools

  Einstein AI shines, but sometimes Salesforce customers customize their cloud with additional AI tools in hopes of launching sales revenue into hyperspace.Continue Reading

• Sales enablement tool uses AI to hone pitches

  Sales enablement AI goes beyond Einstein lead scoring as Brainshark applies sentiment and other analyses to practice videos that salespeople create before meeting customers.Continue Reading

• Customer service chatbots gain ground

  As chatbots begin to replace email as the go-to customer service channel, more and more companies are using AI and natural language processing to improve their chat services.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Health Cloud for Payers brings CRM to insurance

  With its CRM system for payers, Salesforce is targeting a competitive market in which health insurers are fighting for members seeking lower costs and better health outcomes.Continue Reading

• Tea Forte steeps value from new B2C CRM

  B2B CRM vendors like Marketo and Salesforce have tailored their wares for consumer-facing businesses, but B2C CRM vendor Zaius proved to be the right cup of tea for one company.Continue Reading

• Augmented reality in retail transforms customer experiences

  Retailers like Hershey's are experimenting with augmented reality to take the customers' experience beyond a smartphone screen and drop it into their living rooms.Continue Reading

• Cannabis CRM replicates dealer-customer relationship

  When a big-city medical marijuana business wanted to better serve clients, it opted for cannabis CRM software that tries to replicate the traditional dealer-customer relationship.Continue Reading

• Activists get organized with new Salesforce CRM for nonprofits

  Salesforce has adapted its CRM for nonprofits, giving activists a lower-cost way to track fundraising, organize activities and keep their communities engaged.Continue Reading

• Separating customer service chatbot hype from reality

  Vendors claim consumers want self-service chatbots. Turns out they'd rather scrub toilets or go to the dentist than converse with customer service in general, bots included.Continue Reading

• Tips and tricks for interacting with customers on social media

  To customers, all channels are equal: phone, email, voice, video, chat, text messaging and social media. But managing social media customer interactions can be thornier.Continue Reading

• Keys to customer engagement on social media CRM

  Responding to positive and negative customer inquiries on social media is important, industry experts say, and that can go far in retaining customers and promoting your brand.Continue Reading

• Selecting a CRM cloud to host sales, service and marketing

  Azure, AWS and Google are popular public clouds. But not all CRM systems are interchangeable with each of them. Experts break down the decision-making process.Continue Reading

• Marketers face stiff challenges improving CRM capabilities

  Amid the proliferation of AI and cloud-based apps, marketers acknowledge and take partial blame for problems encountered along the way to improving their CRM capabilities.Continue Reading

• AI for customer service at the peril of personal relations

  AI tools in CRM help companies deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences but prevent customers from actually having personal interactions with service agents.Continue Reading

• Premium pay for technical CRM skills must reflect volatility

  Premium pay for skilled IT jobs remained largely unchanged heading into 2018, but workers will still be rewarded for CRM certification, according to Foote Partners' latest research.Continue Reading

• Cohesive AI in CRM strategies requires a singular 360 view

  Implementing and upgrading AI CRM marketing and sales capabilities requires a holistic, multipronged strategy that encompasses all departments and customer engagement channels.Continue Reading

• How Conversational Queries aims to ease using Einstein Analytics data

  A new AI conversational feature from Salesforce lets users enter sales, service and marketing questions about timely customer data and build charts on their own in less time.Continue Reading

• Comparing the top marketing automation software vendors

  Don't be afraid of software migration if there's another technology that better fits your company's needs and if long-term benefits outweigh short-term costs, experts say.Continue Reading

• Blockchain loyalty programs building future of customer experience

  While blockchain platforms are still under construction and use cases are still being written, Hooters invests in its own. Others -- including employee rewards -- are to come.Continue Reading

• AI chatbots augment humans working in contact centers

  It might seem like contact centers are all being automated by AI chatbots, but for now, the jobs of human agents are still safe while all the kinks are worked out.Continue Reading

• Salesforce Classic vs. Lightning: How the CRM versions stack up

  With migration becoming unavoidable, you should understand the different features available between Salesforce Classic vs. Lightning. Here is a chart to help you do just that.Continue Reading

• Comparing Salesforce Einstein AI across the clouds

  What do you get when you pay for Einstein features in the Salesforce Sales, Service and Marketing clouds? We put it all in one chart.Continue Reading

• What key features do today's leading social CRM tools offer?

  Before purchasing social CRM software, learn the important tools and services you should be looking for and which of today's leading vendors offer them.Continue Reading

• Retail AI predicts consumer behavior for targeted marketing

  Not all of travel club Secret Escapes' members want to see all 140 last-minute sales it runs every week. AI marketing personalization tool Jetlore helps prevent over-messaging.Continue Reading

• CRM chatbots of tomorrow approach and engage customers

  Chatbots find a beachhead on social sites as customers seek information and customer service there. But are these bots 'human' enough to get the job done?Continue Reading

• Adding voice, text channels in CRM for apps

  When SpotHero wanted to create text and voice channels to enable agents to assist app users with parking their cars, Ujet was the ticket that made it work.Continue Reading

• Automation features help settle CRM migration quandary for one office

  Insightly CRM for G Suite or Salesforce? One of a manufacturing company's 72 offices takes the road less traveled.Continue Reading

• Smartphones sound the death knell for outbound marketing strategies

  Telemarketing might not be dead, but the near-complete saturation of smartphones in the consumer market has landed some death blows to outbound marketing strategies.Continue Reading

• CRM machine learning leaps forward, assisting process automation

  AI, analytics and machine learning -- once separate technologies -- are now integrating into powerful new combinations for customer retention and service.Continue Reading

• AI, IoT and Trailhead were main themes at Salesforce World Tour Boston

  In the second taping of The Pipeline podcast, we discuss the customer stories mentioned at the Boston event, the tight security and Salesforce's push of Trailhead.Continue Reading

• The major themes from SiriusDecisions Summit 2017

  Winning martech strategies highlighted the recent three-day conference, as well as SiriusDecisions keynotes and product showcases.Continue Reading

• Top five benefits of speech analytics tools for contact centers

  Learn the top benefits of speech analytics technology for contact centers, and how speech analytics tools can lead to a better customer experience.Continue Reading

• Are businesses ready for AI applications?

  As the amount of data grows exponentially and computing power strengthens, now is the time for business applications to get a boost from artificial intelligence.Continue Reading

• Is MSFT or Salesforce leading the market in business app development?

  Microsoft is trying to lead the market in business app development, but is struggling to hold on as Salesforce easily creates user-friendly applications, platforms and processes.Continue Reading

• Which track on the Salesforce certifications list is right for you?

  The Salesforce certification list seems long and complicated. But it's not -- if you break it down into tracks and look at salary data for ROI on training.Continue Reading

• How to get the most out of social CRM software

  Social CRM software requires a commitment of time and money. Consider the pros and cons and ask these important questions before choosing a social CRM platform.Continue Reading

• Enterprise AI to target attention deficit-addled customers

  AI will define the next 12 months, says consultant Brent Leary, because it can help capture the consideration of attention-taxed customers, and can put companies a cut above their competition.Continue Reading

• Salesforce acquisitions signal ongoing broad-based platform strategy

  In 2017, Salesforce plans to wield its collaborative culture and tools to integrate its 2016 acquisitions. How will its platform strategy fare?Continue Reading

• Horizontal CRM vs. vertical CRM: What do you really need?

  Cloud-based computing is making it easier to customize CRM applications for vertical industries -- but would a horizontal CRM app work just as well for you?Continue Reading

• Flurry of technology M&A foreshadows 2017 trends

  As the market continues to undergo a series of major mergers and acquisitions, some observers say to expect more technology M&A in 2017.Continue Reading

• New e-commerce technologies set to change customer experience

  With the recent emergence of e-commerce technologies like Amazon Go and Commerce Cloud, customer experience has greater potential, but it also poses security issues.Continue Reading

• Enterprise AI skyrockets -- IoT doesn't: More 2017 technology trends

  Enterprise AI and market consolidation will continue to cast their shadows unabated in 2017.Continue Reading

• How to safeguard Microsoft Dynamics CRM security

  Microsoft Dynamics CRM security can be onerous if you try and lock things down too much. Here is a rundown of features that can help you make Dynamics CRM 'usably secure.'Continue Reading

• Why has the Microsoft-Salesforce partnership soured?

  While the Microsoft-Salesforce partnership was touted with great fanfare just two years ago, the relationship has since soured.Continue Reading

• Seven ways Dynamics 365 stands out from every other ERP platform

  Microsoft promises Dynamics 365 will outshine every other ERP platform that will allow users to gain better customer insights and while keeping costs down.Continue Reading

• SAP Hybris CRM gets a jolt from SAP HANA Cloud

  SAP Hybris is capitalizing on PaaS to help customers and partners build applications and better integrate their SAP portfolios.Continue Reading

• Inside the Salesforce strategy: Acquisitions, AI and Commerce Cloud

  Salesforce Einstein and Commerce Cloud are at the forefront of this year's Salesforce strategy, but the company works to gain momentum around IoT Cloud.Continue Reading

• Despite initial fanfare, Salesforce IoT Cloud still seeks user enthusiasm

  Salesforce IoT Cloud came on the scene to great fanfare, but users are still struggling with how to make meaningful use of the data.Continue Reading

• Will Salesforce Einstein eat Microsoft AI for breakfast?

  Though Microsoft has been at it for a while, Salesforce may win the artificial intelligence market war with Einstein, which is well integrated with its other products and easy to use.Continue Reading

• How advantageous is Microsoft's ERP-CRM integration within the market?

  With the ERP-CRM integration, Microsoft may have a leg up in the Salesforce arena, where Salesforce has dominated in CRM but hasn't grabbed a foothold in the ERP space.Continue Reading

• Omnichannel data at core of new commerce offerings

  SAP's Beyond CRM initiative and Salesforce's Commerce Cloud are going after customer data silos and trying to create a truly omnichannel picture.Continue Reading