CRM tools and strategy
Customer relationship management combines various tools -- like marketing and sales force automation software -- and strategies to help organizations maintain, manage and learn from customer interactions. Find out the latest news and expert advice for your CRM approach.
Top Stories
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Video
06 Nov 2024
An explanation of customer relationship management (CRM)
CRM software enhances customer relationships and drives sales growth by consolidating customer data into a single database, enabling effective marketing and improved service. Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Nov 2024
Salesforce Agentforce: An answer in search of a question?
They used to be named Einstein Copilots. Now they're Agentforce autonomous agents. Salesforce's latest upgrade might be more than words. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jun 2023
Salesforce adds GPT to Commerce and Marketing clouds
The CRM giant adds generative AI capabilities and an expanded Google partnership to help marketers bring personalized content to customers and improve CX. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 May 2023
Adobe Experience Platform
Adobe Experience Platform is a suite of customer experience management (CXM) solutions from Adobe. Continue Reading
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News
10 May 2023
Zendesk out with generative AI-supported tools for better CX
In partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, the customer service vendor introduces smart CX tools such as sentiment analysis for faster workflows and bots for contextual replies. Continue Reading
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Definition
05 May 2023
hamburger icon (slide drawer navigation)
A hamburger icon is a navigational symbol in user interface (UI) design. Continue Reading
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News
04 May 2023
Slack GPT quickly summarizes channels and creates canvases
The CRM giant unveiled a generative AI assistant for its Slack collaboration platform to let users quickly summarize channels, draft messages and create whiteboard-like canvases. Continue Reading
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News
03 May 2023
Salesforce brings GPT to customer service, sales platforms
The CRM giant brings generative AI capabilities to its sales and service platforms for fast, relevant email, message and article creation, as well as multilanguage transcription. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 May 2023
CRM vs. CMS: How they differ and how to integrate them
CMSes and CRM systems serve different purposes, but together, they can help organizations improve customer data management as well as automate sales and marketing strategies. Continue Reading
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News
25 Apr 2023
Salesforce brings Einstein GPT to Field Service Mobile
The CRM giant harnesses generative AI to let Field Service Mobile users create drafts and discuss customer problems on Slack and help them find self-service tools. Continue Reading
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News
19 Apr 2023
Salesforce integrates Einstein GPT and Data Cloud into Flow
The CRM giant updated Flow, its automation toolkit, with generative AI and Data Cloud capabilities to trigger automatic responses using natural language prompts and real-time data. Continue Reading
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News
14 Apr 2023
Zendesk teams with OpenAI for new AI-backed CX tools
The CX giant's partnership with OpenAI brings new tools to help CX personnel summarize content, create knowledge bases and macros, and quickly compose ticket responses. Continue Reading
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Definition
11 Apr 2023
Oracle Customer Experience Cloud (Oracle CX Cloud)
Oracle Customer Experience Cloud (Oracle CX Cloud) is a suite of cloud-based tools for customer relationship management (CRM), sales, marketing, customer service, e-commerce and other tools, such as configure, price, quote (CPQ) tools. Continue Reading
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News
06 Apr 2023
Overcoming data privacy challenges in digital marketing
As access to customers' personal data tightens, online marketers must reevaluate their strategies to reach their desired targets in an effective and creative way. Continue Reading
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News
05 Apr 2023
Salesforce forms new Trailblazer community group for sales
The CRM software giant aims to fill sales personnel gap with new sales-focused learners group named Salesblazer and sales certification for existing courses. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 Mar 2023
sales development representative (SDR)
A sales development representative (SDR) is an individual who focuses on prospecting, moving and qualifying leads through the sales pipeline and then delivers those leads to individuals who are responsible for closing sales. Continue Reading
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News
22 Mar 2023
Adobe unveils new collaboration tool for marketing teams
The CX giant revealed new technology for faster workflows between marketing, product and data teams to collaborate on marketing campaigns in its new Product Analytics platform. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2023
Adobe Firefly brings generative AI image marketing tool
The CX giant's Firefly is an image creator trained on millions of visuals from Adobe stock content to understand written commands and make images for better marketing. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2023
Adobe and RainFocus pair for more data insight at events
The CX software giant pairs with the event marketing services vendor to provide customers with tools for deeper personalized experiences at in-person and online events. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Mar 2023
7 customer success best practices
Customer success aims to ensure a positive CX after the sales process is complete. These best practices can help teams stay on track and keep customers satisfied. Continue Reading
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News
08 Mar 2023
Qualtrics' customer experience tools enter rage-filled times
Qualtrics rolls out new customer experience tools while it ponders a buyout from Silver Lake, a private equity firm. Continue Reading
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News
07 Mar 2023
HubSpot intros AI tools to make content creation easier
The new AI tools are aimed at marketing, sales and customer service teams that create websites and blogs. They also provide customers with a natural language chat-based experience. Continue Reading
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News
07 Mar 2023
Salesforce joins generative AI ranks with Einstein GPT
The CRM giant capitalizes on GPT 3.5 tech, weaving generative AI into code creation, Slack tools and customer interactions. The vendor also launched a $250M AI investment fund. Continue Reading
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News
06 Mar 2023
Microsoft's new Dynamics 365 Copilot uses generative AI
Copilot accelerates routine tasks for marketing and sales teams like creating email responses and collecting customer insight data, intensifying the AI race in CRM software. Continue Reading
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News
01 Mar 2023
Generative AI-supported tools coming from Pegasystems
CRM platform Pega Infinity will incorporate artificial intelligence language tools for quicker task management, insight visualization and app development. Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Feb 2023
MuleSoft
MuleSoft is a Salesforce company that provides numerous tools to build automations and integrations for various enterprise use cases. Continue Reading
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Definition
27 Feb 2023
Salesforce Customer 360
Salesforce Customer 360 is a collection of tools that connect Salesforce apps and create a unified customer ID to build a single view of the customer. Continue Reading
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News
24 Feb 2023
CRM titan Salesforce is squeezed in a competitive market
CRM and CX giant Salesforce is plagued by an activist investor, slower business growth and pressure to increase profit margins with layoffs as the CRM market gets more competitive. Continue Reading
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Answer
15 Feb 2023
What does a customer success manager do?
The customer success manager is an essential CX role that takes a proactive approach to ensuring customer loyalty and retention when the sales process is complete. Continue Reading
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Definition
07 Feb 2023
digital library
A digital library is a collection of digital objects, such as books, magazines, audio recordings, video recordings and other documents that are accessible electronically. Continue Reading
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Definition
24 Jan 2023
chief customer officer (CCO)
A chief customer officer, or customer experience officer, is responsible for customer research, communicating with company employees and taking charge of customer experience (CX) metrics. Continue Reading
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News
18 Jan 2023
Microsoft and Salesforce step up smart store retail tech
The tech giants are quickly evolving their technologies aimed at the brick and mortar commerce market, with new software for smart store analytics, CX and retail associates. Continue Reading
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News
04 Jan 2023
Salesforce 2023 layoff plans follow recent executive exodus
Changes continue to shake up Salesforce, with a 10% workforce reduction and office space closures this year following recent departures of top executives. Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Dec 2022
planogram
A planogram is a diagram that shows how and where specific retail products should be placed on retail shelves or displays to increase customer purchases. Continue Reading
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Definition
15 Dec 2022
direct email marketing
Direct email marketing is a format for email-based campaigns in which standalone advertisements are sent to a targeted list of recipients. Continue Reading
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Definition
14 Dec 2022
integration
Integration is the act of bringing together smaller components or information stored in different subsystems into a single functioning unit. Continue Reading
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News
08 Dec 2022
Salesforce-Slack integrations continue as cofounder departs
Salesforce unveils new Slack and Sales Cloud integrations following news that Slack's cofounder and other executives at the company have stepped down. Continue Reading
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News
28 Oct 2022
How Musk's Twitter takeover could affect business accounts
Potential changes to Twitter's advertising and security policies are top issues for business owners who rely on the social media platform for brand visibility and sales. Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2022
CRM and BPM vendor Pegasystems adds new AI features
The CRM and business process management vendor, looking to scale up, introduced new features for business users, service representatives and call center customers. Continue Reading
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Definition
19 Oct 2022
CRM (customer relationship management) analytics
CRM (customer relationship management) analytics comprises all of the programming that analyzes data about customers and presents it to an organization to help facilitate and streamline better business decisions. Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2022
Oracle pushes forward with CX tech amid layoff cycle
Rumors of the demise of Oracle marketing, CRM and customer service turn out to be unfounded, as the company forges ahead with vertical-specific CX offerings. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Oct 2022
Top 4 CRM systems comparison
What differentiates the 'big four' CRM providers? Explore the advantages and disadvantages of Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP in this CRM comparison. Continue Reading
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News
12 Oct 2022
Microsoft adds conversational AI to Dynamics 365
At Ignite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 users get AI-based automation capabilities with emphasis on conversational intelligence for sales and customer service. Continue Reading
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Definition
04 Oct 2022
hockey stick growth
Hockey stick growth is a growth pattern in a line chart that shows a sudden and extremely rapid growth after a long period of linear growth. Continue Reading
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Opinion
27 Sep 2022
Salesforce's Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor the latest co-CEO trial
Some software companies rule their worlds with co-CEOs for years. Other co-CEO arrangements don't last long. We consider the future of Salesforce's current chief executive duo. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 Sep 2022
Salesforce Trailhead
Salesforce Trailhead is a series of online tutorials that coach beginner and intermediate developers who need to learn how to code for the Salesforce platform. Continue Reading
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News
20 Sep 2022
More automation, embedded analytics part of Tableau plans
New capabilities scheduled for release as part of the vendor's final two platform updates in 2022 are designed to speed the ability to reach insights and take actions. Continue Reading
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News
15 Sep 2022
Salesforce new training goal: 20K new admins, developers
Salesforce partners with nonprofits and customers to mint more admins, developers and consultants needed to sustain the company's five-year growth plan. Continue Reading
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News
14 Sep 2022
Salesforce adds automation features across Customer 360
Salesforce's upcoming Customer 360 features include automation tied together with CDP data for sales, marketing, service and e-commerce. Continue Reading
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News
08 Sep 2022
HubSpot's growing CRM takes on Salesforce -- but not head-on
No one is saying that HubSpot is building a 'baby Salesforce' for small to medium-sized businesses. But it looks a lot like that is exactly what's happening. Continue Reading
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Definition
01 Sep 2022
unique selling point (USP)
A unique selling point (USP), also called a unique selling proposition, is a marketing statement that differentiates a product or brand from its competitors. Continue Reading
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News
22 Aug 2022
Salesforce offers new pricing option with 'Easy' subscription
The Salesforce Easy subscription offers CRM, customer service and rudimentary email marketing in a self-service subscription and lower per-seat price. Continue Reading
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Definition
19 Aug 2022
knowledge base
In general, a knowledge base is a centralized repository of information. Continue Reading
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News
26 Jul 2022
Oracle releases major Fusion Sales CRM update, facelift
Oracle Fusion Sales users get a new UX and new features, including microsites called 'digital sales rooms,' which parallel Microsoft and Salesforce sales collaboration features. Continue Reading
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Definition
10 Jun 2022
distribution list
In email applications, a distribution list is a list of email addresses that can be mass mailed via automation without having to add members individually. Continue Reading
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Answer
09 Jun 2022
What's the difference between SCM and CRM?
CRM platforms track customer interactions, whereas SCM platforms track materials and product shipments. Tech buyers should know how these platforms differ before making a purchase. Continue Reading
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Definition
01 Jun 2022
implementation
Implementation is the execution or practice of a plan, a method or any design, idea, model, specification, standard or policy for doing something. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 May 2022
Understanding the 3 types of CRM systems
To get the most out of a CRM system, organizations must decide whether an operational, analytical or collaborative CRM system is right for them. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 May 2022
What are the benefits and challenges of CRM?
CRM platforms can boost CX with business insights if sales agents use them properly. Sales leaders should know the benefits and challenges of these platforms before purchasing. Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Apr 2022
Photoshop
Photoshop is an image creation, graphic design and photo editing software developed by Adobe. Continue Reading
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News
27 Apr 2022
Salesforce-Slack sales, marketing, service integrations in beta
Slack integration apps for Salesforce Service Cloud, Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud move into beta; MuleSoft takes on API management and governance. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Apr 2022
What is Adobe Experience Cloud? CRM platform overview
Adobe Experience Cloud -- the vendor's CRM platform -- includes tools to help medium and large enterprises manage all facets of their customer engagement strategies. Continue Reading
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Definition
29 Mar 2022
Apex (Salesforce)
Salesforce Apex is a Microsoft-certified framework for building software as a service (SaaS) apps on top of Salesforce's customer relationship management (CRM) functionality. Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Mar 2022
business metric
A business metric is a quantifiable measure businesses use to track, monitor and assess the success or failure of various business processes. Continue Reading
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Definition
17 Mar 2022
service assurance (SA)
Service assurance (SA) is a procedure or set of procedures intended to optimize performance and provide management guidance in communications networks, media services and end-user applications. Continue Reading
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News
15 Mar 2022
Salesforce AppExchange revamps user search, discovery
Salesforce updates AppExchange partner marketplace to add more effective search and surfacing of more appropriate results for users, as the app count tops 7,000. Continue Reading
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News
14 Feb 2022
Salesforce Safety Cloud debuts for event vaccination proof
Salesforce launches new cloud to aggregate COVID-19 testing and vaccine information for users hosting customer and employee events, with more to follow later in 2022. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Nov 2021
6 ways to build customer loyalty for your business
Creating and implementing an effective customer loyalty strategy involves communicating and understanding customers' needs. Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2021
Salesforce expands consumer packaged goods cloud
Salesforce to add features next year that help consumer goods manufacturers plan, track and analyze effectiveness of promotional spending with retailers. Continue Reading
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News
12 Oct 2021
HubSpot CRM adds B2B online payments processing
HubSpot CRM adds no-code Stripe online payments as well as data governance and enhancements to Operations Hub such as analytics and a Snowflake integration. Continue Reading
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Definition
08 Oct 2021
What is mobile CRM (mobile customer relationship management)?
Mobile CRM, or mobile customer relationship management, enables those working in the field or remote employees to use mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to access customer data and customer accounts wherever they are. Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2021
More Salesforce-Slack integrations to come
Salesforce unveiled a total of 16 Slack integrations to its platform, some available now, and some to come next year, following the blockbuster acquisition. Continue Reading
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News
20 Sep 2021
Oracle Fusion Marketing enables campaign orchestration
Oracle has announced plans to release Fusion Marketing in 2022. The middleware app will more deeply integrate customer data to marketing initiatives and CRM. Continue Reading
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News
16 Sep 2021
Salesforce automation tools for 2022: RPA, document ingestion
Salesforce Einstein Automate tools to come next year include RPA, document intake and drag-and-drop process automation. Continue Reading
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News
15 Sep 2021
Salesforce Marketing Cloud to get analytics boost
Salesforce to add analytics capabilities and AI tools that spider Salesforce CDP data; Commerce Cloud adds shipping and logistics integration through a FedEx partnership. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 Sep 2021
How to choose the right CRM software for your organization
Choosing the right CRM software can be daunting for organizations. Follow these five steps and best practices to ensure the search, adoption and deployment processes go smoothly. Continue Reading
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News
09 Sep 2021
Salesforce Service Cloud to add Servicetrace RPA, Slack
Salesforce plans to release features that increase Service Cloud's flexibility for contact centers to manage agents working remotely either part time or full time. Continue Reading
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News
01 Sep 2021
New features coming for Salesforce Sales Cloud
Salesforce adds CRM features to support remote-work models for sales teams born in the pandemic and continuing -- possibly permanently -- through 2022 and beyond. Continue Reading
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News
16 Aug 2021
Meet the CIO who keeps the Salesforce platform running
Salesforce EVP and CIO Jo-ann de Pass Olsovsky embraces the pivot to remote work, low-code appdev and the role of alpha tester of upcoming Salesforce products. Continue Reading
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News
15 Jul 2021
Salesforce to pull plug on Audience Studio DMP
Salesforce Audience Studio DMP is no longer being sold, Salesforce confirms. It could signal the beginning of the end of programmatic digital ad sales. Continue Reading
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News
14 Jul 2021
Salesforce Industries' Media Cloud adds ad management
Salesforce Media Cloud adds a multimedia ad sales platform for media companies to manage their customers' ad spend. Also: AppExchange partner marketplace adds chat, user reviews. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Jun 2021
Getting started with a revenue operations strategy
A revenue operations strategy requires coordination and communication among sales, marketing and customer service teams to fuel RevOps. Continue Reading
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News
23 Jun 2021
Salesforce previews low-code, pro-code developer tools
Salesforce to release new low-code and pro-code tools for developers, as well as DevOps Center, which catalogs app dev efforts and offers a planning platform. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2021
Salesforce adds more HR, employee tools to Work.com
Salesforce to release more employee experience tools on Work.com to support the onboarding and well-being of workers who remain remote after the pandemic passes. Continue Reading
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News
15 Jun 2021
SAP Spartacus, headless and Commerce Cloud take center stage
In the wake of the pandemic, SAP users focus on e-commerce, and SAP puts new emphasis on headless configurations as well as its Upscale Commerce package. Continue Reading
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News
09 Jun 2021
Salesforce Industries rolls out banking AI compliance tools
Salesforce now claims cloud customizations for 12 different vertical industries. Can this help them win new users from competitors who have released their own industry clouds? Continue Reading
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News
02 Jun 2021
Salesforce plugs CDP, WhatsApp into marketing, e-commerce
Salesforce connects its CDP to its platform's customer loyalty tech; Marketing Cloud integrates WhatsApp, SnapChat ads and Datorama advanced analytics reports. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2021
Salesforce low-code features in beta; GA slated for winter
Salesforce gives users a taste of Dynamic Interactions low-code features to come with a beta release of features planned for its next major platform update. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2021
Oracle CX adds subscription management, 3-D ad measurement
Oracle adds deeper subscription support for B2C and B2B users to its CX platform, as users look to tie renewals, billing and self-service to commerce revenue. Continue Reading
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News
19 Apr 2021
Salesforce Digital 360 for Industries adds developer tools
Salesforce Digital 360 for Industries releases developer tools, templates and guides for users to build e-commerce storefronts, webpages and portals on its vertical-specific clouds. Continue Reading
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News
08 Apr 2021
Salesforce updates vaccine distribution tool ahead of surge
President Biden moves COVID-19 vaccine availability deadline for American adults to April 19; Salesforce Vaccine Cloud adds asynchronous bookings on more channels to meet surge. Continue Reading
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News
07 Apr 2021
Microsoft pushes deeper into Dynamics 365 industry clouds
Microsoft's vertical industry strategy keeps pace with similar approaches from Oracle and Salesforce, which strive to woo users on the benefits of their platforms and data models. Continue Reading
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News
24 Mar 2021
Salesforce updates Sales Cloud for remote work
Salesforce created CRM tools for its own sales team's pandemic shift to remote work -- and is rolling out the ones it found most effective to all the platform's users. Continue Reading
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News
16 Mar 2021
ServiceMax releases Engage field service management app
ServiceMax Engage app gives users' customers a snapshot of their service contract benefits, and gives users vital updates for asset managements of property in the field. Continue Reading
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News
02 Mar 2021
Salesforce tackles B2B rebate management automation
Salesforce's tool for manufacturer rebates may have applications in other verticals, as it automates typically spreadsheet-driven processes. Continue Reading
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News
02 Mar 2021
Microsoft Dynamics 365 adds customer journey orchestration
Dynamics 365 users in marketing and sales get CX features forged from the pandemic economy that enable one-to-one digital experiences. Continue Reading
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News
26 Feb 2021
Salesforce Field Service spring release adds map features
Salesforce dubs pandemic and post-pandemic times 'the appointment economy' for field service operations and builds mobile app features to accommodate it. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Feb 2021
The top real estate CRM software
Today's competitive real estate market highlights the importance of CRM systems that provide listings management and property tracking, as well as typical CRM system features. Continue Reading
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News
27 Jan 2021
ServiceNow, Salesforce deliver vaccine management tech
Salesforce releases Vaccine Cloud, tools that enable tracking and distribution of COVID-19 immunizations. ServiceNow also enters the technology space. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jan 2021
Salesforce Ventures tops $3 billion invested
Salesforce Ventures continues to invest heavily in partners to help build out its platform as the pandemic evolves customer needs. Q&A with managing partner Matt Garratt. Continue Reading
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Infographic
30 Dec 2020
The history and evolution of CRM
Customer relationship management had simple beginnings, which evolved into a sophisticated system that helps businesses improve the overall customer experience. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Dec 2020
How the Salesforce-Zoom integration benefits sales
Video conferencing is now the primary form of communication for sales and marketing teams that rely heavily on meetings. The Salesforce Zoom integration increases efficiency. Continue Reading