customer relationship management (CRM)

This year, we’ve seen an uptick in client and industry interest in customer communities. Marketers want to build authentic and lasting relationships with customers who are more and more likely to experiment and less and less likely to trust traditional advertising. The concept of community management isn’t anything new — we’ve been writing about it […]

We all instinctively believe that great customer experience can bring financial success, but proving this with numbers can be a real challenge. If you are a CX professional working in a telecom, this research is particularly relevant to you.

Bob Stutz and CRM have always been synonymous. Stutz started his CRM career at Siebel in 1998, in the early days of IT-driven, on-premises CRM. Siebel was a powerhouse in its time, peaking at 45% market share in 2002. Stutz’s tenure ended after it was acquired by Oracle (2005), and he moved to SAP to […]

Salesforce announced today its intent to acquire Tableau Software. This move adds a robust data visualization and insights solution to its customer engagement portfolio. Unlike other acquisitions, Tableau will operate under its own brand post-acquisition. Tableau Software offers an enterprise business insights (BI) solution to access, combine, and cleanse data from disparate sources. It allows […]

For the first time in its existence, Microsoft is pulling together all of its capabilities to encircle the enterprise and become more than the sum of its parts.

“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.” “No — no — I reckon it wouldn’t hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly’s awful particular about this fence . . . it’s got to be done very careful; I reckon there ain’t one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it’s got […]

Automation and AI are changing the nature of work. Every company job — including every front-office job — will be impacted. Always-available commerce and intelligent guided-selling solutions erode field sales teams. Automated self-service obsoletes generalists and Tier 1 customer service agents. This means that inside sales teams are now handling more highly considered purchases. Customer service agents […]

Great customer service helps control costs as companies squeeze out operational efficiencies. It also fuels sustainable top-line revenue growth by providing differentiated experiences that keep customers loyal to your brand. We just finished assessing 20 of the most important technologies in customer service in terms of their maturity and business value. Here are some of […]

The legendary R&B singer and songwriter Ben E. King got it so right in the Drifters’ 1960 recording of “This Magic Moment.” The song is timeless because it tells a classic tale of a first kiss. It also captures a moment in time in words and song that reminds us of the power of storytelling, […]

SAP announced a new name, market position, and strategy for its customer engagement portfolio. Instead of a potpourri of products, SAP will now offer the quirkily named C/4HANA, which is comprised of SAP Marketing Cloud, SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Service Cloud, SAP Sales Cloud (including CallidusCloud), and SAP Customer Data Cloud (Gigya). C/4HANA attempts to remind […]

SAP announced a new name, market position, and strategy for its customer engagement portfolio. Instead of a potpourri of products, SAP will now offer the quirkily named C/4HANA, which is comprised of SAP Marketing Cloud, SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP Service Cloud, SAP Sales Cloud (including CallidusCloud), and SAP Customer Data Cloud (Gigya). C/4HANA attempts to remind […]

On Monday, Adobe announced its $1.68 billion acquisition of Magento. By adding eCommerce capabilities, Adobe is better able to compete with SAP Hybris, Salesforce, and Oracle. Why Magento? A number of commerce-centric offerings exist on the market — but none of them are like Magento. Magento has not only demonstrated growth, but it also boasts a vibrant community of developers and […]

I attended ServiceNow’s Knowledge18 conference, held in Las Vegas on May 7–10. It’s a well-attended conference, by 18,000 people who use one or more of the company’s cloud service management, HR, security, and customer service products, which are all built on an enterprise-grade platform. At the conference, there was a lot of emotion spent talking […]

Great customer service is not just about cutting costs or making operations more efficient. Instead, it’s a systematic reinvention of established technology, data, and operations — leveraging automation, data, and agents together to exploit each of their unique strengths. This year, I see 3 broad customer service trends that organizations must consider as they fundamentally […]

The definition of CRM has changed. Yes, that is a big statement to make, but it’s an important one. CRM grew from a customer data repository into functional applications, first with sales automation and then to support customer service and marketing. Today’s enterprise software vendors cannot rest on “core” CRM functionality; their buyers demand a […]

Modern CRM is about better serving and supporting customers during their journey. It empowers companies to form an emotional bond with their customers by looking out for their best interests. It empowers customer-facing employees with the right data and information about their customers at the right time so that they can focus on nurturing relationships. Here’s […]

Last week was a massive week for marketers. Black Friday 2017 hit record numbers: Not only did shoppers start early, they began clicking at a rate of 2,800 orders per minute, spending $1 million per minute at the peak of Black Friday. Research shows that email is a major driver to get consumers’ attention during […]

In the age of the customer, consumers have more information, more choices, more access, and more power. But they don’t have more time. That’s why the companies that attract, win and retain customers focus on delivering the tenets of great experiences: make it easy, make it effective, and build an emotional connection. But, customer service […]