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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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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Infographic
06 Jan 2023
Salesforce acquisitions from 2022 mark a year of integrations
2022 was slow for vendor acquisitions, and Salesforce was no different. The vendor's three acquisitions in 2022 focused on improving integrations and supporting its ecosystem. 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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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
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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
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News
23 Dec 2020
Salesforce's acquisitions lead CX tech buying spree in 2020
Most CX vendors acquired new companies to enhance their platforms, none bigger than Salesforce buying Slack. Facebook's Kustomer buy might be the most intriguing. Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Dec 2020
10 Dreamforce to You 2020 sessions for sales managers
DreamTX -- part of the Dreamforce to You 2020 lineup -- will offer a variety of relevant sessions for attending sales managers. Here's a peek at 10 of those sessions. Continue Reading
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News
02 Dec 2020
Salesforce workflow automation tools, Hyperforce debut
Salesforce delivers new Einstein workflow automation tools and unveils what it calls the most significant tech advancement in the company's 21-year history. Continue Reading
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News
02 Dec 2020
Salesforce adds customer service management features
Salesforce adds AI-powered features to enable contact center workforce management and agent staffing models for call volume, as well as email and messaging channels. Continue Reading
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News
01 Dec 2020
Salesforce to acquire Slack for $27.7 billion
Salesforce acquired the Slack messaging platform for $27.7 billion. Experts weigh on in what Slack would bring to the Salesforce platform. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 Nov 2020
Transactional vs. relationship marketing: Key differences
Some companies thrive on building strong relationships with customers, while others want to make a sale without long-term commitment. Either way, the business needs a strategy. Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2020
Salesforce Customer 360 Truth services go live
Salesforce releases a new bundle of services which includes ID management, privacy, security and compliance tools for Salesforce users' customers and employees. Continue Reading
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News
12 Nov 2020
Salesforce Revenue Cloud bolsters B2B e-commerce workflows
Salesforce, moving deeper into revenue ops, releases Revenue Cloud. It enables B2B digital sales with new pricing, billing and contracting models, as well as revenue forecasting. Continue Reading
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News
09 Nov 2020
Oracle CX suite adds tools for sales teams, digital commerce
Oracle tackles sales rep and e-commerce experience in the latest update to its CX application stack, retuned for the pandemic's remote-work and digital sales uptick. Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2020
SAP customer data platform strategy comes into focus
SAP acquires Emarsys, which has a CDP included in its customer experience data handling toolbox. SAP execs shed light on how it will fit in with the company's own CDP. Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2020
SAP CX application stack grows with addition of Emarsys
SAP scoops up a marketing automation platform with CDP capabilities, as well as personalization and the ability to reach customers across digital channels. Continue Reading
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News
29 Oct 2020
Oracle CX targets communications industry with new apps
Oracle moves into vertical-specific digital experience customizations, starting with Oracle Digital Experience for Communications, with more to come. Continue Reading
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News
14 Oct 2020
SAP CDP the latest customer data platform on a crowded block
SAP released a customer data platform, following its CX platform competitors Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe and Oracle. The SAP CDP extends outside of the common marketing use case. Continue Reading
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News
30 Sep 2020
Salesforce Vlocity acquisition gives rise to new industry clouds
Four new vertical-specific clouds debut from Salesforce -- for media, telcos, government and utilities -- as fruits of its Vlocity acquisition earlier this year. Continue Reading
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News
22 Sep 2020
HubSpot CRM gets enterprise makeover
HubSpot might not yet frighten Salesforce with its competing platform, which now includes enterprise CRM, but the company definitely pushes upmarket with its latest offering. Continue Reading
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News
22 Sep 2020
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service to add voice channel
Leading a host of CX releases, Microsoft plans to add native voice telephony and voice-channel hooks for chatbots and transcription into its contact center platform. Continue Reading
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News
18 Sep 2020
Oracle CX upgrades focus on field service, contact center
Oracle adds self-service features, field tech tools and call center capabilities to its CX stack in response to customers' business needs in pandemic. Continue Reading
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News
08 Sep 2020
Salesforce e-commerce capabilities to expand with Mobify
Salesforce beefs up its headless e-commerce platform capabilities for enterprise retail customers with the acquisition of Mobify, a Canadian headless commerce hosting vendor. Continue Reading
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News
01 Sep 2020
Salesforce Field Service features added to Winter '21 Release
Salesforce Field Service users can better pinpoint arrival times for their customers as well as other new capabilities coming in the Winter '21 Release. Continue Reading
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News
26 Aug 2020
Salesforce confirms around 1,000 layoffs after monster quarter
Salesforce says COVID-19 did not precipitate the layoff of about 1,000 employees, but the pandemic did show the company where customer needs are headed. Continue Reading
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News
19 Aug 2020
Salesforce pulls plug on Einstein Voice Assistant
Salesforce's voice assistant made a big splash at Dreamforce last year, but the AI tool -- personified with the Einstein brand -- didn't survive the pandemic. Continue Reading
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News
29 Jul 2020
Oracle CX head Rob Tarkoff: Acquisition integrations complete
The executive vice president of CX and Oracle Data Cloud discusses how acquired technologies have been fully integrated into Oracle's customer experience SaaS application stack. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jul 2020
Microsoft releases voice of the customer platform
Microsoft takes on Qualtrics with Dynamics 365 Customer Voice, a customer experience feedback tool native to its platform for retailers and B2B users. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jul 2020
Salesforce beefs up e-commerce order management features
Salesforce adds B2C-friendly order-management features to support internationalization of e-commerce, as well as pre-built integrations to channels such as Google and Instagram. Continue Reading
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News
16 Jul 2020
Salesforce Pardot, Interaction Studio get feature boosts
Salesforce adds Einstein AI, as well as personalization and data visualization features from its acquisitions of Evergage, Datorama and Tableau, to Marketing Cloud. Continue Reading
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Answer
08 Jul 2020
What roles are essential on a content marketing team?
There are a number of people involved in business content marketing teams. Some of those roles include content managers, content strategists and content creators. Continue Reading
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Answer
01 Jul 2020
The role and responsibilities of a customer relationship manager
The customer relationship manager has a challenging and ever-evolving role to play when it comes to optimizing the customer experience. Continue Reading
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News
30 Jun 2020
Zendesk CRM adds email automation features
The Zendesk Sell CRM platform adds email automation features for customer engagement as the pandemic cuts off sales rep users' access to in-person customer meetings. Continue Reading
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News
25 Jun 2020
Salesforce pushes forward with DNS security standard
A Salesforce-backed DNS security model to prevent downtime could become standard for multi-tenant cloud providers. Continue Reading
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News
25 Jun 2020
Salesforce collaboration gets mobile boost with new app
Salesforce integrates chat, text and video collaboration into a desktop interface and a new mobile app, Salesforce Anywhere. It tracks and logs conversations and transcribes videos. Continue Reading
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News
23 Jun 2020
Salesforce Trailhead adds Einstein AI for learners
Salesforce's free training site, Trailhead, got AI features based on its products recommendation engine to guide admins, developers and consultants on personalized paths. Continue Reading
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News
19 Jun 2020
SAP C/4HANA leads discuss future of CX platform
New leaders of SAP's customer experience platform discuss its future direction, with a retrospective look at how CRM's past evolved into customer-centric CX technology. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2020
SAP C/4HANA users describe e-commerce pivots amid COVID-19
SAP's customer experience application suite still a priority after a year of senior leadership upheaval at the enterprise cloud vendor, thanks to the COVID-19 economy. Continue Reading
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News
28 May 2020
Pega Academy goes free with Trailhead-like badges
On the eve of his company's user conference, Pegasystems CEO Alan Trefler discussed COVID-19, RPA tech, free Pega skills training and a new appreciation for old rival Salesforce. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2020
Salesforce coronavirus contact tracing platform goes national
Salesforce gets involved in state and local health authorities' coronavirus contact tracing efforts in New York City, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California and Louisiana. Continue Reading
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News
07 May 2020
Salesforce Lightning App Builder adds low-code forms features
Salesforce Lighting App Builder will include oft-requested low-code features for building complex forms that previously required developer coding to create and update. Continue Reading
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Opinion
08 Apr 2020
What to expect from the Salesforce and Tableau integration
The Tableau integration with Salesforce has many users wondering how this will affect its approach to growth and development, and its place in the digital transformation marketplace. Continue Reading
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News
31 Mar 2020
Salesforce Live web series offers tips for uncertain times
Salesforce execs and celebrity speakers deliver advice to help customers rewrite the sales and marketing playbook while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Mar 2020
3 ways CRM improves customer experience
To be efficient, businesses need their information in one place. Using a CRM system, companies can improve CX by keeping track of their customers and automating business processes. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Mar 2020
9 steps for negotiating deals with Salesforce
Understanding the Salesforce fiscal calendar, motivations of sales agents and what your businesses needs from a deal are key steps in negotiating contracts with the CRM giant. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Mar 2020
Salesforce adds new features to Trailhead Live and Go mobile app
Trailhead Live now features a live chat option and is available on Trailhead Go. While the mobile app fills a need, users still gravitate toward the desktop version. Continue Reading
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News
04 Mar 2020
Zendesk Sunshine CRM, social media upgrades released
Zendesk upgraded Sunshine CRM and Support platforms to manage digital customer conversations, and added e-commerce tools that enable agents to work through order and payment issues. Continue Reading
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News
27 Feb 2020
Salesforce Vlocity acquisition to aid vertical CRM integrations
As Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block steps down, the CRM vendor acquires Vlocity to spur growth in healthcare, energy, media, government, financial services and insurance. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Feb 2020
Salesforce salary survey shows increase in Trailhead use
The annual Mason Frank International survey shows the top two Salesforce certifications are administrator and platform app builder. Trailhead use has also increased. Continue Reading
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News
19 Feb 2020
Salesforce Sydney event moves online amid coronavirus concerns
As coronavirus spreads, Salesforce changed its March 4 live World Tour Sydney conference to a livestream event, citing safety concerns for employees, customers and Trailblazers. Continue Reading
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News
04 Feb 2020
Experts: Salesforce Evergage acquisition for personalization, not CDP
Salesforce acquires Evergage, which offers personalization and a customer data platform. Analysts say Salesforce bought the tech for the personalization -- not to add to its CDP. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 Jan 2020
6 ideas to consider before making a C/4HANA SAP cloud migration
Moving to SAP's C/4HANA platform may lead to improved CX. However, companies should make some considerations before starting an on-premises to SAP cloud migration. Continue Reading