E-commerce platforms & strategies
E-commerce success begins with developing an e-commerce strategy before choosing an e-commerce platform to drive sales. Find out how successful businesses buy e-commerce technology and read advice on how to create an effective e-commerce strategy.
Top Stories
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Tip
12 Jan 2023
6 e-commerce email marketing strategies to heed
Building a database, nurturing existing customers and using an email service provider are some e-commerce email marketing strategies to help businesses increase revenue. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Aug 2022
Challenges of integrating e-commerce and content management
E-commerce and CMS systems have different purposes, so integration can bring challenges. Organizations must plan for implementation and bridge sales and marketing activities. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jan 2022
Instacart, McDonald's, Target share digital marketing strategies
Customer experience leaders discuss strategies to accommodate customers who want contactless shopping, those who want in-person sales, and everything in between. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Dec 2021
10 customer service best practices to follow
As customer service evolves into a multidimensional force, agent training and experience, performance analysis, virtual assistance, customer sentiment and net promoter scores rule. Continue Reading
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News
29 Nov 2021
Technology drives holiday shopping for retail, e-commerce
Black Friday e-commerce sales maintained 2020 gains. Retail traffic is up but hasn't rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Technology, supply chain, COVID-19 variants all factors. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Nov 2021
The future of customer service: 12 trends to watch
Advanced technologies continue to shape customer service goals to streamline digital workflows, increase positive experiences, lower agent turnover and improve contact center ROI. Continue Reading
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News
15 Oct 2021
Shopify opens e-commerce platform to enterprise ERP vendors
Shopify's new Global ERP Program takes steps to attract larger enterprises, but the transition won't be easy, as large ERP systems are far more complex than those of Shopify's SMB base. 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
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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News
09 Sep 2021
Infosys releases headless commerce services bundle
Infosys breaks down Skava, an e-commerce startup it acquired in 2015, into e-commerce, marketing and merchandising microservices, and renames it Equinox. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Jul 2021
Brands opt for headless e-commerce vs. traditional commerce
For large enterprises, headless commerce breaks down websites into user-friendly modules marketers can update. SMBs can also use it, paired with WordPress and other simple tools. Continue Reading
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News
29 Jun 2021
E-commerce giant Shopify upgrades Liquid, dev tools
Buoyed by the pandemic e-commerce boom, Shopify rolls out upgrades for no-code, low-code and pro-code offerings for its web platform -- and rewrites APIs to make stores faster. 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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Tip
03 Jun 2021
5 real-world multichannel marketing examples
Companies with effective multichannel marketing focus on brand reach, message, consistency, engagement and experience. It's important to meet customers on platforms they prefer. Continue Reading
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News
02 Jun 2021
SAP Upscale Commerce gets reboot
SAP relaunches its Upscale Commerce, first released three years ago to little fanfare, to a broader midmarket base to compete with Shopify's top-end offerings. Continue Reading
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News
28 May 2021
Jitterbit buys iPaaS vendor for EDI, e-commerce capabilities
Jitterbit broadened its reach to retailers and their trading partners with the acquisition of eBridge Connections to address EDI and e-commerce use cases. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 May 2021
Post-pandemic digital customer experience: What will change?
Overstock.com, FTD and Giant Eagle all revamped their CX tech stacks during the pandemic to meet the demand for online service, and upgrades continue. 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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Feature
05 Apr 2021
How post-pandemic B2B e-commerce tech stacks will look
What will B2B e-commerce look like in the post-pandemic world? Experts and tech leaders share how COVID-19 fueled big changes and what's next. Continue Reading
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Tip
12 Mar 2021
Know when to use a headless CMS and when it's not worth it
Headless CMSes aren't a silver bullet for every circumstance. Evaluate three solid use cases for a headless CMS and three scenarios when a headless CMS isn't worth the investment. Continue Reading
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News
18 Feb 2021
Amazon bolsters e-commerce for small business with Selz buy
Australian e-commerce platform Selz may have caught Amazon's attention because it employs Liquid, Shopify's template language, which will simplify migrations. Continue Reading
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News
08 Feb 2021
Adobe releases headless commerce developer tools
At its developer conference, Adobe debuts Experience Manager features to enable faster headless e-commerce deployments and GraphQL functionality for content personalization. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jan 2021
Acquia launches headless commerce integration
Acquia adds cloud e-commerce to its expanding digital experience platform via tight integrations with Lucidworks' AI-assisted product recommendation engine and Commercetools' headless commerce. Continue Reading
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News
14 Jan 2021
Capitol riots spark e-commerce terms of service enforcement
Shopify, Salesforce and Google take action in wake of Capitol riots, as adware and customer experience platforms play an uncomfortable role in political events and discourse. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jan 2021
National Retail Federation tackles political unrest, COVID-19
Retailers at NRF discuss COVID-19 operations and how they changed retail forever. Also: the technologies that keep customer experience consistent during supply-chain disruptions. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Jan 2021
SAP Commerce Cloud dresses up digital storefronts
SAP Commerce Cloud is designed to help companies launch digital commerce sites, which may be useful for large enterprises and digital commerce sites with complex processes. Continue Reading
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News
22 Dec 2020
Content drives new B2B e-commerce
COVID-19 forced B2B e-commerce companies to create and enhance new revenue pathways. Two Sitecore users share how investments in digital experiences kept their companies rolling. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Dec 2020
Why customer-centric design is crucial for CX
In her book, '100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People,' Susan Weinschenk talks about why it is important for companies to know their audience to better design for them. 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
30 Oct 2020
Holiday e-commerce set to surge
Adobe looks at e-commerce trends to predict holiday buying, while Salesforce surveys thousands of B2B buyers and consumers about what motivates their buying choices. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Oct 2020
Headless CMS powers personalized, omnichannel e-commerce
As the headless CMS gains steam, understand why e-commerce companies are the most likely ones to reap the benefits and what trends are driving its adoption. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Oct 2020
Channel partners help solve retail industry challenges
Retailers are exploring a range of IT strategies to overcome pressures caused by the pandemic and fierce online competition. Find out how channel partners can help. Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2020
Episerver to buy Optimizely, adds to CMS, e-commerce suite
As Episerver evolves into a digital experience platform under new leadership, the company adds native A/B testing functionality by acquiring Optimizely. 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
18 Aug 2020
E-commerce business growth slows, but still a boom period
As the world partially reopens businesses shuttered due to the pandemic, new e-commerce tech investments may make gains from earlier this year permanent. 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
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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Feature
25 Jun 2020
As stores reopen, e-commerce is king in luxury retail
Brick-and-mortar stores are reopening, but that doesn't mean retailers should lessen focus on online experiences. Olivela, a luxury retail company, strategizes for beyond COVID-19. 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
17 Jun 2020
Magento e-commerce content tools get Adobe AI boost
Adobe connects its Product Recommendations engine to Magento Page Builder to give users a no-code AI tool that offers different products to different customer segments. Continue Reading
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News
09 Jun 2020
Pandemic e-commerce trends point to massive growth
The pandemic caused consumers and businesses to form new online buying habits; now e-commerce is booming. That trend will hold for a year, or maybe forever, experts said. Continue Reading
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News
29 May 2020
Facebook Shops, Salesforce deliver quick e-commerce tools
During pandemic stay-at-home orders, Salesforce, Facebook and Instagram capitalize on the digital sales boom that resembles a three-month holiday surge that hasn't let up. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 May 2020
6 key benefits of headless commerce
Traditional e-commerce changed how businesses could sell products, but with headless commerce, organizations can better personalize the customer experience. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 May 2020
Email, social media marketing strategies adjust amid COVID-19
Businesses lean on email, social media marketing and softer brand messaging to keep customers engaged while the coronavirus keeps the world quarantined at home. Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Apr 2020
3 tips for adding e-commerce to an existing website
While many businesses realize the necessity for e-commerce functions on their websites, they should be sure to focus on the customer journey and maintaining consistent experiences. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Mar 2020
Collaboration tools in the workplace boost customer experiences
Collaboration tools improve personal digital experiences internally for contact center agents, marketers and sales pros and externally for customers in an e-commerce environment. Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2020
New Antavo interactive kiosks push retail loyalty programs
The kiosk features a prize wheel, treasure hunts and themed quizzes to engage and interact with shoppers while promoting in-store loyalty programs. Continue Reading
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News
24 Jan 2020
Retail facial recognition and eye tracking the next tech wave, maybe
Biometric data is the last frontier of the shopping experience, as eye-tracking and facial recognition technologies slowly weave their way into the retail tech stack. Continue Reading
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News
15 Jan 2020
Ex-SAP exec steers Episerver CMS toward digital experience market
Alex Atzberger discusses leaving the helm of SAP's CX platform to become Episerver CEO. Now, Episerver looks to reinvent itself as a digital experience platform provider. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jan 2020
Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle launch retail customer experience tools
Retailers get new tools from leading customer experience platform vendors to better compete with online-only rivals. Continue Reading
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News
10 Jan 2020
Elastic Path acquires Moltin for headless commerce, microservices
Elastic Path's headless approach to e-commerce takes a step in the SaaS direction as it acquires Moltin, which specializes in microservices to enable online sales. Continue Reading
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News
16 Dec 2019
Episerver expands B2B e-commerce footprint with Insite acquisition
Episerver's latest purchase expands its DX platform. It follows a trend of web CMS companies moving into territory dominated by Oracle, Salesforce, Adobe, Microsoft and SAP. Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2019
Guarding the shop: Rewind backup protects e-commerce data
E-commerce sites need backup in the event of data loss situations, especially during the holidays. Rewind gives merchants the chance to go back to a safe point in time. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Oct 2019
Is AWS recommendation engine Amazon Personalize right for you?
Amazon Personalize offers a pay-as-you-go model for businesses interested in a recommendation engine. But is your business really ready for personalization? Continue Reading
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News
23 Oct 2019
Ex-Salesforce exec Bob Stutz takes the reins of SAP C/4HANA
Ex-Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Bob Stutz, known for jump-starting stagnating CRM and CX software at Siebel, Microsoft and SAP, returns to SAP to bolster C/4HANA CX cloud. Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2019
Adobe updates Magento Commerce, adds Amazon and Azure hooks
Adobe continues to support Magento Open Source but adds Azure support and AI tools only to the commercial version of the vendor's e-commerce platform. Continue Reading
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News
14 Oct 2019
Adobe's Marketo-Magento staff merger reveals midmarket push
Adobe positions itself for the midmarket in the year following the acquisitions of marketing automation platform Marketo and e-commerce platform Magento. Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2019
Salesforce Lightning Order Management boosts e-commerce
Salesforce extends Customer 360 capabilities with a bundle of APIs to help users manage and track e-commerce orders and provide more detail to the customer as orders are picked, packed and shipped. Continue Reading
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News
22 Aug 2019
SAP Product Content Hub underpins CX initiatives in C/4HANA
SAP SaaS tool integrates AI, APIs for pushing updated product content to e-commerce sites. It also gives sales, marketing and service teams using C/4HANA access to the content. Continue Reading
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Answer
05 Aug 2019
How do headless e-commerce platforms work?
A headless e-commerce platform is a cloud-based service that can connect e-commerce activities and functions to mobile apps and third-party applications. Here's how it works. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2019
Oracle and Adobe CDP war heats up, Salesforce close behind
The customer data platform market continues to simmer as large vendors such as Oracle, Adobe, SAP and Salesforce rush to catch up to smaller, more nimble CDP competitors. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2019
Adobe debuts Qualtrics plugin, Magento-Amazon D2C features
Adobe moves forward with an SAP Qualtrics plugin to measure voice of the customer on Experience Platform and strengthens Magento customers' Amazon presence with new features. Continue Reading
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Guide
30 May 2019
Digital transformation technologies power CX makeovers
Businesses use many tools to effect digital transformation. Learn how organizations use these tools to improve CX and digital experience, while getting a leg up on the competition. Continue Reading
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Answer
21 May 2019
How do you choose an e-commerce platform to integrate with a CMS?
Before choosing an e-commerce system, companies need to identify their business objectives and determine what capabilities they need to add to their CMS. Continue Reading
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Answer
09 May 2019
What are the pros and cons of open source e-commerce platforms?
Open source e-commerce platforms are popular for businesses looking to build an online store. They offer cost savings and flexibility, but consider the support and security risks. Continue Reading
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News
11 Apr 2019
Google Cloud for Retail debuts, Contact Center AI makes inroads
Google takes on cloud competitors by making an AI-rich home for online and bricks retailers with new suite. Also: Google Call Center AI extends to Genesys, Avaya, Salesforce, more. Continue Reading
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News
10 Apr 2019
Reimagined customer experience mobile apps driving new sales
Mobile and lightweight web apps aren't new. But digital teams driving demand generation is new, thanks to marketing automation platforms that can personalize the pitch. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Apr 2019
E-commerce information systems, content management join forces
Content management to power e-commerce systems takes on greater importance in personalizing customer engagement by aligning processes, data and tools in unified platforms. Continue Reading
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News
28 Jan 2019
Adobe Magento Commerce Cloud adds progressive web apps
Adobe is upgrading its e-commerce product by adding AI-fueled image-search capabilities and progressive web application building tools to Magento Commerce Cloud. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Dec 2018
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
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Feature
12 Jul 2018
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
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News
23 May 2018
Adobe acquisition of Magento puts Salesforce in its sights
Adobe looks to challenge Salesforce by adding e-commerce capabilities into its CX suite of products, just months after Salesforce doubled down on e-commerce with CloudCraze purchase. Continue Reading
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Feature
14 Feb 2018
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
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Tip
20 Oct 2016
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
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Answer
14 Jul 2009
Three management tips for overseeing call center agents on night shift
There are psychological and medical challenges for call center agents working the night shift. Hear management tips from Donna Fluss for managing night shift call center agents. Continue Reading