News

News

• January 18, 2016 18 Jan'16

  Salesforce Sales Cloud centers on CRM data quality

  Garbage in, garbage out is the oft-used mantra, and it should be the watchword for CRM systems. CRM data quality can make the difference between system adoption or abandonment.

• December 22, 2015 22 Dec'15

  Emerging CRM technologies took center stage in 2015

  New CRM technologies such as the Internet of Things and native analytics apps piqued interest in 2015. But adoption of these technologies has yet to reach critical mass.

• December 17, 2015 17 Dec'15

  IT trends for 2016: Why IoT devices have a way to go

  While technologies like the Internet of Things are beginning to make their mark, they are still in the 'formative stages,' says an expert.

• December 17, 2015 17 Dec'15

  Marketing automation adoption takes off: 2016 technology trends

  As we look ahead to the 2016 IT trends to watch, one key CRM theme is marketing automation adoption, which is poised to grow, says an expert.

• December 16, 2015 16 Dec'15

  Box-Salesforce partnership brings ECM features to CRM

  A new partnership will bring the cloud file-sharing capability of Box to Salesforce.

• December 14, 2015 14 Dec'15

  Creating an effective content marketing strategy

  Marketers need to put customer experience at the center of content marketing strategy. Technology and process should take second place.

• December 01, 2015 01 Dec'15

  Salesforce Analytics Cloud still slow to take hold

  Released with much fanfare in 2014, the Salesforce Analytics Cloud has encountered some company successes, but also more tepid response than expected. What's holding it back?

• November 20, 2015 20 Nov'15

  Oracle Marketing Cloud updates mobile capabilities

  Updates to the Oracle Marketing Cloud aim to give marketers and salespeople more mobile customer engagement options, as well as testing capabilities for marketing content.

• November 18, 2015 18 Nov'15

  Salesforce Marketing Cloud now sports predictive analytics tools

  Upgrades to the Marketing Cloud enable marketers to score customer behavior and adjust marketing campaigns to re-engage, or boost interest among, customers.

• November 12, 2015 12 Nov'15

  Oracle announces cloud-based CRM knowledge management

  Oracle expands knowledge management tools for its service cloud; SalesforceIQ for Small Business gets Desk.com customer service integration.

• November 11, 2015 11 Nov'15

  Old-school technology companies getting left behind in cloud disruption?

  Larry Ellison fired a shot across the bow, saying traditional companies like IBM and SAP are no longer competition for Oracle. An expert discusses cloud disruption in this podcast.

• November 06, 2015 06 Nov'15

  Salesforce IoT cloud may already be proving its value

  Microsoft is among the companies trying to use Salesforce IoT cloud and Thunder event processing to turn big data into smart data.

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  Oracle Marketing Cloud updated, with focus on data

  Oracle's latest updates to its Marketing Cloud are designed to help marketers make better use of data to segment and target customers, as well as manage campaigns more efficiently.

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  Sales productivity still at the heart of CRM

  A Salesforce partner says that central CRM platform is the key to making sales reps productive and efficient.

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  Evolution of Salesforce Wave discussed at Dreamforce 2015

  The future of Salesforce Analytics Cloud, known as Wave, is in connecting to other apps in the company's portfolio.

• October 01, 2015 01 Oct'15

  Salesforce Lightning strikes a chord with business users

  A year after its release, Salesforce Lightning is beneficial to business users -- but we talk to a Salesforce admin who discusses what still needs work.

• September 30, 2015 30 Sep'15

  IoT data governance challenges discussed at Dreamforce

  As Salesforce pushes its IoT Cloud, companies must be ready and willing to properly handle the massive influx of device data coming their way.

• September 30, 2015 30 Sep'15

  Despite Salesforce push, IoT adoption slow to take hold

  Cost and long implementation cycles are hindering IoT adoption, but companies such as Salesforce are trying to address user concerns.

• September 29, 2015 29 Sep'15

  Salesforce lays out startup strategy at Dreamforce

  Salesforce's strategy for startups includes ushering them through the technological challenges that fledgling companies face.

• September 28, 2015 28 Sep'15

  Salesforce outlines what to expect from IoT Cloud

  Salesforce's Dylan Steele discusses how data is transferred and used in the new IoT Cloud, as well as how it can adapt for the future.

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  Cloud-based financial apps no longer a brain twister for CFOs

  CFOs are warming to the idea of storing financial data in the cloud, says Jeremy Roche, CEO of FinancialForce.com.

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  Salesforce discusses impact of Wave, Lightning on Sales Cloud

  Could Sales Cloud offer better insight into the sales pipeline and support team performance management? Salesforce's Sara Varni explores how in this video.

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Salesforce Wave can yield results -- when your house is in order

  Getting analytics applications like Salesforce Wave ready to yield insight to adjust business behavior can be challenging. You need to get some foundational issues in place.

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Dreamforce 2015 conference coverage

  Salesforce continued to tout products such as Wave and Lightning at Dreamforce 2015 while also introducing users to new ones like its IoT and Health Clouds.

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Airline personalizes the customer journey with Salesforce

  Membership-based airline Surf Air wanted to better tailor its upselling and marketing to its customers, so it turned to Salesforce.

• September 18, 2015 18 Sep'15

  Microsoft-Salesforce partnership paves way for Salesforce IoT Cloud

  The Microsoft-Salesforce partnership, which integrates Lightning with Office 365, is paving the way for a much bigger deal: IoT Cloud.

• September 14, 2015 14 Sep'15

  Will Salesforce Wave Analytics' upgrade be persuasive for users?

  After a year on the market, Salesforce Wave, the BI platform, gets an upgrade. But there are continuing question marks about its value.

• September 04, 2015 04 Sep'15

  Salesforce Lightning strikes with app development for business users

  When Salesforce rolled out its development platform, Salesforce Lightning, it showed promise. But what are the real-world applications of it today?

• September 01, 2015 01 Sep'15

  Salesforce launches Service Cloud Lightning Console on eve of Dreamforce 2015

  With Dreamforce 2015 approaching, Salesforce is applying its new Lightning application to customer service, with the Service Cloud Lightning Console.

• September 01, 2015 01 Sep'15

  FinancialForce project management tool boosts Lexmark's ECM services

  When Lexmark took on FinancialForce to manage its technology services projects, its ability to provide services blossomed

• August 25, 2015 25 Aug'15

  Salesforce launches Lightning Experience

  Salesforce Lightning gets a facelift; Oracle Marketing Cloud buys Maxymiser.

• August 13, 2015 13 Aug'15

  Salesforce Community Cloud adds Buy button for e-commerce options

  In an effort to make sales even easier, Salesforce has incorporated a Buy button into its Community Cloud.

• July 24, 2015 24 Jul'15

  Oracle Sales Cloud update aims to boost sales, efficiency

  Oracle updates its Sales Cloud to increase sales; Infer announces new lead gen product; and Xactly Strategic Services aims to drive workforce management.

• July 17, 2015 17 Jul'15

  CRM in marketing success hinges on emotional connections

  In this book excerpt, consultant David Forbes advocates that companies focus on understanding what motivates consumers when marketing their products.

• July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15

  The death of the mall could spell rise of mobile retail economy

  While malls are dying, lifestyle centers could signal the next chapter for retail -- aided by mobile technologies.

• July 01, 2015 01 Jul'15

  Service for Apps brings in-app support to Salesforce Service Cloud

  Service for Apps allows Salesforce Service Cloud users to embed live agent support and a knowledge base within their applications and other CRM news.

• June 18, 2015 18 Jun'15

  Salesforce releases Wave Analytics Apps and Sales Wave Analytics

  Wave Analytics Apps, the latest offering from Salesforce, makes crunching the numbers easier through tighter integration with Salesforce 1.

• June 17, 2015 17 Jun'15

  Salesforce updates Marketing Cloud with new Journey Builder

  Salesforce has released a new version of the Marketing Cloud, with a spruced-up Journey Builder, enabling marketers to tailor interactions with customers based on real-time behavior.

• June 12, 2015 12 Jun'15

  Customer identity management still thorn in side of e-commerce

  As mobile e-commerce gathers steam, companies are struggling to make it a frictionless reality for customers and pain-free for themselves.

• June 08, 2015 08 Jun'15

  Who will buy? Data-driven sales teams aim to know

  A handful of companies are giving reps analytics tools to chase down promising leads, diagnose sales performance and forecast business opportunities.

• June 04, 2015 04 Jun'15

  Goldmine CRM software wins with desktop as a service

  Goldmine CRM Software turns to desktops as a service (DaaS) model to update existing applications to the cloud, saving itself from irrelevancy in an ever-growing field of competitors.

• May 28, 2015 28 May'15

  Salesforce ties Wave analytics tool to big data platforms

  Salesforce is getting more involved in big data analytics, with new partnerships that open up its cloud-based Wave analytics technology to Hadoop and other big data systems.

• May 22, 2015 22 May'15

  Cloud telephony, omnichannel service main trends at ICMI Expo

  At the ICMI Contact Center Expo, users were interested in how to make their centers more efficient while serving customers in whatever channel they choose.

• May 14, 2015 14 May'15

  Nordstrom mines Beacon benefits in personalized customer service

  Nordstrom is trying to bridge the gap between online and physical shopping experiences for its customers through Beacon technology.

• May 11, 2015 11 May'15

  Contact center analytics still an afterthought for many

  Analytics tools have been incorporated into various enterprise departments. So why are contact center analytics still considered novel rather than vital?

• May 08, 2015 08 May'15

  Entrepreneur takes road less traveled in technology-driven business

  Ken Kelly didn't plan on taking over his father's company. But a few classes in Microsoft Office paved the way to a multimillion-dollar small business.

• May 07, 2015 07 May'15

  When startup success is built on startup failure

  A startup that launched to great fanfare and venture capital attention started to crumble less than two years later. How did the CEO pick up the pieces?

• April 30, 2015 30 Apr'15

  Adaptive expands CPM offer; Salesforce in HCM market

  Adaptive Insights offers new templates for corporate goals, sales and finance; fast integration with Salesforce for analytics.

• April 30, 2015 30 Apr'15

  Could Oracle, Microsoft, or IBM buy Salesforce?

  Only a few companies could afford to buy Salesforce.com. Is a buyout on the horizon, though?

• April 17, 2015 17 Apr'15

  Customer self-service a must-have for Oracle Collaborate attendees

  Companies now see online self-service options as a must-have for customer experience strategy.

• April 13, 2015 13 Apr'15

  Microsoft Convergence focuses on analytics, cloud

  Microsoft Convergence attendees explored the new cloud-based Power BI analytics tool at the conference.

• April 13, 2015 13 Apr'15

  Salesforce aims to increase number of Salesforce consultants, SIs

  In this Q&A, Salesforce channel chiefs Tyler Prince and Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh reveal the vendor's strategy for growing its consultants/system integrator channel.

• April 08, 2015 08 Apr'15

  Bouquet Training hones contact center agent skills

  Bouquet Training, a module in the Bouquet CDM platform, enables managers to customize contact center agent training courses based on customer feedback.

• April 01, 2015 01 Apr'15

  New digital marketing trends for 2015 emerge with full force

  Companies are enlisting a variety of data, such as consumer location and demographics to join digital marketing with in-store, physical experiences.

• March 24, 2015 24 Mar'15

  Has Microsoft cloud strategy evolved?

  Microsoft is trying to lead customers to the cloud with hybrid offerings, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM. But will that succeed?

• March 19, 2015 19 Mar'15

  Philadelphia chief customer service officer honed skills in private sector

  To clean up Philadelphia, Rosetta Lue uses technology to be responsive to citizens -- and customer experience principles to treat residents like VIPs.

• March 11, 2015 11 Mar'15

  Pet supply company furthers multichannel strategy by moving to cloud

  Pet Supplies Plus needed to consolidate a handful of legacy systems and move to the cloud to better serve its customers in a multichannel fashion.

• March 09, 2015 09 Mar'15

  Personalized marketing and customer trust go hand in hand

  Marketers strive to provide personalized experiences to their customers. But customers will only reveal personal information in exchange for trust.

• March 03, 2015 03 Mar'15

  Security is a sticking point for mobile payment adoption

  Companies jumping on the mobile payment bandwagon need to tread carefully as consumers are still skeptical about the security of their data.

• March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15

  Cultivate art and science in your sales management strategy

  Mark Roberge, chief revenue officer at HubSpot, uses serious data analysis when hiring sales staff. But science doesn't crowd out instinct.

• March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15

  Contact center knowledge management gives agents clickable intel

  Contact center agents are supposed to help customers with issue resolution. But that's tough when agents lack good working knowledge of products.

• March 02, 2015 02 Mar'15

  Mobile customer service gives citizens a voice with government

  Philly 311, a new mobile customer service app for the city of Philadelphia, helps citizens report neighborhood incidents and engage more deeply with city government.

• February 10, 2015 10 Feb'15

  Customer data becomes the turf for companies' competitive advantage

  Corporations are using customer data to gain a competitive edge in the market, but new analytics technologies pose privacy downsides.

• February 06, 2015 06 Feb'15

  Salesforce Partner Program for Consulting Partners redesigned

  In channel news this week, Salesforce made changes to its partner program for consultants; Infinio launched its first partner program; Kaminario updated the Accelerate Partner Program; and more.

• January 20, 2015 20 Jan'15

  Sales management strategies: Leading from the trenches

  Russ Hearl built a sales team from three 'lone wolves' to a fleet of 40-plus reps. How? By taking a Henry Ford approach to sales management strategy.

• January 13, 2015 13 Jan'15

  Adobe Campaign pushes consumer personalization further

  Adobe Campaign, the marketing automation tool in the Adobe Marketing Cloud suite, enables companies to use customer data to tailor marketing efforts.

• January 12, 2015 12 Jan'15

  Customer personalization now part of closing the deal

  Companies want to use data to personalize customer interaction and boost sales. But data silos have left some adrift.

• January 08, 2015 08 Jan'15

  Social engagement opportunities about more than selling

  In this book excerpt, thought leader and author David Giannetto discusses ways companies can cost-effectively identify and gain customers.

• December 01, 2014 01 Dec'14

  Salesforce's Desk.com App Hub opens access to app ecosystem

  Users of Salesforce's Desk.com can now use more than 50 partner apps and connect third-party apps directly to the customer service platform.

• November 25, 2014 25 Nov'14

  Mobile devices could end retail's 'race to the bottom' on Black Friday

  Industry watchers say retailers need to exploit mobile devices and community forums to end the race to the bottom of deep discounting.

• November 18, 2014 18 Nov'14

  Tips for using beacon technology in retail

  Beacons can potentially enhance the in-store customer experience, but there's no one-size-fits-all blueprint that retailers and brands can follow.

• November 17, 2014 17 Nov'14

  JackThreads weaves customer experience strategy from data

  JackThreads uses data to shape customer experience strategy, from which products to sell and how to inform customers to seal the deal.

• November 13, 2014 13 Nov'14

  Marketers: It's time to own the sales funnel

  Marketing departments used to dump junk customer leads in the lap of sales, then wash their hands of the sales process. Today, that won't cut it.

• November 11, 2014 11 Nov'14

  CRM, ERP upgrades come with risks, rewards

  Saddled with ancient ERP and CRM systems, one company took the leap and implemented an all-in-one system.

• November 05, 2014 05 Nov'14

  Study pulls back curtain on gender pay gap in business

  A new study has revealed that, in jobs that include incentives as part of pay, women make less than men despite better performance.

• October 30, 2014 30 Oct'14

  Pegasystems weaves new features into customer service app

  Pegasystems mixes newly acquired technology into app; Act integrates sales automation, marketing into new version; Criteo expands marketing capabilities.

• October 21, 2014 21 Oct'14

  Tweets from Dreamforce 2014

  From the Salesforce Analytics Cloud to the Sales and Service Clouds, Dreamforce 2014 attendees want ROI from their investment in Salesforce's platform.

• October 16, 2014 16 Oct'14

  With the Analytics Cloud unveiled, are users ready to catch the Wave?

  After the rollout of Wave, the Salesforce Analytics Cloud, questions about cost and mobile ease of use give industry watchers pause.

• October 16, 2014 16 Oct'14

  How to clean dirty data before it sinks your sales strategy

  Dirty data is undercutting sales -- miring business units in the act of chasing down better information rather than cultivating customers.

• October 15, 2014 15 Oct'14

  Best-kept secrets of large-scale Salesforce implementations

  Global enterprises say that while large Salesforce implementations are challenging, there are best practices to observe along the way.

• October 15, 2014 15 Oct'14

  Will users ditch other BI tools for Wave, the Analytics Cloud?

  Will users jettison their other installed BI tools in favor of Salesforce Wave?

• October 14, 2014 14 Oct'14

  Microsoft, Salesforce entente focuses on customers, interoperability

  While historically, Salesforce's relationship with Microsoft has been lukewarm, the companies have undergone an entente this year. What's changed?

• October 14, 2014 14 Oct'14

  Digital transaction management: The 'last mile' in paperless business

  Companies often regress to paper processes because they aren't ready to digitize the 'last mile' of signature. Enter digital transaction management.

• October 14, 2014 14 Oct'14

  How an SAP and Salesforce integration improved customer experience

  An SAP and Salesforce integration created consistent price quotes for customers, which eliminated the used-car salesman mentality at one company.

• October 12, 2014 12 Oct'14

  Salesforce rolls out much-anticipated Analytics Cloud

  Striving to fill a gap in its business intelligence capabilities, Salesforce takes a major step with its Analytics Cloud.

• October 07, 2014 07 Oct'14

  Salesforce rolls out Sales Cloud1 and Service Cloud1

  Salesforce.com today launched Sales Cloud1 and Service Cloud1, the mobile sales and customer service pillars of its CRM platform.

• October 06, 2014 06 Oct'14

  Cloud-based ERP, wearables: Thoughts on Dreamforce 2014

  The CEO of FinancialForce.com discusses how Salesforce has boosted the future for cloud-based ERP and hopes for new wearables at Dreamforce 2014.

• October 06, 2014 06 Oct'14

  Study says CRM boosts CEM, but data challenges still prevail

  A recent study says Salesforce.com customers see CRM systems as boosting customer experience, but data quality and predictive analytics still loom large.

• October 03, 2014 03 Oct'14

  Is self-service sales hacking the traditional model?

  Collaboration software company Atlassian acquired 40,000 customers -- with no sales team. It uses self-service to hack into the traditional sales model.

• September 22, 2014 22 Sep'14

  Subscription models are upending business as usual

  Many companies are moving to subscription-based models to deepen customer relationships.

• September 22, 2014 22 Sep'14

  Aviso Insights expected to boost sales forecasting

  Aviso Insights gives sales teams better forecasting capabilities; Base CRM releases new sales-centric features; Pegasystems partners with Atos.

• September 05, 2014 05 Sep'14

  Lead generation software gets a boost with gamification, analytics

  New lead generation tools use gamification and analytics to create competition and boost revenue among sales teams.

• September 05, 2014 05 Sep'14

  SalesMesh 2.0 features more control over customer data

  AppMesh's latest update to its mobile app, SalesMesh, gives users more ways to refine customer data before it is put into a corporate system.

• September 04, 2014 04 Sep'14

  Customer data privacy looms large in social business

  Using social media to gather data on customers has been rife with opportunities -- and risks -- for customer data privacy.

• August 15, 2014 15 Aug'14

  Multichannel retail faces new challenges, says RSR report

  In the era of multichannel retail, companies are struggling with customer data management, inventory fulfillment and more.

• August 08, 2014 08 Aug'14

  Sales and marketing platform captures client data

  Sales and marketing platform Salesgenie looks to upgrade lead management and marketing capabilities, enabling users to customize email campaigns and contact prospects; and other CRM news.

• August 01, 2014 01 Aug'14

  Sitecore, Komfo join to create social marketing suite

  After buying a majority stake in Komfo, CEM platform provider Sitecore has launched Sitecore Social, a social media marketing suite that allows marketers to publish content on those channels; and other CRM news.

• July 07, 2014 07 Jul'14

  Marketo, Integrate join forces in software collaboration

  Marketing software company Integrate announced it will join Marketo's LaunchPoint Ecosystem; other CRM news.

• June 20, 2014 20 Jun'14

  Salesforce's Desk.com app targets SMBs

  Salesforce.com's upgrade of its Desk.com application includes a new agent console, a mobile app and new reporting capabilities.

• June 11, 2014 11 Jun'14

  Google Drive, Salesforce come together, other news

  A new app integrates Google Drive with Salesforce, and other CRM news.