News
News
- December 20, 2018
20 Dec'18
Salesforce CX, AI, integration tools are 2019 trends to watch
As the world pivots from CRM to customer experience management, Salesforce makes its own moves with research showing millennials value CX over the actual goods or services received.
- December 17, 2018
17 Dec'18
Salesforce acquisitions a big part of CRM vendor's busy 2018
Again, 2018 showed how important acquisitions are to Salesforce's growth and expansion into markets such as AI, e-commerce, integration and collaboration.
- November 29, 2018
29 Nov'18
Managers learn AI basics with Salesforce Einstein Discovery
With many successes and failures, companies create their own AI apps with the use of Einstein Discovery. Users discuss their experiences along the way.
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- November 19, 2018
19 Nov'18
Zendesk CRM moves beyond customer service into CX
Zendesk moves on from focusing solely on customer service by adding analytics, sales force automation and CRM capabilities, while also providing third-party integrations on AWS.
- November 16, 2018
16 Nov'18
Zoho CRM Plus gets AI boost, aims to connect departments
Zoho's new CRM release may help bring departments together, but it's unclear if the flood of AI tools and more data sharing will differentiate the vendor in the robust CRM market.
- November 13, 2018
13 Nov'18
SAP CX move with Qualtrics challenges Salesforce, Oracle
By acquiring Qualtrics, SAP is expanding beyond ERP and entering the CX space, challenging market leaders Salesforce, Oracle and Adobe. It also is expanding its HR tech suite.
- November 09, 2018
09 Nov'18
Cloud e-commerce IT battle pits content management vs. CRM
ERP-based and stand-alone e-commerce systems dominate the market. As more companies go to the cloud, CRM and CMS vie to be the next foundation of e-commerce.
- October 25, 2018
25 Oct'18
Adobe Magento Commerce Cloud brings e-commerce muscle
After acquiring Magento for $1.7 billion earlier this year, Adobe has integrated its commerce product into Adobe Experience Cloud for both enterprises and SMBs.
- October 23, 2018
23 Oct'18
Oracle CX Unity unveiled at OpenWorld
In an attempt to compete with Salesforce, Oracle unveils Subscription Management, a software tool to help users manage the growing number of consumer-facing subscription products.
- October 22, 2018
22 Oct'18
FinancialForce adds Einstein Analytics to back office
FinancialForce added an analytics layer to its Professional Services Automation product to help its users find better insights in their back-office applications.
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- October 17, 2018
17 Oct'18
Pipeline podcast ranges over Dreamforce news
Einstein Voice, Customer 360, Salesforce partners and all things Dreamforce. The Pipeline podcast takes on these developments and takes an inside look at Salesforce Tower, too.
- October 10, 2018
10 Oct'18
Google Analytics for Salesforce helps users scour web data
Salesforce will sell Google Marketing Platform products on its own site in North America, strengthening the partnership between the two software giants.
- September 26, 2018
26 Sep'18
Salesforce Einstein Voice, Customer 360 data sharing on deck
Salesforce users to benefit from new and extended partnerships with Apple, AWS and IBM, the upcoming Customer 360 integration tool and Einstein Voice.
- September 26, 2018
26 Sep'18
Salesforce Health Cloud roadmap boasts payer tools, CX, AI
Salesforce users in healthcare get tools that bring membership and benefits data and insurance utilization and claims data analysis tools into Health Cloud.
- September 26, 2018
26 Sep'18
Clicks-and-bricks one-up online companies with behavioral data
Physical stores and banks are closing, losing ground to more agile online competitors. Technology and data can help them fight back.
- September 25, 2018
25 Sep'18
Salesforce AI users reveal pros and cons
Salesforce Einstein users shared their experiences with the AI tools, including the challenges of getting the C-suite to buy in.
- September 24, 2018
24 Sep'18
Open data, customer experience AI the focus for retail automation
AI is infusing the customer experience not only online, but in stores. At Ignite, SAP, Adobe and Microsoft joined forces for the common goal of sharing data to push AI even further.
- September 20, 2018
20 Sep'18
New HubSpot products strategy, CMS updates from Inbound
At Inbound 2018, HubSpot unveiled a new enterprise product line. It also introduced the flywheel, a circular metaphor for the customer relationship with sales, marketing and service.
- September 19, 2018
19 Sep'18
Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI going hard after Salesforce
Microsoft hammers Salesforce by launching low-code, AI-based virtual agents for customer service. Also: New tools for sales and marketing add automated insights to Dynamics 365.
- September 18, 2018
18 Sep'18
Dreamforce brings Salesforce products upgrades
More than 150,000 attendees are expected at Dreamforce in San Francisco, where Salesforce will show how recent acquisitions fit into its product platform.
- September 14, 2018
14 Sep'18
Adobe acquisition of Marketo could shake up industry
Adobe looking to acquire Marketo could also be a ploy to incite a bidding war for Marketo from its holding company, Vista Equity, according to an analyst.
- September 07, 2018
07 Sep'18
HubSpot products expand reach into enterprise
HubSpot's VP of products details the newest HubSpot enterprise-level offerings, as well as HubSpot's new video tool. Also: A glimpse of what's on the future roadmap.
- September 06, 2018
06 Sep'18
HubSpot enterprise edition unveiled
In addition to releasing enterprise-level systems, HubSpot unveiled a CMS tool for companies to build and customize websites, and a video tool to help create content.
- August 29, 2018
29 Aug'18
Add web content personalization to your marketing strategy
Josh Mueller, global head of marketing at Dun & Bradstreet, talks about how quality data drives innovative marketing solutions such as web content personalization and AI chatbots.
- August 21, 2018
21 Aug'18
HubSpot Conversations adds chatbots, collaborative inbox
HubSpot sales, marketing and service hubs get new features with Conversations, previewed last year and going live this month.
- August 15, 2018
15 Aug'18
LinkedIn Sales Navigator refresh adds deals pipeline
LinkedIn overhauls Sales Navigator with deals management, Adobe Sign and Office 365 integrations, new search tools and mobile deal pages and direct connection to product team.
- August 13, 2018
13 Aug'18
Revenue ops main theme at Ramp by InsightSquared conference
Beyond recapping the Ramp by InsightSquared conference and some of the keynote speakers, the Pipeline podcast looks back at other favorite guest speakers at conferences.
- August 10, 2018
10 Aug'18
Microsoft Dynamics 365 updates add AI features to CRM
Microsoft has introduced new updates to its Dynamics 365 CRM platform, including AI-driven business intelligence tools for sales, marketing and service.
- August 07, 2018
07 Aug'18
InsightSquared unveils marketing analytics tools
At Ramp 2018, marketing technology vendor InsightSquared unveiled new software modules for gauging the effectiveness of marketing and sales efforts.
- August 03, 2018
03 Aug'18
Google Contact Center AI makes early inroads in industry
Prospective users are already interested in Google's recently unveiled Contact Center AI system, and Google partners are avidly trying to sell it. But some in industry urge caution
- July 26, 2018
26 Jul'18
OpenText-Salesforce integration gaining momentum
An Australian life insurance company, given an opportunity to start anew with IT, chooses Salesforce as interface to deep OpenText content repository.
- July 20, 2018
20 Jul'18
Salesforce Datorama acquisition to bolster Marketing Cloud
Salesforce continues piecing together its Marketing Cloud -- this time with the $800 million acquisition of Datorama, an AI marketing software company.
- July 18, 2018
18 Jul'18
Salesforce's Marc Benioff calls for a national privacy law
After Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's call for a national data privacy law, Salesforce's chief privacy officer responds to questions about the Salesforce privacy stance.
- June 27, 2018
27 Jun'18
AppExchange in Salesforce a slam-dunk for Detroit Pistons' workflow
The Detroit Pistons needed help getting the most out of Salesforce, so they turned to AppExchange -- although the abundance of choices is sometimes a challenge.
- June 26, 2018
26 Jun'18
SAP C/4HANA, Pega Infinity ramp up the CRM market
The Pipeline podcast duo discusses the CRM market after the unveiling of Pega Infinity and SAP C/4HANA, as well as technology news from Uber about detecting drunk passengers.
- June 21, 2018
21 Jun'18
Banking blockchain part of Pega Infinity platform reboot
This Pipeline podcast features a not-so-serious Q&A with Pegasystems CMO Tom Libretto covering Journey albums, blockchain hype and what happens at a user conference.
- June 20, 2018
20 Jun'18
Adobe-Microsoft partnership adds key integrations
Adobe brings its Document Cloud to Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics 365, making it easier for licensees of both to quickly convert files into PDFs and into Acrobat.
- June 19, 2018
19 Jun'18
Data migration software coming for SAP CRM
At Sapphire Now, SAP unveiled C/4HANA, a suite of applications that brings together ERP and CRM. To make it easier to switch, migration tools can be added to the suite.
- June 13, 2018
13 Jun'18
Salesforce Interaction Studio unveiled at Connections 2018
At Salesforce Connections, Salesforce builds off its Google partnership announced at Dreamforce by releasing new integrations between Marketing Cloud and Google Analytics 360.
- June 07, 2018
07 Jun'18
SAP e-commerce extends to Azure, other new features added
Artificial Christmas tree manufacturer Balsam Brands uses Hybris to expand internationally, allowing for dynamic pricing and product catalogs, depending on the country.
- June 04, 2018
04 Jun'18
Pega Infinity upgrades include marketing AI tools, blockchain support
Pega Infinity adds new digital transformation tools for low-code app development, bot libraries and AI that can optimize apps and assist with marketing campaigns.
- June 01, 2018
01 Jun'18
Call center artificial intelligence trends drive chat, decision-making
ICMI's Brad Cleveland has seen call centers integrate email, chat, IVR -- automated FAQ answering -- and social media. None reduced call volume. Chatbot tech may bring similar results.
- May 29, 2018
29 May'18
Call center chatbots draw skepticism from leaders
Call centers must live up to demanding quality and performance standards. Until artificial intelligence chatbots can meet those expectations, they don't stand a chance.
- May 23, 2018
23 May'18
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.
- May 18, 2018
18 May'18
Customer behavior analytics brings marketing, analytics together
If you want better, more timely access to customers, consider customer behavior analytics, which is driven by the combination of marketing and data analytics.
- May 15, 2018
15 May'18
HubSpot customer service tool Service Hub aims to transform SMBs
HubSpot's Service Hub, the new customer service product, aims at helping small and medium businesses complete the view of the customer, combined with the company's sales and marketing products.
- May 14, 2018
14 May'18
Recapping Oracle Modern CX: CX execs share challenges
What's on the minds of customer experience execs right now? This Pipeline podcast breaks down grumblings and rumblings from Oracle's Modern CX show.
- May 10, 2018
10 May'18
Clari AI for sales helps to enhance Salesforce
One company found that when using a variety of different vendors, a third-party AI product was more beneficial than a core vendor's AI offering.
- April 23, 2018
23 Apr'18
What Salesforce's CloudCraze acquisition means for customers
CloudCraze president calls the acquisition by Salesforce 'a huge win' for its customers and for Commerce Cloud customers, with the capability of selling B2C and B2B on one platform.
- April 19, 2018
19 Apr'18
Salesforce Field Service Lightning gets appointment, scheduling upgrades
While the new Field Service Lightning features will help Salesforce users connect customers to their service needs, it lacks any of that Einstein touch of other Salesforce products.
- April 13, 2018
13 Apr'18
Measure your digital marketing ROI, keep your job
Oracle customers weigh in on executive's hypothesis that analytics can now prove ROI of the martech stack -- or soon will -- and make marketing a revenue center just like sales.
- April 12, 2018
12 Apr'18
Salesforce World Tour Boston talks Integration Cloud, Social Studio
Salesforce World Tour sessions included dives into Philanthropy Cloud, integrated surveys and Salesforce's new Integration Cloud.
- April 10, 2018
10 Apr'18
Oracle CX Cloud adds AI tools for B2C, B2B customers
Oracle announces infusion of its Adaptive Intelligent apps into several CX Cloud products and promises more to come, with sales, marketing and service all getting upgrades.
- April 09, 2018
09 Apr'18
Importance of customer experience highlighted at Adobe Summit
The Pipeline podcast looks back at the Adobe Summit and the conference's main themes. Listen in as our team discusses how the NFL uses Adobe to better personalize customer campaigns.
- April 06, 2018
06 Apr'18
Using Salesforce Social Studio, Harvard saw power of social media
By looking at its social media data with Salesforce, Harvard Graduate School of Education saw more than 65% of article traffic generated through social media.
- April 06, 2018
06 Apr'18
Adobe DMP a touchdown for NFL's data-driven marketing strategy
Heading into the 2017 season, the NFL made a concentrated effort to better understand its data and its audience. It turned to data governance and Adobe Audience Manager.
- March 30, 2018
30 Mar'18
Customer personalization takes center stage for 24 Hour Fitness
When it came time to engage more effectively with customers, 24 Hour Fitness looked to industry leaders in customer personalization for inspiration.
- March 28, 2018
28 Mar'18
Adobe Experience Cloud to aid company digital transformation
Products are no longer the focus, according to Adobe. The customer experience is where it's at -- and Coca-Cola agrees, as the company executes its digital transformation process.
- March 23, 2018
23 Mar'18
Salesforce acquisitions reach new heights with MuleSoft purchase
The intrepid Pipeline podcasters break down the MuleSoft acquisition, which enables hybrid cloud/on-premises CRM. Also: Salesforce Essentials replaces Desk.com and SalesforceIQ.
- March 22, 2018
22 Mar'18
Salesforce-MuleSoft deal focuses on data integration
Beyond producing a hybrid cloud product with its new Integration Cloud, Salesforce now has capabilities for customers to build microservices with MuleSoft's technology.
- March 16, 2018
16 Mar'18
Salesforce small business tools get major refresh
Emphasizing the 'S' in 'SMB,' Salesforce goes after companies with 20 employees or less with Salesforce Essentials -- with hooks into Trailhead's free training.
- March 15, 2018
15 Mar'18
Salesforce e-commerce gets B2B boost with CloudCraze purchase
To improve its e-commerce offerings, the CRM company bought B2B commerce product CloudCraze for an undisclosed amount. The purchase will add B2B functionality.
- March 07, 2018
07 Mar'18
How a millennial workforce benefits sales teams, CRM
Millennials bring more than just their iPhones to the conference table. Here's why you need to stop dumping on your millennial sales force and embrace their tech-savvy ways.
- March 06, 2018
06 Mar'18
Why improving social media customer service is important
By having a social media strategy in place, companies can quickly respond to customers' concerns through social media.
- March 02, 2018
02 Mar'18
When selling on social media, marketers weigh chatbots vs. humans
Marketers interested in social selling need to weigh whether to use chatbots or deploy actual customer service agents. The decision depends on a number of variables.
- February 28, 2018
28 Feb'18
IT Priorities survey: CRM trends indicate move to the cloud
Hybrid cloud and on-premises IT should remain the norm for years. But more respondents to TechTarget's late 2017 survey indicate more cloud CRM and social media monitoring.
- February 28, 2018
28 Feb'18
Salesforce certification salary data: Admin, dev in demand
The 2018 Mason Frank International Salesforce Salary Survey's bumper sticker: The talent's holding the cards as employers increase bids for their services.
- February 05, 2018
05 Feb'18
Salesforce buys Attic Labs, adding to Quip capabilities
Quip receives back-end capabilities with open source database after Salesforce purchase of Attic Labs.
- January 23, 2018
23 Jan'18
Salesforce-Oracle breakup on the horizon? Some say it's possible
Whether or not Salesforce is building out its own infrastructure is the first big CRM story in 2018, but it won't be the only one.
- January 23, 2018
23 Jan'18
Salesforce Trailhead gets social boost for admins, developers
Salesforce might not own LinkedIn, but it's creating a similar online social network of certified professionals via Trailhead, complete with vanity URLs and more detailed profiles.
- January 18, 2018
18 Jan'18
Salesforce databases remain Oracle, for now
Oracle and Salesforce executives deny reports of Salesforce moving on from Oracle infrastructure.
- December 07, 2017
07 Dec'17
Salesforce small-business CRM customers can tap into AI, too
Salesforce small-business faces heavy competition from more nimble, agile, less expensive boutique CRM vendors. Yet, the largest CRM platform woos SMBs like it does bigger fish with features for AI.
- December 06, 2017
06 Dec'17
Einstein AI drills deeper into Salesforce clouds
Einstein AI tools show great promise and are expanding deeper into the Salesforce clouds. Many smaller companies still need some convincing, but have high hopes for the future.
- November 29, 2017
29 Nov'17
Eight must-have call center systems for customer service
It can be challenging to pick a call center technology, implement it and optimize it for the best results. Here are the top eight call center tools to deliver the best customer experience.
- November 10, 2017
10 Nov'17
Pipeline podcast: Salesforce SMB customers to benefit from Google deal
Salesforce executives at Dreamforce discuss the impact of the new partnership with Google on Salesforce SMB customers, who'll be able to tap into Google Analytics and more.
- November 07, 2017
07 Nov'17
Experts: Time is nigh for a Salesforce Lightning migration
'Everything forward will be Lightning,' was advice from one analyst at Dreamforce 2017. CommScope's experience proves a move to Salesforce Lightning may be easier than you think.
- November 06, 2017
06 Nov'17
At Dreamforce, Salesforce applications take center stage
Quip is expected to become the new Salesforce collaboration standard in Dreamforce unveiling; AppExchange and Einstein announcements reveal push into new markets.
- October 19, 2017
19 Oct'17
Experts: Website redesign must enhance digital customer experience
Gone are the days of a quick website launch. According to speakers at the Acquia Engage conference, redesigning a website is now a companywide digital customer experience project.
- October 06, 2017
06 Oct'17
AI among new Dynamics 365 features, Microsoft Teams top news from Ignite
Discussing the top news stories coming out of the newly combined Microsoft Ignite and Envision conferences on the latest Pipeline podcast episode.
- October 02, 2017
02 Oct'17
Dynamics 365 CRM can help drive the digital transformation process
At Ignite, Microsoft predicts the future -- and it's one that centers on Dynamics 365, artificial intelligence and digital transformation.
- September 27, 2017
27 Sep'17
New Dynamics 365 features take center stage during Ignite keynote
Dynamics 365 and the future direction of Microsoft products were given center stage during the Ignite keynote delivered by Satya Nadella.
- September 26, 2017
26 Sep'17
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM takes center stage at Ignite 2017
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicks off Microsoft Ignite with talk of future products, use cases for AI and continued bundling of Microsoft products.
- September 13, 2017
13 Sep'17
How enterprises can take advantage of social media mapping
If your company wants to tap into the emotion and sentiment customers display on social media, social media mapping may be the answer. Learn about one company's approach.
- September 06, 2017
06 Sep'17
On tap for Microsoft Ignite conference: Adobe, Dynamics 365, LinkedIn
New Adobe integrations and further integrations of existing products are possible announcements from Microsoft Ignite 2017.
- August 10, 2017
10 Aug'17
Humanitarian company uses Dynamics 365 for Talent for quicker deployment
Chemonics upgraded its technological process from telex-era capabilities to cloud-based software for its worldwide projects.
- June 08, 2017
08 Jun'17
AI, IoT and Trailhead were main themes at Salesforce World Tour Boston
In the second taping of The Pipeline podcast, we discuss the customer stories mentioned at the Boston event, the tight security and Salesforce's push of Trailhead.
- June 07, 2017
07 Jun'17
Customer data mining rules changing in Trump's corporations-first era
As Trump negates regulations against mining of customer data, consumers are mixed when it comes to trusting AI to act on those insights, Pegasystems research shows.
- June 06, 2017
06 Jun'17
The major themes from SiriusDecisions Summit 2017
Winning martech strategies highlighted the recent three-day conference, as well as SiriusDecisions keynotes and product showcases.
- May 10, 2017
10 May'17
Salesforce AppExchange releases vendor-facing upgrades
The improvements to the Salesforce AppExchange benefit companies and ISVs building on AppExchange, with lower pricing and more tools.
- March 23, 2017
23 Mar'17
AI advances can slow a Salesforce cloud migration
Showing incremental improvement and investing over time are keys to successful cloud implementations, especially in government.
- March 09, 2017
09 Mar'17
Six tips for simple, effective SMB cloud CRM implementations
Thrush Aircraft flew through a cloud-based CRM implementation by engaging employees all along the way. Here are tips based on its success.
- January 26, 2017
26 Jan'17
Software creation is not for every startup
While it may be beneficial in the long run, creating AI software requires patience, investment and the right cast of employees. For one company, the investment paid off.
- January 18, 2017
18 Jan'17
Quip acquisition of Unity&Variety beefs up subsidiary
Salesforce hopes to add visual and creative elements to its document tool, while Commerce Cloud's integration with Facebook Ads hopes to make buying easy.
- January 03, 2017
03 Jan'17
Three key 2017 technology trends to know
Predictive analytics, voice-activated devices and artificial intelligence will take shape as significant technology trends in 2017. Some still await further maturity.
- December 16, 2016
16 Dec'16
Salesforce-AWS partnership expected to benefit customers
By switching to Amazon Web Services, existing Salesforce customers could gain insight from AWS apps that will easily integrate with Salesforce.
- December 06, 2016
06 Dec'16
Why has the Microsoft-Salesforce partnership soured?
While the Microsoft-Salesforce partnership was touted with great fanfare just two years ago, the relationship has since soured.
- November 29, 2016
29 Nov'16
Insightly adds CRM security to its product
With smaller security budgets and IT teams than enterprise businesses, small and medium-sized companies are more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Insightly's new security features hope to combat that.
- November 14, 2016
14 Nov'16
Inside the Salesforce strategy: Acquisitions, AI and Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Einstein and Commerce Cloud are at the forefront of this year's Salesforce strategy, but the company works to gain momentum around IoT Cloud.
- November 02, 2016
02 Nov'16
Election Protection helps voters with call center technology
Election Protection handles upward of 100,000 calls per day as Election Day nears, routing calls from high-call-volume states using Genesys.
- October 26, 2016
26 Oct'16
Abacus aims to find missing data in marketing expenses
By combing CRM data, Abacus looks to provide finance teams with a clearer picture on costs accrued during marketing campaigns and events.