Opinion

Opinion

• Our rebrand: Customer experience strategy, platforms, best practices

  Customer experience strategy blurs lines between sales and marketing automation, customer service and e-commerce as they come together on next-generation customer experience platforms.  Continue Reading

• 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.  Continue Reading

• Einstein Bot, Einstein Voice create new Salesforce channels

  Born to compete with IBM's Watson, the Einstein cloud AI is in its third year of life and is exhibiting all the traits of a typical 3-year-old.  Continue Reading

• Separating customer service chatbot hype from reality

  Vendors claim consumers want self-service chatbots. Turns out they'd rather scrub toilets or go to the dentist than converse with customer service in general, bots included.  Continue Reading

• AI for customer service at the peril of personal relations

  AI tools in CRM help companies deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences but prevent customers from actually having personal interactions with service agents.  Continue Reading

• Tell-all book puts HubSpot inbound marketing to the test

  Every startup's worst nightmare happened to HubSpot when 'Disrupted' hit shelves last year. The company put its own marketing tactics to the test and, by all accounts, it worked.  Continue Reading

• Tech vendors cite TOS violations to push hate groups off their clouds

  'Alt-right' groups put to the test marketing and CRM cloud vendors that promote employee diversity and forbid users from hosting hateful or offensive content on their platforms.  Continue Reading

• Recipe for lost customers: Flight cancellations and AI algorithms

  As companies enjoy the benefits that automation and AI algorithms bring to next-generation CRM, leaders must closely examine the legal and customer retention ramifications.  Continue Reading

• Chatbot technology raises ethical questions

  New AI platforms have given life to chatbots that decipher customer intents so well, chances are you've carried on an email conversation with one and were never the wiser.  Continue Reading

• Data insight combats poor customer experience

  The key to positive customer experience is using data insight to better understand customer behavior.  Continue Reading

• Digital marketing software market features dizzying array of M&A

  With a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the digital marketing space of late, the question is whether the marketing acquisitions will truly augment existing platforms.  Continue Reading

• The trouble with predictive analytics tools

  Predictive analytics tools have been hailed as the latest cure-all for business woes. But they don't make cappuccinos, and they don't tell you how to make business decisions.  Continue Reading

• How to meet business needs with Salesforce AppExchange

  For a CRM platform to serve business needs, it should be flexible. How does Microsoft stack up against Salesforce when it comes to building on top of the platform? One expert weighs in, here.  Continue Reading

• Is the CIO a shoo-in for the chief digital officer role?

  The rise of the digital business has brought about an addition to the c-suite: the chief digital officer job. There are reasons for and against moving the CIO into the role.  Continue Reading

• Sales intelligence tools prevent tone-deaf sales efforts

  Sales intelligence tools are helping sales teams home in on truly valuable prospects, rather than waste time on duds. But they require some culture change.  Continue Reading

• IT security measures obstruct operational efficiency

  While companies go to great lengths to enlist IT security measures, the reality is they block business productivity.  Continue Reading

• LBS technology still in trial phase for most companies

  Companies are trying out location-based services as a way to enhance customer experience. But the technology has a long way to go to realize its full promise.  Continue Reading

• Communication essential to sales and marketing alignment

  A lack of communication between sales and marketing teams can derail internal processes. Here's how to ensure collaboration between the two factions.  Continue Reading

• Using data analytics effectively demands that 'human element'

  For companies to use data analytics effectively, they need to enlist human curiosity to ask the right questions of the data.  Continue Reading

• The secret to selling more? Sales intelligence

  Sales teams have a basic but ever-challenging task: Sell stuff and make money for the company. But they can't do that without proper insight into the business.  Continue Reading

• IT outsourcing doesn't provide clear cost savings

  While companies often rely on IT outsourcing to reduce costs, there are better reasons to farm out IT management.  Continue Reading

• IT change management needs to spell out ROI for users

  CRM projects will fail from the outset if your change management strategy doesn't center on what's in it for users.  Continue Reading

• IT hiring strategy: Groom talent within or hire from outside?

  If you're wondering, 'Should I groom IT talent from within or hire from the outside?' both paths offer risks and rewards.  Continue Reading

• With M&A activity, IT must get involved

  When M&A activity strikes, IT is invariably affected. Mergers and acquisitions require IT departments to jump into the fray -- and test their mettle.  Continue Reading

• Why buy Microsoft?

  Lots of criticism is leveled against the vendor. It doesn’t lead; its software is costly. But there are good reasons to do things the Windows way.  Continue Reading

• Don’t take managing customer data lightly

  Businesses today collect and store lots of contact data. But maintaining that information can mean the difference of knowing customers -- and no customers at all.  Continue Reading

• On becoming a CIO -- by a CIO

  Becoming a CIO requires technologists to take on high-profile projects and speak in business terms. A CIO outlines five rules for climbing the IT ladder.  Continue Reading

• Why your software selection process needs an adjustment

  Companies' software selection processes often focus too much on features and functions and not enough on future enhancement and integration.  Continue Reading

• Making decisions about contact center architecture

  Companies need to figure out how to capitalize on multiple communication channels in order to create seamless customer interactions.  Continue Reading

• Oracle buys Salesforce.com: Headline of the near future?

  Several factors have some people thinking that Oracle might acquire Salesforce.com, perhaps within the next year. Here's why it makes sense.  Continue Reading

• When it comes to online engagement, the pressure's on

  Business as usual won't cut it in a world where the customer has so many ways to reach out to, well, anyone. Business and IT leaders should heed the customer's call.  Continue Reading

• Get to know the audience when forming social CRM strategy

  Consultant and former DJ Dayna Steele explains key steps to take to ensure social CRM success.  Continue Reading

• Never stop striving for great mobile apps

  Mobile apps are not spinoffs of their website predecessors—they need to be designed with mobile devices in mind. The formula is the right combination of form and function.  Continue Reading

• Sage CRM software is the only game as company sells two businesses

  By selling ACT and SalesLogix, Sage Software stops pretending what it wasn't and can now focus on CRM, according to analyst Denis Pombriant.  Continue Reading

• New analytics approach may make better use of social 'big data'

  The use of connections in topological data analysis may help the crunching of social media data, according to consultant Denis Pombraint.  Continue Reading

• Companies keep avoiding social media contact center integration

  A majority of companies will continue to avoid fully integrating social media channels with their contact centers, consultant Donna Fluss predicts.  Continue Reading

• Social media set the stage for improving customer experience

  The rise of social media thrust the topic of improving customer experience management back into the limelight, consultant Denis Pombriant said.  Continue Reading

• SAP introduces HANA-driven CRM deployment

  SAP has tied its HANA in-memory database to its CRM software. Analyst Denis Pombriant hoped the offering would focus more on connections and less on speed.  Continue Reading

• Workforce management applications have changed for the better

  Donna Fluss explains how a big shift in WFM applications can help solve new contact center challenges.  Continue Reading

• Offshore call center outsourcing: Is it saving money or costing you?

  Although it may seem like a cost saver, several factors can instead turn the initiative into something that costs more than the existing in-house contact center.  Continue Reading

• Salesforce opens new channels with Chatter

  Denis Pombriant sees Salesforce.com's new screen sharing and instant messaging features as long-overdue changes to front office collaboration.  Continue Reading

• Marketo and CrowdFactory combine for a social marketing suite

  Columnist Denis Pombriant likes the recent deal between Marketo and CrowdFactory and sees a trend toward more tactical social marketing.  Continue Reading

• Marketing group tidies up data migration mess in Salesforce launch

  AMA Boston, a nonprofit marketer’s organization, deployed Salesforce.com and shares its tips on data migration, data hygiene and a sound implementation.  Continue Reading

• Mobile, social, analytics offer promise but demand new metrics

  Columnist Denis Pombriant is excited about the potential of social media, mobile technology and analytics used together, but he’s hoping for some new ways to measure them.  Continue Reading