Every week, we recount some of the best buzz around CRM and data integration. We’ll review our favorite articles and share the most pressing findings or key takeaways from each.
Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Strategy and Roadmap Evident at Convergence 2013
By: Louis Columbus (@LouisColumbus)
This Convergence piece covers two important aspects of Microsoft’s strategy moving forward – the shift towards humanizing their marketing efforts, and their focus on cloud products and services. Microsoft has started placing the customer story at the forefront of their messaging, and this story takes place within their cloud. However, Louis also brings up Microsoft’s failure to acknowledge data integration challenges when migrating to the cloud – a problem that he mentions can be minimized by using data integration providers like Scribe.
The New Salesforce.com CRM Platform is Chatter and It’s Made for Mobile
By: Alex Williams (@alexwilliams)
Amidst the flurry of news coming out of Microsoft Convergence, Salesforce released a major update for Chatter that brought the next-generation CRM platform firmly into the mobile world. The update allows customers to use their mobile device to access records, edit them and take action on the go. More impressive is the ability for Chatter Publisher to overlay the activity stream. Publisher places business actions in the feed, allowing salespeople to easily see the action – this is the type of consumerization in CRM that truly grants business users easy access to the right information for improved productivity and decision-making.
Convergence Attendees Rethink CRM Initiatives for the Modern Era
By: Albert McKeon (@AlbertMcKeon)
Albert touches on the challenges faced by companies stuck using older, ineffective CRM systems, and why these companies would benefit greatly from implementing modern CRM solutions. The key point is that CRM has become crucial for all customer-facing companies due to changing customer expectations in the relationship-era. Luckily, along with increasingly demanding customers, new CRM systems are more user-friendly than ever – the challenge often lies primarily in convincing older team members to upgrade from familiar (but ineffective and complicated) on-premise solutions.
How Social CRM Customizes Marketing, Brings New Revenue
By: Stephanie Overby (@stephanieoverby)
With social’s continued rapid growth, social CRM provides companies with a treasure trove of customer information to create truly relevant and effective marketing and sales campaigns. This article covers EMI Music and their story of using CRM, and ultimately Social CRM to create segmented lists, personalize their marketing and turn declining revenues around. Imagine a fan who ‘Likes’ Coldplay on Facebook receiving an unexpected video of Chris Martin singing them “Happy Birthday” on the correct day by name – that potentially viral loyalty-building occurrence is a real possibility thanks to social CRM.
Microsoft Readies Next Two CRM Updates; Acquires Analytics Vendor Netbreeze
By: Mary Jo Foley (@maryjofoley)
Microsoft announced plans to add social-monitoring capabilities to its Dynamics CRM platform through its purchase of Netbreeze. The company will also improve its marketing-automation technology and add local CRM applications for Windows 8 and iPads in two separate updates this year, codenamed “Gemini” and “Orion” respectively. These changes underscore Microsoft’s growing focus on social and the consumerization of its offerings, with greater access to customer information and a more streamlined interface that follows Windows 8’s Metro UI.
From Disney to Dishwashers: Digital CRM to Change Customer Experience
By: Ashley Smith
Ashley provides a broad picture of the massive improvement in customer relations through moving to CRM systems, where customer needs are taken care of before the individual expresses that need. To improve customer experience, companies must gather data from them, meaning both brand and customer win with CRM – a better experience for the customer, and more marketing data for the company.
We hope you had a great week! We’ll see you again soon with a roundup of all the movers and shakers in CRM and data integration news.
