• by Ray Schultz , September 14, 2022

Salesforce has unveiled features that it says can help brands automate their processes and deliver personalized experiences at scale.  

In addition, the combined Customer 360 improvements allow companies to refine their processes and improve operational efficiencies, the company says.

The announcement comes following research showing that while 91% of firms feel they need automation technology, only 23% have implemented it across business functions. 

The new features include Account Engagement API Enhancements that will allow B2B marketing and sales teams to engage buyers across channels. For instance, they can reach freemium software users with a personalized enterprise software upgrade journey across email, video and mobile. 

In addition, Salesforce is providing Sales Cloud innovations to help drive sales rep effectiveness. For instance, sales teams can use Einstein Bot for Sales to help reps avoid minutiae and focus on closing deals.

Brands can also raise rep productivity with Enablement, a tool that provides data-driven coaching to improve skills. 

In addition, Salesforce Service Cloud’s Contact Center tool allows B2B teams to provide personalized service across any channel based on real-time data, the company adds.

Also being offered is Commerce Cloud's new Composable Storefront. This allows retailers to take a “headless” approach to commerce, offloading the management of site hosting, security, and scalability.

Another Salesforce tool, Service Catalog, enables companies to automate frequent service requests — i.e., refunds or subscription plan changes—while providing a storefront experience. 

Flow Automation Pack will help to automate the life cycles of tasks such as managing incident tickets and customer onboarding.

Salesforce claims that its Customer 360 suite provides a single source of information on customers via a low-code platform that connects data from sales, service, marketing and commerce.

“In times of uncertainty, it’s critical for companies to focus on greater intelligence and efficiency while staying flexible and resilient to external pressures and changes in customer expectations,” says David Schmaier, president and chief product officer, Salesforce. 

Salesforce recently surveyed 8,000 customer service professionals in 36 countries and find that speed is now all-important in providing a good experience.  

Of those polled, 59% say speed and quality are now equally important. And there has been a 114% increase in agents who say speed is more important than quality.  

Of the companies polled, 58% use automation, and 98% of those that do report time-saving benefits. 

On the downside, firms report a 19% turnover rate in service organizations over the past year. Perhaps for that reason , 85% of agents now see a clear path for career growth, up from 67% in 2020.