Digitized energy and utility companies outshine those that have yet to embrace technology to integrate their legacy systems. Older technology systems lack flexibility and can’t deliver the experiences customers expect. They want personalized interactions and efficient customer service like they get from Uber and Amazon. Customers need the ability to report outages and issues to a service agent and get support or have a field technician fix the problem remotely. In-person service calls should be scheduled only when the problem calls for it.

Especially in times of crisis, customer experience is still a key differentiator. Eighty percent of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. Customers have said they want support on every channel, immediate responses, and the ability to see all activities, accounts, and personalized recommendations.

As more severe weather occurs as a result of climate change and other unforeseen challenges test our population, rapid digitalization is a must. With the right technology and partners, energy and utility companies can:

• Provide superior customer experiences at every touchpoint
• Streamline operations to deliver on changing customer needs
• Harness customer data to improve service interactions

Digitalization (upgrading technology) may seem daunting, but the following steps can start you down the right path.

1. Foster a collaborative mindset

Culture may be the biggest obstacle you face when upgrading technology through digitalization. Changing internal stakeholders’ mindsets is an essential first step. Everyone, from new hires to the C-suite must understand and internalize the company’s new focus on providing the best customer experience possible. Only then will they embrace the digital tools needed to achieve their own customer-centric goals.

Leaders must engage with those on the ground to help everyone see themselves in service of every customer. Barriers and silos can be a challenge but you can align all departments, from sales to field service, by having them put the customer at the center of every business decision.

“To aid the global energy transition to zero carbon and help our B2B and B2C customers better manage energy efficiency and achieve more value, ENGIE invested in digital technologies.”

Address every customer need and expectation, from sharing seasonal rate changes to energy efficiency promotions to outage maps and safety communications. This works whether you sell and deliver energy or act as the delivery system on behalf of a third-party. Think of customers as markets of one and use their feedback to improve your operations.

For example, in 2016, French energy company ENGIE made a commitment to a zero carbon future. They created a new strategic initiative by offering zero carbon transition as a service, and embraced the Salesforce platform for a client-centric approach that worked anywhere in the world.

“To aid the global energy transition to zero carbon and help our B2B and B2C customers better manage energy efficiency and achieve more value, ENGIE invested in digital technologies like Salesforce Energy and Utilities Cloud to go digital faster,” said Marc Lallemand, CIO ENGIE Belgium. “Within 9 months we completed the digital transformation project.”

As you digitize, make certain everyone in the organization is comfortable with moving and failing fast to break down their resistance to change.

2. Adopt a single source of truth

Next, consider the kaleidoscope of segments in the populations you serve. Each customer expects personalized engagements and tailored offerings. That makes a single view of the customer critical.

A customer relationship management (CRM) system designed for the energy and utilities industry creates a single source of truth. It pulls in information from different systems so every team member sees the same data. This can improve collaboration and allow teams to be more agile.

“To aid the global energy transition to zero carbon and help our B2B and B2C customers better manage energy efficiency and achieve more value, ENGIE invested in digital technologies.”

Uncover products and services that are relevant to your customer and when they might want or need them by using your CRM to centralize available customer information and previous customer interactions. A CRM also connects customer-facing apps with existing back-office and billing systems. Service teams can use a CRM to easily locate cases, find previous conversations, and add new information in real time, whether customers interact with a chatbot or on SMS (short message service).

You can also configure a feedback loop that merges with your CRM data to gain a holistic understanding of customers. This is the sort of experience that only 20% of utility companies currently offer.

Texas-based Vistra Corp, for example, is using Salesforce Energy and Utilities Cloud to roll out a cross-channel, 360-view of the customer so its call center agents will ensure excellent service with every interaction. “We are focused on transforming the customer experience across all channels,” said Kolt Starver, vice president retail technology at Vistra Corp.

3. Sharpen your competitive edge

With all customer data in one place, sales and service teams can create, bundle, and deliver personalized services and offers. Artificial intelligence (AI) can engage customers with the most relevant information. This may include how to work with the utility to preserve grid stability during extreme heat. Or, optimize a quote based on spot-market energy prices for an industrial customer’s multi-site operations. AI insights also help the sales team grow margin and revenue with process automation and recommended services as “next best offers.” You can cross-sell and upsell existing customers using data which delivers the speed and agility critical to success in competitive markets.

“We have been able to put the customer at the center of every business decision and we’ve maintained our market position in an increasingly competitive market.”

Time is of the essence in the Commercial & Industrial segment, AI-driven insights help providers move quickly to optimize offers. A drawn-out implementation isn’t necessary to see the benefits of a robust CRM: British multinational energy and service provider Centrica Business Solutions went live with Salesforce Energy & Utilities Cloud in three months. “We have been able to put the customer at the center of every business decision and we’ve maintained our market position in an increasingly competitive market,” said Rory Briggs, product owner and commercial manager, Centrica Business Solutions.

The technology allowed Centrica to deliver a personalized commercial and industrial (C&I) quote-to-contract process and accelerate new customer offerings. Quick action, agility, and accuracy help them stay ahead of their competitors.

Adapt for the future

Energy and utility companies must digitize to meet current customer expectations to propel the business forward. Digital solutions let companies adapt to challenges fast, no matter the industry. And, as the world emerges from the current pandemic, well-prepared companies will lead the economic recovery with clean energy and storage projects. With stakeholder buy-in, the right technology, and the right partners, digital transformation can happen in a matter of months. Learn more about how digitalization can transform utility customer engagement and how to get started with on-demand sessions and content at Industries Summit.

The post How Technology Can Help Energy & Utility Companies Adapt To New Customer Expectations appeared first on Salesforce.

There is a wealth of untapped potential and possibility for the legal industry in the digital age — from the automation of time-heavy processes to developing client relationships. Law firms that embrace digital transformation, make data central to their service offering, and understand the importance of legal analytics will find themselves attracting and retaining a stronger, more lucrative client base in the years to come.

The Future of Law Firms. Now.

Stay ahead of the curve with a digital-first strategy.

Download ebook

Why is data essential for law firms?

Client expectations are evolving. Led by innovation in other sectors, clients now make data central to their decision-making process. Law is no different. Clients expect lawyers to support their decision-making with data. The legal industry must use data to develop a more nuanced understanding of their clients and their needs. Firms need a full, 360-degree view of the client — encompassing relationships, billables, and future opportunities. Data-powered decision-making is the norm for most industries, and it is time for legal to adapt accordingly.

Deeper understanding through big data

Data provides law firms with a much deeper understanding of their clients — offering new insight into their immediate needs, long-term priorities, and potential pitfalls. Firms providing their clients with deeper, actionable insights backed up by data will have a considerable advantage over their competitors.

To deliver these insights, legal teams need connected data. Connected data breaks down silos within firms by creating one secure, centralised data hub accessible across the business. Every channel combines to provide a greater understanding of the client, enabling increased collaboration across teams and practice areas. From partners, lawyers, and associates to marketing and business development, every team will have a complete picture of the client and their needs.

Building proactive partnerships

Data prediction shifts the role of a law firm to be more proactive, utilising a wealth of data to identify a client’s imminent and future legal needs. For example, data analysis of market trends and predictions may suggest that a client will likely sell high-value assets soon — possibly before the client has reached the same conclusion.

Law firms that have thoroughly embedded data analytics into their operational processes can provide actionable insights to underpin client decision-making. The role of a lawyer becomes more proactive, offering guidance and becoming a more predictive and cost-effective partner to their clients. This change is especially relevant for firms acting as the primary legal advisor for major enterprises and high net-worth clients. Equipped with the right data, firms can shift to a more predictive, holistic service model — identifying and mitigating major risks, gauging performance, and adding a new dimension to their client relationships.

Creating efficiency and opportunity

Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have advanced significantly over the last few years, enabling companies to streamline and automate time and resource-heavy operations. When paired with AI, data can simplify the internal operations of a law firm. Data provides the traditionally labour-intensive industry with the long-overdue opportunity to streamline and create new operational efficiencies.

These technologies can facilitate time-consuming tasks, such as producing documents, guiding clients through step-by-step processes, and research. Teams can pull relevant results from a database, look for rulings in a specific area, and identify possible inconsistencies. In the business development process, automation and AI can help teams prioritise leads, suggest next steps, and automate the sending of routine documents. Automation and AI enable firms to allocate time productively and efficiently.

Building law firms of the future

Data will not displace human intelligence in the legal sector. But the firms that combine their human intelligence with data will offer richer, unified insight and advice that goes deeper. The rapid acceleration of AI and automation will change the structure and skills required in the industry, as research becomes the domain of AI, supervised by people. The global, agile firms that break down silos can offer a unique, personalised service to clients.

By embracing digital transformation, law firms can become client-centric businesses on every level. Salesforce enables those in the legal industry to harness the potential of data and the power of analytics. As a platform, Salesforce helps law firms create rich, unified experiences for clients no matter their scale, size, and requirements. It drives growth through digital transformation and data acceleration — using AI to interpret unprecedented volumes of critical information at speed and scale. Our Client 360 approach enables law firms to unite their essential human expertise with advanced data science to create the personalised, pro-active law firms of the future.

Read more in our ‘Future of Law Firms Now‘ ebook.

The Future of Law Firms. Now.

Stay ahead of the curve with a digital-first strategy.

Download ebook

The post Why Law Firms Must Embrace Data & Analytics appeared first on Salesforce.

To put it simply, we bring companies and customers together.

Salesforce helps break down technology silos in your organization between departments so no matter where they are, employees in marketing, sales, commerce, service, and IT share a single customer view. This enables a deeper understanding of customers on one customer relationship management (CRM) platform. We call it Salesforce Customer 360 because it gives you a 360-degree view of your customers.

Why does this help your teams? This holistic view of each customer shortens the time it takes for your company to resolve customer issues, eliminates redundancies in your communications, and allows you to personalize interactions in order to grow relationships with your customers. Our tools are also completely digital, so you can respond to customer needs quickly, from anywhere.

Got it, but what is Salesforce used for?

You may be thinking — this all makes sense in theory but what does it actually mean for my business?

It means Customer 360 gives each of your departments the tools to build stronger and more authentic relationships with your customers:

• Marketing: Tailor marketing messages to the right person at the right time on the right channel, improving lead gen, customer acquisition, and upselling opportunities

• Sales: Spend less time doing data entry and more time connecting with customers by developing and implementing a precise, repeatable sales process

• Commerce: Build simple, seamless commerce experiences that help grow revenue, engage customers, and connect commerce to the rest of the business

• Service: Deliver consistent, personalized support across every customer interaction — from the contact center to the field, and from service automation to chatbots powered by artificial intelligence (AI)

• IT: Build modern apps to meet employee, partner, and customer needs; increase productivity by automating key processes; and improve scale, transparency, and security with IT solutions

Digital transformation isn’t one size fits all. That’s why you can tailor Customer 360’s capabilities to your specific needs — from AI to analytics to integration to training. And beyond the technology, our global ecosystem of experts, app partners and services is always on hand, 24/7.

Sounds great — how does Salesforce work?

We help your company give your customers experiences they’ll love.

Let’s take a real example of how the beauty brand e.l.f. Cosmetics used Salesforce to give itself a business makeover.

To be successful in a digital-first world, e.l.f. Cosmetics had to make sure every customer touch point was relevant and consistent across channels. The company implemented a combo of Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and Service Cloud to transform those key functions in its business, giving shoppers the best marketing, shopping, and customer service experiences possible. These three solutions are working their data magic together so company leaders have a holistic view of the shopper before and after purchase, and can quickly adapt in real time to customers’ cosmetics needs.

E.l.f. Cosmetics has seen amazing results using Customer 360:

• Ecommerce that pays — e.l.f.’s ecommerce site is first in its sector, with an impressive 55% to 65% retention rate

• Efficiencies that work — e.l.f.’s increased efficiency means the company can reassign employees from customer service case resolution to more forward-looking customer loyalty programs

“The customer is at the center of everything we do. We don’t just think about getting them to our site to make a purchase, but how do we build a relationship with them? So we use Salesforce for the full customer journey, from discovery to post-purchase, which builds that relationship and, ultimately, their advocacy.” —Ekta Choppra, Vice President of Digital, e.l.f. Cosmetics

Read the full story of e.l.f. Cosmetics’ beautiful partnership with Salesforce here.

Why the obsession with customers?

You may have noticed we’re pretty obsessed with putting customers right in the center of business. After all, we named our platform Customer 360.

Why so much customer love? Because over the last 20 years, customers’ expectations for companies have skyrocketed. A whopping 84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services (Salesforce State of the Connected Customer report). Now, it’s not only about what you offer customers, but when, where, why, and how you reach them.

In this customer-powered world, the most important thing you can build as a company is trust. Today’s customers want to trust they’re getting what they need from you, when, and where they need it. They want experiences to be effortless, and they’re loyal to brands they can count on.

We know this isn’t easy for every company. According to a recent study commissioned by Forrester Consulting, business leaders are overwhelmingly challenged by information silos that make it harder to provide quality experiences for their customers.

Here are some of the challenges facing business leaders today:

• 58% strongly agree or agree that customer/prospect and account data comes from too many sources to easily make sense of it

• 58% strongly agree or agree that the lack of an enterprise view of customer/prospect data is a problem

• 56% strongly agree or agree that organizational silos negatively impact the quality of their customers’ or prospects’ experience

The research shows these issues arise because companies take on transformation initiatives in departmental silos. Over half of the study’s respondents report their CRM systems are at least somewhat fragmented across their company. While this approach may help solve a short-term business problem, it can make it harder to deliver better customer experiences down the road.

That’s where Customer 360 comes in. It was built to tackle these issues head-on by bridging team silos and building trust with customers.

Read the full Forrester Study.

To learn more about Salesforce — from our history to our culture to our people — visit our About Us page.

The post What Does Salesforce Do? appeared first on Salesforce.

Now that all 50 states have relaxed stay-at-home measures, retailers large and small are reopening physical stores. But when they do, little in retail will seem familiar to shoppers or store associates. The pandemic forced stores to redesign, rethink, and reimagine the entire experience around new health regulations and new customer expectations.

Of course there are the “basics” of shopping in the age of COVID-19: signage asking shoppers to wear masks, plexiglass barriers, hand sanitizer and wipes, conspicuous cleaning, and primitive people-spacers like duct tape floor markers.

But, according to Big Red Rooster (BRR), a brand experience firm, retailers need to replace those temporary fixes with long-term solutions around safety and sanitation. “Retailers are just now moving beyond band-aids and are thinking about how to implement permanent changes,” says Emily Miller, VP of Strategy and Insights at BRR. This could include everything from fitting room restrictions to the amount of merchandise on the floor to checkout solutions like pay on your own device. According to research, 54% of consumers expect to see “significant” change in stores when they return to shop, anyway.

In an interview (paywall) American Eagle chief commercial officer Andrew McLean said, “From the moment you walk into our store we want you to see something that’s new. It’s many new protocols,” he said, “all are triggers in the customer’s mind that things are different now.” These fundamental alterations translate to a feeling of safety for customers, so they need to be visible and clear.

“Ship-from-store”

Even before COVID-19, I’ve watched retailers like PetSmart, Vineyard Vines, Bath & Body Works and Adidas start to use their stores as distribution points for ecommerce sales. These “ship-from-store” efforts reduce the time and cost of delivering goods to local customers from central distribution centers. Expect more of this as stores look to accommodate more and more online orders. But this is really just the beginning.

If shoppers perceive browsing as unsafe (hint: they do), they’ll visit a store on a purposeful and quick mission to acquire specific items — to get in and get out. In order to support this new behavior, retailers need to have order management and inventory systems in place to provide a real-time reflection of the stock they have in a specific store. Say an online customer wants to purchase two glass end tables from a furniture store for curbside pickup. If the store has the proper systems in place, that customer would be able to check online to make sure the tables are in stock before they bother to trek to the store to purchase them.

Some retailers may also pare down their portfolio of stores, using one or two in a particular region as a “ghost” location for inventory overflow or a pickup location for items that customers buy online. Other locations would be reserved for actual shopping and branded experiences.

Stores as … marketing channels?

That said, Doug Stephens, founder of retail industry consultancy Retail Prophet, feels stores’ core post-COVID purpose will be more about marketing and service than distribution. That means increased usage of storefronts as showrooms, event spaces, or venues for VIP and loyalty members. Store rents, he posits, will become a more economical avenue for customer acquisition than some of the legacy methods of drawing customers, such as advertising, digital marketing, paid search targeting, or offering discounts for new customers.

In line with their new function, these spaces may only display one of each item of merchandise, (despite some reports that clothing fibers are a lower risk carrier of the virus). The rest of the inventory will sit in the back of the store, perhaps sealed in protective plastic, and accessible only to associates.

“There is still a very relevant role for physical retail when it comes to learning about a brand,” says Ashley Renzi, Director of Global Direct to Consumer Strategy at New Balance. “It’s enormously important to clearly communicate the reasons for people to come to the store. What is it about the space that makes the experience special?”

The answer to that question, largely, remains to be seen.

Smart doors, smart mirrors (so much smart)

Shoppers will be able to pick up on these profound differences even before they enter stores. For starters, there will be only one dedicated door for entry and one for exit, in order to reduce congestion and the associated potential for virus transmission. And those doors? Many will become automatic to eliminate the need to touch them. If dedicated doors are not possible, store associates may serve double duty as gatekeeper, letting one person in and out at a time and keeping track of the number of people in the store.

Once inside, shoppers will find new one-way traffic patterns designed to help them avoid face-to-face interactions. Miller says some of her retail clients are even considering smart lighting to direct shoppers in a specified direction around the store. One layout option is a racetrack design in which shoppers move in one direction around merchandise displayed in the middle and around the edges of the store.

Stores will have less clutter and may even appear sparse. For example, consultancy firm Kearney advises that areas of a store “designed to increase dwell time” like couches, fixtures, and impulse buy displays, need to be removed. And get ready for smart mirrors, which take hands-free browsing to the next level, allowing you to envision yourself in a new dress or hat without ever placing it on your body. All of these measures enable social distancing, less touching of things, and moving merchandise off the floor.

Renzi adds “We’re presenting customers with relevant items in the least amount of time, moving them through the in-store journey so we can serve the next group of customers.”

Sanitation takes center stage

In the past, professional cleaning of retail stores was done in the wee hours, well out of view. Now, because research shows shoppers want assurances that the environment is clean, retailers can’t show off their cleaning practices too much. Stores will implement new CDC protocols that call for continuous wipe downs and sanitation of all areas, which may include UV lighting. Even something viewed in the past as benign, like a disorganized shelf, is a cue to shoppers that retailers aren’t bringing their sanitation A-game.

And what about common areas like fitting rooms? Some major retailers have said they won’t open them due to sanitation concerns. Where they are open, employees will clean them after each use. Miller says customers may have the option to reserve a clean fitting room ahead of time online. In a similar vein, many are considering appointment-based shopping models.

Some of the ways in which the store is changing in response to the pandemic, like contactless checkout may be permanent. Some, like hands-off browsing, may not. The crisis will impact consumer behavior in ways that perhaps we haven’t even considered yet and when it does, retailers will need to step in line with those new behaviors or risk irrelevance. All told, the crisis is asking customers and retailers to be more flexible and agile. In the words of Miller, “We can’t unlive this experience.”

Learn how to build trust with today’s shoppers with The New Retail Playbook.

The post Say Goodbye to Browsing: Retail Shopping in 2020 Gets a Total Makeover appeared first on Salesforce.

Even before the pandemic began, the industry was grappling with supply and demand issues, a move to greater environmental stewardship and the shift towards a service-based business model. Now there are many question marks about the long-term impact the current crisis will have on pricing, capital and liquidity.

The one thing that hasn’t changed amid all this is the value of data and the role of digital tools. Those who win will use them to bring strategic value within oil and gas companies and to the customers they serve. Much like other sectors which have expedited their digital transformation efforts (like the move to online ordering in retail, for example), the oil and gas industry has an even greater impetus to make the most of the technologies available to them.

As the former CIO of Shell Downstream, I can tell you that the benefits — from reliability improvements to production optimization and worker efficiency — will help better prepare companies in this sector for future disruptions.

Of course, the path to digital transformation is not always clear, which is why at Salesforce we recently partnered with the IT Media Group to produce The New Resolve: Digital’s Imperative For Canadian Oil and Gas. It is filled with research and interviews with oil and gas IT executives that help point the way forward.

The big takeaway from the report is that, in many ways, successful digital transformation is a journey not unlike the one we see as resources are extracted, moved, refined and distributed. Here are some of the highlights:

The Digital Upstream

Drilling for oil might represent the beginning of the energy sector’s value chain, but digital transformation starts with simply being open to exploration. Given the pressures oil and gas firms are already under, moving to adopt digital processes and tools will raise conversations around risk, cost and return on investment. These conversations are important, but they need to lead towards constructive, positive outcomes.

This will take IT leaders who help shift the culture and business leaders who back them up on initiatives, such as Husky’s Innovation Gateway Program. It will also mean partnering with industry associations and trusted vendors for assistance, as Suncor and Cenovus are doing.

Finally, it’s important to have the right infrastructure in place to make exploration successful. In this case we’re not talking about oil rigs, but adopting cloud computing, the way firms like Precision Drilling have done, as a foundational element to maximize the value of data.

The Digital Midstream

Collecting and transporting resources for eventual production and consumption is a process the oil and gas industry understands very well, but the digital equivalent is a little more complex.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is allowing oil and gas firms to put sensors on equipment that can help them monitor and optimize performance. This could mean preventing leaks in a pipeline, or getting ahead of sand intrusion on production.

Introducing automation can also improve the safety conditions of oil and gas processes, as Teck Resources is demonstrating with remotely controlled dozers and backhoes.

Connected workers will be able to hold the power of digital transformation in the palm of their hand as industry-specific enterprise applications become available to them via smartphone. Examples here include Trican, which is using Salesforce field service management technology to intelligently schedule and dispatch equipment that has reduced admin work by 50 per cent.

The Digital Downstream

I’ve sometimes referred to the downstream as “everything that isn’t the upstream.” It’s where oil and gas companies trade products, manufacture and blend, refine oil products and petrochemicals, serve B2B customers (e.g. aviation. marine, lubricants, bitumen and specialities) and then B2C customers (e.g. retail gas stations and lubricants).

The breadth of the downstream side of the business offers a helpful way to think about the enormity of what digital transformation and data-driven decision-making can do. If you think of converting data into insights as a sort of “refining” process, you quickly see that it goes beyond day-to-day operational issues but leads to a more customer-focused and better run business.

Manufacturing data could mean using technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to spot operational trends that a team of humans might miss and take action to improve a process. It could mean using data analytics to improve the way processes are designed, or the performance of assets so that unplanned maintenance and outage costs are reduced and safety improved.

Just as we are all consumers of oil and gas in some fashion, digital transformation will help oil and gas employees become smart consumers of data. They will be empowered to bring greater efficiencies to operations, reduce construction costs and distribute their insights to stakeholders all the way up to the C-Suite. This data will also improve safety and environmental performance. Empowering the field workforce by delivering critical data to them, connecting them live to experts in the office when they are working on the asset, will bring numerous benefits.

Ultimately, thriving through the 21st century energy transition means moving from just selling products to selling services that enable your customers to be more successful as they use your products. Data around a process can be used to bring together an ecosystem of people that makes a customer — and therefore your company — successful. And of course, as we move from a hydrocarbon-dominated product set to supplying energies in the form of electrons or hydrogen, the need to differentiate through customer-centric thinking and services will become even greater.

Transforming a company isn’t easy. It is all about shifting the culture — introducing data-driven ways of working and behaviour backed by a real desire to change. The goal should be to find new and valuable business models that customers, employees and the third parties who work with you will embrace. Sharing one set of data will be the key to adding value and benefiting everyone who engages with your company. Use your data to drive success in your ecosystem, in other words, and you will create the kind of loyalty that will serve the industry through the current crisis and well beyond it.

The post Why The Future of Canada’s Oil And Gas Sector Will Be Fuelled By Digital Transformation appeared first on Salesforce.

Make digital commerce more “in-person”

We are hurting for the day-to-day interactions that used to lift us up, like a laugh with our hairdresser or favorite barista. People are turning to digital experiences – like meeting friends for coffee online. Commerce brands can join the trend with online forums and other digital experiences that help everyone feel more connected right now. How can you play a role in fostering these connections?

While it might seem too difficult to build digital experiences from scratch right now, creating a commerce portal is relatively easy. It also boosts customer engagement while getting them the information they need. A commerce portal is simply an authenticated digital doorway to interactions and content that you tailor to your customers. Look for tools with out-of-the-box (OOTB) components to speed the creation of engaging digital experiences. OOTB components are ready-to-use building blocks that let you deploy experiences like the ones listed below faster.

Here are five digital ways to use portals to go beyond the transaction while working from home:

1. Make loyalty programs digital-friendly

Ensure your best members have an easy way to manage and redeem rewards online. Revisit your rewards experience, ensuring it doesn’t require an in-person interaction. You may find customers who usually shop in stores need a little explanation of how to take advantage of your loyalty program digitally.

Beer and beverage company Mahou San Miguel created a personalized loyalty portal. Fans of Mahou San Miguel brands sign up for the program online. They get points when they enter product codes from cans and bottles online. Redeeming points is as easy as selecting a gift or experience. Based on the members’ stated interests and locations, the company matches members with experiences they might enjoy.

2. Personalize your portal content

Initial content efforts should focus on delivering fast access to information about crisis-driven changes to policies and hours. Personalize that content by region and customer using the data in your CRM. Some content management systems connect to CRM data readily, making personalization simple. But don’t stop there.

Once you’ve handled crisis communication, focus on connecting customers to information they may find useful or interesting in their current situation, while hunkered down during a pandemic. For example, pizza lovers might be interested in trying to make dough from scratch for the first time. So if you’re a grocer, your portal could offer instructions along with a recipe and related shopping list.

3. Promote (or launch) community forums

This is also the perfect time to let the world know about the community or forum you already use to connect with your biggest fans. Now that access is limited to in-person events, people who aren’t usually “forum types” may be surprisingly eager to join your community, share tips, and give and get advice.

Financial technology provider nCino does a nice job offering added benefits for its online community members. Within the community, members share ideas, interact with subject matter experts, and vote for future product developments. The digital experience keeps people up to date and adds value in an environment that’s also social. nCino also highlights their community on its COVID-19 response page, helping users take advantage of this interactive resource.

4. Reimagine VIP experiences

Use data-driven personalization to help customers find and schedule in-person product pick-up options in their areas. Consider ways to offer an online version of the VIP shopping experience you may provide to your best customers. A portal can help you stand up these VIP experiences quickly. For instance, an exercise retailer might offer VIPs access to a coaching tool or goal tracker.

5. Streamline post-purchase transactions

Make it easy for customers to register warranties, schedule deliveries, and apply for credit – without having to start an assisted interaction. These types of interactions don’t need to feel like contacting customer service. For example, you can make scheduling (and rescheduling) a delivery more seamless by finding ways to reduce the number of clicks required. Easy post-purchase management goes a long way toward making customers happier. That’s because you’re providing customers with processes that they control.

Outerwear-maker Canada Goose stands behind its products with a warranty covering materials and craftsmanship – for the lifetime of the product. And the company provides a simple and digital way to connect to warranty information and registration. An online warranty experience can be as simple as a digital form that lets customers register their product no matter where they bought it. But what if you sell products covered by a variety of warranty terms? Retailer Mattress Firm sells products from multiple manufacturers, each with their own warranty. To simplify this, Mattress Firm offers a portal that guides customers through the warranty process for the many products they sell.

Upgrading digital experiences can have a big impact on customer loyalty during this unprecedented time. Commerce businesses can use this as an opportunity to create new experiences for their customers and think beyond the transaction.

Learn more about building your own portal

To learn more about how to implement the advice above, watch “Reimagine How You Digitize the Customer Lifecycle as You Work from Home.” You’ll hear from portal experts and explore how you can forge deeper relationships with customers – even if you’re working from home. Watch it now.

To get more tips on navigating change, read other articles in our Leading Through Change series. Find thought leadership, tips, and resources to help business leaders manage through crisis.

The post 5 Fast Ways to Take Consumer Experiences Beyond Transactions appeared first on Salesforce.

The vision for our company has always been to help put Canadians into homes, and to help others achieve their financial freedom. While the world has changed a lot amid the recent pandemic, that vision has remained the same — we just deliver on it very differently.

Even before the spread of COVID-19 forced many organizations to close and for staff to work from home, at Alta West Capital, we had been working on an initiative that, without knowing it at the time, helped prepare us for the disruption that was to come.

About two years ago, for example, we realized that growing our business to work with bigger banks and REITs would mean developing an IT plan that would meet the most stringent cybersecurity standards. We began looking at all the ways we managed data, and how using technologies from Salesforce and others could help us comply with industry regulations.

It’s always difficult to transition from old business processes and technologies to new ones. Looking back, I liken our operational leadership to Noah building the Ark. No one could imagine the flood that was to come. It was as if Noah was putting the last spike in the Ark — we were just getting to where we needed to be — and the rain started to fall. Or, in our case, the Coronavirus outbreak began.

Pivoting To A Digital-First Business

We had already been renting space on third-party servers, but that wasn’t enough to ensure we could work from anywhere without fear of being attacked by ransomware or other security threats. Our Salesforce partner helped us find a local IT team with offices across Canada that fit the bill. Because of this, we have been able to move away from manual, time-consuming tasks to providing our team with increased visibility across our business.

All the underwriting we used to do, for instance, had been done on spreadsheets. Every single deal would be a new spreadsheet that was built out over a period of years. There were members of our team that would have little visibility into important information, and we couldn’t conduct the kind of analysis we wanted to do from one year to the next.

Using Salesforce means everyone can now see everything, from what’s in the pipeline to closing ratios.

It’s great for our company because, as the CEO, I can monitor what’s going on across different streams of the business. It means I’m not going to micro-manage anybody, but I can set up the appropriate levels of communication. That might be as simple as, ‘This is the target, this is when we’re going to achieve it, and this is your responsibility in it.”

With this foundation in place, we have been able to quickly transition from working in a regular office, to one that’s tailor-made for a distributed workforce.

Keeping Customers At The Forefront

Alta West Capital’s key customers and stakeholders include mortgage professionals, investors, and of course, borrowers. The one thing they all have in common is the need for seamless and proactive communication from our team.

While we moved quickly to put up critical information for investors and borrowers on our website, we also took additional measures. This included designating some staff to call every borrower to make sure they have all the information they needed on deferral plans and answers to other common questions.

At the same time, we were able to put a 7,000-person call list of broker contacts into Salesforce and provided Lightning dialers for our staff. As we made contact, the workflows we were able to set up within Salesforce were critical. They allow us to get a notification, for example, every time a commitment letter is issued.

Instead of information scattered everywhere, everyone has the access they need and the right people get information they can act on.

Empowering And Encouraging Employees

As a result of all this, we’re on track to have one of our best months ever. Where many of our competitors have reduced headcount or closed their doors entirely, we’ve been able to avoid layoffs.

I’ve also come to recognize that there’s a real difference in being able to pop by someone’s desk when you’re on the way to a boardroom and leading them entirely via technology. That’s why, on a day-to-day basis, we’ve assigned managers to go through everyone on the team to check in and see how they’re doing. Some are having difficulties, and others are thriving. It can really go either way, and it’s not always as you’d expect of specific individuals, either. I’ve never given as much encouragement as I do now.

This is the new normal for us. However the present situation plays out — whether it takes one week or months — our business will be irrevocably changed. But many of the changes are for the better. We have become a more well-run group than we ever were.

The post How Alta West Capital Adapted To Change By Putting Customers And Employees First appeared first on Salesforce.

Self-service is a powerful tool for customers during a time of crisis, as they look for quick answers to common questions. To ensure your self-service channels make the biggest impact, what can you do quickly — even in just one hour — before your day begins?

Identify frequently asked questions

Taking a few minutes to connect with your team will help you understand the most common customer questions to address in your help center.

1. Host a daily standup

Even if it’s just for 10 minutes, meeting with your team gets everybody on the same page. Ask agents for commonly asked customer questions they receive across all channels, during the crisis. This includes questions via the call center and how they resolve them.

2. Create a collaboration document

Throughout the course of the day, encourage agents to use simple collaboration tools they can update on the fly with frequent customer requests related to the crisis. With a single source of truth, agents can record how they resolved their cases to help colleagues with similar future cases.

3. Update your help center

Use your list of frequently asked questions as a cue to create content on your help center, such as updates on delayed orders or how to get a refund for a service. If it makes sense for your organization, consider a dedicated section on your help center with featured articles specific to the crisis. For example, Pearson updated the home page on their support site with information about delays due to COVID-19, directing people to their self-service options.

Make simple updates to your messaging

Reviewing and, where necessary, adding or updating messaging on your self-service channels assures customers your organization is sensitive to what they are going through.

1. Put relevant customer support information front and center

Consider creating a banner that appears at the top of your home page with specific instructions or with a direct link to your help center. Services like DoorDash have a clear message to let customers know there may be long wait times on orders. If you have a customer portal, personalize the banner message at the top of the page as well.

And, offer the option for customers to easily opt-in to receive real-time notifications or updates, such as the timing of a late delivery or payment. For example, DoorDash offers customers to opt-in for no contact delivery.

2. Update your chatbot’s welcome message

If you keep your bot’s general welcome message, it may feel out of touch to customers. Re-evaluate the first message that appears when a customer reaches out. Consider updating or adding a few words that are empathic to the current situation and address common requests, such as how to make a cancellation and receive updates related to COVID-19.

3. Create an all-encompassing knowledge article

Keep agents aware of new and existing protocols during the crisis and other internal changes with a knowledge article. Develop an externally-facing version, as well, to keep customers informed.

Find ways to streamline workflows

Simplifying processes and making it easier to find information goes a long way for customers, and frees up agents from high-volume cases.

1. Create a channel menu on your site

In a time of crisis, customers don’t want to take time to search for a contact page. With a simple widget or code snippet, you can integrate a fixed channel menu on your help center or website. This surfaces all available support channels to customers or can direct them to a web-to-case input form, a community, or a knowledge base.

2. Route cases with chatbots

Review your data to find specific keywords that keep coming in via your chatbots. For easy answers, make sure you have an FAQ the chatbot can use to answer questions. For more sensitive topics, have your chatbot immediately offer to transfer to an agent.

3. Create guided processes

In your customer portal, you can automate specific processes to help customers do them on their own (and alleviate agents from high-volume calls). By integrating a workflow on your end, such as canceling an order, the automation process appears on their screen and walks customers through each step.

With just a few simple updates, you can ensure your self-service channels are working hard to handle the high contact volume during this unprecedented time.

To get more tips on navigating change, read other articles in our Leading Through Change series. Find thought leadership, tips, and resources to help business leaders manage through crisis.

• Here are five ways we help our employees navigate work now

• See how you can maintain customer relationships when you can’t meet in person

• You need to have a crisis comms plan in place

The post What You Can Do In One Hour to Enhance Your Self-Service appeared first on Salesforce.

As consumers continue to self-isolate and go all-digital, companies have new opportunities to connect with customers and reimagine their business models. Regardless of your organization’s size, location, or industry, this crisis offers the opportunity for innovation.

Let’s take a look at best practices for pivoting your retail experiences to digital — and how brands are already tackling traffic challenges head-on.

1. Offer flexibility in payment, loyalty, and delivery options

As the new norm of social distancing sets in, we’re beginning to see the economic effects of this pandemic. Experts predict real global GDP could contract as much as 1% around the world, and all avenues of business will feel the pinch. As a result, consumers will likely need new and innovative ways to pay for purchases.

Companies can help by multiplying loyalty offerings, issuing gift card expiration extensions, and rolling out longer payment cycles. For instance, Canadian car companies including Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Canada, Nissan Canada and Mitsubishi are debuting loan relief, payment rescheduling and in some cases 90-day payment deferrals during the pandemic.

If payment flexibility isn’t an option, here are other ways to offer relief:

• Give customers additional payment and shipping options, like the one Canada Post introduced to receive parcels that do not require signatures or contact upon delivery, or Mastercard’s decision to increase contactless payment limits across Canada.

• Follow companies like Swiss Chalet’s lead and connect commerce and service so customers can place orders by phone as well as online and arrange for contactless delivery. This is especially relevant for consumers who may want to discuss purchases before buying but are unable to go into a store.

• Offer emergency services like eSupply Canada. The company is supporting Canada’s Indigenous community by providing office supplies at cost to anyone who has to work from home due to the pandemic.

2. Create new digital and social media experiences

Now with an all-digital customer base, retailers can no longer rely on tried-and-true physical experiences. This is the time to use your entire workforce to think in new ways about connecting with customers.

For example, Toys R’ Us Canada developed an initiative called ‘Stay-at-Home Play” which included ideas for kids to have fun via YouTube videos, a ‘Wash Your Hands Challenge” that featured a dance-and-scrub-along song on TikTok and play packs that could be ordered online.

Here are three other ways to engage beyond your four walls:

1. Extend your retail staff’s expertise on social media. Edmonton specialty flower shop Cory Christopher has already held a ‘virtual flower party” live on Instagram and is developing a service where customers can have a kit delivered to their home with supplies, then participate in online flower-arranging workshops.

2. Offer a unique service. Shoppers Drug Mart’s physical locations are still open but it has extended the value it provides customers by partnering with SilverCloud Health to deliver a virtual stress management program on any mobile device for those whose mental wellness has been affected by COVID-19.

3. Create 1:1 experiences using video. One example we love: Canada’s Wonderland, which might not open in May as planned, is already helping those wishing they could enjoy the theme park by offering 30 different virtual roller coaster rides.

3. Use your best assets to contribute to the greater good

According to Forbes, 88% of shoppers believe brands have the power to make the world better. And now more than ever, we have an opportunity to do good in our communities. Whether that’s making charitable donations, supporting employees and customers in need, or stepping up with more sustainable practices, customers are looking at their favorite brands to do what’s right.

Beyond monetary donations, companies are using their pre-COVID assets to assist during the pandemic. Here are three examples of how companies are contributing more than money right now:

1. Use specialized technologies for charity. Corby Spirit & Wine, Top Shelf, Dillons and other distilleries are now making hand sanitizer.

2. Use marketing dollars as a force for public good. Fast-food chain Mary Brown’s Chicken & Taters recognized the need to make news more accessible to all Canadians by paying newspapers to take down their paywalls.

3. Repurpose factories, warehouses, and distribution centers. For example, luxury apparel maker Canada Goose is using its facilities to manufacture scrubs and patient gowns, and Quebec hockey equipment firm Bauer is creating face shields for medical professionals.

In this unprecedented time, much is unknown — and things change quickly. But retailers all over the world have already stepped up to meet these trying times.

Through it all, the ones who weather this challenge will be the ones who stay closest to their customers.

The post Weathering Uncertainty: How Retailers Can Connect With Digital-Only Customers appeared first on Salesforce.

Last month, due to the unprecedented situation with COVID-19, we spent 10 days pivoting Salesforce World Tour Sydney into a fully virtual event. This annual conference is Salesforce’s largest in the Asia Pacific region, attracting around 10,000 onsite attendees and taking more than six months to organize. Our reimagined event attracted almost 13,000 registered attendees and 80,000 Salesforce Live views.

As other companies face similar challenges, they too are pivoting flagship events to virtual spaces. This article is for those who are making the difficult decision to transform large-scale events from in-person to online. We share what we learned and how our experience can help you.

1. Know the facts and assemble your team

Despite the hurdles we faced on the path to this monumental shift, we realized there was an opportunity to do something special. Live streaming and conferencing tools are more available than ever before, and online events are far more affordable to produce. There’s also no indication online gatherings are a passing trend: Cisco predicts by 2022, 82% of all internet traffic will be video.

Derek Laney, Salesforce’s Head of Solutions and Product Marketing, Asia Pacific, says his team has been talking about doing online events for years. He was excited to replan the conference, despite the challenge ahead.

“There was no precedent to what we were doing,” he says. “So there was no reason for us not to try something new.”

Let’s start with four things to keep in mind as you strategize:

• Get leadership buy-in with visuals

• Develop new teams as needed

• Scrum often

• Ruthlessly prioritize and reprioritize every day

The Asia Pacific (APAC) Marketing Team oversaw the creation of a series of work streams for World Tour Sydney. Each one focused on a different aspect of the event: content, engagement, and communications. Other subgroups covered online streaming, live demos, customer management, and more.

Regular scrums ensured everyone knew what deliverables were most pressing. There were meetings with headquarters in the U.S. every morning and with the local APAC team in the afternoon. “With the time difference, we had people working almost round the clock,” says Renata Bertram, Vice President, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Marketing.

Bertam adds getting buy-in from the very top right from the start was an important part of their success. “We learned early on the importance of creating visuals to help people understand what the event was going to look like and what our production values would be,” she says. “For example, we built slides that replicated looking at a presentation through a screen.”

Ruthless prioritization was key. “I stopped answering everyone’s questions so we could focus on prioritization,” recounts Laney. “We didn’t want to be overwhelmed with the amount of challenges that we had to solve.”

2. Create a shortlist for session content

Our World Tour Sydney team procured a broadcast location and then set to work on content programming. A war-room team was assigned within the first few hours.

On day one, we determined which of the event’s 150 sessions would translate best to a virtual format. We came up with a plan for the top 30 sessions and all the people needed to deliver them. Laney recommends working with the wider team on a need-to-know basis to stay on target and move fast.

“It’s okay if there’s ambiguity around what the process is,” he says. “Not to say that we kept anything confidential, but we needed to focus. Opening up ideas to a larger group can create distraction.”

To avoid clashing interests, event leaders should determine the right time for open collaboration and the right time to be directive.

3. Figure out how to keep your online audience engaged

Next, we unwrapped all the elements that were in place for the physical event. Piece by piece, we determined how to change direction with the resources on hand. A key part of this was outsourcing. Many of our suppliers were able to pivot to create an engaging online experience. Our audio visual production partner, for example, had extensive television experience. That meant it could quickly create a compelling multichannel digital experience.

We also considered what we could repurpose. Digital content developed to project onto the back wall of an exhibition hall was used as engaging backdrops for online sessions. The builders for the exhibition stands shifted their work to constructing studios where the content team could film sessions.

Bertram says there should be an engagement experience work group focused on keeping the interest of people who were going to spend a day attending sessions and meeting people at a physical event.

“Streaming content is relatively easy, but how do you build in two-way interaction?” says Stuart Frank, Director of Strategic Events Asia Pacific.

The initial live event was meant to include an expo hall, so our team built a digital experience inspired by the act of browsing booths. Attendees from around the world could explore 18 virtual rooms based on Salesforce Customer 360. A company expert hosted each room, sharing demos with visitors and answering questions in real time. As this video shows, the experience let visitors engage with content in a way that was more active than watching a video and less formal than a scheduled meeting.

Alena Fereday, a Community Cloud solution engineer with Salesforce who helped create the digital experience provides this tip: “For people wanting to try something similar, we suggest building a working experience quickly so you have time to refine it. It made all the difference.”

Social media can also share highlights and preserve an element of two-way, live interaction. Although we didn’t get to it for the Sydney event, our social team is working to add interactive activities such as contests, Q&As, polls, and other fun moments into the mix.

4. Prep the team for Live AV

Being on camera on a set is very different from being in front of a live audience. Speakers used to a live environment are now in a feedback vacuum, so they must project confidence to engage the audience. Show speakers what the set and overall experience will look like for viewers.

Encourage presenters to rehearse in front of a camera as early as possible. Then give them the opportunity to see what they look like while presenting. They can empathize with the viewer’s experience and change their delivery.

A few other things we learned:

• Shorten the duration of sessions, because attention spans are shorter online.

• Try a conversational format with multiple people talking to each other. A variety of speakers makes for more engaging discussion.

• The camera only sees a one-by-one meter square, so the detail of what’s in that area is really important. Think about what’s going to make it into that space and how it will appear to viewers.

• Ensure that content is accessible for the visually challenged and hearing impaired. If you plan for a global audience, consider translation services for captioning.

5. Keep internal and external stakeholders briefed

We decided to communicate directly with sponsors, partners, and customers about our pivot. “There’s nothing worse than hearing secondhand news that will materially impact your business,” Frank says.

For the most part, many stakeholders are in the same situation and will understand your decision. Since they have a stake in your event’s success, collaborate with them on shifting content programming if needed.

Finally, when you are pivoting events, remember to consider your sales team. The in-person event was a significant opportunity for them to gain new leads, connect with existing accounts, and win new deals. But now what? It’s important to keep them in the loop so they can plan accordingly.

You can hold briefings and post updates on internal channels. Build slides and renderings that replicate what you’d see on screen so the sales team knows what the event will look like. Record a quick one-minute explainer video to give employees a chance to sample the experience. And demonstrate the production quality so sales can relay progress to their clients.

Executing a strong game plan can allow you to shift your in-person event strategy to a virtual one. And think of it this way: you’ve now rewritten your company’s event playbook and replaced it with a modern, forward-looking one your customers can adapt to. “What we did was born out of necessity, but what has come out has the potential to change the game in what we do,” says Betram. “There is an appetite out there to engage this way.”

Our Leading Through Change series provides thought leadership, tips, and resources to help business leaders manage through crisis. Check out some of our most recent articles:

• Here are five ways we’re helping our employees navigate work now

• Ways to maintain customer relationships when you can’t meet in person

• You need to have a crisis comms plan in place

The post How to Turn an In-Person Event Into a Compelling Virtual Experience appeared first on Salesforce.