When it comes to the best platform for customer relationship management, few applications can hold a candle to Salesforce. Now, the company has rolled out a newer, more intuitive and innovative feature—Sales Cloud 1—that promises to radically change the face of customer service. While most users sing its praises, the jury is still out on the benefits of Sales Cloud 1.
A Core CRM Overhaul
One of the most talked about and highly anticipated sales events of the year, Dreamforce is Salesforce’s conference royale. Bringing in an impressive roster of the Who’s Who of sales, content management, social media marketing and customer relationship management, it is also the event where the company unveils its latest creations before their eventual release to its subscriber base.
This year, Salesforce set out not just to make updates to its regular platform, but to give it a complete makeover, making it more customer friendly and creating a hybrid chat/customer service portal that drastically improves customer relations.
Its new service portal, called Service Cloud 1, offers customers the ability to chat with customer service representatives via one-way video chat. This chat systems works in a similar fashion to other video chat platforms, but with one major difference. While the customer can see the agent, the agent cannot see the customer. This allows for face to face interaction without an intrusion on the customer’s privacy. The portal allows for screen sharing and interactive information-gathering.
One of the portal’s features is that the agent can walk the customer through service steps using shared screen controls. If, for example, the agent wants the customer to open a new browser window, he can simply use an on-screen pointer in order to direct the customer to the correct sequence of steps.
There is a genuine question of whether this direct interaction feature is as helpful as Salesforce claims. While some sing its praises, lauding it as the “next big thing” when it comes to customer service. The feature, however, does have its detractors.
Critics suggest that this level of interaction can slow down the service process, cutting the number of clients that agents can serve. Some users have complained that the system can be annoying, and caution companies against overusing the technology.
While the new roll outs can seem like a lifesaver for overworked sales agents who want a more streamlined process, they can also be cumbersome to learn and consume more time than they save.
Salesforce’s new platforms have introduced new tools for more effective social media marketing, customer relationship management and lead tracking and generation. These new web-based tools make it easier to identify key prospects and decision-makers, create and deliver dynamic sales campaigns and conduct immediate follow-up. They can also make the customer service process more efficient by providing a more personalized customer experience.
When it comes to the most innovative and up-to-date customer service systems, few can match Salesforce’s reach. Decide for yourself whether their new interactive customer service portal is a help or a hindrance.
Convergent1 knows it’s important for businesses to stay informed about the newest advancements in management and customer interaction tools. That’s why we keep up with the latest innovations, too. For an advertising agency that understands the value of adapting in a competitive market, look no further than Convergent1.
