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SMB Blog Series #1: Meet 3 Agile Businesses Growing in Challenging Times
At LIKE.TG, Nichola Palmer works with customers to bring their stories of innovation and transformation to life. Every month, she highlights three small businesses in Asia that use LIKE.TG to overcome business challenges. While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought some activities to a standstill over the past few months, many businesses across Asia have moved into high gear to meet the crisis head-on. From the rapid activation of working from home to pivoting to help customers in this new normal, the speed of the response has been impressive. Here are three fast-growing businesses who have helped set the pace in Asia. 1. Roojai.com Roojai.com provides drivers in Thailand with simple, affordable, and reliable online insurance. Today, it is the most visited insurance website in the country with roughly one million visitors per month. Supported by their CRM, the business has put customer needs at the heart of its operation and has achieved more than 250% year-over-year growth. Just before the pandemic, Roojai.com began planning for a 24/7 support model which involved some call centre employees working from home. So when COVID-19 reached Thailand, the business had already planned for the logistics of remote work and quickly mapped out a plan for half of their workforce to work from home. As the impact of the virus spread, the business accelerated that plan and moved everyone out of the office to remote work in less than two days. With Roojai.com’s call centre and claims process managed within their LIKE.TG CRM and easily accessible from home, all that had to be done then was help employees with their home internet and computer set up. Roojai.com maintained service levels throughout this time with up to 98% of calls picked up within 20 seconds. Now as they transition to slowly moving teams back into the office they are also adapting their workplace to maintain social distancing. This includes minimising contact with customers by using their video claim service powered by LIKE.TG and SightCall from the AppExchange, instead of face-to-face service visits. Their longer term plan is to make customer service available 24/7, so the lessons learned from the past few months will be used as the night shift continues to work from home. In addition, Roojai.com managed to identify opportunities for new insurance product lines during the COVID-19 lockdown, and are now able to provide customers with greater peace of mind. 2. Zenyum Within the last two years, Zenyum has built the fastest growing smile cosmetics brand in Asia with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Offering dental services and products like invisible braces, Zenyum provides customers with a highly personalised experience to guide them on their smile journey. During the pandemic, dental clinics have had to close for some time, leaving Zenyum unable to book customers for consultation or treatment. As a result, Zenyum pivoted to focus on client experience at the beginning of their dental smile journey. They initiated early conversations to understand treatment goals and how they could help. While switching to a complete, remote-first culture, Zenyum also created a COVID-19 tag in their CRM, so they could identify customers who needed extra support or a flexible plan. Capturing all this information in LIKE.TG means no leads were lost and prepares them to help customers move forward in their smile journey once clinics reopen. Meanwhile, the management team was able to monitor efficiency in dashboards and support employees as they worked to maintain their service levels while working from home. 3. BINUS University BINUS University is one of Indonesia’s largest private universities, serving more than 45,000 students across a growing network of campuses. The university is driven by a commitment to help students achieve their dreams so they can go on to enrich society and help improve quality of life for all Indonesians. In line with this commitment, the university has been using LIKE.TG to digitise its operations with a focus on enabling student success. This ongoing digital transformation has supported BINUS University’s incredibly agile response to COVID-19. In mid-March the university had to close its campus due to the pandemic and subsequently asked all of its students from outside Jakarta to go home. With 150 employees already using LIKE.TG, teams were able to transition to work from home while helping facilitate students’ transportation needs and managing essential communication. Dashboards and analytics in their CRM tracked their key performance indicators (KPI). And where the university was able to identify financial or personal difficulties for students, they have been quick to pause irrelevant communications. During this period, BINUS University has continued to employ security workers and other staff who are unable to be on campus to work. However, the impact of the virus has left many people unemployed and through a special grant from the government, 1,300 have so far signed up for future programs run by the university. LIKE.TG is committed to helping all businesses navigate through this time with agility. So if like these three businesses, you face new challenges in meeting the needs of customers and employees, see how LIKE.TG Care can help. For more stories of successful small businesses in Asia, see these posts from our SMB blog series: 3 Companies Using Technology To Enable Business Growth in ASEAN 3 Examples of Successful Digital Transformation in Asia
Spending Smartly on Tech Is Key in Times of Economic Uncertainty
This article was written in partnership with Sushil Panta, Senior Director of LIKE.TG Business Value Services. Are you taking a hard look at your budgets? You wouldn’t be alone. With all the talk about economic headwinds, many companies are pausing new programs, focusing only on what is essential to keep the business afloat. But there’s a better way to navigate economic uncertainty: find ways to become more efficient, like automation, and invest in them smartly. Even when you’re understandably cautious about spending overall, investing in the right technology can actually save time and money in the short term. That’s even more true over the longer term, because whatever the future holds, you can bet digital transformation will be key to navigating it successfully. One thing we know is that every recession is followed by an expansion. The latter often lasts much longer than the former, as was the case after World War II, the dot-com bubble, and the Great Recession. The trick, then, is not to run away from all new investments, but to run toward the right ones. But how do you know which are the right investments? The answer is simple: The right investments create the greatest benefits at the lowest relative cost, while maximising speed for success now. I’ll explain each of those components below and give your business a better framework through which to make some of your most important spending decisions. How do you measure the benefits of your tech investments? The best way to define the benefits of any investment is through the eyes of your customer. Be clear on the pain points you need to address and the outcomes you seek to reduce complexity for them. Using your current processes and performance metrics as a baseline, and by making a reasonable estimate about your future improvements as a result of new technology, you can then estimate quantifiable benefits. These could include incremental revenue growth and hard-to-quantify but highly strategic benefits such as employee engagement. Let’s explore these sources of benefits in more detail: Grow revenue through current and new streams Revenue growth is not just about selling more of the same products to the same customers. It is increasingly about activating new revenue streams that might be more predictable and profitable, acquiring new customers, and entering new markets. However, you need to know when to send what offers to whom to maximise conversion. Technology can help with that. For example, you don’t want to send a marketing offer for a new product when the customer hasn’t heard from your service department on a pre-existing issue, or to a customer who may be behind on an invoice payment. On the other hand, good application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can help uncover a customer’s changing buying patterns or identify “at-risk” customers. Simplify + streamline + automate = more efficiency Efficiency gains are about simplifying and streamlining complex processes, automating manual tasks, and removing redundancies. The average enterprise uses a whopping 976 applications. Vendor and system sprawl, often the result of adopting point solutions to fill immediate needs department by department, create far greater inefficiencies down the road. Vendor consolidation is one important way in which companies can reduce these complexities, both for their IT infrastructure and their bottom line. Here’s an example of what that can look like: RBC Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, is a values-driven financial institution providing clients with customized strategies to grow, preserve, and share their wealth. By consolidating 26 systems into one, RBC Wealth Management reduced maintenance costs by 50%, while continuing to deliver on client and advisor expectations. Create better productivity pathways Productivity gains are about getting more outputs for the same inputs or the same output for less inputs. In today’s constrained supply chain and volatile labour market, the need for improving your forecasting, supply chain planning, and employee engagement has never been greater. These are all areas that the right technology, combined with the right strategy, people, and processes, can improve. The right technology allows you to do more with the data you have, driving productivity and better results with intelligence and automation. So what does a productivity benefit look like? Take ADT, for instance, a leader in home and commercial security that strives to deliver safe, smart, and sustainable security solutions. ADT leverages automation and intelligence to drive cost savings, deliver faster customer support, and increase agent productivity. In fact, ADT has been able to move 40% of service appointments to virtual. Remember, your goal is to maximise ROI New revenues? Increased efficiencies? Productivity gains? They all sound great, but what will that cost? Of course we all want to keep costs low, but it’s important to remember the overall goal is not to minimise investment per se, but rather to maximise return on investment (ROI). Take it from Schneider Electric. The global leader in energy management and automation is transforming the way the world uses energy. Schneider Electric drives efficiency across the company — enabling its sales reps to close deals 30% faster and save $2.7 million in IT costs over a three-year period. Or consider the path taken by GE Appliances. With Service Cloud, the company’s agents have a single source of truth to clearly see where customers are in their ownership journey. Plus, the company can handle more calls at less cost by pairing Service Cloud Voice with partner telephony from Amazon Connect, increasing first-call resolution and decreasing handle times by up to 12%. “The return on investment for the technology we’ve employed is really agent efficiency and the ability to connect with the owner and create that human experience,” said Angie Corbett, senior manager of ecommerce sales and digital engagement. “That’s priceless.” We see the right technology will deliver the greatest benefit at the lowest relative cost. That being said, maximising your benefit at a manageable cost is essential. Here are some best practices: Select a cloud-first CRM strategy, which is supported by the fact that more software spending is moving to the cloud. With a cloud-first approach, you can manage costs more effectively through lower maintenance costs, a pay-as-you-go model, improved security, and better enablement of a mobile workforce. Pick a single, integrated CRM platform rather than a patchwork of expansive point solutions that require a great deal of custom integration. Those patchwork solutions not only cost a lot of time during setup but are also hard to maintain, brittle, and less scalable. A platform mindset supports building integrated, end-to-end customer journeys, which is essential to close the divide between many enterprise IT platforms and their customer expectations. Pick pre-built industry solutions, which will help you accelerate time to value and reduce implementation costs, by introducing industry-specific objects, real-time data insights, workflows, and analytics, all out of the box, thus minimising the need for custom developments. The value of maximum speed for success now Speed is about how quickly you can go from buying a product to using it to drive business outcomes. For your CFO, it might mean the payback period. For your IT executive, it might mean the time between the implementation planning and phase 1 rollout. For your customers, it might mean the ease of doing business with you anytime, anywhere, and through any channel. Whatever your success measurement system, speed is integral to achieving it – now more than ever. Speed gives you adaptability, and adaptability gives you the power to not only survive but thrive. Ideally, you end up with the kind of impact seen by SmartRent, a leading smart home solutions provider that focuses on driving automation and efficiency for its customers. SmartRent leverages automation capabilities to eliminate manual tasks and streamline processes, increasing employee retention by 92% and saving employees 120 hours in onboarding time. Speed-to-impact is essential for getting employees onboarded to deliver customer value quickly. It is possible to cut costs and reduce complexity while creating resilience within your company. You can do this without compromise by consolidating systems and investing in the right technology for your business. With automation, intelligence, consolidation, and self-service, you can maximise value and create customers for life.
Statutory Compliance: Guide to Payroll Compliance
Within payroll management, statutory compliance is essential for responsible business practices. Adhering to federal and state employment laws is not merely a legal obligation; it’s an ethical commitment to employees and a safeguard against costly penalties. This broad guide looks into the specifics of statutory compliance in payroll, exploring its significance, various facets, and how LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM empowers businesses to streamline compliance and elevate their payroll operations. What is statutory compliance in payroll? In payroll management, following federal and state employment laws is very important. It’s not just a legal requirement but also a moral duty that protects employees’ rights and keeps businesses out of trouble. Statutory compliance in payroll encompasses a diverse spectrum of responsibilities, including the provision of fair compensation, adherence to minimum wage standards, and the meticulous calculation and remittance of taxes, social security contributions, and other deductions. Each of these elements plays a pivotal role in ensuring that employees receive the remuneration and benefits they rightfully deserve, as stipulated by law. The significance of statutory compliance in payroll cannot be overstated. It’s an imperative element of ethical business practices, fostering a harmonious work environment where employees feel valued and respected. Compliance safeguards businesses from the potential repercussions of non-compliance, such as hefty fines, legal penalties, and the erosion of their hard-earned reputation. The legal environment is notoriously ever-changing, so keeping up with the latest employment laws is essential to ensure payroll follows the rules. Businesses must demonstrate unwavering commitment to continuous learning and adaptation, diligently monitoring regulatory changes and incorporating them into their payroll practices. Only through such vigilance can they navigate the complexities of payroll compliance and fulfil their obligations to their employees, the government, and society at large. Importance of statutory compliance Statutory compliance in payroll is of paramount importance as it ensures that businesses adhere to the legal obligations set by government regulations and labour laws. This adherence is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it ensures that employees are treated fairly and in accordance with the law. By complying with statutory regulations, businesses safeguard the rights and well-being of their employees, fostering a positive work environment. Secondly, statutory compliance helps businesses avoid legal penalties and fines that may arise from non-compliance. These penalties can be substantial and can have a significant financial impact on a business. Thirdly, compliance contributes to building trust and credibility with employees, customers, and stakeholders. When a business demonstrates its commitment to statutory compliance, it establishes itself as a responsible and ethical organisation, enhancing its reputation and fostering trust among its stakeholders. Overall, statutory compliance is not just a legal requirement but also a fundamental aspect of responsible business practices that promotes fairness, protects employees’ rights, and contributes to the success and sustainability of a business. Types of statutory compliance in payroll Minimum wage complianceThe federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. However, many states and cities have their own minimum wage laws that are higher than the federal minimum. Businesses must comply with the highest minimum wage law that applies to their employees. Overtime pay compliance Employees who work more than 40 hours a week are entitled to overtime pay at a rate of 1.5 times their regular pay rate. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as for employees who are exempt from overtime pay. Child labour laws compliance Child labour laws restrict the types of jobs that children can do and the hours that they can work. Businesses must comply with all applicable child labour laws. Equal pay laws compliance Equal pay laws prohibit employers from paying women less than men for equal work. Businesses must conduct regular pay audits to ensure that they are not violating equal pay laws. Family and medical leave laws compliance Family and medical leave laws allow employees to take unpaid leave from work for certain family and medical reasons. Businesses must comply with all applicable family and medical leave laws. These are just a few of the many types of statutory compliance that businesses must adhere to in order to stay compliant with federal and state laws. Businesses that fail to comply with statutory compliance requirements can face serious consequences, including fines, penalties, and legal action. Statutes on employee salaries and benefits Several federal and state statutes govern employee salaries and benefits. These laws set forth requirements for minimum wage, overtime pay, equal pay, family and medical leave, and other benefits. Employers must comply with these laws to ensure fair treatment of their employees and avoid legal penalties. One of the most important federal laws governing employee salaries and benefits is the Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA sets the minimum wage for non-exempt employees and requires employers to pay overtime pay to employees who work more than 40 hours per week. The FLSA also includes provisions for child labour laws and equal pay laws. The Equal Pay Act (EPA) is another important federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on gender in terms of compensation. The EPA requires employers to pay men and women equally for equal work. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides employees with the right to take unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons. The FMLA covers employees who have worked for their employer for at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires employers to provide advance notice to employees of plant closings or mass layoffs. The WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more employees. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows employees who lose their health insurance coverage due to job loss or other qualifying events to continue their coverage for a limited period. COBRA covers employees who have worked for their employer for at least 20 hours per week for the 12 months preceding the loss of coverage. These are just a few of the many federal and state statutes that govern employee salaries and benefits. Employers must comply with all applicable laws to ensure fair treatment of their employees and avoid legal penalties. Statutes on social security Must be written for each region Statutes on tax liabilities Must be written for each region LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM offers a comprehensive suite of tools and features designed specifically to help businesses in the financial services industry streamline compliance, simplify reporting, automate calculations, enhance security, and improve customer service. Streamlined Compliance With LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM, businesses can centralise and manage all compliance-related data in a single platform. This enables easy access to relevant information, facilitates efficient reporting, and ensures compliance with industry regulations. The CRM’s robust compliance management capabilities help businesses stay up-to-date with changing regulations, automate compliance tasks, and mitigate risks associated with non-compliance. Simplified Reporting LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM simplifies the complex task of generating reports. The platform’s pre-built templates and customisable reporting tools enable businesses to quickly and easily create reports that meet their specific needs. With real-time data and comprehensive analytics, businesses can gain valuable insights into their operations, identify trends, and make informed decisions. The CRM’s advanced reporting capabilities empower businesses to demonstrate compliance, optimise processes, and enhance overall performance. Automated Calculations LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM automates various calculations related to payroll, commissions, bonuses, and other financial transactions. This eliminates manual calculations and reduces the risk of errors. The CRM’s powerful automation engine ensures accurate and consistent calculations, saving businesses time and resources while enhancing overall efficiency. By automating calculations, businesses can streamline their operations, improve accuracy, and focus on delivering exceptional customer service. Enhanced Security LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM provides robust security measures to protect sensitive financial data. The platform employs industry-standard encryption protocols, access controls, and authentication mechanisms to safeguard data from unauthorised access. LIKE.TG’s commitment to security ensures that businesses can confidently manage and store financial information, reducing the risk of data breaches and maintaining customer trust. Improved Customer Service LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM empowers businesses to deliver exceptional customer service. The platform’s customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities enable businesses to centralise customer interactions, track customer history, and provide personalised experiences. With LIKE.TG’s CRM, businesses can streamline customer communications, resolve inquiries efficiently, and build strong customer relationships. By leveraging LIKE.TG’s financial services CRM, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction, increase loyalty, and drive business growth.
STP Marketing Strategy: Comprehensive Guide
Introduction to STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) There’s a common saying in the business world, “If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll end up becoming nothing to anyone.” Far too often, businesses fall into the trap of positioning their product(s) as something that ‘everyone’ benefits from. Their rationale is this: if they cast their net wide enough, they’re bound to catch enough customers soon. This approach is flawed in two ways- The company’s resources – budget and employees – get spread too thinly in chasing far-flung customer segments. It leads to brand dilution, where the company’s ‘real’ target customers stop seeing value in the brand. Think about it: you build a product or many products to solve a specific problem. Not all 7.9 billion people in the world would have that problem. Even if your product is something as essential as a toothbrush, it has to stand out from the existing toothbrushes in the market in some way to bring in sales. Say, from the media and your conversations with friends you notice that an increasingly large number of people are moving towards sustainable living. You strike up this idea of creating toothbrushes out of bamboo shoots. At the very outset, you plan to target all the toothbrush users by positioning your product as an environmental-friendly alternative to plastic brushes. This strategy is going to create a negligible impact, almost like a drop in the ocean. This is because 85% of your audience doesn’t care for sustainable living. While you could still go after them by creating awareness, you need to first educate them on the adverse effects of using plastic on the environment. Tell them how your product addresses the issue, and finally, how it benefits the customer individually. This is a long-drawn process that can strain your time and budget while giving minimal returns. You’d fare better targeting the other 15% – people who are already looking for sustainable alternatives. They’re already aware of ‘why’ they need your product, so you can go ahead and directly pitch it to them. By skipping the motions, you save on resources and use them where they are needed the most. Also, since your target’s needs are aligned with your product offering, the customer acquisition cost is low. The above scenario is an apt use case for the segmentation, targeting, and positioning model of marketing. Now that we have some context, let’s dive deeper into what the segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) model is. What Is STP marketing? Segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) is a marketing model that redefines whom you market your products to, and how. It makes your marketing communications more focused, relevant, and personalised for your customers. In short, STP is a marketing approach where you segment your audience, target the best-fit audience segments for your product, and position your product to capture your target segment effectively. The STEP Formula The easiest way to remember the STP model is through the STEP formula, which is A closer look at this formula tells us that the product positioning for each target segment is different. This forms the essence of the STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) marketing model. Let’s take a closer look at each of these parts of segmentation, targeting and positioning. Segmentation: Identifying Your Market When you start creating a GTM strategy for your product, you have an idea of who your audience is. You can target the entire group that fits the broad definition of your audience, but chances are a generic message may fail to resonate with a huge chunk of that group. Segmenting the audience into smaller groups based on specific attributes gives you better clarity on who benefits the most out of your product and how. With this clarity, you can make your messages more focused and relevant to target groups. While you can segment your audience using any criteria that best suits your business, the below criteria are commonly used: How do you get started with segmentation? To perform audience segmentation, you first need to know about your audience. Solutions such as LIKE.TG CDP (Customer Data Platform) allow you to unify data from across touchpoints – like sales, service, marketing – and use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to mine richer audience insights from it. You can enrich this with first-party data from other platforms like social media, websites, customer forums, etc. This helps marketers build a single, comprehensive view of all audiences using a central, user-friendly interface. With an accurate population count and AI-enabled features, you can create highly targeted and customised audience segments. Segmentation gets you better results even when you’re nurturing your existing subscribers. Using tools like LIKE.TG’s Email Studio, you can segment your current subscribers’ list based on their profiles and send targeted email campaigns, improving your open and click rates. Segmenting your existing customer base also helps you make an informed guess about your larger audience. By extrapolating current customer data, you can identify potential audience segments and build your marketing strategy around them. Segmentation with an example Suppose your product is plant-based milk. Your general audience is people who want to move away from dairy-based products. You can segment this audience into two categories: Segment A: people who are looking at dairy-free alternatives for lifestyle purposes, typically high-income groups. Segment B: lactose-intolerant people looking for other options. The message you use for these two segments is obviously going to be different from each other. Using tools like Data Studio, you can further segment the above two segments into groups that already use a competitor product and those that don’t. You can then hone your messaging according to it. Targeting: Reaching the Right Audience The next step in the STP model is targeting. This is the stage where you decide which segments you created during the segmentation phase are worth pursuing. You should ideally consider the below criteria to choose your targetable segments: Size: Your audience segments must have enough potential customers to be worth marketing to. If your segments are too small, you may not get enough conversions to justify your marketing efforts. Difference: There should be a measurable difference between any two segments. The lack of it leads to unnecessary duplication of efforts. Reachability: The segments should be accessible to your sales and marketing teams and not be marred by technical or legal complications. Profitability: The segment should have a low-to-medium customer acquisition cost (CAC) while bringing in high returns, i.e., the audience must be willing to spend money on your product. Benefits: Different benefits attract different segments. In our plant-based milk example, Segment A would go for cruelty-free while Segment B for dairy-free. Knowing which audience segments to target comes from having all-around visibility of those segments in one place. This makes comparing segments and weighing the pros and cons of targeting some segments over others easier. In our example of plant-based milk, you’ve determined through research that veganism is all the rage, and roughly 60% of the people are searching for dairy-free alternatives. You also discover that approximately 80% of the people in your chosen demographic are lactose intolerant. Though the audience size is more significant in the second segment, you’re likely to get more returns when you go after the first segment as it consists of high-income groups who are ready to pay a premium for quality lifestyle-changing products. LIKE.TG CDP helps unify such audience and customer data from multiple sources to get more comprehensive insights. With more data and insights, segmenting and targeting your audiences becomes much more precise and granular. Then, you can translate all of this data into action by using a tool like Journey Builder to create highly personalised and relevant journeys throughout customer lifecycles. Positioning: Differentiating Your Brand The final stage of the STP model, positioning, is where you use the insights gained from segmentation and targeting to decide how you’re going to communicate your product to chosen audience segments. While segmentation and targeting are about customers, positioning is about your product from the customer’s perspective. You can consider positioning as the bridge that connects your product with the audience. This is the stage where you perform competitor analysis, figure out your value proposition, and communicate that to your customers. Based on what your brand stands for, you can position your product in several ways. If you’re in the luxury market, you can appeal to the ‘desire for prestige’ among customers by positioning yourself as a status symbol. Or, if you fall in the budget category, you could differentiate yourself by offering more benefits to your target at a lower cost than your competitors. The best way to approach positioning is by drawing a Product Positioning Map that has two key market attributes as its axes and plotting your competitors and you in it. This will give you a clear picture of how you stack up against your competition and where you should place your product to maximise profits. How to make STP marketing actually work Now that you’ve narrowed down your market, sharpened your segments, and have an attack plan, all that’s left to do is craft and deliver your message. This is where a core concept – personalisation – comes in. Looking back, the entire segmentation, targeting, and postioning model is geared towards making marketing personalised for customers, so your message and the channels through which you communicate it should reflect that. Luckily, some solutions help you meet customers where they are and drive personalised, 1-to-1 engagement with them. LIKE.TG Marketing Cloud offers a product suite that enables marketers to hyper-personalise every interaction across channels. Here’s how: LIKE.TG CDP allows you to unify all your customer data and build finer audience segmentation for better targeting With Email Studio, you can segment your subscribers using drag-and-drop, and deliver 1-1 marketing messages Social Studio lets you listen to customer conversations about your brand on social channels and engage and support customers on their preferred channels Using Advertising Studio, you can launch paid digital advertising to create 1-1 customer experiences Interaction Studio allows you to manage all your marketing interactions in real time so you can offer a personalised experience across touchpoints Journey Builder enables you to create personalised experiences at every touchpoint and stage of the customer lifecycle You can drive higher RoI by using Datorama‘s analytics and reporting features With Pardot, you can build greater sales and marketing alignment to perform personalised, automated marketing at scale Manage all your mobile messaging efforts using Mobile Studio Delight and engage your best customers with Loyalty Management Combine the power of LIKE.TG and Google by integrating Google Analytics 360 into Marketing Cloud Benefits of STP marketing Improved engagement: Because you’re targeting precise audience segments with personalised messages, your audience finds you relevant and is more likely to engage and convert. Reduced marketing costs: Since you’re going after only those segments with a high potential return on investment, you’re no longer wasting your budget on channels and segments that don’t work. More robust product: Because you know precisely whom you’re pitching your product to, you can make improvements based on feedback from that audience segment, fostering focused product innovation. STP case studies Apple Apple has nailed the STP model. It positions itself as a lifestyle, targeting those audience segments with a keen design aesthetic, who want to stand out from the crowd, and are well-off. Apple follows a “closed” software ecosystem with an emphasis on security. In doing so, it creates an aura of exclusivity that makes people feel privileged to own Apple products. Apple’s STP model works so well that the brand name has become synonymous with expensive, high-performance, luxury gadgets. McDonald’s McDonald’s name evokes images of a family with kids enjoying a ‘happy meal’ of burgers, fries, and Coke. McDonald’s target audience is low to middle-income segments, and it positions itself as an accessible, budget-friendly brand, consciously staying away from the luxury fine-dining market. You can find a McDonald’s on almost every street, which is a sign of its accessibility. Apart from segmenting its audience by their income, McDonald’s also does geographic segmentation quite well. It customises its menu for each country based on cultural preferences, making it more appealing to its target audience segments. Godrej Group Godrej Group is a very popular and trusted Indian company that is serving customers across product categories – from household goods to real estate. Every Indian household is aware of Godrej’s products like furniture and locks. But to engage and make aware customers of other product categories as well, Godrej has adopted social listening as a tactic to identify what their target audiences are talking and reading about. They are using audiences’ content consumption patterns to shape their content marketing strategies in a manner that deliver maximum engagement and awareness. Coca-Cola Coca-Cola is one brand that has the entire world as its market. But it also has cut-throat competition in the form of another brand, Pepsi. To gain a competitive edge over Pepsi, it introduced new variants such as Diet Coke and Coke Zero to target niche, health-conscious audience segments. It also brought in more flavoured variants to target the younger, experiential population. Beyond segmentation and targeting, Coca-Cola positions itself as a drink that brings families and friends together. This is evident from its advertisements, which typically feature get-togethers, festivals, and celebrations in which Coke plays an integral role. How to create an STP model for your business: Implementation strategy We’ve covered the basics of the STP marketing model with benefits and examples. Now, it’s time to get down to the brass tacks; that is, see how you can implement a segmentation, targeting, and positioning model for your business step-by-step. Step 1: Define your market The world may be your market, but breaking it down into manageable segments is how you conquer it. To know the market segment in which you can hit the bullseye, you start by defining your Total Available Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM). Let’s look at what each of these is: Total Available Market (TAM): TAM is the total market demand for a product or service. In other words, it’s the biggest available market for the brand. TAM is the maximum revenue that a business can generate if it achieves 100% of its market share. Serviceable Available Market (SAM): SAM is a subset of TAM, that is, a portion of the total available market that fits your product or service. You can define SAM by geographical or product specialisation constraints. Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM): SOM is a subset of SAM, that is, the segment of the serviceable available market that you can realistically reach after considering factors like product differentiation, budget, and competition. In the case of Coca Cola, its TAM is the entire beverage market, while its SAM would be soft drinks. Its SOM is the market that Pepsi does not capture. For Diet Coke, the SOM would be health-conscious, sugar-free drinkers. Step 2: Create audience segments Now that you know your market definition, you can segment the audience within that definition. You can segment the audience based on geography, demography, behaviour, or psychography, but ideally, a mix of all four can help you achieve clearly differentiated segments. The more segmentation layers or variables you add, the more delineated your segments would be. For example, suppose you’re selling a luxury makeup product. In that case, you can target high-income working women (demographics) in India (geography), who follow makeup handles on social media (behaviour) and are willing to spend money on premium makeup products (psychography). This kind of repeated layering and segmentation creates focused audience groups that you can target with hyper-personalised messages. Research by McKinsey found that companies that excel at personalisation generate 40% more revenue from those activities than average players. Step 3: Identify the more attractive segments Have all the segments data in one place and evaluate the attractiveness of each segment. You can use metrics like return on investment, segment size, and growth potential in your evaluation. Again, solutions like LIKE.TG Data Studio and CDP help gather data and get comprehensive visibility into different audience segments, improving segmentation. Step 4: Evaluate your competition With your audience segmentation sorted, it’s now time to look at your product and determine how it stacks up against your competition. Prepare a table that lists down all of your product capabilities and your competition’s, do a SWOT analysis, identify gaps, and figure out the most viable entry point into your desired customer segment. Step 5: Fix your positioning The groundwork on segmentation and targeting is now out of your way, so you can focus on positioning your product to grab the lion’s share of the market. You can follow any one or a mix of the following positioning strategies: Competitor-based positioning: where you show in what aspects better than your competitor. Consumer-based positioning: how well your product aligns with consumer needs. Price-based positioning: how you’re competitively priced and give customers more value for their money Benefit-based positioning: how your customers benefit from buying your product, either individually or over your competition. Attribute-based positioning: what your unique selling point or value proposition is, above and beyond benefits and price. Prestige-based positioning: how customers get a status boost from buying your product. Step 6: Determine your marketing mix The final step of the segmentation, targeting, and positioning model is to choose your ‘marketing mix’ that helps reinforce your positioning. The marketing mix consists of four Ps – Product, Price, Placement, and Promotions. Product represents factors like quality, benefits, features, design, services, support, availability, and edge over the competition. Price reflects what customers are willing to pay for the product. It covers list price, discounts, payment methods, etc. Pricing your product much lower than your competitor might fetch you immediate benefits but will be detrimental to revenue in the long run. Placement covers “where” your product is available. It includes ecommerce, physical stores, inventory, logistics, trade channels, etc. Promotion takes into account “how” your product reaches your customer. It covers marketing campaigns, advertising, public relations, sales promotions, word of mouth, influencer marketing, and so on. Conclusion STP model is a scientific, tried-and-tested marketing approach that helps businesses identify segments where they can indeed provide value, personalise their marketing communications, and reap sizeable profits. If you want to get started on your segmentation, targeting, and positioning journey, you could give solutions like the LIKE.TG Marketing Cloud a try. The products inside Marketing Cloud provide you deep insights about your audience, help you identify the most viable segments, and hyper-personalise communications across channels, leading to 1-1 customer connect.
Successful Digital Transformations Lead With Human-Centred Design
This week, we are exploring app development at LIKE.TG Live: Asia. Apps help companies to streamline processes, capture data from anywhere, and provide engaging customer experiences. Thanks to low-code and no-code tools, almost anyone can create an app to support your organisation’s unique business needs — all in a few clicks. Register for this week’s Admin and IT Trailblazers episode, and learn how to get your app ideas up and running fast with the LIKE.TG Platform. Get ready to be inspired by our IT and Admin Trailblazers: PETRONAS empowers its dealer network with e-Service portal Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) is a global energy and solutions company. It is also the custodian of Malaysia’s national oil and gas resources. PETRONAS uses a partner and dealer network to operate over 1,000 retail service stations around Malaysia. To make life easier for its dealers and partners, the Customer Resolutions team at PETRONAS developed an e-Service portal, which was rolled out in April 2020. The portal is a one-stop shop for all communications, financials, stock, and maintenance tracking between dealers and PETRONAS. Dealers can choose to set up automated reordering of fuel based on predicted sales trends. Maintenance requests are also more visible, which leads to greater efficiency. Tune in to this episode to hear more about what PETRONAS is doing with the dealer portal and how it contributed to scaling their B2B2C operations. Enhance employee engagement with LIKE.TG A great experience is everything when it comes to engaging your employees. In this episode, you’ll hear how two very different companies are unleashing the potential of their employees with LIKE.TG. Ranosys Technologies replaced their legacy customer relationship management (CRM) software with Sales Cloud. They have also built a range of apps on the Customer 360 platform. With a focus on transparency, clarity, and real-time information, the team had a ‘light-bulb moment’ that LIKE.TG could be a great tool to empower their own employees as well. The team went on to develop Ranosys Pulse, an internal portal that helped to become the real-time life blood of the organisation. Suddenly, there were no more bi-weekly review meetings, or entering information into disparate spreadsheets. Through transparency, collaboration, and real-time access, employees soon felt valued to have accurate information about their organisation at their fingertips. In the hospitality industry, the human touch is particularly important. That’s why Loh Lik Peng, CEO of Unlisted Collection:, empowers staff at the group’s restaurants and hotels by giving them autonomy in their respective roles. It’s how the group creates a culture that delivers a great guest experience. Join us for this episode to hear how Ranosys and Unlisted Collection: have empowered their high achieving teams. How LIKE.TG delivers customer trust Thousands of customers around the world trust LIKE.TG with their confidential data. If you have ever wondered how LIKE.TG secures its platform, then this session is for you. LIKE.TG CTO of Security, Dr Taher Elgamal, will share why trust is the foundation for customer success with LIKE.TG. He will discuss how security needs change over time with acquisitions and evolving threats. Dr Elgamal will also share how to enhance trust, compliance, and governance within your LIKE.TG environment. Whether you want to build a new portal to empower your employees and partners, or learn more about keeping your CRM data safe, this episode will leave you with plenty of ideas.
Sundry Debtors in Accounting
In accounting, sundry debtors refer to customers or entities who owe money to a business for goods or services they have purchased on credit. Also known as accounts receivable or trade debtors, sundry debtors play a crucial role in the financial management of a business. Unlike cash transactions where immediate payment is made, sundry debtors opt for credit terms and commit to settling the bill in the near future. Understanding who sundry debtors are, how they differ from accounts receivables, and their significance in maintaining healthy business operations is essential for businesses of all sizes. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of sundry debtors, their management, and their impact on the financial health of a business. Who are sundry debtors? When it comes to financial transactions, sundry debtors are the individuals or entities who owe a business a debt for goods or services acquired on credit. These debtors, often referred to as accounts receivable or trade debtors, represent an aspect of credit management, invoice, and financial accounting. An active debtor is a customer who has transitioned from being a cash-paying customer to owing money under agreed-upon terms. Sundry debtors typically comprise customers who have engaged in transactions with a business but have yet to fulfil their payment obligations. These unpaid dues are meticulously recorded as assets on the balance sheet, reflecting their significance in the financial health of the organisation. Effective management of sundry debtors is necessary for businesses seeking to maintain financial stability and ensure a steady cash flow. Through diligent tracking and monitoring of these accounts, businesses safeguard their financial interests and ensure prompt payment for the goods or services they provide. This practice is not a matter of financial prudence; it is the basis of operational success, enabling businesses to meet their financial commitments, invest in growth opportunities, and maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Beyond the financial implications, managing sundry debtors also involves building and maintaining relationships with customers. By fostering open lines of communication, offering flexible payment options, and addressing any concerns promptly, businesses can cultivate customer loyalty, enhance the value of their reputation, and ultimately drive business growth. Effective management of these accounts isn’t a financial imperative; it’s a strategic imperative that contributes to the long-term success and sustainability of any business enterprise. The sundry debtors promise to clear their outstanding dues in the near future, typically occurring on a credit basis with an obligation to pay in a specific period along with possible additional interest. Sundry Debtors Examples Sundry debtors can take many forms, depending on the nature of the business and its customer base. Some common examples of sundry debtors include: Customers who have purchased goods or services on credit from a business and have not yet paid for them. This is the most common type of sundry debtor. Individuals who have borrowed money from a business or financial institution and have not yet repaid the loan. Companies that have purchased goods or services from another person or business and have not yet paid for them. Government agencies that owe money to a business for the goods sold or services that have been provided. Employees who have been advanced salary or other payments that they have not yet repaid. Businesses in the printing industry that have sold printing supplies on credit and are awaiting payment from their customers. Transactions involving printing ink where the buyer has not yet paid, leading to the establishment of debtor-creditor relationships. These are just a few examples of the many types of sundry debtors that a business may encounter. It is important for businesses to track and manage their sundry debtors effectively to ensure that they receive payment immediately for the goods or services they have provided. How to distinguish between sundry debtors and accounts receivables Sundry debtors are short-term debts owed to a business, typically due within a year, while accounts receivables are all amounts owed to a business from customers for goods or services sold on credit, regardless of the due date. Sundry debtors are usually recorded in the current assets section of the balance sheet, while accounts receivables are recorded in the non-current assets section if they are due more than a year from the date of sale. Sundry debtors are typically managed through a credit control process, or credit basis which involves monitoring and managing the creditworthiness of customers and ensuring that payments are made on time. Accounts receivables, on the other hand, are managed through an accounts receivable process, which involves tracking and recording customer invoices, payments, and any related discounts or adjustments. While sundry debtors can include advances to suppliers, loans to employees, and other short-term debts, accounts receivables only include amounts owed from customers for goods or services sold on credit. This distinction is important for financial reporting purposes, as it allows businesses to accurately present their financial position and performance. By understanding the differences between sundry debtors and accounts receivables, businesses can effectively manage their credit risk and ensure that they receive payment for the goods or services they provide. This can lead to improved cash flow and overall financial health. Difference Between Sundry Debtors and Sundry Creditors In contrast to sundry debtors, sundry creditors are individuals or entities to whom a business owes money. They are also known as accounts payable or trade creditors. Sundry creditors can take many forms, such as suppliers who have provided goods or services to a business on credit and have not yet been paid, individuals who have lent money to a business or financial institution and have not yet received repayment, companies that have sold goods or services to another business and have not yet been paid, government agencies to which a business owes money for goods or services that have been received, and employees who have been paid salary or other payments in advance that they have not yet earned. Sundry creditors are recorded on the credit side of the balance sheet. While sundry debtors represent amounts owed to a business, sundry creditors represent amounts owed by a business. The management of sundry creditors involves accounts payable processes, while the management of sundry debtors involves credit control processes. By effectively managing both sundry debtors and sundry creditors, a business can maintain healthy financial relationships with its customers and suppliers and ensure the smooth operation of its financial activities. Why is it important to manage sundry debtors? It’s necessary for businesses to effectively manage their sundry debtors to ensure future financial stability and growth. Sundry debtors represent the revenue owed to a business by its customers for goods or services provided on credit. Efficient management of sundry debtors directly impacts a company’s cash flow, reduces the risk of bad debts, and enhances customer relationships. Effective management of sundry debtors enables businesses to optimise their cash flow by ensuring prompt payment from customers. By tracking and monitoring outstanding payments, businesses can take proactive measures to collect dues, reducing the risk of cash flow disruptions and improving overall financial liquidity. This allows companies to meet their financial obligations, make informed investment decisions, and maintain a healthy financial position. Minimising the risk of bad debts is another critical aspect of managing sundry debtors. Bad debts occur when customers fail to pay their dues, resulting in financial losses for the business. By implementing robust credit control processes, businesses can assess the creditworthiness of customers, set appropriate credit limits, and monitor payment patterns to identify potential risks. This proactive approach helps prevent bad debts and safeguards the financial health of the business. Effective management of sundry debtors also fosters positive customer relationships. When businesses demonstrate efficiency in handling accounts receivables and provide excellent customer service, it enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. This, in turn, leads to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth referrals, contributing to the long-term growth and success of the organisation. Managing sundry debtors is essential for businesses to optimise cash flow, mitigate the risk of bad debts, and build strong customer relationships. By implementing effective credit control processes and monitoring payment patterns, businesses can ensure the financial stability and growth of their organisation. Sundry debtors in the balance sheet and trial balances In balance sheets, sundry debtors are presented within the current assets section. This categorisation aligns with their short-term nature, as they are expected to be settled within a year. Sundry debtors are also incorporated into a company’s trial balance. This document serves as a comprehensive listing of all balances in the general ledger, acting as a crucial step in the financial reporting process. When presented in the balance sheet, sundry debtors are typically reported net of any contra accounts, such as allowances for doubtful accounts. This adjustment accounts for the possibility that some such debtors may default on their payments, ensuring a more accurate representation of the business’s financial position. Effective management of sundry debtors plays a pivotal role in maintaining the financial health of a business. By ensuring prompt payment from customers, optimising cash flow, minimising bad debts, and fostering positive customer relationships, businesses can leverage sundry debtors to drive growth and profitability. Financial services CRM at LIKE.TG The financial services CRM at LIKE.TG can help businesses manage their sundry debtors effortlessly. It provides a centralised platform to track and manage all customer interactions, including sales, support, and marketing. With LIKE.TG, businesses can easily create and manage sundry debtor profiles, track and manage invoices and payments, and get real-time insights into their sundry debtor balances and ageing. This can help businesses streamline their sundry debtor management processes and improve their cash flow. In addition to its core CRM capabilities, LIKE.TG offers a number of industry-specific solutions, including LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud. This cloud-based solution is designed to meet the unique needs of financial services organisations, including banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud includes a number of features that can help businesses manage their sundry debtors, including: *Account management:** LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud provides a comprehensive view of each customer’s account, including their contact information, account balances, and transaction history. This information can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns and improve customer service. *Opportunity management:** LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud helps businesses track and manage sales opportunities, from initial contact to close. This information can be used to identify and prioritise the most promising opportunities and improve sales productivity. *Customer service management:** LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud provides a centralised platform for managing customer service interactions, including phone calls, emails, and chats. This information can be used to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently and improve customer satisfaction. LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud is a powerful tool that can help businesses manage their sundry debtors and improve their cash flow. By providing a centralised platform to track and manage all customer interactions, LIKE.TG Financial Services Cloud can help businesses streamline their operations and improve their bottom line.
Supercharge Selling With Trusted AI
Whether you’re a startup that has just landed your first customer or an enterprise with billions in revenue, AI can revolutionise your sales process and take your performance to new heights. The pressure on sales teams to perform and drive revenue growth is ever present. However, in a tough economic environment, there’s a greater focus on productivity. Success increasingly depends on the efficiency with which sales reps make decisions and move deals from prospect to close. Einstein 1 Sales makes it faster to do both with built-in data and trusted AI. It automates sales tasks and surfaces insights that guide sellers to close fast. Here, we unpack how Einstein 1 Sales can supercharge selling and share how Canva has optimised its sales process for productivity and growth. Trusted AI starts with a foundation of data Before we can talk about AI, we need to talk about data. Within most organisations, there’s a treasure trove of data that can help sales teams drive deals forward. There’s the typical information on accounts, leads, and opportunities within the CRM database. There’s information resulting from emails and video calls as well as clicks on the website or calls to the service desk. There are also external data signals from the news and social media. To fuel decisions and productivity, this data needs to be connected and that’s what LIKE.TG does with Data Cloud. Included in Einstein 1 Sales, Data Cloud harmonises and surfaces actionable insights in an organisation’s CRM. So sales teams get full pipeline visibility, forecast with confidence and unlock data driven upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Most importantly, with a strong data foundation in place, sales teams can unlock the insights and efficiencies made possible by AI. Einstein 1 Sales increases productivity across the sales process Imagine a world with no more manual tasks and having your own dedicated sales admin that takes notes, writes emails, conducts research, and updates your CRM so you can focus on your customers. Einstein 1 Sales brings sales teams closer to this world, providing opportunities across the sales process to increase productivity with AI. Take Einstein Copilot. A conversational assistant powered by generative AI, Einstein Copilot can answer questions, summarise and create content, interpret complex conversations, and dynamically automate tasks. Sales reps can ask Einstein Copilot for forecasting guidance and to flag deals that require attention in order to hit quota. They can ask for research and personalised action plans to close deals. Sales reps can also ask Einstein Copilot to draft emails and update opportunity records. Einstein Conversation Insights is another AI-driven solution that helps increase productivity and advance deals. It provides actionable insights from sales calls so reps can better understand customer needs and tailor their approach. It also identifies trending topics or areas of competitive risk. Sales Programs help increase revenue and efficiency Operationalising sales programs can help reps be more productive at scale. That’s why we have applied AI and automation to make this easier than ever. With Sales Programs, organisations can quickly launch programs to enter new markets, compete more effectively, or simply onboard new reps. Program resources and AI-powered coaching are delivered to reps in their flow of work. They can see exactly what they need to do to succeed and they have everything they need to perform those activities right in their CRM. Sales Programs also makes it easy for managers to set targets and track rep engagement. With program analytics, managers can also capture data needed to iterate on sales programs and continuously improve rep performance. Canva optimises sales process and prioritises AI Canva, the online visual communication and collaboration platform, has used Sales Cloud to optimise its sales process and supercharge selling to the enterprise. James Brady, Head of Strategic Accounts at Canva, said bringing all enterprise workflows onto LIKE.TG had been a huge focus and helped the team in a number of ways. “First, LIKE.TG speeds up our business processes. Secondly, it gives us a 360 degree view of our customers so we can better serve their needs. And finally, it gives our reps time back which they can spend with their customers,” said Brady. “One really exciting thing is we’re also integrating our own product directly into LIKE.TG. So soon reps will be able to generate an entire custom Canva presentation and autofill the LIKE.TG data in just one click,” he added. Brady shared that AI is a massive priority for the company, including within its own platform. It has launched Magic Studio, a suite of AI tools designed to empower teams to create compelling content at scale. The sales team is excited by the potential of applying AI to its own processes and about using Sales Cloud Anywhere to reduce swivel chair and access CRM data right from within email or when browsing the web. Learn more about how you can supercharge sales with trusted AI. Watch the on-demand session on LIKE.TG+ and download our report on Trends in Generative AI.
Supercharge Your Automation for Bigger Cost Savings & More Efficiency
Chances are your company has already spent time and money automating business processes that were once done manually. But that’s not enough to deliver the best customer experiences, biggest cost savings, long term growth, or greatest efficiency. What is? Intelligent automation. What is intelligent automation? Intelligent automation combines robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, data, and more to create an end–to-end process that can learn and adapt on its own. Organisations that have already moved beyond piloting intelligent automation achieved an average cost reduction of 32%, according to Deloitte’s most recent automation survey. Here we’ll cover how you can bring next-level efficiency to your business. Two-thirds of companies have implemented some task-based automation, which is the fairly simple automation of a single process within one business unit. For example, creating a service ticket, automatic credit approval, or automated email promotions. According to Matt McLarty, global field CTO and VP of the digital transformation office at MuleSoft, the task-based automations used at many companies today aren’t reusable, scalable, or sustainable enough to deliver the value that’s so important right now. That’s because they lack the context and sophistication that businesses need to truly transform their business and serve customers better. Some examples: a chatbot that doesn’t recognise a customer or their order history, and offers automated responses that don’t address the customer’s problem a meal kit service that can’t say why your box hasn’t been delivered because it has no visibility into the logistics provider an automated HR system that’s siloed from an employee success system. “A lot of the RPA solutions are very much focused on recording how a process works, and automating it,” McLarty said. “But if there’s an exception in that process, as there often is, all you’ve done is delay solving the problem by putting a bot between me and the person who will actually resolve my issue.” Intelligent automation provides context Intelligent automation provides context around your data so you get a deeper understanding of what’s happening. The context, which gleans meaning from images, text, and speech, detects patterns and can make recommendations, predictions, and decisions. Real-time connected data is a key to contextual automation, whether it’s internally automated business processes, or the ways in which companies automate interactions with partners and customers. We are in the relative early stages of this advanced automation, but it’s on the radar of many organisations. Deloitte’s survey found that AI is the next most desirable automation technology, with 46% planning to implement it in the next three years. How to identify new intelligent automation opportunities Once a company has delivered a handful of automations, the dividends tend to level off. That’s because the company is not able to easily identify new processes to automate, said Joe Surprenant, sales leader across Deloitte’s AI and Data Ops practices. Companies need to mine their data and processes to uncover these new opportunities. “Once you’ve exhausted heat maps and the idea box from process owners, you need a hybrid approach that includes both digital discovery tools and process expertise to identify the gaps,” he said. The technology that makes that possible is called process intelligence. It’s the data that’s collected to analyse the individual steps within a process or workflow, and can help an organisation identify bottlenecks and improve efficiency. While only about one in five companies surveyed by Deloitte use process intelligence (PI) today — several companies develop PI technologies — it is a fast-growing sector. “Process intelligence has opened up the eyes of many of our clients to show them things they did not know,” Surprenant said. For example, he said, one large company used process mining technology to analyse its end-to-end direct material purchasing process. The analysis identified steps in the purchase order maintenance process which had a higher manual activity and rework rate. This insight led to the development of a maintenance automation solution using a combination of RPA, business process management (BPM) workflow automation, and analytics, ultimately driving $40 million in annual savings. Another retail client used PI to uncover the root cause of a disconnect between the sales, payment, delivery, and return functions within its supply chain. These insights were leveraged to create a consolidated customer journey app to quickly trace and resolve issues across these functions. This led to a 23% reduction in order returns, $46 million sales risk mitigated, and 7% improvement in net promoter score. Process intelligence is beneficial in three ways: It digitises and accelerates the discovery of automation use cases. In effect, it automates automation. It provides an additional data point for what some business users suspect may be an area ripe for automation. It saves companies the time and money of hiring consultants to interview process owners to identify automation opportunities. What you need to think about Implementing more sophisticated, contextual automation is about much more than technology. Success requires a fundamental rethinking and re-engineering of your processes, all centred around your customers’ needs. McLarty, who works closely with customers on their digital transformations, suggested these first steps: Consider the end-to-end customer experience Map the entire customer experience, from end to end, how all those pieces are interconnected, and what customers need at each step. Most companies, he said, consider just one piece of the puzzle — commerce, service, or marketing, for instance — and automate just that one element. Real-time, connected data is a game changer in contextual automation. Next-generation customer data platforms integrate data from every customer interaction, from any system, channel or data stream, into a unified customer profile. Having this 360-degree view helps you see your customers in totality. For example, it helps you see how a service interaction with a customer impacts a marketing promotion for that customer. Meet your customers where they are, like never before With a real-time CRM, you can connect all customer data at scale, from any system or device, and harmonise it into a single view. Consider the technology that underpins a great solution Is your technology repeatable and scalable? You should seek tools that can uncover different processes to automate in your organisation. These tools extract the metadata from the process, and turn it into an automated workflow. MuleSoft is the enabling technology connecting data from any system or channel. “The automated solution has to have connections into the predictive analytics that are synonymous with artificial intelligence and all the data sources, so it can tell you everything you need to know,” said McLarty. It’s hard to overstate how transformative AI-based contextual automation will be. Surprenant said it will be equivalent to the cloud. “We’re not there yet,” he said. “But when we get over the curve to where companies are automation-first when they design business processes, and they’re truly embracing a digital worker mindset, it will be as big if not bigger than cloud.”
Tableau Live APAC 2021: Find Success Through Data
JY Pook leads the Asia-Pacific (APJ) region for Tableau, and is responsible for the region’s overall efforts to enable customers to supercharge their digital transformations by leveraging data and analytics. More from JY here. Having made it through a nerve-wracking period of turbulence and disruption, businesses in Asia-Pacific are now eyeing growth. Some are achieving this much earlier than others. Register for the Tableau Live Asia Pacific event, happening on May 11 2021, and you’ll meet people from some of those businesses. They include Macquarie Bank, Bentley, Mahindra Finance, Tokopedia, MYOB, Agoda, and Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta. These organisations have recognised the urgent need to transform, prepare for future shocks, meet customer experience expectations, and ensure every decision is informed by the most accurate real-time data. They realise data is essential to being agile and quick to recognise opportunities before their competitors do. They also understand that innovation is essential if they’re to use the right data in the right ways. Critical to part of the transformation journey is figuring out how to democratise that data and place the power of this strategic asset in the hands of everyone. To do that, a business must develop a true data culture. But how is this achieved? How does everybody across the organisation receive relevant data to make faster, smarter decisions and engage meaningfully with customers? As we’ll discover in detail during the Tableau Live Asia Pacific event, the answer lies in: Technology and innovation Behaviours around that technology, aka “data culture” Data culture is essentially the collective behaviours and beliefs of those who value data. However, data culture on its own is worth little. A business may be filled with people who value data, but who have no way to access it. Hence, the other essential ingredient in the recipe for data-driven success is technology. Typically involving artificial intelligence (AI), technology should automatically source the right data for the right person. This allows people to uncover relevant insights, operationalise accurate predictions, and make excellent decisions faster. Product innovation to democratise data for everyone At Tableau Live Asia Pacific, attendees will also discover entirely new ways to utilise the world’s leading analytics platform, Tableau, and uncover the depth of capabilities of the platform. At Tableau, we’ve had a relentless focus on how AI-powered analytics can democratise data across an organisation. We believe analytics needs to be accessible and easy to use for the ordinary user to deliver business impact. That’s accessing any data, anywhere for any user. The result is a real-time, dashboard view of relevant data that is customised for each and every individual within the organisation. With the assistance of AI, which collates and analyses the right data from the right sources, sales people see exactly what they need to see when they’re on a call. Marketing managers get real-time intelligence on current campaigns. Supply chain managers see how a current delay of raw materials in one part of the world will affect deliveries of manufactured goods in another. Rather than relying on static, historical data presented in spreadsheets, employees get a live feed of real-time, relevant data. They have the technology and they know how it makes them better at their work. That’s what the democratisation of data truly looks like. The value and power of a passionate community Data culture begins with community – a thriving, collaborative group of people who help each other and share knowledge. In the data analytics space, the Tableau Community is unrivalled. At Tableau Live Asia Pacific, you have the opportunity to join and meet members of our passionate community, and learn from each other at roundtables. You will develop an appreciation of data as a key strategic asset. You’ll also see how data creates high-trust and high-transparency environments that promote sharing, collaboration, and the success of others. Most importantly, you’ll begin to adopt a data and innovation mindset. One in which data and analytics become a catalyst for personal and organisational improvement. That’s a powerful step towards better decision making and future business success. We look forward to welcoming you into our community at Tableau Live Asia Pacific. Get to know members from Bentley, Mahindra Finance, Tokopedia, MYOB, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health Thailand, Agoda, Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta, and more. Register to find out how your business can become truly data-driven.
Technology & Trust – Marc Benioff at the Singapore FinTech Festival
Marc Benioff, LIKE.TG Chair and CEO, spoke yesterday at the Singapore FinTech Festival. The event is running all this week, and this year’s festival is focused on Web 3.0 and its impact on financial services. Marc was talking with Mike Gronager, CEO of Chainalysis, a crypto data company. The fireside conversation, ‘Trusted Enterprises in a Decentralised World,’ covered a range of topics, including trust, the future of work, and how technology will affect our future. Here are some highlights: Marc Benioff on the Trusted Enterprise: “What is really important to you? What is really important to you as a CEO? Ask yourself: is it trust, is it innovation, is it customer success, is it equality, is it sustainability? “At LIKE.TG we believe that nothing is more important than trust — the trust we have with all of our stakeholders. That is our customers, our employees, our partners, and our public shareholders. There’s nothing more important than trust for us. And so we have chosen trust as our highest value. “Our core values at LIKE.TG are trust, customer success, innovation, and the equality of every human being. Sustainability is also so important to us, so today we’re announcing a US$300 million fund that is a commitment to accelerate 1t.org, the trillion tree program.” Marc Benioff on how LIKE.TG is going to work in the future: “I think the future of work is really about five things: “The first thing is, we’re all working at home. I like working at home, but I like working in the office. I want to work at home, but I’ve never worked at home more in my life! I like seeing people in-person too! “Number two is having a digital headquarters. When I started LIKE.TG, I had a physical headquarters and physical space; I wasn’t 100% virtual. But we will use our offices again, as I did last week, for example. That’s why we use Slack to work together. We make all of our products ‘Slack-first’ because digital is going to be really important going forward — this virus is not going to be completely going away.” “Number three is, we will build a large corporate training facility. People can come in and learn the core LIKE.TG values and all about our products. “Fourth, we’ll do events and off-sites and programs. Last week, I held a dinner for 40 people at an incredible restaurant in New York. That was an event. And I’m going to have an off-site event soon where we all get together. “And the fifth thing is, a digital certificate that basically says, ‘I’ve been tested.’ It would tell us that we can get together safely. We have Health Cloud — we’ve modified it to include contact tracing, to include vaccine management. “Trust and safety are highly related values. So I would say it’s about physical, it’s about digital, it’s about giving people the ability to be enabled, it’s about events and off-sites, and it’s about safety. And that is, I think, the future of work.” Marc Benioff on how technology and trust go together: “We started with trust and we’re ending with trust. We’ve talked about new technologies. We could’ve talked about AI. We could’ve talked about the cloud. We could’ve talked about space. I think in all of these things, it’s going to come back to trust. Technology is never good or bad; it’s what you do with the technology that matters. And that’s true with business, too; it’s not that our businesses are good or bad businesses. Are we using our business as a platform for change? Are we using our business to actually improve the state of the world? Are we using these technologies to make things better, to repair the world? This is what it’s going to come back to — what are your values? What’s the most important thing to you?”
Thailand SMBs Turn To Tech as More Customers Interact Online
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of customers have found a new way to interact with small and medium businesses (SMBs). Increasingly, they are shifting their purchasing from in-store to online. LIKE.TG research shows consumers estimate their share of online versus offline interactions with companies has increased from 42% online in 2019 to 60% in 2020. In fact, 68% of consumers say they’re online more often than not. “The population is digitally savvy, but ecommerce is just starting to take off here,” says Nicolas Faquet, the CEO behind the most visited insurance website in Thailand, Roojai.com. “That is why Thailand is the right place for us to catch the wave that we believe is coming over the next 10 years.” For SMBs based in Thailand, finding the right technology to meet their needs is a key concern. This finding is highlighted in the fourth edition of the Small & Medium Business Trends Report. The report looks at how more than 2,300 global SMBs are evolving in the midst of change. These include SMBs from the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, among others. Technology drives 360-degree view of customer interactions According to the report, customers are still top of mind for businesses. However, it’s now more challenging than ever to meet new and changing customer expectations. Globally, 55% of SMB leaders say they’re more careful about their customer communications since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Forty-seven percent have expanded the ways customers can reach them. Further, 55% of growing businesses say technology drives their customer interactions. In Thailand, keeping up with demand is the top challenge SMB leaders face in meeting customer expectations. This is a challenge faced by 80% of Thailand’s SMB leaders. Other challenges include bringing innovative offerings to market and personalising customer engagements. “We launched Roojai.com on a traditional insurance platform, and we were using LIKE.TG as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool on top of that,” according to Faquet. “Very quickly, we realised how unreliable and painful that insurance platform was, and how much we were struggling to get things moving.” Implementing LIKE.TG technology has enabled Roojai.com to grow its visitors per month to 1 million – 10 times the amount of its closest competitor – on the strength of an enhanced customer experience. With Service Cloud, Faquet and his team have a full 360-degree view of their customers. This enables them to deliver more customised solutions and a high level of customer service. “From when the customer goes through the quote process, to when the customer buys a policy and then makes a claim, we have a full view of all interactions,” he says. “We are able to get so granular into the data set and can use it to optimise our marketing spend, and focus on the customer journey from origin to conclusion.” Expanding customer base remains key Beyond meeting customer expectations, the biggest challenge SMB leaders personally face when growing their businesses is acquiring new customers. Overall, 72%* of SMBs believe a centralised application to manage business functions like sales, marketing, and support would be helpful. Increasingly, they have started adopting technologies like CRM to improve customer experience. In Thailand, 77% of SMBs have a CRM system, with 37% implementing it within the past year. “Selling is science,” says Choonraki Singprasert, owner and managing director of Thai telecommunications company Riverplus. “You need detailed information to forecast and make sales. LIKE.TG gives us that information and helps us grow.” According to Singprasert, the business lacked an effective solution to manage sales and was losing customer data and leads whenever an employee left. With the implementation of LIKE.TG, the company has been able to use data to better engage with customers and identify cross-sell opportunities. “As a result of all of these activities, Riverplus has increased engagement with leads and customers and improved lead conversion by 30%. The company has also increased revenue by four times since using LIKE.TG, including two times growth in the first two years,” says Singprasert. The way forward for SMBs COVID-19 has caused a major shift in the way customers interact with businesses. Many are now comfortable with purchasing online. To prepare for the future, SMBs need to adapt and change the way they operate to meet the new customer expectations. This includes digitising customer interactions, offering contactless services, and adopting technology. To learn more about how SMBs are preparing for the future, download our latest Small & Medium Business Trends Report. The report is also available in Thai. *Data from March 2020 survey conducted by The Harris Poll among 2,411 global SMB leaders.
The 2024 Connectivity Benchmark Report: Key Trends Shaping APAC’s Digital Landscape
The latest data from IT leaders around the world reveals how AI, automation and APIs are driving business value and innovation, and where organisations still have work to do on their digital transformation efforts. Digital transformation isn’t just a trend. It’s a core shift to the business landscape, with IT leaders refining their strategies, headcounts and budgets to cater to growing customer expectations and project demands. The 2024 Connectivity Benchmark Report sheds light on the state of digital transformation worldwide, with the latest trends in AI, integration, automation and API management. So how do businesses in the APAC region measfure up in the evolving digital landscape? IT leaders are optimistic about AI The report reveals that 88% of organisations in APAC are already using AI, and adoption is continuing to grow. IT leaders in the region foresee an 89% increase in their usage of Large Language Models (LLMs) over the next three years, exceeding the 69% increase expected globally. Moreover, 86% are confident that AI will increase developer productivity at their organisations in that timeframe. This optimism is a good thing, considering they’re simultaneously reporting a 39% increase in IT requests. AI will play an essential role in sustaining productivity under these demands, helping IT teams to manage growing workloads and expectations both efficiently and cost-effectively. Organisations need to get their data ready for AI Despite the optimistic outlook, 69% of APAC IT leaders say their organisation is ill-equipped to harmonise data systems to fully leverage AI, with 82% pointing the finger at data silos as hindering digital transformation efforts. While this figure is lower than the 81% global average, organisations across APAC still have a way to go to break down silos and better integrate data across the business. Integration hurdles are blamed by IT leaders for stalling digital transformation for 82% of APAC organisations. Kurt Anderson, Managing Director and API Transformation Leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP explains, “A lack of integration is the top barrier to adopting emerging technologies, especially AI. And as demand grows for seamless, personalised customer experiences, the interoperability of systems is crucial for harnessing the full potential of data, AI, and automation. That’s why integration should be the cornerstone of every IT leader’s digital transformation efforts in 2024.” The potential of AI is limited only by the data that organisations can connect it to, and the outcomes they can drive from it. The report shows that IT leaders across APAC are increasingly aware of these integration and automation challenges, and underscores the need for a robust data strategy, with a focus on data currency, reuse and access. IT teams are under pressure, but workflow automation can help With 98% of APAC IT teams struggling to integrate efficiently, workflow automation emerges as a solution. Robotic Process Automation can drive efficiency and reduce the workload on IT teams. As automation is demanded across businesses, IT often plays a gatekeeper role, but workflow automation permits other teams to self-serve. The global investment in RPA is now 31%, up significantly from 13% in 2021, as IT teams realise its potential. Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) underwent its digital transformation with LIKE.TG and MuleSoft, integrating multiple back-end systems to streamline the end-to-end experience for its learners and administrators. Learners can now access courses with a single sign-on and automated processes encourage self-service and more efficient case management. APIs become a strategic lever for growth APIs are now a staple in the digital ecosystem, with 99% of organisations using them to streamline data access and fuel growth. In APAC APIs and API-related offerings contribute to 33% of all revenue. Furthermore, APIs have contributed to increased revenue for 41% of APAC respondents and cut operational costs for 27%. M1, Singapore’s most dynamic communications company, found its legacy on-premise API gateway was too labour-intensive and slowed down the delivery of new offerings. Supported by MuleSoft Professional Services, it migrated to a more agile solution in just 9 months and is now completing 13% more projects a year through API reuse, while saving 15 man-days per project. “I’m really excited about the scalability we have with MuleSoft. In a fast-paced industry, we now have the confidence that we can stay ahead of the game with a future-proofed environment and delight our customers as we grow our business,” says Chiam Chee Kong, Deputy Head of Software Engineering & Architecture at M1. With outlets in Thailand and Malaysia, popular retail brand Lotus’s chose LIKE.TG and MuleSoft to unify its systems and data so it can provide more personalised and streamlined customer experiences. MuleSoft’s API reuse and prebuilt assets helped it complete its digital transformation in just 14 months – half the time it allotted. “We knew that with MuleSoft as our API gateway and integration layer we would be able to be more agile and transform more quickly,” says Wiphak Trakanrungsi, Head of Technology Software Development and Innovation at Lotus’s. Digital transformation is the competitive advantage An enterprise API strategy that facilitates data integration across applications will empower leaders to accelerate innovation and operationalise AI to drive business value and growth for the future. Through revenue generation, operational cost reduction and the promotion of self-service, integration, automation and APIs will help businesses maintain their competitive edge in 2024 and beyond. Read the full 2024 Connectivity Benchmark Report for a comprehensive understanding of the digital transformation landscape in APAC and beyond.
The 5G Opportunity in ASEAN: How To Unlock Value For Your Business
It’s a pivotal time for ASEAN’s telecommunications industry with growing momentum behind 5G. Today, 5G is commercially available in several ASEAN countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia. What’s more, adoption is growing with 5G connections predicted to reach 430 million by 2025 across the broader Asia-Pacific region. The opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) and other businesses are huge. The high bandwidth, low latency, and massive scale enabled by 5G unlocks new possibilities in areas such as manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation. Of course realising these opportunities takes work. This is why the recent conversations around 5G have shifted from network rollouts to monetisation models and user experiences. Here, we shine a light on those conversations and where 5G is headed. 5G adoption driven by business need rather than speed 5G is potentially up to 100 times faster than its predecessor, 4G/LTE. However, speed alone is not enough to drive widespread adoption. Manoj Prasanna Kumar, Head, Technology, Enterprise 5G & IOT at Singtel, says businesses will adopt 5G for the same reason they adopt most technologies — to solve specific challenges. “Businesses will not upgrade to 5G just for a faster network. That’s why any discussion with the customer should start with the challenge they are trying to solve,” said Manoj. It is the resulting applications that will drive the need for 5G. Drones are a great example. They are increasingly popular in areas like facilities management, often used to inspect hard-to-reach areas and perform maintenance. To safely operate drones, the transfer of information between devices and operators must be as close to real-time as possible. This is where the need arises for high-speed, low latency, and reliability of 5G. MEC extends possibilities for 5G and mission-critical applications As businesses look to harness the full potential of 5G, they need to optimise other aspects of their infrastructure. For example, those wanting to deploy drones and other mission-critical applications may need to transform their network architecture and adopt multi-access edge computing (MEC). MEC provides cloud-computing capabilities that allow data to be processed as close as possible to the source. This ultimately reduces latency and speeds up data processing, both of which are important for applications like drones and autonomous vehicles. “What customers are most concerned about is scaling and securing their applications while knowing that their infrastructure and connectivity will not be an issue,” said Manoj. “What the market then needs is seamless infrastructure that extends from the customers’ edge to the cloud and can be accessed through any means of connectivity. This will provide a bedrock on which customers can confidently run their mission-critical applications.” 5G monetisation will require service providers to rethink business models 5G is still relatively new and CSPs are forming plans to monetise their 5G investments. Manoj suggests partnerships and revenue sharing will be key. “5G is not just about a higher order of connectivity. It represents a new global economy. I say this because as customers adopt 5G, they are looking forward to new business models from CSPs like pay-for-use and revenue sharing. They want to ensure that CSPs have skin in the game to solve the business challenges they are trying to solve,” said Manoj. On a more practical level, CSPs need to modernise their business support systems (BSS) for 5G. A recent survey from Nokia indicated that only 11% of CSPs who responded had sufficient BSS capabilities to support 5G monetisation. There is a need for CSPs to extend and revamp their BSS and IT stacks to enable rapid launch of new 5G offers and support new charging models. It is also important for BSS to support the growth of solution partnerships and ecosystems to deliver new digital customer experiences. That’s why LIKE.TG and Nokia have partnered to provide CSPs with the capabilities they need to launch and monetise 5G services faster. This offering builds on LIKE.TG’s Communications Cloud with integrated solutions from Nokia for service orchestration and monetisation, leveraging Nokia’s Digital Operations Center and Converged Charging platforms. “CSPs need to invest in systems that will give them the flexibility to charge customers based on different parameters. At the same time, there is a whole new ecosystem of developers creating apps and pre-integrated solutions CSPs should be tapping into. Through our partnership with LIKE.TG, we are helping CSPs capture every revenue opportunity from the 5G economy,” said Gustavo Duarte, Global Vice President, Presales and GTM Business Applications, at Nokia CNS. How 5G drives new use cases In terms of industry verticals, 5G will drive new use cases and applications, and promising verticals include Industry 4.0. These encompass factory floors, logistics, warehouses, smart city, and public safety use cases. From a horizontal perspective, video analytics, and AR/VR and Metaverse are areas where 5G capabilities are key to driving adoption. For example, on the factory floor, customers are exploring how video analytics can be used to detect faulty products as they emerge from the assembly line. Singtel’s Manoj also sees many use cases when video cameras become mobile, for example when mounted on automated guided vehicles (AGVs). “A typical AGV has about 8-10 cameras to offer 360 degree views to the pilot or the driver, likewise drones, robots which carry cameras…This is a key use case that may require low latency communications to back-end systems and video recording systems.” Manoj also sees strong potential in virtual reality and mixed reality use cases, including Metaverse use cases. “The enterprises we are speaking to are exploring how they can use Metaverse in their day to day operations,” said Manoj. As more rich and immersive content requiring low latency and edge computing resources are developed, the demand for 5G and MEC will increase. In summary, there is a huge potential for 5G across a wide range of use cases in Asia. 5G leaders such as Singtel are taking great strides in making these leading edge 5G applications a reality. At the same time, LIKE.TG and Nokia are enabling CSPs to deliver new customer experiences, and offering new charging and monetisation models that are integral to unlocking the potential for 5G.
The 8 Rules of Service Leadership
Service leaders are a key part of any organisation and in the current landscape their role is particularly important. It’s vital that service leaders have a strong understanding of current best practices and successful ways of working. What are the responsibilities of a service leader? The main responsibility of a service leader is to manage service teams and ensure that the tools and processes they use are efficient and effective. It’s a broad remit, involving not just people management, but process management. In practical terms, this translates to: Using forward planning to anticipate customer demands Handling the challenges posed by external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the pivot towards remote working Increasing customer engagement and satisfaction by improving internal procedures Why are service leaders important? An organisation’s product or service may be outstanding, but if the customer’s experience of it is subpar, everything else fades into the background. Satisfied customers become advocates. But dissatisfied ones are more likely to share their experiences and they have many channels to do so. Customer service is the backbone of any business, especially in the current moment. Customer-centricity has become a top priority. It’s down to service leaders to shape the reputation of their company by leading their teams effectively and developing intuitive, efficient processes for solving customer problems. The 8 rules of service leadership When coming up with strategies for creating effective service leadership, it’s important that service leaders keep some key principles in mind. We’ll call these ‘The 8 Rules of Service Leadership’. 1. Guide by example Aim to inspire the service teams you lead by acting as a positive role model and embodying company values in everything you do. An organisation’s ethics are becoming increasingly important to its customers and employees, and leaders should exemplify the qualities they want to nurture in the workforce. Additionally, the 4th edition of the State of Service report reveals that: 76% of service and support staff state that communication is very important 71% say that listening skills are very important 62% say that adaptability is very important It’s no surprise that agility is appreciated in a landscape littered with new obstacles. Soft skills like empathy and listening are prized in a potentially stressful climate. Service leaders who display these skills can guide by example. 2. Good solutions put the customer first Nearly every customer is digitally savvy, rapidly changing expectations for service. In fact, the State of the Connected Customer report shows that 82% of customers now expect to solve complex issues at first contact. Moreover, the 4th State of Service reveals that 83% of service teams have changed their policies to be more flexible with their customers. Ensuring that the customer is at the heart of everything you do – and communicating this focus to the teams you manage – will help you to make sound operational decisions in an increasingly customer-centric era. Developing new, customer-focused metrics is one way to raise the bar for great service. Consider KPIs based around satisfaction rather than volume. 3. Meet goals by leveraging smart data and connecting teams To get insights into what makes your customers tick, and what they want from you, you’ll need to use the data you collect intelligently. Consider using a data management system such as LIKE.TG Customer 360, which allows you to combine learnings from marketing, commerce, and service operations to meet your goals. If you are not implementing new technologies and leveraging data to keep up with the changing landscape, you are likely falling behind. The State of Service shows that: 81% of decision-makers are accelerating digital initiatives 87% of service professionals say that customers are using digital channels more 79% of service professionals say that it’s impossible to provide great service without a complete view of the customer’s interactions Service organisations can use digital solutions to smash silos and connect teams, and leverage AI technologies like Einstein Analytics to track the productivity of remote agents. 4. Motivate your team by empowering them to make decisions Rather than leading in a top-down way, make your teams feel that they are involved in a common goal of improving customer satisfaction. If employees feel that they have a stake in the processes they perform, they are more likely to make great decisions. You never know where the next great solution or game-changing suggestion might come from, after all. W.L. Gore, of Gore-Tex fame, even gives its employees ‘dabble time’ to brainstorm new ideas. More and more service organisations are embracing this idea of intrapreneurship or ‘mini-CEOs’, where data is democratised, agents can see their metrics in real time, and everyone can track company-wide goals and blaze their own path towards meeting them. 5. Communicate openly It’s important to make time to connect with your teams, and to listen to their feedback with an open mind. If you don’t know what challenges they’re facing, how can you help? A good place to start is by surveying your team to get an understanding of how they’re managing in this climate, both in the workplace and outside of it. At a time when 81% of agents describe their customers as being more anxious and 75% say they’re more demanding, service leaders need to try and lower the emotional burden on the workforce. When supporting employees through difficult times, such as returning to the workplace after the COVID-19 crisis, consider using Work.com. The Command Centre in Work.com offers businesses a range of tools and resources, including a contact-tracing tool that respects users’ privacy and sensitively gathers data. 6. Plan to invest in people Offering relevant training, including upskilling or reskilling, can help employees fulfil their potential and keep up with the changing expectations of today’s customer. The new normal requires new ways of working, so leaders need to make sure that their teams have the proper training to succeed. The State of Service shows that: 77% of agents say their role is more strategic than it was two years ago 55% say that they need better training to perform their role well 79% of decision-makers are making significant investments in agent training It’s clear that the role of reps is evolving. Fortunately, on-demand training programmes are becoming more popular, so service reps can skill up even while working from home. For today’s service leaders, investing in people is imperative. 7. Create a vision for continuous improvement Just because something has always been done a certain way, that doesn’t mean it’s the best way. Always look out for ways to improve and polish existing processes, and ask your teams to do the same. By adopting new strategies, implementing cutting-edge technologies and encouraging teams to share their own ideas for solutions, service leaders can create a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. The changes don’t have to be huge – even small changes can help to oil the gears of inspiration and innovation. 8. Strong direction is critical, especially in uncertain times Service teams need the right skills and strategies to succeed in a competitive landscape, but they also need strong direction. The uncertainty of the current climate demands leaders that can steer a ship towards shore, even through choppy waters. Building agility, nurturing a sense of purpose, and empowering the workforce with digital solutions can help today’s service leaders become world-class directors. As Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, once said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Leading towards a better future Both businesses and customers depend on effective service leadership – now more than ever. Having ineffectual or inefficient service leadership not only leads to dissatisfied customers, it can lead to an unmotivated workforce. Good service leaders inspire the workers, and they give them the tools they need to succeed. Put the 8 Rules of Service Leadership into effect today, and create a stronger workforce for tomorrow. To see more about how service leaders are adapting to today’s challenges, check out The Service Leader’s Guide to Resiliency.
The Dreamforce 2021 Magic Lives On — On LIKE.TG+
Dreamforce 2021 was filled to the brim with insights from industry experts, Trailblazer stories, product demos, inspiring keynotes, and entertainment. We enjoyed bringing this event to life and streaming it to screens around the world. But the fun doesn’t have to end. The sessions from Dreamforce 2021 are now available to watch on demand through LIKE.TG+. You can search for episodes by role, industry, and topic, so it’s easy to find the insights that are most relevant to you. Here are some of the event’s top moments that we think everyone should see: Marc Benioff makes the case for becoming a Trusted Enterprise One of Dreamforce’s can’t-miss sessions is the keynote address from LIKE.TG Founder and CEO Marc Benioff. Now more than ever, customers want to engage with businesses that are trustworthy, responsible, and good corporate citizens. Today’s businesses need to look beyond profit and think more about impact, Benioff says. He devoted his keynote to how businesses can meet these expectations and help the world address major crises like trust, inequality, workforce shifts, and sustainability. The Trailblazer community is key to finding solutions — so much so that Benioff referred to them as ‘Trustblazers’. How can businesses be the greatest platform for change? Learn more about the Trusted Enterprise from Marc Benioff here. LIKE.TG leaders shed light on the future of work in Asia Pacific During the Dreamforce Asia Pacific Takeover, top LIKE.TG leaders from the region gathered for a panel discussion. The group discussed the evolution of customer experience, how businesses in the region have adapted to the changes of the past two years, and the digital transformation imperative. “ASEAN has always been a growth region that is powered by the millions of local and international businesses we have here. COVID has impacted all of them in different ways, and each one continues to find different ways to emerge stronger after the pandemic. One thing is for certain, though: every company is facing a digital imperative. Our customers have realised they’re going to need digital transformation if they’re going to survive,” said Sujith Abraham, SVP and ASEAN GM. Although panelists joined from a variety of locations and spoke to local experiences, common themes emerged. They shared how businesses across the region accelerated their digital transformation agenda in order to keep customers and employees connected through work-from-home orders and lockdowns. Now that some countries are nearing vaccination milestones, the panel also shared how this transformation can continue to evolve for a work-from-anywhere world. As we look ahead to ‘The Great Reopening’ of businesses post-COVID, Abraham suggested that businesses in the region should see the lead up to reopening as an opportunity. He suggested businesses put in place strategies that support employee wellbeing and forge stronger connections between teams. All while supporting customers and exceeding their expectations. “For us, doing good is part of being a good business. And if you look at the research, it’s shown that strong corporate social responsibility practices not only improve business performance, but increase commitment, affinity and engagement of your employees. This in turn enhances job performance, increases productivity, and lowers attrition. And value creates value,” Abraham said. “That said, organisations need to find ways to maintain or reestablish their culture so their workforce has the ability to weather the disconnection that might come from working remotely.” The Asia Pacific Trailblazer community also came together for a virtual game show hosted by Leandro Perez, VP Asia Pacific Marketing. More than 100 Trailblazers from across the region shared their strategies for scoring Trailhead badges and celebrated their years of dedication to gaining new skills. Fun fact: Some participants have been part of the Trailblazer community for more than 10 years! Watch the Asia Pacific takeover here. ASEAN Trailblazers gave an inside look into their success The travel industry faced some of the most challenging disruptions over the past 18 months. Through it all, Singapore Airlines focused on how they could pivot to meet those challenges and keep innovating. Cecily Ng, AVP and GM, LIKE.TG Singapore, spoke with George Wang, SVP Information Technology, Singapore Airlines, about how the airline adapted to address customer expectations. Digital initiatives played a key role, allowing the company to implement contactless travel solutions to keep customers and employees safe during every stage of travel. Wang also shared how Singapore Airlines continues to innovate with its revamped member rewards platform and duty-free shopping experiences. You can view the full Singapore Airlines interview here. Retail was another industry that has undergone major changes in order to stay connected to customers. Tim Halaska, Regional General Manager, Digital Strategy, Toys“R”Us Asia, shared the experience of creating a digital strategy to better focus on its ecommerce platforms. Halaska shared that by bringing all sites onto the LIKE.TG platform, Toys“R”Us has been able to quickly scale up smaller markets online while having a consistent experience across locations. This has lowered barriers to entry and made integrating partners easier. Watch more Trailblazer stories over at LIKE.TG+. The public sector stepped into the spotlight For those working in the public sector, there are sessions available on-demand that reveal how governments and other public institutions can use technology and innovation to build strong and thriving communities. Using a digital-first approach, public sector organisations are realising new levels of success faster than ever. The session “Public Sector Success: Building Trust Through Transformation” reveals new public sector specific solutions being built. Public sector leaders from across the globe also made appearances at Dreamforce to share insights and expertise. This past year, all levels of government were challenged to meet evolving mission needs. The session “How Governments Are Building Thriving Communities Globally” dives deep into stories from public sector Trailblazers worldwide, including from the Asia Pacific. Tune in to learn best practices on how to adapt fast, respond, and serve. You can watch the full Asia Pacific Takeover and more Dreamforce highlights on demand at LIKE.TG+. Click here to learn more.
The Four Keys to the Future of Brand Management
There is more to a company than the product, there is the brand. Those five letters can turn any company into a market leader. Take Apple for example. According to CSI Market Research, there are dozens of competitors but Apple’s sales growth in Q2 2021 was almost 30 % higher than their competitors. Brand is not new, and its power is well understood. However, our future is not the past. So, how will brand management change in the future? Here are the four keys to brand management in the future. There are now 5 P’s to brand management The four “P’s”— price, product, promotion, and place — have long been the foundation for brand management. Now, we are witnessing the introduction of a fifth: Purpose. Consumers say they care about companies’ stance on topics like social issues and climate. They expect brands to be more than providers of goods; they want them to be active parts of their community. Consumers do more than say they want brands to be purposeful. They are putting their money where their mouths are. Literally! In 2019, sales of organic food amounted to US$106 billion, up from nearly US$18 billion in 2000. In the minds of consumers, top brands come and go. For example, Oscar Mayer, a global top 50 food brand for decades, fell from 19th place in 2018 to 30th place in 2021. Meanwhile, in Asia, new brands like Grab and Traveloka see explosive growth. Brands in the future must have a purposeful element. Brand storytelling shifts to collaborative story making Brands have long been about storytelling, but in our new world of infinite media, this tactic is fading fast. Take the UN for example. When COVID-19 hit, they wanted to tell the world to be safe. They could have done the usual: go to their agency, present a brief, and then make a campaign. Instead, they asked 13,000 artists to create messages and share on their personal social media channels. The result was 13,000 pieces of art, each driving significant engagement. The UN collaborated with the market to create the story, and by doing so, they produced a radically different result. Influencer marketing, user generated content, and co-creation are all tactical examples of this shift. The future of brand management is going to look more like community management than creative brainstorming. A shift from long planning cycles to rapid response units Branding campaigns are often large affairs. There is the period of research, followed by analysis, planning, and finally execution. Typically, this cycle is many months long. This timeline was appropriate for a world that moved at a slow pace, but not in our current and future worlds where we measure news and media cycles by minutes. For brands to keep up, they will need to shift their notion of branding from creative campaigns to responsive actions. Take Audi and GM for example. During the 2021 Super Bowl, GM aired a campaign that picked on Norway and electric cars. Within 48 hours, Audi, the number one seller of electric cars in that country, responded with a TV advertisement. The response went viral, and spread across the globe in under 24 hours. The Fast Advertising Alliance interviewed the Audi team and asked if they would do this type of rapid response again. The Audi team simply said, “Yes!” The shift from experiences to outcomes Brands have long been focused on experiences. Yet, new research shows this is coming to an end. Yes, experience will always matter, but how brands are viewing experiences are changing. Why? This quote from a recent interview with a Chief Customer Officer at a leading SaaS company explains it best. She said, “We have happy customers with great experiences leave all the time, while we have many unhappy ones stay. The difference is the outcomes they receive.” Experiences are only the methods brands use to ensure outcomes are more easily achieved. If no outcome is achieved, it doesn’t matter how frictionless or beautiful it was. I’m seeing many brands even degrade the power of Net Promoter Score and replace it with Time To Value (TTV). The new north star of TTV helps brands focus on key customer desires, and then only focus on the key experiences that help produce the outcomes customers want. The brands that are able to produce outcomes faster and more efficiently will win in the future. The future of brand management In the future, brands have to perform across a fractured landscape of physical, digital, and virtual worlds. Each place will require different techniques, yet the methods will remain consistent. Brands must shift away from storytelling to collaborative story making. In doing so, they must also embrace fast advertising, and favour rapid response over laborious planning. When they engage the market, they need to understand they are being judged on how they show up, and must embrace a purposeful position. Being purposeful in your advertising is only one facet, brands must be holistically purposeful as transparency only increases in the future. Brands projecting good as a facade will lose trust with their market, and quickly be replaced. Brands that make these shifts will be best suited to meet future consumer needs and get good market returns. Download the State of Marketing report to stay updated on the latest marketing trends and insights.
The Future of Commerce – Connected Data, Headless, and More
If 2020 was a year of turbulence for commerce, the future of commerce is all about momentum. The mass acceleration to digital has changed the customer experience forever, providing more channels, choices, and flexibility. But each new offering sets the customer expectation bar a little higher, increasing the pressure on companies to deliver more at a faster pace. To help teams prepare for what’s ahead, Lidiane Jones, LIKE.TG’s executive vice president and general manager of Commerce Cloud, offers her perspective on the future of commerce. How has commerce changed over the last year? Our customers are turning away from traditional channel planning and embracing a digital-first approach that brings more flexibility. Digital is also leading our customers to use their physical spaces in more intentional ways. In automotive, for example, dealers can know a lot about customers who research vehicles online before they ever walk through the door. As I mentioned at Dreamforce 2021, digital transformation is here to stay and commerce teams are betting on customer-centric experiences throughout all of it. Even B2B sellers are trying to understand the end user of their products. That’s not just to develop a better relationship with buyers, but to understand the feedback from their customers’ customers. The key to all of this is data. More and more, companies are looking for full ownership of their data to get true insight into what shoppers or buyers want. How can brands take the buying experience to the next level in 2022? I recommend that brands step back, figure out their unique value proposition, and then apply the right strategy that will capture customers and keep them coming back for more. Building a great customer loyalty program is an important trend, but the approach depends on the brand. For some companies, sustainability is important. Their customers want to know if the brand is socially responsible. In other cases, it is about promotions or other financial incentives. It can also be about personalised experiences or social connections, like what brands a shopper’s friends are considering. That could be a very different approach for some brands. How are teams preparing for the future of commerce? Our Commerce Cloud customers talk a lot about choice and flexibility, which is something a full headless commerce implementation offers. More and more, commerce teams are moving away from traditional architectures and choosing headless because it gives them the freedom to be agile and deliver compelling experiences faster across any kind of engagement channel, from social to mobile. Over the last 12-18 months we’ve focused on building the tools our Trailblazers need to build a connected experience where data is at the centre of everything. Creating those highly personalised experiences across the customer journey can be really challenging. So, we are excited to give our customers the chance to deliver the most complex interactions with LIKE.TG CDP. Speaking of planning, we’re getting close to the holiday shopping season. How can brands prepare for spikes in demand? Profitability during peak shopping periods is all about preparation. Two things are top of mind for our customers. First, when you hit that peak demand, you’re wondering, “Will I have enough products? Will I have the right inventory to fulfill those needs?” You never want to be over or under. You want to be as close to what your demand is as possible, so having the data and tools to plan is essential. The second thing is, “Am I going to be able to deliver in time for the customer’s needs?” A lot of shoppers wait until the last minute to order. With our location-based inventory capabilities, our focus has really been anchored to helping customers plan inventory effectively. They need to be prepared for what their demand is going to be and then optimise delivery times so they can meet consumer expectations in a cost effective way. Beyond retail, what online buying trends do you see next year for other industries? If you want to sell digitally with confidence, you have to be as immersive as possible. That’s why we’re seeing an incredible acceleration in emerging technologies. In automotive and manufacturing, we’re seeing a huge adoption of 3D virtual reality (VR) capabilities to help people research what they want to buy. Video selling for furniture is another example. You actually want to talk to someone before you buy a very expensive piece of furniture. Another fast-growing trend is the innovation across payments. If you are trying to buy a product that’s really expensive, or if you’re making a large B2B purchase, you want more flexibility in your cloud cash flow. Giving customers new payment options is a smart way to build repeat business and customer loyalty. Speaking of social responsibility, how can brands become more sustainable and use this as a competitive advantage? We have the responsibility and the opportunity to build businesses that are more sustainable. Net Zero Cloud gives companies a better view of how sustainably they’re running their businesses. Commerce teams specifically worry about keeping waste to a minimum. A waste of inventory is a waste of resources. It’s more than a matter of financial hardship. We’re excited to create opportunities for environmentally conscious brands that want to adapt their business models to operate more sustainably. The trend in retail, for example, is to buy products back and resell them. Some brands have customers who are really passionate about this. It’s become a great revenue source. But more importantly, it’s an embedded strategy that supports sustainability in a genuine way. LIKE.TG Commerce Cloud empowers you to create seamless ecommerce experiences that inspire and convert today’s connected shoppers. Learn more about Commerce Cloud. This post originally appeared on the US-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
The Future of Commerce: How Brands Can Serve Customers Where They Are
The world of commerce has evolved significantly in recent years. As digital commerce continues to boom, customers are also increasingly returning to in-person experiences. This trend is expected to continue globally and in the ASEAN region for the next few years. So, how can businesses respond to the complex demands of today’s customers? To better understand the commerce landscape in 2022, LIKE.TG analysed shopping behaviour from websites that use the Commerce Cloud platform. We also surveyed over 4,000 global commerce professionals in this research. Here are the key insights and learnings from the latest State of Commerce report to help you provide better service to your customers. 1. Deliver a seamless omnichannel experience The pandemic has accelerated the shift toward digital-first commerce. Revenue from digital channels continues to grow across Southeast Asia. This is prompting businesses across industries to invest in new digital channels, with even business sellers now planning for an ecommerce-focused future. Many commerce organisations are already developing strategies for emerging channels like TikTok, digital storefronts, and the metaverse. This expansion in channels comes with its own challenges. In Singapore, respondents ranked channel conflicts as their second biggest challenge. Buying journeys are becoming more complex, with B2C consumers engaging across an average of nine touchpoints when interacting with a company. This is making commerce increasingly complex and distributed. Despite these challenges, businesses should focus on expanding their digital channels to meet customer expectations across every pre-sale and post-sale touch point. This is reflected in the fact that globally 69% of digital leaders say they’ve invested in new digital channels over the last two years. The adoption of new channels can help a business prepare for disruptions like supply chain shortages and inflation. Even B2B organisations can benefit from expanding their digital channels, as buyers become more digital than ever. The biggest benefits of digital channels to business sellers are improved customer satisfaction, expansion into new regional markets, and growth to their customer bases. As this trend in distributed commerce evolves, businesses are required to continuously invest in providing a seamless experience across channels. 2. Make informed decisions driven by data Commerce organisations across the world are firmly focused on putting data into action. In Singapore and Thailand, a majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their organisations were effective at using data — to acquire new customers, automate processes, and connect commerce to other areas of their business. However, the increasing digitalisation of commerce faces a few challenges, from tightening global regulations on data protection, to reducing the use of third-party cookies. More than one-third (36%) of global respondents said they are investing in first-party data strategies to address some of these challenges. As buying journeys become more complex, collecting data across all channels is no longer sufficient. Businesses need to combine their data to help their teams make well-informed decisions quickly. By using data to understand customer behaviour and develop marketing or business strategies, businesses can build customer trust and gain a significant competitive advantage. 3. Focus on flexible fulfilment and the post-purchase experience With customers increasingly prioritising convenience when choosing brands, organisations are now focused on offering flexible fulfilment. Nearly all B2C sellers globally offer at least one convenient fulfilment option, such as buy online-pickup instore (BOIS), curbside pickup, or fast shipping. Even business sellers are now offering the same flexible fulfilment options to their customers. This is prompting organisations to focus more on the optimisation of the entire fulfilment journey, with 44% of global respondents saying this will be a key priority. The demand for customer convenience is also leading to a growing range of offered payment options. More than half (52%) of respondents in Singapore and Thailand say they accept Apple Pay while 54% accept buy-now-pay-later instalment plans. Over one-third (37%) of other respondents plan to offer these options within the next two years. 30% are already accepting cryptocurrency, while half of the respondents say they plan to accept cryptocurrency in the future. As customers seek flexibility across options, it is more important than ever for businesses to focus on delivering a seamless and simplified experience. How is your business adapting to the changing commerce landscape? Today, commerce organisations have to navigate a complex world of shifting customer expectations, expanding sales channels, and evolving data challenges. By leveraging the power of data across channels, businesses can build a sound strategy to deliver exceptional customer experiences and increase their profitability. This is how they can meet customers where they are.
The Future of Personalisation: Creating Moments of Mutual Value With Data and AI
Customer indifference is at an all time high. Brand loyalty doesn’t exist in the same way it did in the past and customers want more than another email with a 20% offer. To put this in context, email and SMS volume has increased 70% over two years, and in-app messaging has seen a 283.3% increase. Yet, the performance of a typical promotional campaign is down 10-20%. These trends combined with declining ecommerce and a cookieless future all point to the need for a strategic shift in how marketers engage their customers. Our observations and studies of customer engagement data from some of the world’s biggest brands suggest a moment orientated growth strategy is key and the next step in marketing maturity. Embracing a moment orientated growth strategy Marketing has traditionally been channel or journey orientated and success has been measured the same way. However, looking at individual channels and conversion rates is not a customer-centric form of measurement. It’s also not as effective as delving into causality and understanding the cause-and-effect relationships between variables. A moment orientated growth strategy is different and focuses on engaging customers in very brief, and yet predictable periods in time. To better understand what we mean by moment orientated, it’s helpful to look at how we define personalisation: So what does this look like in practice? Imagine leaving a concert or sporting event and before you even get to your car or train, you receive an email to thank you for attending and to suggest related events you may want to attend in the future. Or imagine ordering a new pair of shoes online and the day they arrive, you receive an email to check if they’re the right fit and, if necessary, guide you through the return process. What we see with these use cases is how marketing is shifting from a model based on interruption to a model based on interception. Instead of interrupting the customer experience and degrading channel performance, marketers can intercede with moments of mutual value. These moments strengthen brand preference, loyalty, and advocacy, and can have a causal impact on customers’ future value to the brand. A new approach to marketing personalisation Every customer persona or value segment buys and behaves differently, and this is why personalisation is so hard. Personalisation engines—like Marketing Cloud Personalisation—can help but an effective personalisation strategy relies on a solid foundation of data. This is where Data Cloud comes in. It connects marketing, commerce, sales, service, revenue, and campaign performance data into unified profiles that marketers can use to quickly create target audience segments and activate them across channels. Data Cloud also enables identification of lookalike audiences and dynamic personalisation based on real-time signals and behaviours. Combining these capabilities with data science, you can start to predict customer behaviour and deliver those moments of mutual value that propel engagement and spend. Of course in doing all of this, it is crucial to strike the right balance between privacy and personalisation by implementing transparent privacy practices, obtaining informed consent, and using data responsibly. Taking data-driven marketing to new heights Marketers are already dipping their toes into the water when it comes to personalisation and creating meaningful moments to deepen customer relationships. The challenge is then shifting to a data-driven personalisation strategy that delivers trust, and adaptability at scale. Organisations also need help prioritising long-term customer equity goals with short-term revenue targets. Until now, efforts to scale personalisation have typically been deprioritised. However, with the emergence of Gen Y consumers and their ever-changing, sometimes erratic, buying behaviour, brands are experiencing a reckoning like never before. Slow and steady is no longer cutting it, and brands are being forced into more transformational efforts as they pertain to personalisation. In this new era, marketing requires a level of data science and application of machine learning and predictive analytics. So rather than marketing to audiences based solely on personas, you can tailor your strategy based on an understanding of how those personas engage with your brand. You can also observe and predict purchasing patterns, and intercede in those moments that most impact customer lifetime value. This includes the post- purchase phase where the experience a customer receives significantly influences their decision to purchase again. To do this effectively, marketing teams need data skills and also need to rethink how they measure customer experience and business outcomes. Creating a personalisation pod within your business can help. These pods bring together functional experts to focus on specific points in the customer lifecycle and develop use cases that can be applied to different products or divisions. In this way, you can start to really scale your personalisation strategy to unlock growth.
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