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B2B vs B2C Ecommerce: What’s the Difference?
B2B vs B2C: what are the biggest differences and why does this matter?
B2B ecommerce used to be a simple thing: businesses would just put up a website and wait for their customers to come. Now, those days have gone the way of VHS tapes and answering machines.
Today’s ecommerce world is a place of:
24/7 seamless engagement
personalised communication
omnichannel customer experiences
Businesses don’t sit back and wait for something to happen — they reach out and meet their customers in their favourite spots. This is the anytime, anywhere world of B2C e-commerce, at least.
The B2B e-commerce world still conjures up thoughts of that dusty website, checking its watch and wondering where everyone is. This is changing, though, as today’s B2B buyer is just as digitally savvy as their B2C counterpart — and they expect the same exceptional service. When it comes to B2B vs B2C e-commerce, the gap in service is narrowing.
Let’s take a look at B2B vs B2C e-commerce, and come up with some ways that B2B organisations can offer elevated e-commerce experiences.
What’s the difference between B2B ecommerce and B2C ecommerce?
B2B stands for ‘business to business’ while B2C is ‘business to consumer’. B2B ecommerce utilises online platforms to sell products or services to other businesses. B2C e-commerce targets personal consumers. A company that sells office furniture, software, or paper to other businesses would be an example of a B2B company.
B2B ecommerce tends to be more complex than B2C ecommerce. It involves heavier research, more needs-based purchasing, and less marketing-driven buying. Many B2B buyers have very tight parameters around the purchases they can make. This means that traditional revenue drivers like add-ons don’t have the same impact. B2B organisations didn’t have much of an incentive to optimise their customer journey but this is changing in the current climate.
Why is B2B ecommerce more complex than B2C ecommerce?
Here are a few reasons why B2B e-commerce is more complex than B2C:
B2B buyers have to consult with multiple departments before purchasing, while B2C consumers only have to consider themselves.
B2B buyers look at the long term, which means they spend more time researching and sourcing recommendations. The B2C customer is more prone to impulse buying or emotionally driven purchases.
B2B buyers deal in high-value purchases, so any misstep is magnified. Small-value B2C purchasing errors are much less impactful.
B2B buyers are generally repeat purchasers, so organisations have to consider the long-buyer lifecycle. B2C consumers will often only buy a product once.
Since B2B buyers are making buying decisions for entire companies, they have a tighter remit than B2C customers.
Tips to improve your B2B e-commerce platform and provide a B2C-level experience
While B2B e-commerce may be more complex — and the needs of the buyer different – that doesn’t mean those buyers don’t expect the same level of service. Personalisation has been a boon for B2C, but it can be for B2B as well.
Building personal relationships is crucial, especially during the buying cycle. According to the LIKE.TG State of the Connected Customer report, 72% of business buyers expect vendors to offer personalised engagement.
B2B organisations need to make the most out of every opportunity to connect with their target audience, display a differentiator, and highlight their brand. Here are a few ways that businesses can boost their B2B e-commerce experience:
Create an omnichannel experience
Today’s savvy consumer expects a seamless experience across touchpoints. The business buyer does as well, as 75% of buyers say that they expect vendors to have connected processes. In the same eBook, Transforming the B2B Sales Function, nearly 70% of buyers say that they now expect an “Amazon-like” experience.
Creating an omnichannel experience is a win/win. It enables customers to engage on any channel and offers businesses a wealth of data to better understand their customers.
Offer 24/7 customer support
Since B2B deals with large orders and complex processes, it’s important to offer robust customer support at every stage of the journey. Consider implementing chatbots for 24-hour customer support.
It’s also likely that the B2B buyer has already done some heavy research before approaching (another difference in B2B vs B2C), so consider creating an FAQ section that could answer questions.
Review the checkout process
While offering 24/7 customer support is important, it’s also important to allow customers to help themselves. According to a McKinsey report, 76% of B2B buyers find it helpful to speak to someone when they’re researching a product or service, but only 15% want to speak to someone when reordering. Offering one-click reordering, or even recurring subscriptions, can improve customer satisfaction.
Provide informative content
Since B2B e-commerce purchases aren’t as emotionally driven as B2C e-commerce purchases, it’s important to provide detailed information about products and services. Businesses can implement FAQs, community forums, video demonstrations, live chat, and more.
Another difference in B2B vs B2C is that the B2B buyer will expect their salesperson to thoroughly understand their industry and be well-equipped to answer difficult questions.
What’s next for B2B ecommerce?
Today’s B2B buyers may have higher expectations, but that just means that B2B organisations have to evolve to meet them. This is an opportunity for B2B companies to become more agile, responsive, and connected. And with a Forrester Report stating that 83% of B2B businesses expect to increase their e-commerce sales over the next three years, it’s also an opportunity to grow. When it comes to B2B vs B2C, the clear winner is the customer.
What Is Digital Transformation? An Introduction
Since the onset of the pandemic, businesses all over the world have pivoted to digital with unprecedented speed. While this transition was hastened out of necessity, the convenience and flexibility that came with it has created a new set of customer expectations.
As we head into 2022, successful businesses now know that the only way to meet these expectations is by adopting a customer-centric mindset. The best way to place customers at the centre of everything is through digital transformation.
The latest research confirms this. Eighty-eight percent of customers expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives due to the pandemic. Digital experiences are of particular interest to younger generations, with 76% prioritising convenience over brand.
So, what exactly is digital transformation and how can businesses start the process?
Defining digital transformation
To put it simply, digital transformation is a reimagining of business for the digital age. It involves adopting digital technologies to create or modify processes across all areas of your business, whether internal or customer-facing.
Digital transformation crosses silos and departments. It isn’t limited by the size or scope of your organisation. From larger, established brands to small businesses starting out, digital transformation can be the most effective way to future-proof your organisation. While it’s a fluid, evolving process, you can start transforming right now.
To further understand digital transformation, it’s helpful to differentiate it from similar terms. Digitisation is the conversion of data from analog to digital. Think of a physical handwritten spreadsheet becoming an Excel file.
Digitalisation, however, is harnessing digital information in ways that simplify and streamline established ways of working. It’s not changing the way you do business as a whole, but it increases your operational efficiency. For example, point-of-sale software in the retail space, which greatly speeds up the established transaction process.
Digital transformation not only overhauls the way business is conducted, but in some cases it creates brand new classes of business. For example, the way Netflix went from a DVD delivery service to a revolutionary digital content channel. This sparked a legion of imitators and disrupted both the video rental and film and television industries.
The many benefits of digital transformation
Digital transformation can positively impact your business on almost every level.
On the consumer side of the equation, it gets you closer to the individual customer and their unique needs, which leads to increased satisfaction and repeat business. By the same token, it often allows customers to take a more active and autonomous role in the buying experience (such as through self-service options).
On the employee side, digital transformation enables efficient processes; allows access to powerful systems, data and analytics; and fosters new levels of collaboration and connection. All of which are highly empowering to the working individual.
Digital transformation provides a foundation for innovation, and allows for further development as your business evolves. For example, setting up an online store, then as time goes on, adding an augmented reality showroom.
As digital transformation is a fluid, ongoing process that can expand and morph alongside market demands, your business benefits from future-proofing.
These are just a number of the many benefits that digital transformation will bring to your organisation.
Is it time to start your digital transformation journey?
A number of factors can determine whether you’re ready to implement a digital transformation strategy.
You may have sensed a recent drop-off in referrals, especially since the pandemic. Repeat business numbers may have also dipped.
Perhaps your previous tried-and-true methods of promoting your business are no longer generating new leads.
Internally, you might be facing an increase in complaints from employees and teams over communication and collaboration issues. Perhaps these are problems that can’t be easily resolved due to physical separation or clashing hybrid-work schedules.
Perhaps most glaringly – your systems, whether technological or otherwise, may feel dated. Your employees may be requesting features or processes that you can’t provide … yet.
If one or more of these factors ring true for you, it’s time to start a conversation about digital transformation.
I’m ready for the conversation. What now?
The best way to start your digital transformation journey is to get your team together and brainstorm. This brainstorm should involve a forensic audit of your processes, operations, employee and customer experiences, and existing technologies. Look for weak spots such as gaps, inefficiencies, disconnections, and difficulties.
Once you have considered every angle, you can start creating your strategy.
How? The answer’s coming up in the next article in this digital transformation series.
For a deeper dive into how to get started on digital transformation, read our digital transformation guide.
Master Your Marketing: How To Convert More Leads With Pardot
One of the primary goals for any small business leader, or marketer, is to generate new leads and grow their business. With so much communication going on in the digital space, how do you identify the marketing tactics that generate real returns?
The answer is automation. By employing marketing automation like Pardot, you can expect to grow your business by up to 30%.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, businesses all across the ASEAN region have been adapting quickly to the digital revolution. But to succeed in a competitive market, you have to excel. According to research conducted by LIKE.TG, 80% of customers value brand experience as much as products. Small and growing businesses will need to deliver personalised messaging across channels to stay competitive.
One of the major stumbling blocks many small businesses face is their systems make it difficult for sales and marketing teams to work together. Often, activities end up being duplicated. This can lead to confusion for the customer, especially if they receive inconsistent messaging from the same company. With Pardot, sales and marketing teams can sync their activities, reduce duplication, and speed up the sales process.
With that in mind, here are six ways that Pardot can help you convert more leads:
1. Take advantage of real-time data
It’s long been accepted in the sales community that ‘speed to lead’ is vitally important. Our own research tells us that 83% of customers expect to engage with someone immediately when contacting a company. Not all systems allow this kind of speed.
Marketing leads gathered by Pardot can be worked on straight away, giving your sales team the advantage. Submissions made via online forms are added in real time to your CRM, allowing sales teams to get a headstart on qualifying and converting leads. Imagine how many more leads you could convert if you contacted leads within a few hours, or even minutes, rather than the next day.
2. Prioritise with automatic lead scoring
Leads gathered by a simple email system are often dealt with in the order that they arrive in the salesperson’s inbox.
Pardot, however, can automatically score and prioritise leads based on their activities prior to submitting a form. Prospects can be ranked based on a whole range of metrics. For example, which ad they clicked on, which pages on your website they looked at, and their engagement with any email communication they may have received. This means that your sales teams can contact the top ranked, most engaged leads first, before your competitors.
3. Nurture leads for the future
Not all customers who fill in a web form are ready to buy. If a member of your sales team calls a lead who isn’t in a position to make a purchase, they might get pushed to the bottom of the list.
What if all that prospect needed was a little more information, and a little more warming up? Without integration between sales and marketing, leads who don’t immediately buy might never see any marketing messages. Pardot allows sales teams to pass unresponsive leads back to marketing for nurturing. It also allows salespeople to send marketing-approved email campaigns.
4. Personalise your messages with dynamic engagement builder
Without a dynamic system like Pardot, creating personalised marketing messages for each contact can be difficult. Fifty-two percent of customers expect offers to always be personalised, and this number is rising.
Pardot makes personalised, always-on marketing possible. Sales teams can effortlessly build tailored campaigns with marketing-curated content, meaning deals can be closed faster. Marketing teams can send bespoke communications to leads based on their profile, their position in the marketing funnel, and their engagement with the business so far. By offering powerful segmentation tools, linked to your CRM data, Pardot allows both sales and marketing teams to target exactly the right customers at exactly the right time.
Bangkok-based abrasives company SmartCost used Pardot to drive a 40% increase in conversions. Pardot is integrated with Sales Cloud and Service Cloud to track all emails sent to customers. “Pardot helps us design content that relates to customers’ interests,” says Krittakorn Wongsuttipakorn, Founder and CEO. “Our sales team can analyse data collected in LIKE.TG and prepare information based on the customer’s interest before calling or visiting the customer.”
5. Optimise campaigns with marketing analytics
To understand whether your efforts are working, you need to measure the performance of your campaigns. Pardot’s out-of-the-box analytics tools give you all the information you need to understand your returns on investment. This information can be fed back into campaigns, driving higher and faster conversions.
IT solutions company Riverplus has seen a 30% increase in lead conversion since using Pardot. It has also seen a 300% increase in revenue since adopting LIKE.TG. As Choonrakai Singprasert, Owner and Managing Director, says, “Selling is science. You can’t rely on what you think; you need detailed information to forecast and make sales. LIKE.TG gives us that information and helps us grow.”
6. Give sales teams a live engagement history
For sales teams to get the best out of each interaction with their leads, they have to have all the information they need at their fingertips.
Pardot saves the entire customer engagement history, and makes it available to the salesperson wherever they need it – in the office, or out on the road. Before a call, or a meeting, the salesperson can review the customer’s history, and use that information to make their interactions more personalised and relevant. This history is updated in real time. It is also integrated with your CRM to ensure that every team has the information they need.
Achieve rapid return on investment
Pardot integrates with all of LIKE.TG’s advanced solutions. Therefore, as your business grows, your processes can grow with you. Of course, you need to know that your investment is going to provide you with the returns to make it worthwhile. The Pardot team have you covered: take a look at our Time-to-Value Guide for Small and Medium Businesses.
For more insights, watch our webinar ‘Master your Marketing: How to convert hot leads amidst distraction’. We discuss all the benefits of marketing automation to help your small business grow at record speeds.
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.
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?”
5 IT Challenges and How To Overcome Them With MuleSoft
MuleSoft has been part of the LIKE.TG family for over three years. It helps organisations innovate faster by making it easy to connect any application, data source, or device. It does this with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Nearly 90% of business and IT leaders agree that the role of IT has become more important in the last 12 months. Priorities for the coming year will be dominated by enhancing operational efficiency, creating better connected customer experiences, and improving productivity.
The last two years have seen a remarkable acceleration in digital transformation. There have been rapid changes in customer expectations, and seismic shifts in the ways that organisations and their employees work.
There are many barriers to becoming a more effective digital organisation. Here are five of them, and how you can overcome them with MuleSoft:
Integrate legacy data and siloed information
Over two-thirds of organisations have said they find it hard to make changes due to legacy IT. That challenge is even bigger for healthcare (76%), insurance (72%), and public sector (74%) organisations.
When it comes to the public sector, 95% say it’s difficult to modernise their legacy IT systems without disrupting mission-critical processes.
In an attempt to overcome these challenges, many organisations are operating in what Siddharth Rastogi, VP LIKE.TG/MuleSoft South East Asia, calls a “swivel-chair type of model”.
“Imagine an agent who (swivels) across multiple data sources to respond to a customer,” explains Rastogi. “They are trying to gather all the information in one view so they can engage with the customer. The problem is that much of that information may be locked in legacy systems and spread across silos.”
With MuleSoft, the “swivel” stops. Data can be extracted from any application or system with APIs and unify data to deliver a single, 360-degree view of the customer.
Also, data can be integrated without disrupting mission-critical processes.
“This has been a common challenge for organisations that are building new services or products while wanting to keep their usual engines running,” says Rastogi.
“The nature of MuleSoft means those everyday activities can continue in a secure and sustainable fashion. At the same time, organisations can experiment with new products and services separately. These functions can happen simultaneously.”
Drive greater productivity
MuleSoft research shows the need for greater productivity is the driving factor behind why organisations align their IT teams and business teams. Nearly all organisations surveyed implement automation initiatives to improve productivity. However,79% of IT decision makers say that integration challenges are holding them back from improved operational efficiency.
“Part of what makes MuleSoft so powerful when it comes to productivity,” says Rastogi, “is the notion of a composable enterprise. This means an enterprise can break down its data and functionality into building blocks that can then be reused to make new capabilities.
“These building blocks can be found again in the future. You can then reuse any number of these blocks to make something new. This notion of discoverability and reuse is fundamental to MuleSoft’s model.
“Imagine you’ve built your first project from scratch. Then you go to your second project and use some of the building blocks from project one. By the time you get to project three and four, the amount you have to make from scratch is becoming smaller. This cuts out a lot of development work and provides a massive bump in productivity.”
Integrate data for improved customer experience
Sixty-five percent of customers say that they often have to repeat information to different parts of the same business. More than half say that it often feels like they are talking to different organisations.
However, 54% of organisations that have better alignment between their IT and business teams have reported an improvement in customer experience. MuleSoft can be a powerful enabler of that critical alignment.
“The goal for any organisation, whatever industry it’s in, is to provide an Amazon-like experience for the customer. The organisation knows and understands the customer and their preferences. They understand where the customer is, and what they want to buy, and can bring all of that together in one seamless experience,” says Rastogi.
To provide that truly connected customer experience, the organisation must access information both internally and externally and connect it in real time. MuleSoft makes that possible. For example, a customer might have a conversation with one part of the organisation in one week and then another interaction with a different part of the organisation the following week. Often, it’s not until much later that the organisation connects these two interactions.
MuleSoft integrates those silos in real time, and agents get an up-to-date picture of all the interactions their customer has had with the organisation.
Keep integrated data secure
Seventy-three percent of IT and business decision makers globally say the integration of disconnected systems causes concerns around security and governance. Added to that, 87% of business and IT leaders agree that concerns around security and governance worries also affect their pace of innovation. This is particularly true when non-technical users are working on integrations.
These are concerns MuleSoft can address with what Rastogi describes as a modern API-led approach. “This means that each of those ‘building blocks’ is wrapped in a security layer managed by the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform.”
MuleSoft can apply security policies right down to the single API level. “We have industry-standard security policies applied across both clusters of APIs and individual APIs,” says Rastogi.
Plug the IT delivery gap
IT teams have been asked to deliver on 30% more projects this year, while their budgets have only grown by around 6%. This is an ongoing trend, and has led to an IT delivery gap at a time when organisations are relying on their IT teams for survival.
As Rastogi explains, it’s a challenge that can be met by MuleSoft’s reuse element. “You’re essentially getting more output for the same input because you’re reusing a lot of elements instead of always developing from scratch.”
One of the benefits of MuleSoft is that it can bring about organisational change. This helps IT teams who may be feeling the strain of shrinking budgets.
“Traditionally, IT is where the bottleneck of requests builds up,” says Rastogi. “But with MuleSoft, simpler processes become accessible to business users, not just IT users. That means IT teams can focus on core elements that need deep technology, integration, security, and governance.”
“MuleSoft Composer puts integration capabilities into the hands of actual business users. They don’t need to have technical expertise. Instead, they can use the drag-and-drop interface to create automated flows.”
MuleSoft is also key to enabling innovation. Instead of working on a small handful of expensive projects, organisations can experiment faster and at a lower cost with MuleSoft’s cloud-based model.
“If the experiment is successful,” says Rastogi, “then the organisation can scale it. If not, it can be trashed with little cost. With MuleSoft, organisations can afford to experiment and innovate more.”
To find out how to make your business more agile, more efficient, and more connected, read about MuleSoft.
How LIKE.TG and depa Are Closing the Digital Skills Gap in Thailand
Trailhead Academy and Thailand’s Digital Economy Promoting Agency are creating the LIKE.TG experts of tomorrow.
In Thailand, LIKE.TG and the LIKE.TG partner ecosystems are thriving, creating opportunities for the population as years progress.
A by-product of this boom is a growing demand for skilled employees with specialised training, or as some refer to it — the skills gap. Both businesses and job seekers will need to make sure that they have the digital capabilities to fill this gap, and carry them to success in the future.
LIKE.TG is well versed in the art of tackling skills gaps. Trailhead is LIKE.TG’s free online learning platform that helps anyone skill up for jobs in the LIKE.TG ecosystem. Trailhead Academy enables experts to deliver in-person and virtual learning experiences all over the world. Together, they deliver a powerful blend of synchronous and asynchronous skilling options for everyone who wants to learn LIKE.TG technology.
Similarly, Thailand’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) is driving the development of digital industry and innovation on home soil.
The goals of LIKE.TG’s Trailhead Academy and depa often intersect. Both have collaborated to promote LIKE.TG courses on the depa website and run webinars that educate universities on the benefit of training up students with industry-specific skills.
The collaboration’s newest endeavour, the LIKE.TG depa Career Kickstarter, equips Thai graduates with the necessary skills to master the latest digital innovations. It also places them in LIKE.TG ecosystem jobs where those skills are in high demand.
Keeping up with digital transformation
It’s safe to say that over the two years since the global pandemic hit, the world of work has changed beyond recognition.
Perhaps the most glaring of changes has been the race towards digital transformation. This is a phenomenon that has touched most countries, including Thailand. Globally, 70% of sales leaders reported that their digital transformation has sped up since 2019. Added to this, 88% of customers expect companies to accelerate their digital initiatives due to the pandemic.
The practical reasons behind the shift to digital are easily quantifiable. Physical separation as the result of the pandemic created both a new remote-work imperative and an increased demand for from-anywhere purchasing. Customer-centricity took centre stage in order to cater to never-before-seen levels of consumer flexibility and authority.
This new way of working, which by all accounts will outlast the pandemic, means that for both businesses and consumers, the digital experience is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity. This will require an all-new set of skills for the workforce that will affect nearly every industry. If job seekers wish to be competitive, and want to secure work that is future proof, they need to make sure they have the skills they’ll need.
The future of work in Thailand
Recently, analyst firm IDC released a study that revealed just how much digital acceleration is affecting the future of work.
In Thailand, LIKE.TG and its partner ecosystems will create 31,200 new jobs and 55.14 billion baht (US$1.7 billion) in new business revenues by 2026.
Equally impressive is that LIKE.TG is driving immense growth for its partner ecosystem, which will make $6.28 (207.4 Baht) for every $1 LIKE.TG makes locally by 2026.
Clearly, satisfying the demand for that many specialised employees will require training, up-skilling, and reskilling that is just as specialised. That is why the collaboration between LIKE.TG and depa has come at exactly the right time.
The LIKE.TG depa Career Kickstarter
The LIKE.TG depa Career Kickstarter supports digital transformation in Thailand, while simultaneously helping to close the skills gap.
At least 100 Thai university graduates will receive the ultimate in LIKE.TG training so that they can thrive within the new digital workforce. Open to graduates all over the country, the application process will include an interview with LIKE.TG and the completion of pre-qualifying trails on Trailhead.
Successful applicants will receive deep immersion in the CRM skill set by LIKE.TG experts — with sights set on becoming LIKE.TG administrators or developers. Three dedicated courses later and each candidate will then enter a job placement process. This aims to match them with a job within LIKE.TG or with one of LIKE.TG’s many partners across Thailand (whether in financial services, manufacturing, or consulting, to name a few).
LIKE.TG Thailand’s Mr. Kittipong Asawapichayon spoke of the collaboration with depa with great clarity:
“As LIKE.TG grows, so do our partners. We remain committed to providing our expanding partner ecosystem with the resources needed to succeed in this new digital world — a large part of which stems from a strong talent pool.”
With depa and LIKE.TG on the case, that talent pool is set to grow stronger.
Grow your future with LIKE.TG
Unlock the possibilities of cloud computing and grow your future with the #1 CRM. With IDC predicting $1.6 trillion in new business revenues worldwide by 2026 for LIKE.TG and its ecosystem of partners, what are you waiting for?
Register now to find out how you can be learning and finding job-ready LIKE.TG skills today.
Register your interesthere.
Explore Trailhead here.
4 Disciplines to Put Organisations on the Path to Customer Centricity
Most companies understand the key to growth is strong relationships with their customers. In fact, the drive towards customer centricity is at the forefront of many digital transformations.
Unfortunately, not all transformation projects deliver their targeted outcomes. We often see this when digital transformation gets treated as a ‘renovation’. In other words, companies simply digitise processes instead of thinking about how to evolve them. Digital transformations of this kind may deliver incremental improvements in efficiency or service. However, they fall short of transforming the customer experience.
To make customer centricity and growth a reality, companies need to shift their focus from renovate to evolve. Here, we share four disciplines that can help.
1. Customer-centric business processes
Many companies grew up in an era when success was product-centric and the only way to scale was through standardisation. However, today’s customers demand personalisation and are rewriting the rules of success.
To truly evolve, companies need to pivot from product-centric processes that drive internal productivity to customer-centric processes that enable more connected and personalised experiences. A great example of a company that reimagined itself and moved from product to customer-centric processes is M1 in Singapore.
Personalisation is at the heart of M1’s transformation. The dynamic digital network operator has brought many innovations to the Singapore market and now seeks to set a new standard for what a digital experience looks like in its industry.
As part of this, M1 is using LIKE.TG to connect different touchpoints and provide customers with personalised experiences, no matter which blend of channels they use.
“At M1, our new brand and promise of providing hyper-personalised experiences and services for our customers is supported by our digital transformation. With our partners, we want to focus on building an innovative and forward-looking technology infrastructure to keep M1 at the forefront of building Singapore’s digital economy while driving real value to our customers,” said Nathan Bell, Chief Digital Officer, M1.
2. One team aligned around the customer
To deliver exceptional customer experiences, companies need to align themselves around customer needs. This requires abandoning the organisational structures inherited from the early 20th century. Then, there were rigid divisions between functions like sales, service, marketing, and production.
Now, however, companies benefit from more flexible, flatter team structures. Shared metrics for success and tools for cross-functional collaboration are also important.
A ‘one team’ approach sometimes includes mobilising partners to create a frictionless customer experience. These partners could include technology partners, service providers, channel partners, and any others in an organisation’s ecosystem that can have an impact on the customer experience.
3. Leanest possible technology stack
Achieving the leanest possible technology stack is an important part of any successful transformation as it reduces time and costs spent ‘keeping the lights on’ and increases the capacity to innovate.
CRM plays an increasingly central role in this stack as it supports the delivery of more personalised customer experiences. Additionally, as companies look to evolve and future-proof their technology stack, there’s a shift towards using APIs and low-code tech for efficient integration.
4. Sense and respond
Putting the previous three disciplines into place provides an incredible foundation for customer centricity, but it is not quite enough.
The problem is that customers’ needs, expectations, and behaviour are changing faster than ever. Companies need to sense and respond to these changes in near real-time. Otherwise, they risk falling behind their more agile competitors. This requires a shift in organisational culture and increased transparency of data.
Unlocking new customer insights was a core component of AXA Singapore’s digital transformation. Driven to become the world’s best digital insurer, AXA Singapore has developed a digital ecosystem, spanning sales, service, and marketing. LIKE.TG is one of the building blocks of this ecosystem and provides a single view of the customer throughout.
“With LIKE.TG, we have more insight into our customers and can personalise and automate touch points like email and SMS,” said Tomasz Kurczyk, Chief Transformation and Digital Officer, at AXA Singapore. “If a customer purchases single trip travel insurance, for example, we can send an email after their trip to welcome them back and remind them how to submit a claim. We can also promote other products and the MyAXA app, our self-serve one stop shop for customers.”
Getting started on the journey
Digital transformation can mean different things to different companies and encompass initiatives both big and small.
What is useful about these four disciplines is that they can be applied universally to ensure a customer-centric result. They can also set the stage for the next level of transformation—transcend—where companies can create entirely new value chains.
To learn more or get started on your transformation journey, check out our advisory services.
How CRM Automation Can Help Boost Your Marketing ROI
Over the past two years, digital engagement hit a tipping point, with more customer interactions taking place online than in the real world. This rapid digital acceleration was initially seen as a temporary measure to compensate for the pandemic and its associated restrictions. As time has passed, though, it has become clear that it’s here to stay.
The stratospheric rise of the digitally driven market has generated and continues to generate unfathomable amounts of customer data. This data can cover the whole buying journey, from the initial search all the way to the post-sale follow-up. For marketers, this data is largely useless unless it’s put to effective use.
That is where automation comes in. When fed into and optimised through a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, that data can be automated in a variety of ways that directly improve your marketing ROI. The good news is that automation doesn’t have to be complicated and there are several things you can do to get started right now.
Automation’s many paths to improved ROI
The pot of gold for marketers in 2022 will be forming the deepest possible relationship with the individual customer, often without the luxury of face-to-face interaction.
The only way to achieve such intimacy is through a comprehensive and dynamic view of that customer’s digital behaviour. This is exactly what Marketing Cloud offers. It takes customer data from a range of sources and creates actionable insights for you to take forward.
Here are some of the many rewards reaped by automation tools:
Improve customer satisfaction
Marketing Cloud allows you to understand everything about your customer. This knowledge allows you to identify their unique wants and needs. You can then show them content, assets, and messaging at the right time in the right channel.
In other words, the customer is getting exactly what they want, when they want it.
Attract return customers
A continuation of that benefit is the ability to attract return customers. As you’re able to provide such granular personalisation, relationships become ongoing and open-ended. Within Marketing Cloud, you’re able to make use of applications such as Email Studio, Journey Builder, and Interaction Studio. Each of these offer unique ways to nurture personalised customer experiences at every touch point.
Boost lead conversion rates
Personalisation based on in-depth data means higher levels of customer engagement. The more customers you engage through automation, the more leads you’re able to convert.
Foster customer loyalty
Marketing Cloud’s Loyalty Management application gives you the ability to automate personalised loyalty programmes. Add this to the opportunities for personalised shopping experiences provided by Commerce Cloud, and you have a powerful combo to foster customer loyalty.
Accelerate speed of execution
Not only is setting up automation simple, but thanks to the degree of automation available to you, you’re able to work faster, which frees up more time to focus on other important tasks.
Optimise ad buying
Thanks to highly customisable audience automation, you can feed segments directly into the world’s largest social media platforms. Segmentation is also an automated breeze, as you can ask the CRM to find customers similar to your best customers. Alternatively, you can stop showing ads to newly acquired leads, then funnel them into a new segment, saving you money.
The integration jackpot!
Marketing Cloud integrates with a group of specialised LIKE.TG applications, each one designed to deepen your relationship with customers and improve marketing ROI. LIKE.TG’s newest application that integrates with Marketing Cloud is Customer Data Platform (CDP). It allows even more powerful data-driven insights for deeper personalisation, to the point where you can get to know and cater to the individual customer.
When looking at the data sources that feed into Marketing Cloud, the world is your oyster. Whether you’re using Sales Cloud, another CRM platform, or even disconnected data points such as contact information, that data can be fed into Marketing Cloud. In other words, if you’ve got some data from somewhere, you can bring it in, work with it, and use it as the basis for automation.
Getting on board the automation train
If you’re new to the automation of marketing data, the prospect can seem a little overwhelming. Before you start, it’s important to know which kinds of marketing data can be automated. The short answer is almost everything. If you can write a process down on paper, then you can automate it.
A helpful way to determine what requires automation is to take a forensic look at your current processes and operations. Note down what is taking up the most time in the execution of campaigns, and target these first. For example, finding similarities between individual customers and creating segmented audiences can take a huge amount of time without automation. The task here is to do your research and due diligence, look for these procedural weaknesses, and determine what can be automated through Marketing Cloud.
Another way to frame your plan of attack is to analyse your existing data sources. For sales, if you’re relying on online spreadsheets that don’t talk to each other, you might benefit from feeding that data into a CRM such as Sales Cloud, then integrating it with Marketing Cloud. Similarly, if you’re using disconnected data sources to track individual metrics, you may look into consolidating those into a single source.
Whatever the case may be, know that if your data pipeline is siloed and unwieldy, there are ways to bring it all together to achieve a single source of truth.
Don’t rush, or be a prisoner of the moment
A common pitfall for organisations who discover the power of automation is that they attempt to do too much at once.
These platforms are operational investments and are designed to become mainstays of your business. Therefore, you should start slowly and really dig into your existing processes and systems. This should allow you to understand which product or combination of products will best serve your objectives.
That aside, these products can only serve you if your data is of a high quality. A CRM gives you a database of past purchases, as well as demographic data, customer preferences, key contacts, and any problems that the customer may have encountered. High-quality CRMs take it even further, tracking clients and leads as they progress through the marketing pipeline. The better the quality of your data, the more you’ll be able to benefit from automation, and the more your marketing ROI will improve.
Read about how Marketing Cloud has helped other businesses automate their marketing.
Digital Transformation Advice From a LIKE.TG Expert
In order to meet shifting customer expectations, many businesses have had to accelerate their digital transformation.
Perhaps you’ve already identified that your business is ready for digital transformation, and you’ve put together your digital transformation strategy. What’s next?
In this interview, we speak to Vijay Iyer, Director Solution Engineering at LIKE.TG. He has over 14 years’ experience with digital transformation, and has guided many organisations on their transformation journeys.
What are the first steps that an organisation should take on their digital transformation journey?
Vijay: “In his article on building a digital transformation strategy, Raphael talked about creating your vision, defining your objectives, and making sure you’re working with the right people. He makes some excellent points, and the first thing I’d like to do is build on some of his thoughts.
“It’s important that businesses have a strong understanding of what digital transformation means for them. It will be different for every organisation. You need to make sure you have consensus across your business on what you are aiming for — that should become your vision.
“Once you have that, your first step should be to align your vision and your objectives to measurable business metrics. For example, your vision for your digital transformation might be that you want to transform the way you engage with customers. So, what are the key metrics that you would use? It could be Net Promoter Score, it could be an engagement score. Whatever you choose, it has to be measurable, and directly related to your vision. There might be more than one metric you need to track, so keep that in mind.
“Teams have to align with your goals, not with technology. Technology itself is not the answer. The way you leverage technology to achieve your business goals is the answer. Make sure you know the answers to these questions: What is the IT team’s job? What is the business team’s job? The sales team’s job? The marketing team’s job? What is HR’s role in the process?
“Finally, you need to define your timeline. Digital transformation projects have the potential to run forever, so you need to make sure that you know the parameters of your project. Set milestones, and assign goals. I’ve seen projects go on and on without a firm timeline in place.”
What role do employees have to play in digital transformation?
Vijay: “Every employee, every sales person, every contact centre service agent, whoever it is, needs to culturally evolve. That is, move away from doing what they used to do before. That’s where bringing HR into the process becomes so valuable; they can help with the cultural transformation. They can create programmes that help employees live the culture of transformation – right from onboarding through to day-to-day activities.
“Many times, businesses train for technology because they think digital transformation means deploying some new tech. But training needs to be multifaceted. Technology is one part of the puzzle. You also need to teach people what’s changed in terms of strategy. Why are we using this technology? What do we need to do from a people and culture standpoint?
“Everyone needs to evolve and become obsessed with the customer. Every member of every team should be asking themselves, ‘how do we make things better for our customers?’
“Don’t forget that your employees, and your customers, are the ones that will decide if you succeed or not. Bring them along on this journey, and listen to them.”
What about digital transformation partners — where do they fit in?
Vijay: “Organisations sometimes fall into the trap of leading with technology. They might be tempted to choose a different partner for each aspect of their technology: AI, CRM, etc. It becomes too complex, and you will never see the results. Working with multiple partners leads to silos.
“I would recommend that you have just one go-to partner, aligned with your transformation. They should help you with defining the structure, defining how to get there, what technology is needed, what processes need to change, what people you need.
“A mistake a lot of organisations make is treating vendors as suppliers, not partners. This is another point where there needs to be a cultural shift. Don’t say ‘you are a vendor, I tell you what I need.’ You should be saying ‘hey partner, tell us what we could be doing together.’
“A good partner will tell customers when they’re going wrong. They’ll say, ‘you’re not ready for this, this is not the time.’ They will help you understand the steps you need to take, and help you see the value in the changes you’ve made. Maybe transformation for you is just moving away from paper. You should cherish that — it’s a massive shift!”
What are some other pitfalls that businesses should look out for?
Vijay: “Don’t try to replicate what you used to do in the past, but in a digital way. That is not transformation. Moving from one technology to another technology is not transformation. Transformation is people transforming the way they do their work.
“Don’t get excited about technology before you have a good foundation. It’s easy to get excited because you heard about some technology that does this or that. But you have to ask yourself, ‘is it aligned to my business metric that I defined in the first step? How impactful is it? How fast is it? What’s my ROI?’ Don’t try to run before you can walk.”
How do we know if we’re making progress?
Vijay: “It all comes back to the business metrics that you defined right at the start of the process. That’s why they’re so important. You can even go more granular to measure progress: What is the adoption rate — are teams actually using the new processes? Are people being more productive?
“If you are a sales-driven organisation, you might be using incentives for your staff to encourage them to engage with your transformation. But how many people are hitting those incentives? If your teams are hitting those targets, that means you are also growing the organisation. Your success is connected to their success.
“Digital talent retention is also important. You may have hired a lot of people. One of the key metrics of success is whether you are able to retain those people. If you hire skilled people, and they commit to your project for the long haul, that means you are doing something right. However, if you’re losing these people, it might mean they can’t see how their efforts are aligned to your vision.
“There is no magic metric called ‘digital transformation progress.’ You can’t say ‘I am at 10% of my transformation.’ Transformation is a continuous process — you have to continue to evolve and grow. If you’re continuing to evolve and grow, you’re transforming.”
For a deeper dive into how to get started on digital transformation, read our digital transformation guide.
5 Tech Trends Shaping the Future of Financial Services
The pandemic has drastically changed the ways banks, insurance providers, and wealth management firms engage with customers and employees.
Customer-centricity, hyper-personalisation, and hybrid work — these are some of the advancements that have come to the fore in financial services. One particular technological advancement is set to disrupt the industry as we know it: Web 3.0.
In simple terms, Web 3.0 is a more decentralised internet, where systems, processes, and data are open-source and less bound by intermediaries. Web 3.0 has the potential to be revolutionary, as it will create efficiencies not imagined before, while making it easier to collaborate and interpret data.
As Web 3.0 is an evolving concept, there is still uncertainty about what it fully means for financial services. However, there’s no denying that as time goes on, the digital experience will only become more connected, open, and transparent. Keeping the customer’s needs at the heart of everything banks, insurers, and wealth managers do will become more critical than ever.
LIKE.TG joined some of the brightest minds in financial services at the recent Singapore FinTech Festival to discuss the future of the industry. Here are five key trends that came up, and what they mean for creating greater customer experiences.
For details on this infographic, please click here.
How One of ASEAN’s Leading Marketers Is Preparing for the Future
According to the seventh edition of our State of Marketing Report, 90% of marketers globally say their organisational priorities have changed since before the pandemic.
Many marketers are embracing technology, data, and measures of success in new ways. They are also changing how they communicate and collaborate at work. While innovation is one of the top priorities for marketers in ASEAN, it’s also one of the top challenges.
To dive a little deeper into these trends, we spoke to Dr. Nicco Tan, Vice President, Marketing at Resorts World Genting. A leading marketer from one of the industries most impacted by the pandemic, Dr. Tan offered a unique perspective on the state of marketing in ASEAN.
Here are highlights from our conversation, including Dr. Tan’s top tips for marketers just beginning their digital transformation journey.
How have your marketing priorities changed since the start of the pandemic?
Nicco: One of the challenges we’ve faced during the pandemic is the uncertainty about when it is going to end. For that reason, we’ve had to carefully manage our resources to ensure we have enough people in customer facing roles, as customers start to come back to the resort.
We’ve also needed to maintain constant contact with our employees, most of whom have been working remotely. We pivoted our use of Marketing Cloud to focus on internal communication, which allowed us to get messages out quickly to employees and keep them informed of what we’re doing to manage this crisis.
With the first round of communications, we reached around 90% of employees and, with a little education, we were soon able to get the rest of our employees used to communicating this way.
How has the pandemic impacted your plans for innovation and digital transformation?
Nicco: The pandemic led many businesses to accelerate their digital transformation. However, those of us within the hospitality industry really had to tighten our belts.
We had to think about social distancing and how to minimise revenue loss, knowing that customers would not return right away.
One industry innovation during this time was the application of Wi-Fi and mapping technologies to monitor foot traffic and manage social distancing.
In the future, we could use the same technologies to identify movement across our property. We could then send customers real-time communication that’s relevant to their location.
How are you getting ready for the reopening of the economy? What role does marketing play in revitalising the tourism and hospitality industry?
Nicco:Many people are ready to get out and start travelling and visit hospitality venues again. As marketers, it is our job to inspire them and that’s why we are shifting our messaging. Safety is still a priority on-site, and people know that we are a trusted brand in terms of safety, so we are amplifying our messaging to focus on inspiring people to travel again, while assuring them that we are making it safe for their visit.
Our upcoming campaign ‘Welcome to My World’ reflects this change in messaging and offers a reminder of what it’s like to travel and visit our hotels and attractions. We’ve enjoyed seeing our visitors return to enjoy the resort.
What are your priorities for the next 12 months? How do you see the future of marketing taking shape?
Nicco: Mobile phone use is growing and people are spending more time on digital channels. So I will be shifting priorities and budget towards these channels to get our messages out.
We will continue to allocate some budget totraditional channels like radio and billboards, because these remain highly trusted by consumers.
What is the most exciting new development you see in your industry?
Nicco: It is exciting to see more collaboration in the industry. A lot of direct competitors are now working together and creating new opportunities for the smaller players especially.
One of the outcomes is an increase in dynamic pricing based on supply and demand. Many larger hotels and hotel chains have used dynamic pricing for some time, but it is more difficult for hotels with a limited number of rooms. However, we are starting to see online travel agents collaborate with the smaller hotels to implement dynamic pricing and level the playing field.
Another thing I see is that there is no customer loyalty anymore. It may be controversial to say that, but I think customers are more concerned about safety and affordability at this point in time. They will make decisions based on price over brand, and trade off convenience for lower-priced alternatives.
What are your top tips for marketers who are beginning their digital marketing transformation?
Nicco: First, I would say don’t be afraid. A lot of marketers have been through this journey and can provide proof of success. So take a leap of faith and if you don’t know what to do, find external resources or a partner to support you.
My second piece of advice is to take it slow. You don’t need to rush into everything and start experimenting in many different areas at once. Instead, go back to basics and ask yourself what’s most important. This will likely mean investing in revenue-generating activities first.
It is also important to have the right mindset. Taking a traditional process and digitising it without improving it is not digital transformation.
What skills should marketers focus on building right now?
Nicco: Data skills are key right now and I am happy to go to meetings today and find my own team using dashboards and talking about analytics. That is not something that happened in the past.
I do think marketers need to be clear about what they are tracking and why, as there can be a tendency to start measuring and analysing everything. They also need to be careful when collecting data that they are not adding unnecessary steps for customers or breaching any privacy policies.
As marketers mature their data skills, they will be able to navigate these things and get more value from the data collected.
LIKE.TG Singapore Leads Among the Best Workplaces in 2021
I am pleased to share that for the seventh year in a row, LIKE.TG has been named among the top three Best Workplaces in Singapore by Great Place to Work. An achievement that is only possible thanks to our dedicated and hardworking team that goes above and beyond every day.
We certainly have a lot to celebrate. On top of this achievement, this year, LIKE.TG Singapore was also named the #2 Best Workplace in Technology and one of the Best Workplaces in Asia for the fifth year in a row.
We’re especially proud that the recognition for these awards is determined largely on feedback by the very people that make up our organisation, and I wanted to share some of the reasons why our employees rate us as a great place to work.
We’ve embraced flexibility and are achieving Success from Anywhere
With Slack as our new digital HQ, we’ve embraced flexibility, leaning into this digital-first future of work. Throughout this pandemic, we’ve proven that with the right technology, we’re able to deepen relationships, drive collaboration, and grow together without the need to stick to a 9-to-5, eight-hour desk shift.
When it’s safe to return to the office, our re-opening strategy, guided by employee feedback, will allow flexibility to determine how, when, and where we work. Through a flex approach, we expect that most of our employees will be in the office one to three days per week for team collaboration, customer meetings, and presentations. Our office spaces have also been transformed with new layouts to better support collaboration, innovation, and cultural connection.
We do well by doing good
We believe that business can be the greatest platform for change with our pioneering 1-1-1 model.
We’ve woven a spirit of philanthropy throughout our company culture by dedicating 1% of our equity, time, and technology to improving education, equality, and the environment. Our employees are encouraged to take up to seven days or 56 hours a year to volunteer. This year, our employees across the ASEAN region have so far volunteered a total of 18,300 hours.
We continue to give back and support a number of organisations, despite new restrictions placed upon us for the past two years. Some of the creative examples of how our teams have been involved and given back virtually include:
Holding a LIKE.TG Career Conversation event, which connected Taylors University Malaysia students with LIKE.TG executive mentors for career conversations (pictured)
Participating in Freerice, The United Nations World Food Programme
Career mentoring with Daughters of Tomorrow
Supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation (MAWF) last quarter, and raising an incredible SG$80,000 for the charity
We take care of our employees
The health and wellbeing of our team has always been a high priority. On top of our existing world class benefits, which includes a quarterly wellness reimbursement where employees can claim on fitness and sports equipment, fitness devices, gym memberships, and more, we recently introduced a new global benefit to help prioritise the mental health of our employees too. Through Lyra Health, employees are able to be matched with coaches and therapists for personalised counselling and coaching.
In the last few months, we also introduced notable new benefits. These include: Vaccine Time Off to receive and recover from the COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 sick leave, global family care leave, and global backup care which reimburses employees up 5 days a month for in-person child or elder care.
We would not be where we are today without our employees. I could not be more proud of our team in Singapore who continually show up for one another, our customers, and our communities. This award is a testament to their hard work and accomplishments.
Thank you to our team for making us a great place to work.
If you’re interested in joining us at LIKE.TG Singapore, please visit our Careers Page for more information.
How To Build a Digital Transformation Strategy
When you are at the beginning of your digital transformation journey, it can feel like standing at the foot of a giant mountain.
When faced with a daunting climb, ascending is almost impossible without a carefully considered plan. Similarly, reaching the top is far more likely with the help of an experienced partner. What is true for mountaineering is also true for digital transformation. Not only do you need a strategy, but you’re far better off by taking the journey with someone who’s been there and done that.
Before you start — do you really need to climb this mountain?
Before setting out on your journey, you might wonder if digital transformation is the right way to go. Usually, clear signs point to the need to transform, most of which have grown far bigger and brighter since the onset of the pandemic.
The most glaring is that ‘business as usual’ is no longer cutting it. Perhaps business isn’t repeating at the same rate, or you’re no longer getting as many referrals, or previously successful promotions are failing to generate leads. If these sound familiar, chances are you need to consider a digital transformation strategy.
You may also be getting internal signals from employees. Individuals and teams could be complaining that they can no longer collaborate successfully, especially with the move to the hybrid workplace. They may be asking for features you’re unable to provide, but that have become commonplace in consumer apps.
These are just some of the many issues that are best tackled by heading towards that mountain.
Make sure you have a vision
Any successful endeavour in business, whether short-, medium-, or long-term, begins with the formulation of a vision.
To create your own vision, imagine a hypothetical point in the future where you’ve achieved what you set out to do. For the mountaineer, this could be anything from achieving a personal best climb, to reaching the summit of Everest. For a business undertaking digital transformation, it could mean integrating outdated systems so that your entire organisation is working together.
You don’t have to scale an entire mountain or update all your systems all at once. However, you can’t take the first step towards either without having at least a general sense of where you’re heading.
Prioritise your objectives
Once you’ve formulated your vision, it’s time to break the overall goal down into smaller objectives. When it comes to digital transformation, especially on an organisation-wide scale, it’s important to identify the objectives that will drive the most success, and start there.
This could mean taking a forensic look at all your departments and verticals and identifying which would benefit most from transformation. You should also consider which departments will deliver the greatest returns the quickest. By starting with the teams that provide the fastest returns, you can prove quicker return on investment.
You should also plan how other teams will be a part of that same transformation down the line. If transforming your sales processes is a priority, then it’s important to understand how marketing will become a part of that same digital world, even if that won’t happen for a while.
Involve the right people at the right time
Digital transformation is a complete change to the way you do business. Even if you’re prioritising certain objectives over others, your entire workforce is going to be affected. Implementing systems incrementally or all-at-once is only part of the process. You also need to make sure that the digital transformation sticks on a human level. In order for that to happen, you need to bring everyone along with you.
This doesn’t mean that all employees in all departments have to be involved from day one. But it is a good idea to make everyone aware of the changes—they’ll be involved eventually.
It’s important to choose the right people for the team that leads the transformation. Every organisation has employees who embrace change, but there may be those who are hesitant. Make sure that you include both kinds of people in your transformation team. The people excited by change will bring others along with them on the journey. Those who are more reluctant will give you much-needed perspective.
Communication is vital. The more transparency, the more likely you are to get a buy-in from the right people at the right time.
Consider a partner
Climbing a mountain is always going to be more manageable with the help of someone who has been there before. This is particularly relevant for small and medium-sized businesses who may be even further away from the digital world than larger organisations.
Digital transformation isn’t always a quick or easy process. Enlisting the help of an expert can simplify and speed up the digital transformation process. This could save you time, money, and energy in the long run.
Make sure that you select the right partner, though! Just like with mountaineering, you should make sure that the partner you choose has experience in the landscape you work in. Many providers will claim that they can help you, so take the time to ensure that they understand your industry, and have experience with businesses of your size.
Don’t be afraid to fail
You will formulate a vision, prioritise your objectives, and take a carefully planned journey towards your ultimate goal. You may enlist the expertise of a partner, and get a buy-in from the right people at the right time. But not everything is always going to go according to plan. Don’t be scared to take calculated risks.
As with mountaineering, you may occasionally fail to travel as far as you thought by the end of the day. You may find one route harder than expected, and you may have to pause and find a better way up.
Understand that not every move will end in a win. As long as you remember your vision and your strategy, you’ll be prepared to face each new step in the journey.
Download our e-book and read about the five steps top organisations take to reimagine their businesses and improve customer experiences. Blaze your trail to digital transformation today!
3 Revealing Stats From Our Digital Trends Report
The way we conduct business around the world is fundamentally changing.Leading brands are embracing digital-first encounterswith their customers, engaging with users across an increasing number of channels, andharnessing the power of datato create highly-tailored experiences. They’re also innovating on ways tomeet their customers with empathy and flexibility, no matter the circumstance.
To learn more about how businesses are optimising their digital-first experiences, LIKE.TG Research analysed data from four different research studies.
Here are the three most revealing takeaways for marketing, commerce, and service professionals.
56% of companies expect the majority of their revenue to come from digital channels within the next three years
Digital-first customer engagement is here to stay. Many customers had to adopt online experiences in 2020 out of necessity. Now, many prefer to interact digitally, even as in-person experiences resume. With68% of customerssaying they’ll continue to buy essential goods online after the pandemic, we can anticipate a future that prioritises digital engagement over brick-and-mortar encounters.
Increased online activity has allowed marketers and customer-service agents to learn more about their audiences, leading tomore personalised interactions. This also means that customers have elevated expectations for how brands engage with them, including brands’ ability to innovate and connect in new ways. For instance,78% of customerssay that companies should offer new ways to get existing products or services, such as digital versions of traditionally in-person experiences, while83% of customersexpect flexible shipping and fulfillment options, such as buy-online-pickup-in-store.
To better meet customer expectations, digital leaders are adopting new channels of engagement, like chatbots and self-service tools, which have been classified as “emerging” in recent years. Social media, video, and digital ads have become the three most common means of reaching customers, underlining the value in implementing digital-first marketing toolkits.
86% of customers want more transparency over how personal information is used
Eighty percent of customers say the experience a brand provides is just as important as its products or services. As the world becomes increasingly digital, businesses are seizing new opportunities for capturing insights on customer behavior and preferences.The most innovative digital leaders are harnessing this customer datato provide a consistent, convenient, and empathetic brand experience. But this dependency on data isn’t without its challenges.
As Google, Apple, and others restrict the use of third-party cookies,leaders have to rely more on known digital identities, such as email addresses, social IDs, and transactional data to personalise customer experiences. Marketers are also faced with customer data-privacy concerns.Customers are increasingly demanding more transparency with data use, and only 27% completely understand the way that brands collect, store, and use their data. As a result, over 60% of marketers say they are going above and beyond regulations and standards to protect their customers’ privacy.
83% of marketers say their work will be more technology-driven after the pandemic than before
The pandemic brought onsubstantial changes in customer engagement, but it also changedhow teams and organisations operate. Work-from-home, restricted travel, and insufficient collaboration tools shed light on inefficiencies within organisational structures and processes. More than50% of service professionalssay the pandemic has exposed moderate or greater shortcomings in capabilities including technology, policies and protocol, and staff skill sets.
Digital leaders are rethinking how their organisations utilise technology to operate more efficiently and better meet customer needs. As companiesembrace digital-first strategies, this means that marketers are reevaluating the technical skill sets needed to do their jobs, and businesses are rethinking organisational structure to optimise operations.
Dive deeper intro insights and trends from the report bydownloading the Digital Trends report.
This post originally appeared on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
5 Ways Sansiri Creates a Cohesive Customer Journey
Marketers must create a cohesive customer journey across channels and devices. This is the top priority for Thai marketers, as revealed in the 7th edition State of Marketing report.
Kavin Manomaiudom is VP and Group Head of Tech BI at Thailand property developer, Sansiri. He believes creating a cohesive customer journey begins with digital transformation.
“It’s about cultural, organisational, and operational change,” he shared at a LIKE.TG webinar. “We must combine an agile mindset with processes and tools to deliver value to customers.”
Mr Manomaiudom outlines five ways Sansiri is creating a more cohesive customer journey.
1. Respond to changing customer behaviours
Sansiri turned to LIKE.TG three years ago to begin its digital transformation. Mr Manomaiudom says LIKE.TG technology helps the company identify changing customer behaviours. This has been vital to staying agile during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Before COVID-19 hit Thailand, our customers were visiting showrooms in person,” he says. “Now, we have a significant number of customers viewing our properties virtually. We needed to react fast by adjusting our marketing priorities.”
Mr Manomaiudom says that means using customer data “to know more, see more, and do more. Marketers must leverage customer data to analyse and understand changes in customer behaviour.”
2. Map customer journeys
New customer journeys must align with changing customer behaviours. Sansiri used Marketing Cloud and Journey Builder to map a range of new customer journeys.
Mr Manomaiudom explains that it’s helpful to begin with the customer’s end destination. Then reverse engineer the customer journey.
“We always begin with the end in mind,” he says. “Our customer journeys at Sansiri have evolved with COVID-19. To date, we have built a total of 25 journeys. This has decreased customer attrition. These journeys have also increased sales conversion across all customer touch points.”
3. Personalise customer communications
Link customer communications to specific points on each customer journey. Doing so helps to personalise customer communications. Sansiri uses marketing automation to achieve this.
“We send an automated email to remind customers about their viewing appointments,” Mr Manomaiudom says. “We also send relevant messages to convert our customers when they register online.”
This, says Mr Manomaiudom, has doubled conversions. “It helps us make sure we are achieving good return on investment (ROI) against our marketing spend.”
4. Innovate digital payments
Payment is a critical point on every customer journey. Sansiri launched an online payment gateway during the pandemic. The company also now accepts cryptocurrency.
Mr Manomaiudom says that digital payment innovations help to engage the younger generation. This stimulates revenue growth.
“One of our big steps is to make cryptocurrency purchases in the real estate sector a reality,” he explains. “Especially amongst the young generations who are keen on using this technology.”
5. Stay agile and use data as your guide
Customer behaviour may continue to change over next 12 months. Mr Manomaiudom says marketers need to stay agile. They also need to track campaign ROI, and shift priorities when needed.
“We started to shift our advertising budget to online, but surprisingly did not see as strong returns for some product segments and some zoning,” he explains. “As a result, we reallocated the budget back to offline marketing.
“Marketers must be agile to run successful campaigns, stay on budget, and hit KPIs. You must be adaptive at all times and do not stick with what might work.”
Rather, use customer data to identify what will work. This is how marketers adapt to change and keep delivering cohesive customer journey.
Download LIKE.TG’s 7th edition State of Marketing report in English or Thai for more marketing trends and insights.
Cybersecurity Insights: Secure Your Business Data at Every Touch Point
Virtual spaces are new territory for cyber attacks, data leaks and company breaches. In fact, according to the IBM Cost of Data Breach Report 2021, phishing attempts have risen 600% and cloud-based attacks rose 630%.
What would you do if your business data fell into the wrong hands?
To stay secure, there are a number of layers of data security you need to consider. From physical hardware, to digital networks, and every manner of encryption in the cloud.
Explore our cybersecurity infographic below to see how to secure your data, and get more tips on data security and compliance for every IT Leader in this e-book.
Can you afford not to protect your most important business asset?
For details on this infographic, please click here.
How To Build Thriving Slack Communities for Marketers
It’s no secret that marketers love to connect with each other to learn, trade stories, or simply make new friends. But with so many channels to choose from, it’s hard to find a comfortable, virtual place to meet regularly. That’s why I’m passionate about building Slack communities for marketers.
I’ve been using Slack within the digital marketing community long before I started working at LIKE.TG. It’s helped me get to where I am today. My role at LIKE.TG focuses on collaborating with our amazing Trailblazer community. I use Slack channels to connect with people on everything fromMarketing Cloud certificationsto best email marketing practices.
Building Slack communities for marketers has helped me build relationships that last — as a mentor, a marketer, and a collaborator. Slack has many tools for knowledge sharing and relationship building, so it’s important to use it wisely. Here are a few of my best practices for making Slack a tool for building strong communities in your marketing space.
Be strategic with Slack communities for marketers
I won’t lie: Slack can be tricky to navigate. There are public and private channels, direct messaging,Huddles, video calls, and more. I’m a part of 22 external Slack channels and twice that many for my LIKE.TG job. These channels cover a lot of ground and can take up a good chunk of my time, so I have to be very strategic with how I incorporate channel engagement into my day-to-day work life – especially since Slack is always “on” as a global platform.
I’m also intentional about creating new Slack channels, knowing that other marketers are in the same situation. Before starting a new channel, I look at what’s already out there on the platform. I consider the community’s needs and how my channel can meet those needs. I also identify the rules for a new private channel, including approval processes, conversation topic guidelines, and other channel guardrails.
You may be wondering: what’s a channel? Think about channels like you think about a Facebook group, or even an email chain with multiple parties (but way better organised). It’s a common space for people to discuss a topic, like new marketing strategies, or a place to collaborate on an upcoming campaign launch.
Some of the most powerful Slack channels emerged out of a desire to help others attain something, whether it was knowledge, career development, or community. Slack channelsmustserve the good of the community. When you bring this spirit of service to your channels, you’re more likely to engage with others in impactful ways.
Lean in to organic, authentic conversation
My introduction to Slack was throughEmail Geeks, a community of developers, architects, and email marketers. I wanted to write some LinkedIn thought leadership pieces to help customers understand Marketing Cloud, so I reached out to Email Geeks members on their Slack channel for feedback on article ideas. Since then, Slack has been a collaborative space for authentic knowledge sharing in my work as a marketer.
Today, I keep the same principle in mind when using the platform. I use Slack to engage with the entire Trailblazer ecosystem in very different ways, from updating people on upcoming events or program opportunities to answering community questions and offering helpful resources. I’m able to connect with other marketers and Trailblazers in these relevant ways because the conversations and interactions come from a place of authenticity – honestly interacting with others in a way that benefits everyone involved.
Take one of my favorite public Slack workspaces, for example:Marketers Chat, a place where thought leaders from various companies gather to discuss marketing topics, events, services, suggestions, and tools. I heard of Marketers Chat through word of mouth, as did many of its 7,000 members. Its value as a collaborative, engaging space for knowledge sharing has proved itself naturally. This is the magic of a well-created Slack workspace. It makes space for meaningful dialogue within appropriate guidelines, which makes it a place where relationships can thrive.
Know the rules and stick to them
Some Slack channels have specific rules around channel use, self-promotion, and selling products to keep the space relevant and distraction-free. When stepping into Slack conversations, it’s crucial to know and adhere to these rules. Remember that Slack is considered a private space for our marketing community to be open, honest, and vulnerable.Many channel admins automatically share channel guidelines to new members upon joining.
It’s also helpful to understand what Slack means to other members in these channels – not necessarily what Slack means to you or your organisation. Everybody uses Slack for different reasons. They may use it as a hub for answers to pressing questions. Or it may be a place for venting about a product, service, or certification exam. Regardless, always ask yourself how you can achieve a goal or help a fellow team member in the most respectful way possible.
For example, at LIKE.TG we have ‘broadcast only’ channels, where team leads publish critical updates, and designated QA channels for company-wide meetings in which employees can ask questions in real time and search for answers afterward. Having a specific purpose for each channel helps everyone get the most out of Slack.
When in doubt, check in with channel owners and admins. Back when I was sharing thought leadership on Twitter, for example, I regularly consulted the owner of Email Geeks before posting anything in that Slack channel about Twitter events I was leading. I did this out of respect for the community and also for the sake of transparency, a key piece in building trust with peers and customers.
If used mindfully, Slack can be a powerful tool for creating meaningful conversations on the topics we marketers care most about: relationships with our customers, brand strategy, certifications, and so much more. Given that the platform continues to add new features and integrations every year, I’m keeping my eyes on the Slack horizon for even more ways to connect with my digital marketing community.
Ready to deepen your own engagement with colleagues and brand fans? Check out my favorite public Slack communities for marketers:EmailGeeks,Marketing Cloud Learning Camp,Ohana Slack, andPardashians.
This post was originally published on the U.S.-version ofthe LIKE.TG blog.
How To Attract and Grow a Talented Field Service Team
Field service teams have helped customers navigate changing circumstances throughout the pandemic. They provided vital support and stability when customers needed it the most, and became the trusted face of brands.
A motivated and skilled field service team helps your business drive revenue and improve customer retention. However, talent attraction can be a challenge. That’s because the older generation of workers are retiring, so field service leaders have to think about how to attract younger workers.
Here’s what organisations can do to attract and grow field service talent:
1. Reposition the field service team as a strategic asset
Service teams are no longer regarded as cost centres. According to 80% of decision makers, field service is key to their overall strategy. Seventy-five percent of decision makers say field service is driving significant revenue.
How so?
Service teams interact with customers and keep them happy. By providing excellent service, they can reduce churn. They can also help to upsell equipment. LIKE.TG research finds that 91% percent of customers are more likely to make another purchase after a great service experience.
Think of upselling as an extension of an outstanding customer experience — not just pushing more products in order to meet sales targets. Upselling develops from the trust your customers have in the organisation. Service agents have an important role in nurturing that trust. They can create starting points for sales and marketing to introduce new campaigns to receptive customers.
2. Empower your team with field service management technology
Field service workers expect to have the technology needed to get their jobs done well. Your best talent would be unlikely to stay if they have to make do with inferior or outdated tools.
One type of technology that would help field service workers immensely is a connected field service management solution. It gives agents, dispatchers, and mobile workers updated information. This includes customer data, job details, asset history, and warranties. Having full customer context is crucial. Without it, 79% of field service professionals say they can’t provide a great customer experience.
With full customer context, field service teams can achieve a high First Time Fix Rate with:
Automated dispatch based on mobile worker availability, skill set, and location (if an in-person visit is needed). This eliminates manual effort, scheduling errors, and any unintentional bias.
Route management reduces time-to-site. It also automatically responds to schedule changes, whether it’s a late arrival or a new job request.
Appointment Assistant automatically updates customers with an estimated time of arrival, pre-arrival checklist, and the mobile worker’s details.
Digital work order management instantly tracks updates about an assigned job, assesses current inventory volumes, and reviews warranties.
Visual Remote Assistant connects mobile workers at a job site with an experienced team member by video to collaborate on a resolution.
3. Look after your field service workers’ safety and wellness
Many organisations implemented new safety policies in 2020. Moving forward, here are more ways you can enhance the safety and wellbeing of customers and workers:
Not every issue requires a worker to go onsite to resolve it. Consider using alternative field service options such as Visual Remote Assistant. With Visual Remote Assistant, your workers can invite customers to an interactive video session and walk them remotely through the troubleshooting process. If the issue is more complex, customers can schedule an onsite visit for further support.
When customers make in-person appointments, let them know how to best prepare for a site visit. For example, you can request that they complete a short safety checklist beforehand.
Finally, don’t forget to do regular checks on employee wellbeing. You can do monthly employee wellness surveys to understand the team’s health and wellbeing challenges. Use the data to address areas where employees are struggling. For example, if teams are struggling to get their work done because they don’t have the right tools, make arrangements to get them the equipment they need.
4. Show mobile workers their career potential
Eighty-five percent of mobile workers in high-performing teams say that they have a clear path for career growth, compared to just 39% of underperformers.
Work with your field service team early in their careers to set short and long term career goals. Learning new skills is a crucial part of career development. Use digital learning platforms like Trailhead to upskill and reskill your team. In addition to technical skills, encourage them to learn relationship management, customer service basics, and even sales skills.
Another way to show your field service team that they are valued is to include them in decision-making. Field service workers might have valuable insights into how the business works or what customers want, which their colleagues at the office might not have. Don’t forget to reward your field service team when they do a great job. Rewards can be custom tools to use on the job, or opportunities to represent the company at high-end conferences.
You’ll want your field service workers to feel included and appreciated. Give them opportunities to level up and take on decision-making roles. Then your workers will be more likely to stay and grow with your organisation.
Read more about how to strengthen your field service management strategy.
What Is Business to Business Sales, and How Can You Improve It?
Isn’t business to business (B2B) sales just like any other type of sales? In the simplest sense, maybe this statement is true. But in the real world, B2B sales is very different from business to consumer (B2C) sales. In the battleground of B2B sales, salespeople face multiple decision-makers, lengthy closing times, and complex sales cycles.Helping other businesses realise what they need to be successful, and fulfilling these needs with your offerings and solutions is B2B sales.With the digital age, the traditional model of B2B sales has been disrupted by changes in the way people purchase goods and services. Internet penetration and the consequent explosion in easily accessible knowledge and networking have affected B2B sales as much as anything else. But in every change, there is opportunity.What is B2B sales?B2B sales involve one business selling goods and/or services to another business, as opposed to selling them directly to end consumers. B2B salespeople need to be more convincing and good at negotiating, as business buyers are highly evolved and deal sizes can be huge. They must thoroughly understand their prospect’s organisation, needs, challenges, and industry. The role of B2B salespeople has evolved from simple selling to something more consultative, making them advisors to their customers.What does a B2B sales process look like, and how does it work?The B2B sales process is a series of steps that is meant to take a business buyer from the initial stage of discovery to a closed sale. It requires a well-thought-out strategy and the use of sales techniques suitable for each target persona.Every organisation will need a slightly different B2B sales process involving anywhere from five to eight steps. A typical eight-step sales process consists of:Developing in-depth understanding of offerings: The best sales reps have great command over their offerings and where these fit into specific markets. They can easily justify their value proposition to the right customers. This requires them to do the background work and continuously hone their mastery of the products and services they sell.Prospecting: Prospecting involves finding new prospects that have a need or use for your offerings. Salespeople can use both online (LinkedIn, Quora, digital marketing campaigns, etc.) and offline (conferences, expos, referrals, cold calls, etc.) channels to find new prospects.Qualifying: Once new quality leads are identified, salespeople connect with them to know if they are potential buyers. Taking prospects through the sales process, especially for B2B sales, can be expensive and time-consuming, which is why it is important to qualify leads early in the process.Research: A salesperson should know about the prospect’s organisation, their needs, challenges, and industry trends. Research is vital in B2B sales due to its complex nature and the professional expertise buyers are likely to have. Also, with a single view of past interactions, sales reps can access all the relevant information about each prospect in one place for more contextualised conversations. Good research enables salespeople to tailor their pitch to each stakeholder’s needs.Pitching: Pitching can be in the form of a presentation, product demonstration, or a combination of multiple methods. Pitching is one of the most crucial steps in converting a B2B prospect into a customer.Handling objections: Savvy business buyers make decisions based on the value your company can add to theirs. Salespeople should use the qualification and research stages to anticipate questions prospects might ask. The better a salesperson can respond to questions and objections, the more confidence they can inspire in prospects.Closing: Depending on the situation, closing a deal can take the form of a quotation, price negotiation, or contract signing.Nurturing: B2B sales are rarely one-off transactions. Most B2B sales are focused on getting repeat business. B2B salespeople need to maintain and nurture relationships with their clients even after deals are closed. This could involve following up with them on delivery of their purchased products and services, providing after-sales support, or simply checking in periodically for cross- and upsell opportunities.The B2B sales process serves as a roadmap for B2B salespeople to maximise their efficiency by stringently following the steps crucial for closing deals and ensuring repeat business.What is a B2B sales funnel?A B2Bsales funnel is the sales process from the customer’s perspective. Like the sales process, the sales funnel too can have multiple stages. But today, this customer journey is not linear. Customers spend a significant amount of time researching and discussing their options with friends and colleagues. By the time a salesperson is involved in this journey, customers may even be close to a decision.A typical B2B sales funnel involves these stages:Awareness: The buyer finds out about your offerings either by themselves, a targeted ad, or from a cold-calling salesperson.Interest: A conversation with a salesperson piques the buyer’s interest in the product; they get an early idea of whether the product or service will serve their needs or not.Objection: After receiving a pitch from the salesperson, the buyer considers it and raises objections, if any. Objections allow the buyer to get more information about the product or service.Decision: After responding to their objections, the buyer decides if they want to buy the product or service being offered.Purchase: This is when the deal is closed after the prospective buyer’s organisation arrives at a decision.Evaluation: After purchasing the product or service, the buyer uses it and evaluates whether it fulfils their needs and solves their problems.Repurchase decision: After evaluating it, the buyer may or may not decide to repurchase the product or service. If the evaluation is positive, the buyer might consider repurchasing. If it’s negative, they might look for other suppliers. Outreach from salespeople can often greatly help swing the repurchase decision in favour of the seller.The B2B sales funnel helps a B2B salesperson better understand the buyer’s journey and align the sales process accordingly, thereby increasing the chances of closing the sale.B2B versus B2C sales: What’s the difference?The most obvious difference between B2B and B2C sales is the nature of the customers. Selling clothes to a customer is a completely different process from selling industrial textile looms to a manufacturer.For B2B sales, professional buyers or executives from various industries are customers. Anyone can be a customer for business to consumer sales.The differences in the customers’ nature also create differences in their decision-making and purchasing processes. Business buyers make purchases based on rational, strategic bases to generate further value. In contrast, consumer buyers can make decisions based on reasoning, emotions, desires, or personal values.The difference in purchase decisions calls for B2B and B2C salespeople to adopt very different sales tactics and marketing strategies.Here are some key characteristics of B2B sales:Larger average transaction values: B2B sales typically involve larger order quantities and pricier products, both of which contribute to higher average transaction values. Businesses are usually willing to pay a good price for the goods or services they need, if they perceive value in them.Multiple stakeholders: B2B sales often involve several stakeholders on the buyer side and are rarely dependent on one person’s approval. Some stakeholders might merely influence the sale, while others will have the authority to sign off on the final contract. More people involved means more of the salesperson’s time and effort needed to convince each stakeholder.Professional buyers: Businesses buy products and services that are likely to have a marked impact on their operations, justifying the due diligence needed to arrive at any decision. Some businesses even hire professionals to guide their purchasing decisions. B2B salespeople also need discipline and a high level of expertise to address purchasers’ objections and arguments satisfactorily.Fewer customers: Due to the specificity of most B2B products and services, the addressable market for a B2B salesperson is often quite narrow, especially when compared to B2C products and services. B2B customers return a higher lifetime value, compensating for their fewer numbers and high acquisition costs.Long sales cycles: The B2B sales cycle is usually lengthy owing to the involvement of multiple stakeholders and decision-makers, higher average transaction values, complex purchasing processes, and the material impact of the purchase and offerings on the buyer’s business. A typical B2B sales cycle can last several months, involving multiple meetings, emails, and phone calls.In B2B sales, relationship building through constant nurturing is needed to ensure repeat business. Getting new customers costs 5-10 times more than keeping existing ones. Since B2B sales typically involve bigger deal sizes and complex processes, repeat business becomes crucial for your business’s predictable growth.Not that repeat sales don’t matter in B2C sales. However, relationship building in B2C sales is done at a personal, emotional level, and involves smaller purchase values than B2B sales.How do you make B2B sales?Making B2B sales requires you to follow the same loose framework for making any sale. Build a sales strategy that is well-suited to target your ideal customer, break it down into repeatable steps that your sales team can follow, measure performance, and make improvements as and when needed.The difference is in the way you approach your prospects and customers and how you align your selling model with their purchasing process.Try to make your sales process as convenient, fast, and transparent as possible. Salespeople also need to have a good understanding of what they sell. B2B customers do not appreciate their time wasted, and showing a lack of knowledge and experience will not inspire confidence.Research well and get to know what they sell, to whom, which markets, etc. Understand the role of each stakeholder and their individual challenges and needs. This can help you hyperpersonalise your pitch to show how your offerings can address multiple pain points and goals. In addition, automating parts of your sales cycle is an effective way of making it faster.What are some B2B sales techniques?Within a basic sales process, sales teams can employ one or more of the following sales techniques to increase their chances of succeeding:Solution selling: This involves gaining a deep understanding of the buyer’s business, needs, and problems, and offering a tailored, holistic solution in response, rather than pushing one-size-fits-all products. Solution sellers almost never offer products off-the-shelf. Solution selling might incur higher sales costs, but the solution’s suitability usually results in a higher rate of closing.Account-based sales: This method focuses on premium customers, offering them end-to-end, highly tailored experiences. Each account, with all its shareholders, is treated as a complete market. A host of resources that would otherwise be put into full market segments is allocated to each account. This helps grow revenues from each key account through more targeted cross- and upselling.Challenger sale: In this method, salespeople educate and inform the customer about their needs in response to market trends, risks, and opportunities. The salesperson takes on a more active role here, helping customers realise a need in the first place.Sandler selling system: The system places greater emphasis on the buyer-seller relationship. Salespeople need to establish themselves as trusted advisors to clients, inspiring mutual confidence to work towards shared success. This system leverages human psychology and the buyer-seller dynamic to accelerate the sales cycle.Value selling: Value selling instructs salespeople to emphasise and establish the value addition their products or services can make to the buyer’s business. The value additions presented need to be concrete and measurable, such as cost savings, revenue increments, or productivity improvements.What are some key B2B sales tips?No matter the sales techniques used, all B2B salespeople can benefit from the following tips:Tailor customer communication on a case-to-case basis. This helps convey the value your offerings can add to the customer’s business faster.Continuously train your sales team. Professional B2B buyers appreciate salespeople who demonstrate expertise.Focus on solving problems rather than pushing your products, as B2B buyers are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiencies and reduce costs. Show active listening, empathy, and critical thinking by asking the right questions and providing relevant information.Adopt omnichannel outreach to stay in touch with B2B customers. With greater digitisation, B2B buyers too are warming up to newer channels to engage and buy on.Use social selling techniques to get B2B customers’ attention and approval. They care about their peers’ opinions, making referrals a great way to establish contact.Collect and display positive customer feedback, using these case studies for your sales playbook.Ensure all other customer-facing teams, such as marketing and customer service, are aligned to the sales goal.Beyond CRM solutions, employ sales engagement tools that use data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable faster, smarter decision-making and action.Consider building a dedicated B2B sales team to increase revenue shares from your most valuable customers. This makes more sense if your organisation has different business units or departments that handle both B2B and B2C customers.Inside versus outside B2B salesInside B2B sales is made remotely by reps sitting in an office (or any location), whereas outside B2B sales is those made by reps in the field.Outside sales tend to be more successful because of the personal touch salespeople can add by interacting with customers directly. Outside salespeople might close more sales and drive order values up. However, outside sales is more expensive and time-consuming.With a wide variety of communication tools now available to salespeople, selling from anywhere is increasing in popularity, more so since the pandemic struck. Inside sales cost less and give managers more control and better oversight of the sales process.How is B2B sales changing?B2B sales has undergone a dramatic change in recent years. Business buyers now have access to a lot of information about products, services, and suppliers. They also have a wide range of options to choose from. This makes the B2B sales space more competitive and requires B2B salespeople to engage customers more meaningfully.Business buyers now expect a highly personalised purchase experience. To deliver this, salespeople must possess an intimate understanding of the needs and desires of buyers. Salespeople can also leverage technology to conduct better research about a prospect and their organisation or industry.Sellers also have access to a range of B2B sales tools that they can deploy, including data analysis tools, sales reporting and tracking, B2B marketing automation and targeting programs, and sales management and forecasting software. These tools improve the efficacy of sales teams, helping reps move clients along the sales funnel faster and more successfully.The way forward for B2B salesB2B sales has changed, but for the better. With more tools at the disposal of both buyers and sellers, salespeople can proactively reach out to prospective buyers at the right time. With business buyers expecting highly personalised purchase experiences, salespeople need to leverage data-driven tools and their social skills. Addressing the needs of business buyers and forging lasting relationships with them is the key to success in B2B sales.Now more than ever, it’s important to build deeper connections with customers, manage your business in real time, and adapt fast as the world continues to evolve.Learn how Sales Cloud can help you grow your business and bring out the best in every rep.This post was originally published on the LIKE.TG I.N. blog.
Achieve Digital Transformation Step by Step With Customer 360
You’ve decided that you’re ready for digital transformation, you’ve developed a strategy, and you might have even begun implementing it. Now, it’s time to configure the Customer 360 platform to serve the specific needs of your business.
Customer 360 consists of more than a dozen independent products, or ‘apps’, which can either be used on their own or linked together.
This modular approach means you only implement the components your business actually needs. You and your team can enjoy streamlined workflows, with the option to add or remove apps if and when you need to.
Further customisation is possible within each app, or you can use them straight out of the box — whichever suits you better.
How do you figure out which products are right for your digital transformation?
It’s simple: just complete the Create Your Own Customer 360 Package quiz for an accurate summary of which apps will benefit you the most.
Read on for a couple of examples of how LIKE.TG Customer 360 can be configured, plus some top-line questions to think about before you dive into the quiz.
Unique solutions for every sector
LIKE.TG’s core industry solutions are for Financial Services, Media, Communications, Energy, Utilities, and Manufacturing. That said, Customer 360 can be configured to provide solutions for any business.
For example, a growing retail business that has just started selling online might add the Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud apps to its Customer 360 platform.
The business can use the Commerce Cloud app to personalise each customer purchase and to sell through any channel. It can also use the Marketing Cloud app for curating hyper-personalised customer journeys, based on deep customer insights
Another example: a subscriber-based media business in the midst of a digital transformation might select the Sales Cloud and Service Cloud apps.
The Sales Cloud app helps maintain in-depth records for each subscriber, track sales opportunities, and review sales forecasts. Service Cloud provides advanced call-centre management and insights into every customer interaction.
Which Customer 360 apps should I choose?
Which apps could benefit your business the most? To prep for the LIKE.TG Customer 360 quiz, consider the following questions:
What is it you want to do?
Every business wants to prosper, but each has different ideas about how to achieve that prosperity. Is the goal of your digital transformation to achieve more leads? Shorten your sales funnel? Improve customer satisfaction? Or something else?
The answer (or answers) to this question will lead you to the Customer 360 apps that can make your digital transformation a success.
Who’s going to use the platform?
Knowing which of your departments will start using Customer 360 is another effective way to identify the specific apps you need. As time goes on and you roll out the platform to other departments, more apps can be considered.
Each app you choose can be tailored for use by certain people within a department. Therefore, it’s a good idea to know from the outset who those people will be. For example, Sales Cloud can be used differently by sales reps, sales leaders, and service agents.
Should you opt for a package designed for small or new businesses?
If your business is young, you may not yet know exactly how you will use the Customer 360 platform, and that’s OK.
LIKE.TG has off-the-shelf solutions for fledgling businesses, such as our LIKE.TG Essentials package. If you are new to using a CRM, this package contains everything you need to get up and running.
As your business grows, the Customer 360 Package quiz or a LIKE.TG rep can help you modify your platform.
Could you benefit from a business collaboration space?
Any business that’s planning digital transformation should consider how its team members will communicate while working. That’s especially important if employees are working remotely in various parts of the world.
Consider using Slack.
In July 2021, LIKE.TG acquired Slack. Slack is a channel-based messaging platform that brings people and tools together in one place. This helps teams to stay productive and aligned from anywhere.
Slack is used by millions of people around the world and enables entire organisations to work far more efficiently and effortlessly.
Adapting to every step of your digital transformation
As your organisation grows and you begin to reap the rewards of digital transformation, you can add functionality to your Customer 360 platform in order to amplify your gains.
In fact, using more apps within the Customer 360 platform directly correlates with positive business outcomes. Almost three quarters (72%) of businesses using more than one Customer 360 app report improved time to ROI, while 95% of those with two or more apps report improved efficiency and productivity.
Want to ensure your digital transformation succeeds but aren’t sure where to start? We can help you. Take the Customer 360 Package quiz to learn which LIKE.TG apps will benefit you the most. Soon, you’ll be on your way to realising your digital transformation vision.
AI Is Here and It’s Rewriting the Way Call Centres Work
These days, AI seems to be everywhere and in everything — from our cars and refrigerators, to our food delivery services, sleep measurement apps, even our toothbrushes. It’s been called the holy grail of computing. But what exactly is AI?
Put simply, it’s a piece of code which derives its intelligence from existing data to solve problems and make complex decisions easier and faster. That makes it extremely useful in automating repetitive business tasks, uncovering opportunities for growth, engaging with customers at scale, and saving costs.
These benefits are very evident in the call centre scenario.
Make every service experience memorable with AI
Gone are the days when customer support was perceived as a cost centre. Today, business leaders recognise good customer service as a way to differentiate their organisation, boost customer trust, and catalyse business growth. In fact, 78% of service agents say their company views them as brand ambassadors.
But to live up to these expectations, agents have to be empowered with the right tools. This is especially true in a COVID-19 world where the majority of service professionals (75%) say that managing case volume has become more challenging. Not only are they dealing with a rise in cases, but they’re also facing more complex cases with anxious customers who are harder to satisfy.
Here’s where AI-powered tools can help. They enable agents to be more productive, find answers quickly, deliver smarter recommendations, and make better-informed decisions. AI chatbots can also help customers self-resolve issues faster.
6 ways AI can add value to your service organisation
Here’s a look at how AI tools like Service Cloud Einstein can be used in call centres to optimise both employee efficiency and customer satisfaction:
Auto-triaging cases: As case volumes go up, AI can help your call centres do more with less by quickly triaging and routing cases. For instance, Einstein Case Classification automatically predicts and pre-fills case fields based on historical data. This saves agents valuable time and effort. Meanwhile, Einstein Case Routing uses machine learning to direct cases to the right queue in real time — so, customers don’t have to be kept waiting.
Recommending responses: Einstein Article Recommendations helps your agents find the right answers to customer cases quickly by surfacing the most relevant knowledge articles within the agent console itself. Einstein Reply Recommendations goes a step further by empowering agents with responses to common questions during chat and messaging conversations. This lowers case resolution time, while enhancing customer satisfaction.
Enabling customers to self-serve: Most customers (65%) prefer self-service for simple matters. So, it’s no surprise that AI-powered chatbots like Einstein Bots are becoming increasingly popular. They can immediately engage with customers to answer common FAQs, check the status of a claim, or provide personalised advice.
Using voice as digital medium: A solution like Service Cloud Voice can help transcribe the customer’s voice in real time, and route it to the AI engine in LIKE.TG to suggest the next best actions instantly. Let’s say a customer is on a live call with an agent, saying they’re unable to change the temperature on a recently purchased geyser. Based on their inputs, AI can automatically surface a trouble-shooting workflow. This makes it easy for the agent to choose the best course of action, and reduce the turnaround time.
Cross-selling and up-selling: Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to build trust and loyalty. The challenge for agents is to know what to offer customers at what time. AI-powered tools like Einstein Next Best Action can help by automatically recommending products, offers, discounts, or actions that are most likely to boost customer satisfaction. Say, the customer has purchased a travel package. The next best action might be to offer them a good travel insurance plan, or connect them to a local transport service partner. This way, you maximise the impact of your customer interaction.
Uncovering actionable insights: Not too long ago, businesses could only analyse a fraction of customer calls — that too, manually. But with AI tools like Service Analytics, you can analyse customer interactions at scale, and derive practical insights on customer churn, CSAT scores, and contact centre performance. These insights delivered in real time can help you proactively adjust and optimise service to deliver the best possible customer experiences.
4 things to think about before adopting AI
Everyone wants a piece of the AI pie. But first, identify what exactly you want AI to do in your call centre. Then, determine whether or not the solution you select actually has those capabilities. If you aren’t clear about your objectives, then your agents will only end up with one more tool that isn’t really useful.
Some things to consider before you embark on your AI journey:
Data quality:AI models are only as good as the quality of data on which they’re built. So, pay attention to the completeness, accuracy, bias, consistency, and labelling of your data.
Employee learning curve:Ensure that your AI-enabled tools are intuitive, easy to use, and seamlessly embedded in your CRM. If employees have to struggle to use AI, then it won’t matter how powerful the tool is — it won’t yield optimal returns.
Out-of-the-box technology:Look for AI tools that are already robust, comprehensive, and flexible enough that they don’t have to be customised heavily. Too many customisations could result in costly technical debt.
Effort investment:You want an AI solution that can be rolled out swiftly and with minimal effort. Complex and lengthy implementation cycles will simply bog down the business.
LIKE.TG’s AI offering, Service Cloud Einstein is specially designed to meet these criteria. It can be implemented quickly with minimum customisation and rapid employee adoption. The best part is that Einstein is built right into Service Cloud, your service channels, and your CRM data — which makes it super-easy to roll-out and use. Agents don’t have to toggle between multiple tools when talking to customers. With all AI capabilities they need on a single screen, agents can coordinate service requests much more smoothly, and deliver connected service experiences that your customers love.
We’ve only just scratched the surface of AI’s potential. As the technology grows more sophisticated, it will undoubtedly unlock new opportunities to improve both customer and agent experiences, as well as revenue growth.
Find out more about our AI offering, Service Cloud Einstein.
This post was originally published on the LIKE.TG IN blog.
Being Human in the Time of Automation
If you’re like most people, you probably think there’s a good chance that AI or robots will have a significant impact on the global job market. Yet surveys also show that most of us think that these disruptive technologies are primarily going to affect someone elseーsomeone with a skill set or an educational background that lends itself to repeatable work. This is a risky assumption on everyone’s part, including mine.
AI and robotics aren’t just for everyone else to think about. The robots are not only coming —they’re already here. But that doesn’t mean we’re all out of a job. It means that we need to explore opportunities for ourselves and our teams tohumanise the future of workto complement and even enhance AI, automation, and productivity.
At LIKE.TG, we recently invited award-winning New York Times technology columnistKevin Rooseto discuss the impact automation is likely to have on our lives and jobs. Roose shared that AI and automation are already changing the way we work — particularly for highly-educated, white-collar workers, whose everyday jobs are already evolving thanks to AI.
Predicting the impact of automation technology on the future of jobs
In the course of research for his book “Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation,” Roose found that for hundreds of years, we’ve been predicting what machines can and can’t do — and that usually, we’re wrong.
Here are a few examples to his point:
“I can state flatly that heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” —Lord Kelvin, 1895
“There is no prospect whatsoever that the employment of electronic digital computers in the field of translation will lead to any revolutionary changes.” —Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, 1962
“You won’t get the best seating or the best fares … what happens if you just press the wrong button?” —travel agency owner quoted in a 1984New York Timesarticle on the first automated ticket machines at airports
The disruptive technologies that would prove each of those predictions wrong went on to reshape economies and workforces forever. Yet at the time, each statement reflected widely-held beliefs. In the early 1980s, for instance, people were very skeptical that computers would ever meaningfully replace human travel agents. That changed quickly with the advent of travel-booking websites, which gave consumers direct access to making arrangements without a travel agency rep or the associated fees. Today, it’s a lot more likely that you use online sites to book everyday travel, except when using a travel agent is mandated as a workplace policy.
Where AI is changing the job landscape
Although many of us still think of robots on the assembly line as the typical agent of job displacement, AI has made advances in fields that many people never imagined were vulnerable to automation:
Healthcare: Machine-learning algorithms can diagnose some types of cancer or perform common X-rays with better accuracy than human radiologists. Other AI applications are in the works that can detect illnesses that range from cancers to Parkinson’s disease from smelling human breath.
Creative work: AI can compose music, write prose, build video-game levels, and write newspaper articles indistinguishable from human output.
Coding: Low-code or no-code development platforms take the complexity out of coding.
Analysis/pattern recognition: AI and machine learning are analysing data sets to identify patterns and trends. They are reporting real-time insights and can even predict, in some cases, what’s likely to happen next.
Influencers: Some of the biggest social-media influencers aren’t human — they areAI-designed models.
Lip-reading: While the average human accurately lip-reads 54% of the time, a deep network created byOxford and Google DeepMind scientists, LipNet, reached a 93%success score in reading people’s lips.
Creating AIs: Given the ability AI has to quickly process large data sets, it’s able to create child AI applications thatoutperform human-created AIs.
Listening: Whether it’s adding items to your shopping list, or producing meeting minutes from our Zoom calls, AI applications can more accurately capture and process what they hear than many humans.
When you hear stories like this, it’s easy to feel uneasy. Like many of us, as Roose was writing about the inroads AI was making, he got worried about his own replaceability as a journalist. He embarked upon a path to research how we can avoid being replaced by robots, which is the premise of the book and the bulk of his presentation.
How to future-proof your career
Now an important question: What can we do as individuals to protect ourselves from being replaced by AI and robots? First, the bad news: Pretty much every job as it exists today can, in some way, be automated. In all honesty, there isn’t any technology-proof job or career path for the long-term.
Now, the good news: Human creativity and resolve is at an all-time premium. And it’s not limited to big “C” creatives like (insert your favourite artist, composer, scientist, or performer).
This is not a time to panic — it’s a time to build on the roles and capabilities that can be automated to deliver new value at every level. Upskilling is now for everyone. We are all students again. Creativity, empathy, critical thinking, collaboration, data science, resilience, adaptability, and other “not-so-soft” skills are ranked as critical for everyone in apandemic worldand beyond.
As AI drives down the price of goods and automated services, it also increases the value of human goods and human experiences. It rewards those that are good at creating these new things in collaboration with machines.
With this in mind, there is one primary thing you can do to make your job a little more future-proof, regardless of what it is: not so ironically, be human.
The best way to differentiate yourself is through your humanity and creativity, not your productivity. Accentuate the human labor involved in what you do or what you make — whether it’s making a ceramic bowl, providing customer service, selling a technology product, or how you show up in any given moment to be present, aware, and ready to participate.
Think beyond using AI and automation to work as fast, at scale, and cheaply as possible. That’s what everyone else will do. Make that human touch more visible and more value-added. This is what the human economy is about: experiences and feelings that machines cannot replicate. Experiences are personal on every side. That’s what makes them special. They involve human beings and in reality, it’s that humanity combined with meaningful experiences, that we’re going to seek out and pay a lot for.
This post was originally published on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
What is a Relational Database? Features & Uses
A relational database is a type of database that stores and organises related data points. Data is organised into tables that are linked based on shared data. They are the most common type of database used by businesses today.
A database like this enables you to search across one or more tables with a single query. It also helps you understand the connections across your data so you can make better business decisions.
Relational databases are ideal for complex data analysis and operations. In a non-relational database, tables can share the same data but they can’t ‘relate’ to each other. With a relational database, they can.
One use of a relational database is connecting tables for customer data and transactions. A business will have both data sets but they may be siloed. A relational database brings these together.
For example, in the customer table, there may be fields for:
Customer ID
Customer Address
Customer Email, etc.
In the transaction table, there may be fields such as:
Customer ID
Transaction Amount
Item Purchased, etc.
As both tables contain a Customer ID, the tables can be related. This means a warehouse team can find the Customer Address that corresponds to the Customer ID, without this information being recorded as a separate data point on each transaction. Relating these data sets can also be used to produce reports, such as a customer statement.
We explore the features, uses, and benefits of a relational database below. Plus, we outline LIKE.TG’s relational data features.
Features of a relational database
Relational databases need ACID characteristics.
ACID refers to four essential properties: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability.
These features are the key difference between a relational database and a non-relational database.
Atomicity
Atomicity keeps data accurate. It makes sure all data is compliant with the rules, regulations, and policies of the business.
It also requires all tasks to succeed, or the transaction will roll back.
Atomicity defines all the elements in a complete database transaction.
Consistency
The state of the database must remain consistent throughout the transaction.
Consistency defines the rules for maintaining data points. This ensures they remain in a correct state after a transaction.
Relational databases have data consistency because the information is updated across applications and database copies (also known as ‘instances’). This means multiple instances always have the same data.
Isolation
With a relational database, each transaction is separate and not dependent on others. This is made possible by isolation.
Isolation keeps the effect of a transaction invisible until it is committed. This reduces the risk of confusion.
Durability
Durability means that you can recover data from a failed transaction.
It also ensures that data changes are permanent.
Uses and benefits of a relational database
Relational databases are often the backbone of a customer relationship management (CRM) system — such as LIKE.TG.
But tracking customer transactions is just one use case for a relational database. There are many others. We even use some in everyday life. For example, when you withdraw money from an ATM, your bank balance may instantly update on your mobile app if it’s using a relational database. This is because this scenario’s data point (“Account Balance”) is consistently updated across all platforms.
There are multiple benefits of using a relational database over a non-relationship database. And many of these affect other systems, including LIKE.TG.
Some of the main advantages of a relational database are:
Data consistency
As mentioned when we outlined ACID, a core part of a relational database is consistency.
A relational database model ensures that all users always see the same data.
This improves understanding across a business because everyone sees the same information. This ensures that nobody makes business decisions based on out-of-date information.
Data working together
All the data in a relational database has a ‘relationship’ with other data. Columns are built in a way that makes it easy to establish relationships among data points.
Data working together gives a more holistic view of all your data — including your customers.
Data flexibility
Relational databases allow for flexibility. Users can change what they see. And it’s easy to add additional data at a later time.
A relational database also allows for a subset of data to be viewed. This means you can hide certain data if some users only need access to a specific set of columns or rows.
Relational data features in LIKE.TG CRM
LIKE.TG’s CRM is built on a relational database.
LIKE.TG calls its tables “objects”. And these objects can relate to each other. These relationships can be used to share information and create connected views of data.
There are two types of relationships in LIKE.TG:
Lookup relationships
This is the most basic relational connection in LIKE.TG.
A lookup relationship links two objects so that you can “look up” one object from the related items on another object. Lookup relationships can be one-to-one or one-to-many.
A standard one-to-many relationship is an Account-to-Contact relationship. This allows you to connect several Contacts to a single Account.
A one-to-one relationship is when only one set of data needs to be related. For example, if you’re in real estate, you may have a Property object and a Home Seller object. The Property only has one Home Seller, so there is only one set of data that needs to be related.
Parent-child relationships
Parent-child relationships are harder than lookup relationships.
With these, one object is the parent, while the other is the child. The parent object controls some of the behaviours of the child object, such as who can view its data. It also means if you delete a parent object, you delete all the associated child objects.
As an example, you may have a parent-child relationship between Property and Offer. All offers are exclusive to one property. Should the property be taken off the market, you can remove the Property object to delete all of the associated offers from your system.
Parent-child relationships are used when objects are always related. When objects are sometimes related, this is a lookup relationship.
Why choose LIKE.TG
LIKE.TG gives you all the benefits of a relational database with the enhanced features of a CRM. Plus, LIKE.TG is taking CRM to the next level, with innovations such as LIKE.TG Einstein which utilises artificial intelligence.
LIKE.TG Customer 360 is the world’s #1 CRM system. It brings sales, service, marketing, commerce, IT, and analytics together. And it’s all made possible by a relational database.
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, providingmore 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 atDreamforce 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 greatcustomer loyalty programis 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 fullheadless commerce implementationoffers. 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 isat 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 withLIKE.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 ourlocation-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 theinnovation 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 Cloudgives 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.
