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At LIKE.TG Live: Asiawe were lucky to have so many Trailblazers sharing their insights, advice, and expertise with us. Here are some top tips from our customers in Asia ondata quality, business intelligence, relationships, support models, and more. Enjoy! Avis Easteal, Regional Head of Consumer, APAC at Luxasia, shares how the luxury beauty retailer increased data capture and data quality, and is using that data to build deeper relationships, improve customer experience, and upsell. |Watch the full video >> Jasmin Lau, Executive Director at Singapore Global Network, on how her team codifies all of the organisation’s relationships to increase the relevance of every interaction – and how they started small to build these capabilities and skills. |Watch the full video >> Francisco Collantes Jr – or ‘Cookie’ – Head of CRS Program Management at Meralco, on the trends driving change and how the forward-thinking energy distribution company continues to transform and innovate. |Watch the full video >> When Anantara Vacation Club started offering service via WeChat, more than half of its Chinese customers – or ‘owners’ – selected this platform within three days. Matthijs de Man, Director of Club Services and Innovation, on why channel choice and real-time engagement is vital to Anantara. |Watch the full video >> With one in three residential households and half of active companies as monthly billing customers, and having transitioned to a digital company, Hong Kong Broadband Network can nowuse its incredible reach for good. NiQ Lai, HKBN Co-Owner and CEO, shares more. |Watch the full video >> Explore the Dreamforce To You 2020 sessions you may have missed, or watch your favourites again, over here. This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

8 Retail Trends and Predictions for 2021

Over the last 12 months, organisations were really scrappy, and now it’s time to lean into automation, scale, and efficiency to harden much of the innovation that has been held together by baling wire and masking tape. 2020unraveled many of our retail trends and predictionsentirely — and taught us important lessons about the resilience of retailers. Among the many eye-opening moments that happened as a direct result of the pandemic, digital shopping saw an unprecedented50% year-over-year (YOY) increase in revenueover the holidays. And those retailers with creative pickup options – curbside, in-store, drive-through – grew more than 60% higher than those that didn’t during the last five days before Christmas. Meanwhile, shoppers turned to social media for more than just inspiration: purchases from a social channel referralskyrocketed 104%. And we’re just getting started. Given the massive disruption and changing consumer expectations due to COVID-19, retailers are looking to accelerate digital transformation. In fact, based onour researchof 500 retail leaders last summer, 76% plan to increase technology spend, and 44% plan to increase their human resources. I’ve asked our LIKE.TG thought leaders to put together observations from an expectation-shattering year and their best ideas about what it all means for retail industry trends. Among the common themes: the continued rise of digital, a shift in the role of brick-and-mortar locations, the rise of loyalty, and the value of experience. Here’s what they had to say. 1. Shopping at the edge endures — and expands Anna Rosenman, Vice President Marketing, Commerce Cloud, and Experience Cloud When we launched ourState of Commerce Report, we saw that 66% of high performers in retail had replaced aspects of the physical shopping experience with digital. More than 70% also experimented with live chat, video, livestreaming, and social shopping. At LIKE.TG, we call this phenomenon “shopping at the edge.” Looking ahead, with 88% of high performers reporting that they are investing even more in digital experiences, we expect to see commerce become prevalent in newer channels, such as online gaming. We will also see businesses that previously were highly reliant on in-person selling embrace digital as a means of reaching existing and new audiences. In addition, I believe that in 2021 thepost-purchase digital experience— from convenient payments to embedded service and loyalty — will become priorities as brands work to keep their customers. Additionally, the data captured beyond the buy button will enhance the broader customer journey. Thisfirst-party datawill help retailers better segment and personalise marketing to capture new audiences, deliver a more intelligent commerce experience, and increase the lifetime value of customers. 2. Coherent storytelling will win the social commerce game Vinod Kumar, Product Management Director, Commerce Intelligence As Anna Rosenman mentions above, the biggest takeaway from 2020 was increased universal comfort with online shopping for almosteverything. Capabilities that were considered nice-to-have just a few months ago suddenly became essential for survival. “Contactless” and “curbside” come to mind. The big revelation was social commerce. While TikTok’ers were chasing their 30 seconds of fame shuffle-dancing to siren jams, all the major social “walled gardens” rolled out some form of commerce capability. My prediction is that coherence is the one key difference between winners and losers in the upcoming retail gold rush to social; the difference between fad chasers and tastemakers. Brands that deliver great products with amazing experiences on social, anchored by coherent storytelling and a narrative that’s consistent with their brand ethos, will win. Those that jump in with random acts of content, won’t. 3. Physical experiences will snap back, but digital will remain the priority Matt Marcotte, Senior Vice President, Industry Go-To-Market 2020 was a year of forced change — building new muscles, trying new channels, and replacing physical contact with digital connection. It accelerated change that was already on the horizon, but its artificial nature will result in some snapback once we are able to go back out in the world. We’re also likely to see an even greater reliance on technology to make our lives easier, more convenient, and frictionless. But physical experiences are still critical. Touch is a powerful factor in creating emotional connection — and the one sense that has been most repressed during the pandemic. Brands need to divide their store strategy into two lanes: efficiency and experiential. Efficiency is about using stores as mini-distribution sites for buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup. Make the last mileeasier for customers, and connect the digital shopper with product and services. Experiential is about creating a moment that inspires, excites, and takes the customer on a multisensory journey that builds brand affinity, advocacy, and amplification. Existing stores, pop-ups, brand collaborations, and events are some areas brands can focus on to create distinctly emotional experiences. Despite this return to shopping in stores,“digitally enabled” is still the way of the world, period.On average, we spend 12 hours a day connected to technology— essentially, most of our waking hours — which means that we are constantly influenced by our computers, digital screens, and mobile devices no matter where we are. Brands need to embrace this reality and build experiences that connect all touchpoints to complement each other without competing. Imagine shopping in a store as your phone serves up information about a product you have been looking at online. You’re directed to the aisle where it’s located, making it easier for you to buy and enable your purchase. Now imagine playingFortniteand dressing your avatar in real-world designer gear through the game – and then being able to purchase those items for yourself from those designers as you play. That type of synergy is the future, and the brands and retailers that can find ways to use technology to connect the customer experience will win. 4. Personalisation is the new black Alex Drinker, Global Leader, Retail Go-To-Market 2020 changed the retail industry forever. The massive surge in digital forced the industry to look at everything from its supply chain to its customer engagement tech stack. In almost every case, retailers found gaps in what they needed to serve this newdigitally enabled consumer. This change in consumer behaviour was, and will continue to be, a catalyst for the industry to improve upon all areas of the customer journey and to force some leaders to reevaluate traditional business models. However, 2021 isn’t just going to be the year of the digital consumer. I believe it will be the year of a more informed, connected consumer who hashigher expectationsfor personalisation, service, and the ability to transact in every channel.Seventy-nine percentof consumers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. With that in mind, I expect that during 2021, brick and mortar will remain the most important channel for the majority of retailers. Conversely, for digitally native brands, the store will be a new growth channel. A little less than a third of all orders came from digital this holiday, more than double that of 2019. However, that means that two-thirds of all orders came from offline channels. I wouldn’t expect that number to change anytime soon. This means that omni-channel experiences must be personalised and seamless. When brands build a new engagement channel, they will enable that channel to do anything a customer wants. For example, through an SMS conversation, a shopper might want to receive promotional offers and transact, but also reach back out to the retailer for help. Customers may not know what omni-channel means, but their behaviour demands it from retailers. Together, these factors mean that personalisation will take on a whole new meaning. Consumers are willing to provide their personal information for a more curated experience. When we asked 10,000 consumers what made their favourite brands stand out, the top answer was catering to their unique needs. In order to meet those needs, I predict more retailers will have a well-defined artificial intelligence (AI) strategy to drive personalisation at scale. 5. The last mile will be reimagined JR Linne, Global Director, Retail Industries Solutions The last mile will get a much needed tune-up. With the constraints on last mile coming to a head during the peak holiday 2020 season, retailers have started to reimagine ways to get their goods into the hands of customers. Courier servicesexpanding beyond food deliverymean that the reliance on traditional carriers will decrease as customer options become more diverse. I could even see retailers repurposing store headcount to a delivery mechanism themselves to ensure they own the customer experience to the very end. That was a big lesson from the 2020 holiday shopping season, by the way. Safety concerns and overloaded shippers drove consumers to retailers with curbside, drive-through, and in-store pickup options. They were rewarded with a 49% increase in digital revenue on average YOY, and 54% digital revenue growth YOY in the five days leading up to Christmas. Retailers who didn’t offer these options saw only28% average growth on average YOY, and 34% digital revenue growthYOY in the five days leading up to Christmas. 6. Loyalty will win big this year Hilary Englert, Director, Product Marketing Customer loyalty will be redefined as the world emerges from the limitations required by COVID-19, and it will be more important than ever. Brands that have capitalised on shifting trends in 2020 need to build on those new routines and loyalty as the world makes its next transition. That means building loyalty will be top of mind in 2021. While value, convenience, and availability were the critical factors in 2020 (I go back tothe toilet paper saga), they’re now table stakes. Consumers will return to looking for connectedness with a brand, what it stands for, and its purpose. The experience that a brand provides through meaningful and relevant communications creates the authenticity that shoppers will crave. Also, as categories re-emerge (e.g., formal wear for weddings and school supplies for on-campus learning), loyalty will be even more important for brands to become part of new routines and capture mindshare. Brands that remain relevant, consistent, and authentic are primed to grow. 7. Retail recovery might take longer than expected Vinay Vaswani, Retail Industry Business Development Lead, LIKE.TG EMEA The view from my perch in Europe allows me to look at these trends from a global retail perspective. I realise that it’s been a frustrating year for retail, and there is a lot of optimism on the vaccines bringing things back to normal soon. However, I believe that retailers should prepare for retail recovery to take a bit longer than expected around the world. The current retail situation is likely to continue through the first half of 2021, with more store closures and companies entering administration. We may see improvements after the summer or more realistically, in late 2021 and early 2022 as easing of lockdowns (and vaccinations) allow shoppers to come back into the stores. On the flip side, the potential for revenue growth might help to buoy the 2021 numbers. Meanwhile, digital shopping will continue to grow in 2021, almost becoming the norm. We’re already seeing a permanent shift in consumer shopping behaviour,especially in grocery. We should also expect more of: Social commerce (through livestreaming and influencers) Direct-to-consumer sales by consumer companies Innovations around augmented reality and virtual reality In terms of what that means for stores, I believe stores will continue to be very relevant – but their role will continue to change to support online shopping. The stores that do remain open will have more technology and tools to support online shopping (such as click and collect), or they will offer different in-store experiences, such as new layouts. Conversely, digital native brands will be likely to open brick-and-mortar locations. Retailers will have to adapt their stores while expanding their digital shopping capabilities at the same time. 8. Young consumers will reward uniqueness Adriana Bourgoin, Chief Customer Officer, Commerce Cloud Consumers will continue to seek uniqueness, heritage, and sustainability. Expect retailers to respond with creative collaborations,limited productions, and recycle/resell/sustainability efforts to build loyalty. 2021 will see more activism positioning, front and centre. Gen Zwill solidify its position as a force for change. These digital natives brought their parents and grandparents into new shopping behaviours in 2020, and drove significant increases in digital sales for emerging categories,such as alcohol. While their true spending power may not be recognised for a few years, their outsized influence will be seen not just in retail but in any industry ripe for disruption, including higher education, banking, and travel. The lines between creators, buyers, and sellers will continue to blur.Customised sneakers have already become the norm. Influencers regularly launch products in partnership with major brands. Online marketplaces and the introduction of ecommerce on social platforms have created a digital bazaar on a global scale. In 2021, expect to see more of this, but with greater adoption by professionals, such as beauty advisors and hair stylists, with corporate sponsorship. Learn how Saleforce for Retail makes every shopper experience feel custom tailored. This post originally appeared on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

3 Companies Using Technology To Enable Business Growth in ASEAN

At LIKE.TG, Nichola Palmer works with customers to bring their stories of innovation and transformation to life. Every month, she highlights three small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Asia that use LIKE.TG to overcome business challenges. The road to business growth is rarely easy. Challenges arise overnight and businesses must stay agile to overcome new obstacles and maximise opportunities. Building your business with the right technology is vital to achieve success in the rapidly transforming digital world. But it should never be a case of deploying technology for technology’s sake. Rather, technology should be focused on making your employees’ and customers’ lives better. Here’s how three successful companies are using LIKE.TG to enable people-first business growth in ASEAN. Mitsubishi Chemical Cleansui Haili Haili is the sole distributor of Mitsubishi Chemical Cleansui, Japan’s number-one water purifier brand in Vietnam. The company started in 2017 on a business-to-consumer (B2C) model, and has grown rapidly in a short time. Growth has been so strong, in fact, that it has been challenging for the company to expand its in-house sales team fast enough to fulfill market demand. The solution, says Trang Le, Business Marketing Manager at Mitsubishi Chemical Cleansui Vietnam, is extending other distribution channels through a new business to business to consumer (B2B2C) model. “The advantage of this model is that we do not need to recruit too many sales people and we are able to increase our speed to market as well as consumer coverage,” says Ms Le. “Dealers are our extended sales army, and we needed to find a way to empower them.” The company turned to LIKE.TG to deploy a Dealer Management System to enable dealers to register orders quickly. This system also keeps dealers updated on new programs, product knowledge, sales kits, and special promotions. “Besides selling the water purifiers, we also need to change the water filter for the end consumers on a yearly basis,” Ms Le adds. “So, our Dealer Management System ties consumer details to each product we sell.” Ms Le says the Dealer Management System has contributed to a 30% reduction in data entry. Customer orders are now processed 20% faster, too. “Our dealers feel happy because they do not have to manage their customers, orders, products, status, purchase date, and cartridge replacement date via Excel anymore. As such, we have seen significant improvement in dealers’ mindsets since we started the roll out of the Dealer Management System.” SmartCost Bangkok-based abrasives company SmartCost currently serves more than 1,500 business-to-business (B2B) customers. The company began with a single manual sandpaper stamping machine in 2004. Since then, it has grown into a network spanning 850 factories and 650 car body shops across Thailand. SmartCost was founded on the vision to become a partner for every customer, with a solution-centric approach at the heart of every customer interaction. However, managing work flows with Google Sheets and an under-performing customer relationship management (CRM) software was holding the company back. SmartCost deployed Sales Cloud to create a systemised pipeline and track sales activities. They used Service Cloud to get a 360-degree view of their customers, as well as real-time insights into every order progression. SmartCost implemented Tableau to transform data into actionable insights, to assist with inventory, manpower, and production planning. Finally, they automated their marketing processes by integrating Pardot with Sales Cloud and Service Cloud. The LIKE.TG deployment has contributed to a 50% increase in revenue gains, driven by a 30% improvement in measurable services levels and a 40% boost in lead conversions. “The sales team now works in a more systematic way with increased productivity,” says Krittakorn Wongsuttipakorn, founder and CEO of SmartCost. “Management can track sales activities, and support the sales team to follow the team strategy.” Khun Krittakorn added, “With LIKE.TG, we can also use data and learnings from one business unit to enable cross-sell opportunities across the organisation. We would like to be a trusted partner for our customers in every industry. Insightful customer data from LIKE.TG can make this plan come true. LIKE.TG is the piece that completes our big data jigsaw.” gm Founded as General Marine Underwriting Agents Pte Ltd in 1975, gm Pte Ltd was historically run as a traditional ledger business. But when current Chief Executive Officer Douglas Chia took over the Singapore-based company from his father in 2013, he had a different vision. Douglas wanted to simplify insurance to offer straightforward protection for the things his customers care most about. He knew implementing the right technology was the way to achieve his vision. gm started with a CRM system in 2013, and the business grew rapidly. However, with no pipeline view and no way to manage lead flow, employees became frustrated with the legacy CRM. Douglas and his team had to look for a better solution. “We looked at a few different CRM vendors, but they were too complex,” Douglas explains. “Then we found LIKE.TG. We could use it straight out of the box for a simple deployment, and the intuitive user interface enabled fast adoption.” It was a winning formula. The company grew rapidly and saw gains in market share. The move to LIKE.TG delivered a revenue gain of 30%–40%. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Within three days, all 40 employees had to work from home. “We set up a VPN immediately, and I raced out to buy as many laptops as I could grab,” Douglas laughs. “But, thanks to LIKE.TG, we didn’t have to worry about the core system. It was ready to go.” That meant that the company could run as close to business-as-usual as possible. Many of the company’s competitors couldn’t match that pace. gm even grew the business by about 20% during the worst weeks of the pandemic. “It was important for us to be there for our customers during the pandemic, and to keep communicating with them,” Douglas says. “Those are the types of relationships we want to keep building going forward. For us, it’s about using technology to help make our customers’ lives better. LIKE.TG is helping us to do that.” At its core, technology is about people and processes. Using the right platform to streamline your processes will improve employee engagement and help your team deliver more value to your customers. Get it right, and your business will be prepared to turn your next big challenge into your greatest opportunity.

The Role of AI in Marketing: Beyond Automation, Towards Personalisation

COVID-19 has led to a sharp increase in the amount of time consumers spend on digital platforms. For marketers, this is a huge opportunity to stay connected with their audiences during the pandemic. But with so much being communicated digitally, not every conversation is attracting engagement. Engaging customers in real-time requires faster, more accurate decision-making regarding what needs to be said, when it needs to be said, and how. Messaging that reflects a deep understanding of customer context and offers relevant communication is key. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered solutions, with their predictive capabilities, can help marketers make the right decisions, in near real-time. They can also enable marketers to run contextual marketing campaigns and personalise conversations with prospects and customers. This results in better engagement rates and an improved customer experience. Here’s how AI-enabled solutions are transforming marketing: 1. Smarter segmentation for better audience discovery Buyer personas are the cornerstone of modern digital marketing. AI solutions can help segment these personas, smartly. By crunching hundreds of data points from ongoing campaigns, the solutions help marketing teams find new sub-segments. An outdoor apparel brand has an audience segment of hikers. AI informs marketers of two sizeable categories within this segment – family road-trippers and tech-savvy hikers. Using these insights, they tailor their product recommendations for each of these categories, resulting in more precise targeting. For example, family road-trippers are shown hiking gear for kids, and tech-savvy hikers are shown the latest GPS device or solar-powered light. Identifying the audience sub-segments helps launch hyperpersonalised marketing initiatives. Marketing platforms with in-built AI capabilities can identify the unique traits of individual customers within a sub-segment. This can then be leveraged to tailor the marketing content and build personalised customer relationships. 2. Accurate predictions to aid lead conversion Traditionally, marketing decisions were driven by marketers’ experience and gut instinct. AI-solutions take the guesswork out of the process with their accurate, data-driven predictions. These predictions enable marketers to personalise the customer journey and successfully transition leads through the marketing funnel, ultimately boosting lead conversion. Consider Einstein Engagement Scoring, for instance. This AI-enabled feature of LIKE.TG Marketing Cloud uses machine learning on customer data to assign a score to a company’s email subscribers. The score predicts the likelihood of each subscriber engaging with your email campaigns, and ultimately, to convert. The feature can also tell you how likely a subscriber is to open an email, click the links within that email, or to stay subscribed. Marketers can use these predictions to build more personalised customer journeys. For instance, customers with a low probability to open emails can be targeted through other channels, such as social media ads and mobile messaging. 3. Personalised messaging across channels for better engagement Based on factors such as browsing history, age, and recent engagement with a brand, AI algorithms can serve the landing page that is most likely to resonate with a website visitor. The same goes for advertising. The algorithm can select and offer the right copy from a bunch of options, in real-time, according to a user’s profile. This helps marketers run dynamic ad campaigns that are accurately targeted at users. Today, AI-powered solutions can be even more specific, helping marketers deliver just the right amount of engagement. For instance, Einstein for Marketing Cloud has an Engagement Frequency feature. It tells you the optimum number of emails to send to customers for brand recall without being seen as spamming them. Similarly, it tells you which subscribers are being emailed too little or too often. Based on this information, marketers can tailor their messaging strategy for better customer engagement. “AI-powered analysis can also tell you when email engagement rates are too low, and if a social content strategy would be a better bet.” As customers start to value brand experience as much as products, businesses will need to deliver personalised messaging across channels to stay competitive. AI can boost your marketing team’s understanding of customer behaviour and engagement. To see how marketing teams can leverage this understanding to create personalised, well-timed, and contextual marketing campaigns, try Einstein for Marketing Cloud. This post originally appeared on the I.N-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

The Spring ’21 Release Is About To Bloom — Preview It Now!

Did you know most new innovations in theLIKE.TG Spring ’21 Releaseare already included with products you’ve purchased? In order to maximise your return on investment (ROI), check out some of our favouriteincludedfeatures such as Sales Cloud’sForecast Adjustment, Einstein Recommendation Builder, LIKE.TG Shield for Surveys, and Tableau CRM’sDashboard Components. On February 15, you will have access to hundreds of globally available products and features. Increase your business capability withRevenue Cloud, a revenue management system to speed up revenue growth across every channel. UseMuleSoft Composer for LIKE.TG, the fastest and easiest way to connect your apps and data to LIKE.TG. Explore Commerce Cloud’sPayments, an out-of-the-box payment solution that gets you to market fast while boosting conversion rates. We also continue to drive customer-centric transformations by expanding our industry product portfolio, so you can get closer to your community. Today, you can preview Public Sector Solutions’Grants Program Management, which tracks, manages, and delivers grants programs with ease. You can also preview Communication Cloud’sEnterprise Sales Management, which transforms the selling experience with effective management of transaction quoting. Additionally, Education Cloud’sAdmissions Connectprovides an innovative user interface (UI) to read and review academic applications, whileStudent Success Hubdelivers equitable and holistic student support from anywhere. Check outLIKE.TG/releasesto explore all that Spring ’21 has to offer. From there, getting ready for the release is as easy as one, two, three: 1. Find what’s new for your company Use theSpring ’21 Release In a Boxfor a slide-by-slide view of our most exciting new innovations and shareSpring ’21 Release demo videosto help LIKE.TG users across your company get ready for their new tools. 2. Skill up on new products and features Earn a new badge by taking the newSpring ’21 Release Highlights Trailor dive deep with theSpring ’21 Release Notesto get more detailed information on each product and feature. 3. Get pro tips from your peers Join theRelease Readiness Trailblazers Community, your central location for all the latest release resources and announcements across all LIKE.TG product areas. Now that you’re ready, mark your calendar for February 15 when all Spring ’21 innovations will be available globally. This post originally appeared on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

Why Accelerating Digital Transformation Is the Key To a Bright Future

The shift to digital is happening quickly and it is clear that a one size fits all approach no longer works as a sales technique. But without truly knowing your customer, it’s impossible for sales leaders and their teams to fully understand their clients’ needs and ensure interactions are individually tailored. Customer relationship management (CRM) is the art of creating seamless and personalised customer experiences at every step of the sales process. Here we explore the basics of CRM and look at how cloud-based CRM technology has become a crucial tool for sales teams. What is CRM? CRM technology allows businesses to collect and store customer information, activity, phone numbers, and addresses all in one place. But it is much more than just a glorified phone book! A technological suite of CRM tools analyses and unlocks client data to create a complete 360-degree view of your customer. The advantage is simple. By having all of this information in one place, you can better manage your company’s relationships and interactions with customers, prospects, and stakeholders. For example, core technologies like mobile, AI, workflow, app builder, communities, voice, and the highest levels of security are built into every app on LIKE.TG’s completely digital-first Customer 360 CRM platform. With every email, every phone call, and every meeting in one place, teams can work collaboratively to ensure tailored and informed interactions with customers every single time. How do sales teams use CRM? Sales teams use CRM technology to create exceptional customer experiences, identify leads, and increase cross-selling and upselling opportunities. They do this by controlling and utilising the flood of data that is generated during the sales process. Sales reps gather valuable sales information when they are out on the road meeting with prospective clients, but this is often recorded in handwritten notes, personal devices, or in their heads. Without a central source of truth, valuable data can be lost along with customer trust and any sales opportunities. By using a simple, customisable dashboard enriched with analytics, sales reps can capture customer information and get a complete view of their clients at a glance. The new generation of CRM even goes one step further with built-in intelligence generating customer insights and automating administrative tasks such as data entry and lead routing. It even predicts how customers will feel and act so sales reps can prepare the right outreach. So, why is CRM important for sales teams? Customers expect more than ever from the buying experience. They want the process to be easy, accessible, and personalised. They want to feel understood and they expect consultative interactions across different digital channels with sales representatives who have their best interests at heart. But many sales teams struggle to meet these expectations, with scattered customer data and siloed departments creating friction. Without truly knowing your customer, it is hard to understand and tailor sales interactions. For premium appliance brand Fisher Paykel, CRM technology has played a key role in helping the global company understand its customers and deepen its customer relationships by providing seamless and tailored experiences. “Our partnership with LIKE.TG means the technology is less of the focus and we can concentrate more on the customer, more on our people, more on our product. That’s really where the advantage is for us,” said Rudi Khoury, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Customer Experience at Fisher Paykel. CRM technology allows sales leaders to rise to the occasion by putting the customer at the centre of every interaction. It allows sales reps to focus more on their clients’ needs and less on back-end administration – resulting in business growth. Top 5 CRM advantages for sales leaders 1. Increases sales and efficiency CRM platforms have a proven track record. In fact, statistics from Forrester have shown that 50% of sales teams equipped with complete, accurate, and centrally-held information about clients and prospects have increased productivity. 2. Helps identify and categorise leads In 2018, duties like data entry and paperwork filled so many hours that sales reps only spent one-third of their time actually selling! With CRM systems, sales leaders can spend more time learning about and connecting with customers, and identify the most worthwhile leads to prioritise. 3. Increases cross-selling and upselling opportunities With a 360-degree view of your customer, cross-selling and upselling opportunities become more obvious. This potential is maximised when sales has the right tools to cross-collaborate with other teams. CRMs like Customer 360 create a single source of truth with a unified customer profile across all touchpoints, to ensure sales reps can easily meet customers anywhere they are. 4. Improves customers experiences With increasingly digital needs, customers need relevant and personalised experiences across multiple devices and channels. Customer 360 allows sales reps to quickly access complete customer records and exceed customer expectations, even when teams are working remotely. 5. Customer insights According to the recent State of Sales report, 88% of sales reps say current economic conditions make it important to anticipate customers’ needs. A good CRM system gathers information broadly to allow sales teams to better understand their customers. Technologies like AI, workflow, and app builder analyse and unlock this data to provide unprecedented insights into how your customers feel so you can know exactly what they want and when your lead is hot. Learn how Sales Cloud can help sales teams drive revenue growth. This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

Predictions From a Futurist: What We Can Expect From the Future of Work

When we talk about a better future, what do we mean? Our latest guest on the Future of Work, Now podcast shares that this question helped lead him to a career as a futurist. That guest is Peter Schwartz, American futurist, innovator, author, and co-founder of the Global Business Network. He is also SVP of Strategic Planning for LIKE.TG. Peter’s first book, The Art of the Long View, is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning. He has also served as a script consultant on the films The Minority Report, Deep Impact, Sneakers, and War Games. Peter talks about these experiences in the first episode of our podcast’s new season on the Digital Imperative. He also offers his view on how we may live and work in the future. Here are key takeaways from Peter’s conversation with host Simone Heng: Remote work: Temporary or the new norm in the future of work? Many businesses are in a state of transition. They are considering when, and to what extent, employees will return to the office. Peter shared his view that whatever happens, the workplace won’t be exactly the same as it was before. “When the pandemic hit, the world changed course into the future and it changed the calculus of what we do from home as compared to what we do in the office or in the classroom, shop, or doctors’ office,” said Peter. “We’re working, learning, shopping, and even socialising remotely and while we’re learning these new behaviours, the technology is radically improving.” Peter predicted that video conferencing will be considerably better in one year from now. There will also be new technologies for applications like learning, medicine, and socialisation. “There’s a great wave of innovation that is going to make it much more desirable to do things remotely.” Peter Schwartz | American futurist and SVP of Strategic Planning for LIKE.TG Future changes to our daily habits So what will daily life look like for workers? Peter painted a picture of a world where technology is gradually wrapped around us and enables us to work from anywhere. This could include the home, the car, or even the beach. It could also include a casual studio space that can be booked by the hour. “I think every worker who can do their job remotely will have a suite of technology around them that enables them to work wherever they want, whenever they want. I can also see homes having a personal studio room with good lightning, good sound, and good screens that can be used for work and education,” said Peter. Of course not everyone will want or be able to afford these rooms in their home, so you can imagine a lot of empty office space becoming casual studio space.” More broadly, now is a time for human beings to adapt or, in Peter’s words, reimagine, reinvent, and relocate. “Some of us are now able to rethink our lives and not be trapped by the choices we made in the past. Instead, we can make new choices and create new options for ourselves,” he said. The one big trend shaping the future of work Almost everything we do at work, we do with other people. So no matter where we work, collaboration will remain vital and will need to extend beyond emails and conference calls. The tools of collaboration will have to evolve and Peter identifies this as the most apparent workplace trend shaping the future. “We have recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire Slack and that is all about enabling teams to collaborate very creatively,” said Peter. “We’re also seeing other tools of collaboration in the workplace, including online white boards and tools for brainstorming. These tools and the ability to collaborate and engage with our colleagues and customers is what I see as most exciting about the future of work.” Listen to the podcast to hear more from Peter, including his tips on how businesses can future-proof themselves. Access the podcast on demand at our podcasts page, Spotify, and iTunes. You can also listen over at the Singapore Community Radio Twitch page, Facebook page, and website. Tune in at 1:00 p.m. SGT Friday, March 5 to hear from our next guest, Stuart Thornton, CEO Co-founder of hoolah, a Singapore-based fintech company. Sign up here for our LIKE.TG Blog newsletter to get monthly updates on the latest LIKE.TG stories.

CRM 101: A Guide for Sales Leaders

New Research: Is CRM the Secret To Connecting Your Business Silos?

LIKE.TG partnered with Forrester Consulting to evaluate the use of CRM systems across a wide range of industries. The findings show the core challenges facing business leaders today and how they’re investing in customer-centricity for tomorrow. It’s fiscal year planning time, and as the departmental leader, you’re eager to invest in new technology to improve customer experience metrics and performance for your team. There’s immense pressure to deliver quickly, so involving other departments isn’t an option right now, but you’ll be sure to include them in the future. Sound familiar? New researchshows four out of five organisations are investing in CRM to support customer-focused strategies. Yet departmental buyers have traditionally purchased CRM in isolation to solve a single business problem, resulting in a majority reporting that CRM systems are at least somewhat fragmented across their organisations. These findings highlight a central problem: applying technology to old ways of doing things doesn’t magically change the way teams deliver customer experience at scale. When departmental leaders buy and implement CRM in silos, the real shift to customer-centricity remains out of reach. But there is a way forward. Let’s look at the data to see whether CRM really is the secret to connecting your business silos. We’ll unpack the core challenges facing business leaders today, how they’re investing in customer-centricity for tomorrow, and how that shift can pay off in a major way. Bridging the gap between current usage and expectations for CRM In Fall 2019, LIKE.TG commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate the use of CRM systems across a wide range of industries. Forrester surveyed 484 business leaders with decision-making responsibility for CRM strategy at their organisations. Business leaders recognise the importance of gaining a single source of customer truth and overwhelmingly agreed that CRM should support the complete customer lifecycle. The challenge is that there’s an overwhelming discrepancy between expectations for what a CRM system should support and how CRM is actually being used in businesses of all sizes and industries. Business leaders want a single source of customer truth and believe their CRM system has significantly greater utility beyond their sales and service departments, but are struggling to unify data across their teams and systems. In fact, the report shows “creating a single view of the customer across teams and systems is the greatest customer experience challenge faced by business leaders today.” How did it become so difficult? Siloed initiatives mean siloed data A majority of respondents (57%) reported that their CRM is at least somewhat fragmented across the organisation, with a few, many, or all departments having their own CRM. This is a result of departments pursuing initiatives in silos — such as modernising sales, customer service, or existing applications. Incremental improvement is possible when departmental buyers purchase CRM in isolation to solve a single business problem. But it doesn’t transform the business. In fact, siloing these efforts may be contributing to greater difficulties. As the data shows, customer data is coming from too many sources to make sense of it easily, and these silos are negatively impacting the quality of customer and prospect experiences. So how does an organisation move past these challenges to leverage the full power of CRM and gain a unified view of the customer? The evolution of CRM as a single source of truth Before we can take meaningful steps toward customer-centricity, it’s important to recognise what’s possible when multiple teams unite around a single customer view. I think back to my recent experience of buying a new car: I was invited to download the brand’s mobile app, where I could learn more about the car, set up oil changes, and schedule recurring maintenance appointments — a welcomed part of my onboarding journey. I received a call from the sales associate, checking in to see if I had any questions now that I’d been driving it for several days. When I noticed an issue with one of the headlights, I chatted with a service agent online to discuss the problem. The agent knew me, my car, and my warranty details, and scheduled an appointment at the nearby service center in under two minutes. All of the departments I engaged with seemed to operate as a single unit, and had the right data and tools at hand to deliver a great experience. I was grateful to have purchased this particular car — not because of the quality of the product, but due to the quality of my experience as a customer. CRM can be the single source of truth, bringing together marketing, sales, commerce, service, and back office departments, and 80% of those surveyed agreed they are increasingly using their CRM system as so. But it requires businesses to look holistically at their processes and how they put the customer at the center. Leading businesses are evolving to put the customer in the center of their feedback loop and innovation cycle in what we callcustomer 360 transformation.For example, in the ASEAN region, companies likeBluebird Group,Prudential Singapore, andAnantara Vacation Clubhave made theirCRM the single source of customer truth. These businesses integrate their CRM system with core operational systems to prove a single source of customer truth, resulting in broader teams connecting around the customer.And those efforts are paying off:the research shows businesses that successfully connect departments on a well-integrated CRM platform reportsignificantly higher customer satisfaction. CRM alone isn’t the secret to breaking down silos. As more businesses employ the right mindsets, disciplines, and tech stack to bring their silos together, CRM can serve as a key driver of transformation. Read the Forrester report to dive deeper into the findings.

How To Structure and Plan Your Digital Marketing Strategy in 2021

A good digital marketing plan should start with a solid understanding of your brand and its value to your audience. It should set priorities for short-, mid-, and long-term business goals and articulate a well-defined path to achieving them. While a digital marketing plan is primarily meant to organise your marketing team, it should also be cross-functional and incorporate the work, milestones, and objectives of other teams, and align with the organisation as a whole. But first, what’s a digital marketing plan? It’s a document that details all of the planning for your digital marketing initiatives and activities. This plan is focused on how you will reach your target audiences and engage them in the digital space. Learn more about creating one over at Trailhead. 2020 brought a global pandemic that shifted the way we live and work, and created unprecedented obstacles. What does that mean for 2021? Marketing professionals need to reflect on what we’ve learned and set themselves up for success. How can you create a marketing plan that works? We’ve got a few ideas. Here are some areas to focus on to help structure your digital marketing plan for 2021. These tactics, architectures, and methodologies will help ensure your plan is clear, actionable, and measurable. Most importantly, your digital marketing plan will set you up for success in 2021 and beyond. Set goals for your digital marketing plan Structurally speaking, your plan should include three levels of detail: Goals.These should be meaningful and aligned with larger business objectives. To set the right goals for your team, use a methodology like theS.M.A.R.T method(Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time-based). Strategy.This is the topline approach to how you’ll try to achieve those goals. Break down your annual objectives into achievable and stretch quarterly milestones. Tactics.These are the specifics about how you’ll execute your strategy. Another methodology is theV2MOMmethod, a LIKE.TG acronym for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. This method was developed by our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,Marc Benioff, and it is used by our organisation to drive company alignment. If you’re curious about creating organisational alignment in your own business, learn how to do it by taking theV2MOM Trailon LIKE.TG’s free learning platform, Trailhead. Regardless of how you set your goals, you should take the time to set strategic priorities. While you may want to achieve them all, not every goal should have the same weight or importance to your team. Lastly, check in with your goals often. Use adata visualisation tool, preferably one with a dashboard where you can see all of your KPIs at a glance. This will help you easily see how to attribute success to specific efforts so you can focus more on what works. Create personas of your audience, and act on them Once you’ve established your overall goals and tactics for the year, it’s time to shift your focus to your audience. Who are you speaking to? What do they want to hear? What problems can you solve for them? A well-planned digital strategy should incorporate what you know about your audiences’ wants, needs, and behaviors. How do they like to interact with your brand? What do they rely on you for? What do they need to move forward at various points in the buying process? Segmentation is key to creatingtargeted activationsthat connect in a meaningful way and drive action with specific cohorts within your audience. Develop and make use ofuser personasto help you understand your audience better. These profiles combine demographic and psychographic information about different segments of your audience to create more specific target segments. Strong data visualisation tools help spot trends that let you form educated assumptions about your audience. When combined with broader market research, this information can help you craft these profiles. User personas can also help tailor your content strategies to connect with specific audiences in ways that are meaningful to them. Your messaging, the channels you use, how often you communicate, and even when – these can all be informed by a digital marketing plan that uses strong segmentation and theright reporting tools. You’ll learn more about your audiences over time. And as you do you’ll be able to make your efforts even more relevant. Measure the success of your digital marketing plan, and learn from it To evaluate your plan and its efficacy, make sure you’re looking at the right metrics. Analyse your data and look for trends. Do you understand the KPIs? While conversions are the ultimate goal, understanding your audience’s full ecosystem of actions and behaviors will allow you to reach success. The more granular you can get with your reporting, the more insight you’ll have. With the rightdata visualisation tools, you will easily be able to see if you’re reaching your objectives. Doing business under COVID-19 has taught us that adjusting with agility and grace is essential. Your digital marketing plan is a roadmap for success that requires some flexibility; a plan that’s too rigid becomes irrelevant fast. While we can’t yet predict what lessons we’ll learn this year, with the right plan in place, we’ll be ready for anything. Staying ahead of the marketing game in 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic forced marketers to start figuring out how to better connect with customers and deliver what they need, when they need it. As businesses kickstart in 2021, it’s more important than ever for marketers to deliver innovative customer experiences that are meaningful, engaging, and personalised.

How 3 Innovative Businesses in ASEAN Achieved Customer Centricity

At LIKE.TG, Nichola Palmer works with customers to bring their stories of innovation and transformation to life. She highlights three small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the ASEAN region that use LIKE.TG to overcome business challenges. Forward-thinking companies across ASEAN are using digital transformation to meet rapidly evolving customer expectations and build deeper customer relationships. To achieve this, organisations need a single source of truth for customer data. Sales teams also need tools that can track customer conversations and reveal insights required to drive more meaningful value-added conversations with customers. Here’s how three successful companies use LIKE.TG to build better customer relationships: Grand Guardian Nippon Life GGI Nippon Life is embracing digital transformation to meet rapidly evolving customer expectations in Myanmar. When the company began local operations in 2013, internet connectivity was patchy across the country and technology uptake was low. That has changed in recent years, and the company is now redefining what it means to be customer-centric. “We understand that true customer centricity isn’t just about delivering basic insurance services,” says Ang Kian Wee, Division Head, Strategy and Transformation, GGI Nippon Life. “It’s really about understanding the needs of our customers, and how they change through different life stages.” To understand customer needs, the company needed a way to drive more meaningful conversations between salespeople and customers. So Kian Wee and his team turned to the LIKE.TG Customer 360 platform. They began with a Service Cloud implementation to digitise the recruitment process. The human resources team is now able to digitalise several processes relating to creation of job positions, job applications by candidates, and candidate selection. Next came a Sales Cloud deployment to enable salespeople to build a 360-degree customer view. “We established operating procedures within every process with guidance and instructions,” says Manoranjan Sahoo, Chief Distribution Officer, GGI Nippon Life. “We also pre-set tasks salespeople need to complete at every stage. “In June we closed about 50 policies with a small pilot team of five to six salespeople. That number doubled in August, and doubled again by December. “Sales Cloud has also improved operational efficiency. Previously, our salespeople spent two to three hours per day on paperwork. That’s now down to 30 minutes or less.” Dornier MedTech Dornier MedTech is a customer-centric global healthcare company that is embracing customer obsession and innovation. The company uses LIKE.TG to drive this transformation across its ASEAN operations, starting with Singapore and Japan. “The agility of any company in today’s increasingly disruptive world is a function of the mindset of the team and the speed by which critical data is made available to them,” says Issac Khoo, General Manager at Dornier MedTech. “LIKE.TG has enabled us to capture and reference the wealth of data points in the customer’s journey with Dornier MedTech” Prior to adopting LIKE.TG, processes were largely manual. This created a lack of transparency between teams as data was held in spreadsheets and difficult to share. The company initially deployed Sales Cloud to streamline approvals. Later, it rolled out Sales Cloud to sales teams across ASEAN to provide a 360-degree view of customers. According to Hiromasa Ito, IT Manager for Dornier MedTech in Japan, Sales Cloud has saved each sales rep there up to two hours a week on reporting. “Our sales reps now have more time to spend with customers and they have quick access to customer and product information through the LIKE.TG mobile app. It is also easier for them to share information with different teams.” Dornier MedTech is now also using Service Cloud to provide more efficient and personalised support. Enquiries are automatically routed to the right team and support engineers are notified right away when a customer needs help. In the past, this could take up to four hours. “A large part of support is knowing your customer and having a platform like LIKE.TG that can capture all our customer conversations gives us that knowledge,” says Martyn Yap, Senior IT Manager, Asia Pacific at Dornier MedTech Singapore. “It’s helping us get closer to our customer and deliver more proactive support.” Ranosys Technologies As a LIKE.TG implementation partner, Ranosys is helping to support its clients’ digital transformation with expert LIKE.TG consulting, development, implementation, and support. The company is also driving global growth from its Singapore headquarters, with an internal LIKE.TG deployment. Ranosys Technologies CEO Rameshwar Vyas and his team have replaced their legacy customer relationship management (CRM) software with Sales Cloud. They have also built a series of apps on the Customer 360 platform, including recruitment, workforce, and payroll management systems. “We’ve created a single source of truth,” says Vyas. “We used to generate reports monthly or quarterly, but there’s no need for that with LIKE.TG. Anyone who wants to check on the pulse of the company can see the data they need at any time.” The recruitment management system has increased human resources’ efficiency between 30 and 40 per cent. The workforce management system has improved resource allocation, and the payroll management system has increased back-end efficiency. As the company looks towards the challenges of the future, Vyas is focused on building new capabilities and upskilling employees for jobs of the future. “We believe developing employees is very important,” he says. “There are currently 37 people in our Practice and Solutions team. And we work with senior strategy consultants whose focus is to prepare us for the next biggest challenge, and to find ways to take our people to the next step.” To best serve your customers, you must understand what is most meaningful to them. Digital transformation at its core is about connecting your team with the tools they need to identify customer needs. Then they can drive and track more meaningful conversations that add real value to your customers.

How Digital Unlocks New Growth Opportunities for Telcos

Cheng Kian Khor is Director of Communications Industry Strategy for LIKE.TG in the Asia-Pacific region. Cheng Kian has 24 years of experience in the telco industry, in a range of consulting, chief architect, and global solution leader roles at leading companies. More by Cheng Kian. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed more customers online, and they are staying there. Now it’s up to companies to meet customers online and offer digital-first experiences. According to a recent LIKE.TG State of the Connected Consumer report, 88% of customers expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives due to COVID-19. This demand for digital engagement presents an opportunity for communications service providers (CSPs). Some CSPs are already moving from selling connectivity to becoming digital-first service providers. Others are expanding their offerings and building lifestyle-focused digital commerce storefronts. It’s an exciting time for Asia’s CSPs as many begin to redefine what telcos will look like in 2021 and beyond. Putting the customer in control Singapore-based M1 is undergoing a digital transformation to be more agile and customer-centric, to better serve its customers in the digital world. Even through the crisis, the Singapore-based CSP has accelerated its digital transformation. “Our vision is to become a digital-first telco and provide new experiences for our customers,” said Nathan Bell, Chief Digital Officer at M1. “This will involve driving new digital capabilities into the business and reimagining our ways of working so that we can add more value to every interaction.” CSPs like M1 are using digitalisation to put customers in control. To achieve that, they must deliver consistent customer experiences across all digital channels. M1 uses LIKE.TG Communications Cloud to enable customers to build their own plans. This was vital when customers were avoiding store visits during the pandemic. It also provides a solid foundation for ongoing digitalisation. “More of our customers are looking for solutions that are available as they need them,” explained Bell. “We want our customers to know we are there to support them in their time of need. And that we can evolve to meet their ongoing requirements.” Becoming more than a telco Digitalisation also presents an opportunity for CSPs to embrace wider ecommerce. Some are now offering a broader range of merchandise, goods, and accessories. These are often bundled as attractive offers and promotions. From gaming chairs to hairdryers and apparel, some CSPs are diversifying their product catalogues and presenting slick digital storefronts. But what do gaming chairs have to do with telecommunications services? Absolutely nothing! And that’s the point. CSPs are using ecommerce to expand beyond traditional telco products and services. This is part of their journeys to becoming genuine digital lifestyle brands. Solutions like LIKE.TG Commerce Cloud help CSPs pivot towards digital sales. Commerce Cloud, for example, does the heavy lifting for CSPs. It enables companies to deliver pure digital commerce and digital-first mobile experiences. With Commerce Cloud, CSPs can create personalised shopping experiences across all digital channels. Whether the customer wants to buy the latest smartphone release, or a new Xbox gaming console. This opens an opportunity for CSPs to become so much more than a run-of-the-mill telco. Suddenly, the digital experience is no longer just about checking bills and phone plans. CSPs can become genuine digital-first lifestyle brands. Enabling digital-first experiences Of course, this is much easier said than done. Ecommerce has traditionally been an afterthought for CSPs. Cumbersome digital storefronts were typically bolted onto legacy systems. This created scalability issues. For instance, the surge of new smartphone orders on launch day would often overload telco websites that were not designed to cope with peak order volumes. Custom legacy storefronts were also cumbersome and slow to market when adding new products or offers. That made it hard for many CSPs to scale up for Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales. All these meant that it was challenging for CSPs to leverage digital commerce opportunities. That’s why CSPs are transitioning away from using heavily customised legacy platforms for commerce and customer engagement. Instead, they are embracing new digital-first, customer-centric cloud platforms. Communications Cloud and Commerce Cloud enable CSPs to skip the legacy bolt-ons. Instead, they harness cloud connectivity to deliver pure digital commerce experiences. They also enable scalable digital storefronts and customer-centric mobile apps. Unlocking the growth potential of digital The future is bright for CSPs that understand the full potential of digitalisation. Digital is an integral part of the post-pandemic world. To be successful, CSPs must meet customers online and deliver digital-first experiences. That’s how CSPs can become genuine digital lifestyle brands and unlock new growth opportunities. But unlocking these opportunities is not possible with legacy platforms and ecommerce as an afterthought. Digital-first user experience and commerce must become a key component of business strategy. Digital-first cloud platforms like Communications Cloud and Commerce Cloud can help drive CSPs’ digital transformation. Explore Communications Cloud and Commerce Cloud for your digital commerce requirements.

Responsible AI in Marketing: Embedding Ethics by Design

The marketing and advertising industries are being influenced by consumer demands for greater privacy and data control, as well as impending artificial intelligence (AI) regulation. Kathy Baxter shares how LIKE.TG builds trusted AI into marketing automation software. More from Kathy here. We are in a crisis of trust. According to LIKE.TG’sState of the Connected Customer, 92% of consumers believe there is a moderate to major need for companies to improve their trustworthiness, and 61% reported that it’s difficult for a company to earn their trust. Thegrowing use of artificial intelligence (AI)in marketing makes things even more complicated. Fewer than half (48%) of customers trust companies to use AI ethically, and 65% are concerned about unethical use of AI. This may be because we see more negative headlines about biased AI (as infacial recognition,healthcare recommendations, orhiring) than positive ones about AI (for example,identifying cancer tumors that doctors miss). Optics aside, the burden is on marketers to respect privacy when personalising marketing messages with AI. There’s a fine line between useful, targeted ads and ones that are downright invasive. It’s also easy to slip into stereotype bias – attribution of particular qualities to a member of a particular social group – or exclude segments of your customer base by focusing on demographic variables. So, how do you ensure your marketing is accurate, inclusive, valuable, and privacy-preserving? AI can only be trusted when it is built transparently and has protection for human rights, explainability, accountability, and inclusion at its core. (LIKE.TGinfuses ethical practices and processes into our AI development.) Next, it is up to marketers to make sure the technology benefits customers. Last month, Emily Witt, Sarah Flamion, and Annie Chin of LIKE.TG sharedfour principles for responsible marketingwith data: Use and collect individual information appropriately Be transparent about the data use Give customers control and clarity Provide clear benefits in exchange for data Let’s apply these principles in the context of AI in marketing. 1. Collect and use sensitive data only when necessary and when it can benefit the customer Einstein Content Selectionscans the fields in your models and highlights any sensitive fields (such as age, race, gender) or their proxies (ZIP code, name). Using these variables can add stereotype bias into your models. By highlighting these fields and proxies, customers can make an informed decision about whether or not they should include these fields in their decision making. Our Lookalikes model excludes age, race, gender, and income level to mitigate that type of bias. Relying more on behavior or interest-based variables rather than solely on demographics is less biased and more inclusive. You’re likely to discover new prospects you didn’t even know might be interested in your products or services! 2. Be transparent This refers to being open and clear about how you developed your AI models. What training data did you use? Was it representative of all your customer base or only part of it? What are the variables in your model, and did you weigh or exclude any? We publishmodel cardsfor our global models so all of our customers can understand how we created them. 3. Give customers control over the data you collect and respect their preferences The State of the Connected Customer report found that 61% say they feel like they’ve lost control over how their personal information is used. No wonder there is a crisis of trust. Now is the time to give your customers control over their data. Third-party cookies are on their way outand digital marketers need to start preparing now. One way to do this is by collecting first-party data directly from customers. In addition to being more accurate than third-party data brokers, it’s also cheaper because you cut out the middleman.Nederlandse Publieke Omroep(the Netherlands version of the BBC) has moved from cookie-based ad sales tocontext-based ad salesand seen their profits grow by 62%. 4. Demonstrate the benefits customers receive in exchange for use of their data Using features like Einstein Content Selection andCopy Insightshelps personalise message and tone. Einstein Send Time Optimisation and Einstein Engagement Frequency ensure messages arrive at the right time and not so often that they overwhelm your customers. Together, these features ensure you send the right message to the right customer at the right time. Putting these four principles into practice will help customers trust your company with their data and increase loyalty and sales, because your customers see the value you provide. Want to learn about removing bias from your data and algorithms?Take the Responsible Creation of Artificial Intelligence trail on Trailhead. This post originally appeared on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

Here’s How LIKE.TG Creates Jobs & Nurtures Tech Talent in Singapore

The LIKE.TG ecosystem is booming across Asia. More companies are turning to LIKE.TG to better understand their customers. As such, demand for Salesforce-literate professionals at our customer organisations is growing. From 2018 to 2024, LIKE.TG will create 8,500 new direct jobs, and more than 17,000 indirect jobs, in Singapore. Those jobs need to be filled. That’s why Trailhead Academy and Workforce Singapore created the LIKE.TG Professional Conversion Program (PCP). The program connects mid-career professionals, managers, executives, and technicians (PMETs) with LIKE.TG career opportunities. The program is a win-win for employees and employers. PMETs will be ready to build careers in the LIKE.TG economy. LIKE.TG customers will also have access to a talent pool of budding LIKE.TG professionals. 5 LIKE.TG roles for PMETs The PCP equips PMETs for new LIKE.TG career opportunities. It focuses on five key LIKE.TG roles. These include: LIKE.TG Administrators assist with data quality projects, and learn how to develop automated data cleansing routines. The role also involves implementing systems security and integrity controls, developing and delivering end-user training, and troubleshooting email campaigns, workflows, approval cycles and auto-responders. LIKE.TG Sales Cloud Consultants support the sales team to create solutions for prospects and customers. This involves developing customised sales process solutions, and coordinating the entire Sales Cloud solution cycle. LIKE.TG Sales Service Cloud Consultants carry out all duties of a LIKE.TG Sales Cloud Consultant. The role also extends to developing customised customer service and support solutions, and coordinating the entire Service Cloud solution cycle. LIKE.TG Marketing Cloud Consultants support the Marketing Operations Manager and other key stakeholders in the development of electronic direct mail (EDM) processes and marketing automation initiatives. They’ll also assist with the implementation of lead generation campaigns, and manage ad trafficking and quality control processes. LIKE.TG Platform Developers develop customised LIKE.TG platform solutions, and support the formulation, deployment and maintenance of critical applications. They’ll also prepare test data, and plan and conduct module and application testing. SGTech administers the six-month program, and LIKE.TG customers employ trainees for the duration of the program. That ensures trainees experience a mix of classroom learning facilitated by LIKE.TG, and structured on-the-job training at employer organisations. How PCP helped Workato hire the LIKE.TG talent it needed Automation platform provider Workato needed fast access to experienced professionals to scale up. “The PCP has been instrumental in scaling our operations in Singapore,” says Allan Teng, Managing Director and VP Asia-Pacific and Japan at Workato. “It has helped us find and train many local candidates for our open positions very quickly. “This is made possible by opening many of our positions to candidates with experience from other industries. Then we put them through a combination of structured and on-the-job training. This is subsidised by the government to help them get ready for a career switch into tech.” Steven Hoon, Senior Business Transformation Manager at Workato, successfully made that career switch. He is now helping train his team on LIKE.TG with Trailhead. “I helped administer LIKE.TG and perform app integrations,” he explains. “I spent quite a lot of time self-learning on Trailhead. I obtained my LIKE.TG Certified Administrator title within six months.” “Now, I‘m showing my team the right place to learn more about LIKE.TG within the Trailhead platform.” Enabling the careers of tomorrow The LIKE.TG ecosystem will generate more than $2.5 billion annual revenue by 2024. That’s in Singapore alone. Increasing global uptake of cloud computing is a powerful trend that’s driving the growth of the LIKE.TG ecosystem. From the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2024, worldwide spending on public cloud computing will grow 19% per year, from $147 billion to $418 billion. That suggests many future career opportunities will lie in the cloud. LIKE.TG and Trailhead Academy are providing clear pathways for PMETs to access those opportunities.

How Singapore SMEs Can Grow Using the Productivity Solutions Grant

Update on 25 Mar 2022:The enhanced maximum support level of 70% has been extended to 7 October 2022. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to get their businesses back to growth, adopting digital solutions can be a game-changer. This can be as simple as automating manual processes, which results in improved productivity. Technology also enables employees to collaborate and get work done from anywhere. Most importantly, effective use of technology sets growing SMEs apart from stagnant ones. According to our Small and Medium Business Trends Report, 51% of growing SMEs say technology drives the growth of their customer base. Forty-eight percent say technology influences their ability to stay open and in business. LIKE.TG is a pre-approved vendor under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) programme. This initiative aims to help SMEs in Singapore kickstart their technology journey by providing grant support of up to 70%. The enhanced maximum support level of 70% has also been extended to 7 October 2022. Apply today to transform your SME with the generous support of the Singapore government, and LIKE.TG. Read the infographic below to learn more about the application criteria.

5 Ways Tech Businesses Can Drive Gender Equality

In her role at LIKE.TG, Wendy leads marketing in the region; helping businesses grow and connect with their customers, partners, and employees. As a passionate advocate for Equality, she is also President of the LIKE.TG Women’s Network; with a charter to empower, invest, and amplify the progress of women, creating gender-equality allies and taking action on equality. This year we mark International Women’s Day on March 8. Established in 1911, the purpose of this day is to take the time to acknowledge the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women everywhere. Even as women have blazed new trails, women still face unequal opportunities in every aspect of professional and public life. Since gender inequality still exists, International Women’s Day raises awareness about how far we need to go. Pre-COVID, the World Economic Forum estimated, at the current rate of progress, it would take 257 years to close the gender gap. Initial evidence shows the pandemic has stymied this already slow progress and has disproportionately impacted women globally. But even before the pandemic, LIKE.TG’s commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Goal 5: Gender Equality, ensured our ongoing support of equity and inclusion initiatives. For instance, Tableau Foundation joined the Equal Measures 2030 Partnership Council last year to support women data journalists and increase opportunities for women and girls. While women represent 46.9% of the global labour force, only 29% hold managerial positions. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, pay equity in the workplace won’t reach gender parity until 2059. It is clear work needs to be done. To start, we can acknowledge interactions with colleagues and in our community can impact others and our efforts can move the needle. Here are ways you can support gender equality in tech: 1. Create and support gender equality programs in the workplace The first step in driving gender equality is to make time and room for authentic conversations on women’s issues. Advocate for holding internal meetings, like town halls, to create safe spaces to educate allies, share personal experiences, and provide resources. Use the outcomes of these meetings to mobilise and shift company culture. At our annual gender equality event, the Trailblazing Women Summit, we invite speakers from outside our company to elevate conversations around gender equality in tech, business, media, politics, and other industries. In Asia, we’re holding internal activities this week to support focus areas of inclusion, equality, and philanthropy. Our employees will host 150 one-on-one mentoring sessions with young people throughout the region. They will also participate in I am Remarkable sessions to celebrate achievements in the workplace and learn through discussion. We’ll come together in an Inspiration Circle to get energised for the year ahead. We’re also proud to host a fireside chat with President of Daughters of Tomorrow, Kim Underhill. We’ll explore how it helps women from the low-income community access sustainable livelihood opportunities. Our internal employee resource group, LIKE.TG Women’s Network (SWN), produced these events to empower and inspire employees to lead without limitation. 2. Offer inclusive benefits to all employees As a company, reevaluate your benefits package to promote gender equality. LIKE.TG offers benefits to support individuals and families no matter where they are in their life. We offer paid parental leave for all parents, childcare subsidies, surrogacy and fertility benefits, paid family sick time, and flexible time off. During the past year, additional support benefits to parents included enhanced family benefits such as child education or childcare at home and caregiver support for elderly or infirmed relatives. Beyond generous inclusive benefits, we encourage employees to take their work-life balance seriously. For example, when tennis star Serena Williams and husband Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian welcomed their first child together, Ohanian took 16 weeks of paternity leave. 3. Perform a company-wide equal pay audit Pay parity is one of the most obvious ways inequality shows up in the workplace between men and women. To address and understand compensation gaps, conduct a comprehensive equal pay audit. This ensures a readjustment so all employees are paid equally for equal work, regardless of gender. LIKE.TG conducts an annual pay audit to ensure equal pay with our current employees. Since our first equal pay audit, we have invested more than US$12 million to address any unexplained compensation inequities between men and women. 4. Consider intersectionality in all equity decisions Intersectionality takes into account the whole person as an individual when experiencing multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism and sexism) and how this overlapping reality can’t be separated out. It is particularly prominent in experiences of marginalised individuals or groups. Women are often underrepresented in the business world, but the additional challenges for intersectional women can be different. For people who don’t face these intersectional challenges, unconscious bias training can assist in understanding and navigating complexities around equality. If you have programs and resources around gender equality, consider ways to highlight specific intersections and how they may affect underrepresented groups. For example, at LIKE.TG, we have 12 employee resources groups. We encourage groups like LIKE.TG Women’s Network (SWN) and Outforce (LGBTQIA and allies) to work together and elevate the discussions around the nuances found at this intersection. 5. Be an ally An ally is someone who advances the rights of, supports, and advocates for a community they may not identify as belonging to. At LIKE.TG, we say allies ask, listen, show up, and speak up for one another. We also recognise allyship is a journey. We know that some may be at the very start — curious — they want to learn more. Others may be further along the journey and are — courageous – ready to use their voice or platform to speak up. We strive to create a workplace that reflects the diverse communities around us and where everyone feels seen, heard, valued, and empowered to succeed. We have created the SWN Inclusive Allies program to help raise awareness about gender equality through a specific ASEAN regional lens and to offer guidance to colleagues who want to support equality through allyship. The program will give everyone an opportunity to share a common language, tools, and actions to practice being a stronger ally. It consists of a series of workshops and materials where our employees can learn more about gender equality and be inspired to be an ally. If you are a leader, think of ways to use your platform to advance a woman’s career and promote gender equality in your business. Just as technology companies have revolutionised and disrupted industries, we are in a unique position to lead the way for equality. To reach gender equality, we all need to take consistent steps along this journey. Learn more about ourinclusive leadership practicesand how to championequality in business. Finally, useTrailheadto reflect on the value of diversity and inclusion at work and what you can do to promote equality. Portions of this article are based on ideas written byIsabel Gonçalvesfor The 360 Blog.

Why Hyper-Personalisation Is the Future of Customer Experience

Jess O’Reilly isArea Vice President, Sales, ASEAN, at LIKE.TG. She discusses the shift from personalisation to hyper-personalisation, when it comes to delivering great customer experiences. More from Jess here. Let’s begin with what we know. We know that customer experience is king. According to the 2020 State of Connected Customer report, almost 80% of B2C consumers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services. That number increases to 85% in the B2B sector. We also know that personalisation is vital for creating positive customer experiences. More than half (53%) of customers say they feel an emotional connection to the brands they buy from the most. We see many companies across Asia already using integrated CRM platforms and data insights to meet this demand. More than 60% of marketers have improved personalisation across channels, and 78% say their customer engagement is data driven. Hyper-personalisation versus personalisation Hyper-personalisation is the next step forward. Personalisation had a macro impact on the customer experience. It changed how companies think about customer-centricity. Hyper-personalisation expands these learnings to help companies connect with customers in the micro moments. For example, personalisation may seek to deliver more relevant marketing content to a customer via their preferred communication channel. Hyper-personalisation seeks to hold a one-to-one conversation with each customer, across all channels. The road to hyper-personalisation Customer data fuels hyper-personalisation. Companies must understand their customers’ purchasing behaviour in order to anticipate their next need. But it’s not enough to simply collect and store customer data. Companies must use data to create a complete 360-degree customer view that seamlessly integrates with legacy systems across the organisation. This is known as a single source of truth, and it’s vital to achieve hyper-personalisation. Zenyum is one company that has successfully implemented hyper-personalisation. After launching in Singapore in 2018, the smile cosmetics company rapidly expanded into Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. “We are targeting a huge market of 600 million people, but in the end, we still want to call every customer to guide them through their smile journey,” says Julian Artopé, CEO of Zenyum. That is hyper-personalisation. To get there, the company turned to LIKE.TG and the Customer 360 platform to create a single source of truth. This enables Zenyum’s Customer Success and Customer Care Executives to provide hyper-personalised customer journeys as they move seamlessly between sales and service functions. “The data gathered through LIKE.TG helps us check in on every customer as they progress through their Zenyum journey, from the initial pre-assessment to the completion of their treatment,” explains Muhammad Shafeeq, Head of Customer Success (Singapore Malaysia) at Zenyum. “Each customer receives highly personalised communication from their private Customer Success and Customer Care Executives, who can now lead them through their entire smile journey.” How to scale hyper-personalisation It’s one thing to provide hyper-personalised journeys to a handful of customers. It’s quite another to scale it across a customer base that spans multiple countries, languages, and demographics. A CRM system that is well-integrated with core operational systems can help. The various departments also need to be connected on the CRM, so that everyone shares a complete view of the customer. This was certainly a challenge Zenyum faced — and conquered. Artopé explains that the company’s legacy customer relationship management (CRM) software was failing to provide the data insights that enable hyper-personalisation. “Our system could only give us a basic overview of the total funnel size,” he says. “At the same time, we forced our customers into our channels instead of enabling them to communicate with us however they would like to.” Customer 360 changed this. Zenyum used it to create an integrated personalisation pipeline. This enables the company’s Customer Success and Customer Care Executives to engage with customers on a one-to-one basis across all communication channels and throughout all stages of the customer journey. “We needed better reporting options that would allow us to dive deeper into the data and better understand our customers across the seven markets that we are operating in,” Artopé explains. “LIKE.TG enabled us to create a smoother Zenyum journey and connect more personally with our customers.” The hyper-personalisation imperative The need for a single view of the customer may not be news to many companies. According to a Forrester research report, 80% of companies say they would gain from a CRM that provides a single source of truth. Yet, only 25% of companies currently have this capacity. Customer experience in the future will be hyper-personalised. Without a CRM as a single source of truth, it is difficult for businesses to create hyper-personalised customer experiences. To get started on your hyper-personalisation journey, tune into our Customer 360 webinar on demand, or read more about the Customer 360 platform.

Helping Women Rise: A Chat with Kim Underhill, Daughters Of Tomorrow

In her role at LIKE.TG, Wendy leads marketing in the region. She helps businesses grow and connect with their customers, partners, and employees. As a passionate advocate for Equality, Wendy is also President of the LIKE.TG Women’s Network: Asia (SWN) one of the global equality groups. SWN’s charter is to empower, invest, and amplify the progress of women, create gender-equality allies, and take action on equality. More from Wendy here. Daughters Of Tomorrow (DOT) is a non-profit based in Singapore. It supports women from the low-income community to match into sustainable livelihood opportunities, through confidence building and upskilling workshops. Like many of the women who come to DOT, Kim Underhill was once struggling to make ends meet. Now, as President and Board Member at DOT, Kim helps other women in need, and especially in their back-to-work journeys. As part of LIKE.TG’s International Women’s Day 2021 programmes, Kim participated in a fireside chat to share about her journey and motivations to give back. This is Kim’s story: From heartbreak to second chances The lowest point in my life was when I returned from Malaysia to Singapore with my children after leaving a physically abusive marriage. My children were only eight and four. We came back with only the clothes on our backs. I had left school when I was 15 years old and began working for an English man [named] Terry. After a year, he came to me and said, “Why don’t you go back to school?” My answer was, “I can hardly afford anything more than my rent.” Terry convinced the company to send me back to school. The initial plan was to do a two-year certificate, but it extended from there and became a six-year sponsorship. Today, I hold a Bachelor’s degree in business and marketing, as well as a Masters in Industrial and Organisational Psychology. All these were obtained in my 30s. I went through six years of night school, while raising two children, and holding a full-time job. The power of paying it forward I came to DOT when I met its founder, Carrie Tan, at a women in leadership event. She invited me to become a trainer and talk to women about how to get job-ready, build confidence, and improve their livelihoods. Many people may not realise this, but there are more than 25,000 women from low-income families in Singapore. These women are struggling to find and sustain a living. My feeling is that somebody once gave me a little push and an opportunity, and that these women also need attention, help, and guidance. When the women hear my story, they ask “how can I do that?” The advice I always give is, “Things don’t happen overnight. It may take years, but you have to start from step one to make a difference.” DOT provides support in so many practical ways. For example, one particular client was a struggling single mother with no support. Through DOT, she received skills-focused training and became interested in the eldercare industry. Today, she is working in a nursing home and we have plans to support her to get her diploma. This makes it so worthwhile for me. Women helping women Within DOT, we have the Befriender Program. We attach a professional woman to a beneficiary to coach and mentor them, and to help to nurture confidence. We are also developing a new program called the Childminding Network to encourage women in Singapore to support each other. For example, we have women who cannot go for a job interview because they cannot afford to pay for childcare. When they do get a job, we also step in and sponsor their childcare for 3–6 months, until their salary is stable. One of the biggest challenges women face, especially when they have to work from home, is that they are available to cater to everybody’s needs. I always advise women to learn to ask for help. Live intentionally to find success My mother raised my brother, sister, and I single-handedly, and worked three jobs to put food on the table. She advised me not to focus on the problems in my life, but on the steps I needed to take to move forward. That was very impactful and inspiring for me. My advice to other women is also to practice daily intention. When you tell yourself, “I’m going to have a happy day,” somehow it turns out that way, because you are mentally prepared for success. Too often, women rush through the day with family and work without having time for themselves. Be intentional in finding “me” time and plan it consciously. Join LIKE.TG in supporting gender equality LIKE.TG is committed to supporting gender equality. Some of LIKE.TG’s global equality initiatives include committing to equal pay for equal work and investing in the development of future leaders. In Singapore, LIKE.TG is a proud supporter of Daughters Of Tomorrow, through fundraising and volunteering. To donate, or volunteer, including through mentorship opportunities, please visit the Daughters Of Tomorrow website to find out more. Let’s make a positive difference in the lives of women in Singapore.

Customer Effort Score Cracks the Top 5 Most-Measured Service Metrics

Are you measuring your customer effort score yet? Service professionals are now prioritising this key performance indicator (KPI) with the same importance as tried-and-true metrics like customer satisfaction, revenue, and customer retention, according to the latest findings from the LIKE.TGState of Servicereport. Since we begansurveying service professionalsfor the State of Service reports in 2016, this is the first year that customer effort has cracked the top five most-measured metrics. Today, the majority (60%) of service organisations track customer effort compared to 44% in 2018. That’s a 37% increase year-over-year. Service professionals have clearly realised how much work a customer puts in to get the information they need matters. So, what exactly is customer effort, how do you find your score, and what are the steps you can take to improve it? What is a customer effort score? A customer effort score is a quantifiable measurement of the amount of work a customer puts in to get information they need or to reach a resolution on an issue.Harvard Business Reviewintroduced the idea of customer effort back in 2010 as something that is directly tied to customer loyalty. Consider some of the most frustrating customer service experiences that you’ve had — they probably involved more steps and callbacks than expected. If a customer is transferred to multiple departments and has to repeat themselves several times, or they search your help centre only to have to reach out by chat or phone anyway, that’s increased effort for the customer. The goal is to do the opposite: Ensure as little effort as possible. How do you measure your customer effort score? Most organisations measure their customer effort score with follow-up surveys after a service interaction that might include questions like, “How easy did we make it to resolve your issue?” Response options are on a multi-point scale (strongly agree, agree, neither, disagree, strongly disagree). To get your score, find the percentage of those who selected the “agree” options. Of course, there are other factors that contribute to customer effort beyond a survey. Average handle time (AHT), the amount of repeat calls, and the number of transfers can add to the hurdles that customers have to jump over to get their issue resolved. One way to gain insight into these areas is to review contact centre analytics to spot gaps and opportunities for improvement. Using a heat map to see where users navigate on your website is another good way to understand effort. Do patterns indicate that they easily find what they need on your help centre or customer portal? Review search terms to signal any gaps as well. 5 ways to improve your customer effort score You can create a frictionless customer service experience — and improve your customer effort score — by giving customers what they need at the very first interaction. Take these steps: 1. Make it easy with self-service options Reduce or eliminate the need for customers to contact a customer service representative with helpful, informativeself-service channels, including your help centre, customer portal, andchatbots. Review search trends and have agents track requests to identify new patterns. Create knowledge articles based on recurring customer questions. Update your help centre and chatbot messaging. And be sure to revisit search engine optimisation (SEO) terms to ensure customers find your content first. 2. Have the right channels Customers use an average ofnine channelsto engage with brands, and 76% prefer different channels depending on context. Survey customers to understand their channel preferences. Keep an ear to the ground: Are customers asking for service on another channel that you haven’t considered yet? Stay up-to-date on emerging trends and technology as well, including new social media platforms and messenger apps. The more relevant channels that you have, the less customer effort is required. 3. Speed up resolutions with workflows Preconfigured workflowsguide agents through processes to reach resolutions faster. For example, they can help agents report an error on a customer’s billing statement. Intelligent workflows also work on self-service channels to walk customers through simple processes on their own, such as how to initiate a return. 4. Connect your data Seventy-six percentof customers expect consistent interactions across departments, but 53% say it generally feels like sales, service, and marketing don’t share information. Create asingle source of truth for datathat connects teams and technology for a holistic view that goes well beyond service interactions. This way, if a high-value B2B customer reaches out with a problem, the agent has access to details on the relationship and may choose to loop in a sales rep. 5. Assign the right agent When customersconnect with someone with the best skill setto solve their specific problem, whether that be institutional knowledge or a deep understanding of a process, the likelihood of a resolution increases. Try aworkforce engagement solution, which can be integrated across your service channels to automatically analyse case data and assign the right agent. It can also predict demand based on volume across channels, geographies, and expertise. 6. Stay proactive Artificial intelligence (AI) helps in a number of ways to cut down on customer effort. AI analyses data and offers recommended next steps for agents, such as follow-up questions, opportunities to up-sell, and ways to continue the engagement (for example, attaching a special offer to a customer’s profile). AI-powered chatbots deliver personalised responses to common questions. And, you can use AI on your website to recommend other relevant knowledge articles and content based on what a customer has already viewed on your help centre.

How hoolah Brings Responsible Affordability To Consumers in Asia

The best business ideas come from solving meaningful problems and hoolah is a prime example. Joining us on the Future of Work, Now podcast, Stuart Thornton, CEO and Co-Founder of hoolah, shared that the fintech startup was created to help retailers solve four critical challenges. These are getting customers to visit their store, getting them to buy, getting them to put more in their basket, and getting them to come back and buy again. “What we’ve built is a buy-now-pay-later platform that connects merchants and consumers and offers an interest free repayment solution that allows them to split their payments into three over a sixty-day period. It aligns to consumers’ salary payments and budgeting, and has been helpful at a time when people are concerned about money,” said Stuart. hoolah also promotes a more sustainable way of shopping through a commitment to “responsible affordability”. Stuart talks to podcast host Simone Heng about this concept and about his journey as an entrepreneur. Here are highlights from the conversation: Where did the idea for hoolah come from? I worked for a wonderful payments company and enjoyed what I was doing, but I kept hearing from merchants and retailers who wanted to solve those four critical challenges. At the same time, the buy-now-pay-later movement was growing in Europe and in Australia. This was all back in 2016 and it took a few years to think about how we could launch this business in Asia. Did you wonder why no one was occupying this niche in Asia? The reality is that while Asia is a beautiful part of the world to live in, it is not an easy place when it comes to payments or technology. Every single country is different and that ultimately creates a challenge. However, it is a wonderful opportunity if you can solve that challenge. This made it exciting when the light bulb flickered on and we had the idea of bringing this solution to Asia and solving these retail problems. What’s unique about your approach? The lending space can be aggressive, with business models that generate money from people experiencing bad debt or going into default. Right from the beginning, we wanted responsible affordability to be part of our values and this sits within our vision statement. We don’t want people to get into debt and it is in fact disadvantageous to our business model for that to happen. Ours is a more sustainable approach to shopping and that comes with an element of education and making sure that consumers are using hoolah in a responsible way. How does this align to your own story? Is there a reason why you wanted to create a business with a purpose like this? My father had his own business, which went through good times and bad times. He was always vigilant with money and very frugal. My mum balanced that with the idea that it is okay to want nice things from time to time. I think that discipline comes into how we position hoolah. As an entrepreneur, how did you approach building your company culture? Culture is something we thought about from the beginning as we felt it was important to create the right foundation. It is a decision that has served us quite well. We have a great bunch of people in the business and we have merchants who want to work with us just because of the passion our team has for what we do. This culture is something we’ve really invested in and we even have a name for our team, which is the hoolahgans. When we think about what makes a good hoolaghan, customer obsession plays a big part. We also want people to come in and treat everyone else as they would expect to be treated and treat the company as though it is their own. We try to give back by creating a great environment for people to just be themselves and live their lives. Access the podcast on demand at our podcasts page, Spotify, and iTunes. You can also listen over at the Singapore Community Radio Twitch page, Facebook page, and website.

Introducing the ASEAN 50 Pro Sales Tips for 2021 E-book

The past twelve months has brought many unprecedented challenges for sales teams across Southeast Asia. Despite this, those armed with the right digital tools, mindset, and determination have not only survived – but thrived. For example, at Anantara Vacation Club, the company’s 40 customer service agents were put to the test when they were abruptly forced to work from home. The lockdowns also meant that agents were split across three countries for an extended period. “Working from home is now normal, but you can only do it if your base and infrastructure is correct,” says Matthijs de Man, Director of Club Services and Innovation at Anantara Vacation Club. “Our people needed to get into a different rhythm, and our existing digital infrastructure meant we could provide the consistency our team needed.” The result? A dynamic and connected team that was determined to succeed despite the obstacles. I get excited when I hear these stories. Even more so, when the people behind them, the business leaders and entrepreneurs, are willing to share their insights and knowledge. It’s this spirit of collaboration, and information transparency that underpins so much of our philosophy at LIKE.TG and what we know, without doubt, gives businesses that extra edge. How ASEAN sales experts seal their deals With this in mind, I am pleased to announce the launch of our latest e-book, ASEAN 50 Pro Sales Tips for 2021. In it, you will find unmissable insights and learnings from experts in Southeast Asia who are the best in their fields. They shared tried and tested methods on how to become a master in the art of sales in 2021. The 50 carefully selected tips also connect the whole sales cycle, from building a great team culture to customer relationships, social selling, and more. Each tip gives you the opportunity to identify weaknesses and resolve problems quickly. My vision is that you keep this handy as you go about your working days, and also share it widely amongst your sales teams to inspire and guide them towards success. Here’s a preview of what you can look forward to: Accelerate sales with these three key insights Building a great sales culture Jolyn Tay, VP Commercial at Singapore-based omnichannel Buy-Now Pay-Later company hoolah, talks about the value of investing in staff training, tools, and support to improve productivity and overall business growth. This is a great strategy, which has worked so well for hoolah throughout the challenges of the last year, and firmly set them up for future success as well. The art of negotiation Another tip from the e-book that really resonated for me was from Khoo Boo Beng, Managing Director of Cloud First Applications, Accenture, with regards to negotiating a sale. He outlines four simple steps: Empathise, Understand, Demonstrate, and Test. Approaching a negotiation from this perspective takes the emphasis away from simply closing a sale at all costs. Considering it as a process driven by human relationships and communication can really transform the outcome. Being authentic when social selling Avis Easteal, Regional Head of Consumer, APAC at Luxasia, makes the important point that not all social platforms may be right for your brand image. Taking the time to research and consider the options, and checking alignment with your brand image, will reinforce that you are authentic and trustworthy. These are just three of the kernels of wisdom you will find in the e-book. To find out more, download your copy of ASEAN 50 Pro Sales Tips today and make 2021 your best sales year yet!

Realising the Power of Community and Purpose

Suraj Naik has had a diverse career, which took him on a journey from running Bollywood events to doing media sales. He’s now found his place as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Director of the Genius Group. Suraj is motivated by the energy and passion of the global entrepreneur community that the group has established. Joining us on the Future of Work, Now podcast, Suraj discusses the growth of this community and how it’s evolving in the digital world. He also shines a light on how communities like Genius Group give back to society. Here are the key takeaways: The compelling nature of entrepreneurship Suraj was exposed to the world of entrepreneurship while running an event. He listened to many entrepreneurs and was captivated by the transformation they’d undergone to get to where they wanted to be. “Entrepreneurs go through different phases of transformation. There is the self-awareness phase of getting to know who you really are, the self-expression phase where you’re able to connect with other people and express who you are, and then you get to self-mastery,” said Suraj. Genius Group supports entrepreneurs in their transformations with its technology solutions. These include its online education platform and entrepreneurial assessment tool. The group also runs events and spaces like Genius Central Singapore where entrepreneurs can co-work and make new connections. “We are a 1.7 million strong global community today, which presents opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn from one another,” said Suraj. Tapping the power of trust During the pandemic, Genius Group’s physical spaces had to close. It came up with the idea of the Trusted Buyer’s Club to help members sustain business. The premise of the club was for members to buy from one another and many used the opportunity to transform digitally. Small businesses, which had largely operated offline, brought in consultants to rollout customer relationship management (CRM) software and deploy chatbots. Others engaged consultants to help them with digital marketing and social media. “Trust has always played a role in our community and so we created this club where everyone made a pact to buy from one another. It helped entrepreneurs to keep their businesses running and they received feedback from the community on how to improve their products,” said Suraj. Suraj acknowledged that business was still difficult for some entrepreneurs and many had to adopt a better approach to selling. “When COVID-19 hit, there was panic and people were not buying. It became clearer that you could not sell with the mindset of ‘here’s my product, now buy it’,” said Suraj. “Instead, you need to go to market with the idea of solving someone’s problem and that has been our approach from early on.” Staying true to culture Genius Group has navigated the pandemic by staying true to its culture. Everything the group does is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Part of goal number eight is to promote full and productive employment and decent work for all. Genius Group’s commitment to this goal influenced its decision to not let anyone go during the pandemic. Instead, everyone rallied together and created a 100-day plan to help the organisation pivot. Focusing on just 100 days made goals easier to achieve and brought the finish line closer. Many parts of the organisation are now back to operating as normal and Suraj said Genius Central Singapore is buzzing. “There are often queues outside the cafe at lunchtime, but it’s a good problem to have. With recent acquisitions, we now have an opportunity to bring more people together and transform more lives,” said Suraj. Listen to the full podcast to learn more about Genius Group and its community of purpose-driven entrepreneurs. Access the podcast on demand at our podcasts page, Spotify, and iTunes. You can also listen over at the Singapore Community Radio Twitch page, Facebook page, and website. Sign up here for our LIKE.TG Blog newsletter to get monthly updates on the latest LIKE.TG stories.

Earthforce: Empowering LIKE.TG Employees To Lead Greener Lives

Regina Lim is the group lead for the Singapore chapter of the Earthforce equality group, which is LIKE.TG’s community for sustainability. In this post, Regina shares how Earthforce promotes environmental responsibility. Every month at LIKE.TG, groups of environmentally conscious staff members come together to help make the world a better, safer, and more sustainable place. Our teams sometimes take boat trips along waterways to collect rubbish. Once a month, we trek nature trails to learn from guides about the unique local ecosystem. Other times, we welcome special guest speakers. They help our members figure out what we can do and who we can partner with to help protect the Earth. We are members of the Earthforce equality group. Globally, Earthforce boasts over 9,000 adventurous and passionate nature lovers throughout the LIKE.TG family. Every one of them is aware of the power of the individual in creating change. Together we can make change Individuals, particularly when they come together in groups, can make a big difference. Climate change has many serious effects on the Earth. Therefore, it’s more important than ever that we bring as many people as possible on board to make that difference. LIKE.TG’s Earthforce chapters around the world help to spearhead this movement. Local chapters have their own processes and events. For Earth Month, we have planned themes in advance and activities to match those themes. For example, we also compile lists of local organisations we’d like to make contact with, or partner with, to promote our cause. The more people and organisations we can get involved with, the more empowered we become. For instance, we encourage our customers to join us by creating Earthforce groups of their own. LIKE.TG has even released videos such as this one, showing interested customers how they might best do this. What the Earthforce Singapore chapter does Here’s what we had lined up for April 2021: Week one of April was about the importance of biodiversity in Singapore. The group’s plans for the week included: Contacting several local nature societies, including Nature Society Singapore and the Restore Ubin Mangroves Initiative; A fascinating nature tour with a group from the Bachelor of Environmental Studies program at the National University of Singapore; and Attending a Earth Optimism Cambridge event, called In Conversation with Sir David Attenborough Week two of April was about food waste and what we can do about it. Food waste is a huge problem in Singapore, with around 744 million kilograms of food wasted every year. This food waste makes up 10% of Singapore’s total waste, and only 18% of it is recycled. To raise awareness about food waste, Earthforce Singapore and Bamboo Builders will run an Explore Food Wastage program on 24 April. Participants will have the opportunity to “rescue” ugly vegetables and redistribute these to people in need. Week three was all about e-waste and what we can do about it. E-waste includes home appliances such as washing machines, and devices such as laptops and mobile phones. In Singapore, there is a “repair coffee shop”, where you can get broken appliances fixed while having a coffee. That way, you don’t have to throw your appliances away and buy new ones. Another organisation, called Engineering For Good, collects laptops or desktop computers and refurbishes them, then gives them to people who can’t afford computers. Our members contacted both of these businesses to discuss how we might partner in the future. Week four, coinciding with Earth Day on April 22, is about reflection and what we can do to encourage others to join us in taking small steps toward big change. Earthforce is a community for sustainability We at Earthforce recognise that there are urgent and systemic issues that contribute to climate change. These may seem too daunting to overcome. But by getting employees, customers, and like-minded organisations together, we can fix some of these issues. Along the way, we’re connecting with amazing people and having great adventures. Learn more about how to make a positive difference and combat the effects of climate change, take the Sustainability Trail on our free learning platform, Trailhead.

How To Sell Better in 2021

“Sell me this pen.” Who could forget the last scene in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”? That’s the scene in which Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) asked a colleague to “sell me this pen.” They discuss the process as a simple matter of supply and demand. But sales experts know effective selling is never about simply listing the useful features of a product. In the digital age, selling is an art. To learn more about the art of sales, we turned to top sales experts in ASEAN. We compiled their advice on building a great sales culture, closing a deal, and so much more into an e-book: 50 Pro Sales Tips for 2021. Here are 10 of the sales tips that experts shared with us: This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.

LIKE.TG Live: Asia 2021 is coming

LIKE.TG Live: Asia launches on 20 May 2021 and we can’t wait for you to join us! Over six weeks, there will be many opportunities for you to listen, learn, connect, and ask questions. You’ll also get the chance to participate in a range of interactive live demonstrations. We are thrilled to feature many Trailblazers at LIKE.TG Live: Asia. Trailblazers are individuals or companies that do amazing things with LIKE.TG. They drive innovation, solve problems, transform their companies, and grow their careers. We’re proud to bring some of these inspirational tales and learnings to LIKE.TG Live: Asia. Our goal is to give you the right practical tools and know-how to create your own success story. What’s on at LIKE.TG Live: Asia On 20 May, we will launch with an opening keynote, “Success from Anywhere”. The keynote is hosted by presenter Simone Heng and features Sujith Abraham, LIKE.TG’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, ASEAN. Special guest customers Grab and NTUC Fairprice, will share their digital transformation experiences and how LIKE.TG has helped them grow. You can also tune in to product demonstrations, partner sessions, and Trailblazer Network sessions to kickstart your LIKE.TG Live: Asia journey. In the weeks that follow, we’ll have a series of episodes featuring LIKE.TG customers. These Trailblazers come from a wide range of industries and companies of various sizes. We’ll dive deep into subjects such as app building, customer journey mapping, and building customer relationships. Here’s what we have in store throughout the next few weeks: Episode 1 – 20 May 10:00 a.m. – 10:40 a.m. – Opening keynote: Success from Anywhere 10:40 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. – Live Stream Sessions 11:20 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Interactive Experiences Episode 2 – for Service Trailblazers – 27 May Episode 3 – for Sales Trailblazers – 3 June Episode 4 – for Small Fast-Growing Business Trailblazers – 10 June Episode 5 – for Marketers Digital Experience Trailblazers – 17 June Episode 6 – for Admin IT Trailblazers – 24 June Episode 7 – for Financial Services Trailblazers – 1 July Why join LIKE.TG Live: Asia LIKE.TG Live: Asia episodes will cover the topics that matter most to your role. You’ll take away exactly what you need to accelerate your business, increase your knowledge, and fast track your journey towards success. Here’re some of the topics that we will cover: Reinventing for the future: How fast-growing businesses succeed Pivoting for success: Transform and accelerate sales growth for the year and beyond What it takes to create and maintain high-performing teams Building trust in a digital-first world through exceptional customer experiences How to register for LIKE.TG Live: Asia and stay updated Visit the LIKE.TG Live: Asia page for more details on what we’ve got in store. Complete our registration form, and we’ll keep you up to date on our full list of speakers, episode details, and special announcements. Finally, keep an eye on the blog for LIKE.TG Live: Asia stories. We’ll cover things to look forward to in the weekly episodes, as well as key takeaways and announcements.