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Small Businesses Lean Into Tech and Customers During COVID-19 Pandemic
The fourth edition of the Small and Medium Business Trends Report analyses the responses of more than 2,300 small and medium-sized business owners and leaders. Chris Yio,Regional Vice President leading the Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment in Asia, shares some key report insights.
Business as usual has been anything but “usual” over the past six months.
In early 2020, as the global economy thrived, most small- and medium-sized business (SMB) leaders were focused on how to win new customers and access capital. But, the onset of COVID-19 brought new challenges, including a health and economic crisis. As a result, SMB leaders have had to adapt, but a surprising number remain optimistic about the future of their businesses while navigating uncertainty.
Today we released the fourth edition of the Small and Medium Business Trends Report. The report looks at how 2,300+ global SMBs are evolving in the midst of so much change. These include SMBs from the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. We had the unique opportunity to survey these business leaders in March 2020 and again in August 2020. Obviously, a lot has happened during those months.
The report shows how much SMBs have shifted their business operations over the past six months. These insights can help SMB leaders adapt and prepare for the next normal as the business landscape continues to deal with the pandemic.
Here’s a look at what’s changed for SMBs between March and August:
Businesses are doubling down on customer communications
It’s more challenging than ever to meet customer expectations. All businesses have to worry more about safety and clean work environments, meeting local health mandates, and offering contactless service. Implementing these measures is one thing, but making customers aware of them is another. So, it’s no surprise that 55% of the SMB businesses surveyed are more careful about how they communicate with customers — and almost half have expanded the ways customers can get in touch with them.
Unsurprisingly, SMBs are leaning into technology to keep customers close. Over half of growing SMBs say tech drives their customer interactions or customer base growth. Really, businesses are meeting customers where they’re most comfortable: 63% of millennial consumers — and 61% of Gen Z consumers — surveyed in July 2020 say they’re more likely to support small businesses with a digital presence.
SMBs now lean into customer-focused tech in all kinds of ways, from offering online ordering for curbside pickup or delivery, to putting more focus on email and social media messaging. We also see a continued embrace of business technologies like customer relationship management (CRM). SMB leaders who use CRM cited delivering better and faster customer service as the technology’s biggest benefit.
Malaysia-based property development company Myra is using CRM technology to improve customer interactions. Managing complex customer journeys was difficult with the company’s cumbersome paper-based CRM. Ken Goh, Head of Marketing at Myra, knew that digital transformation was the way forward.
“With LIKE.TG, we are now able to act more as a consultant than a standard property developer,” he says. “We can provide advice and support throughout the entire customer journey — from finance to interior design. That has helped to reduce our drop-off rate from 6.7% to 1.45%, while achieving a 65% to 70% reduction in the cost per lead.”
Growing SMBs are accelerating their use of technology, but use fewer apps
We mentioned SMBs use technology to keep customers close as they figure out how and when in-person business can happen safely. The pandemic is also driving those able to invest, to consider ways tech can help shape their future for the better. Growing SMBs, in particular, focus on three key areas where technology can help: customer interactions, workflows, and internal communications.
What’s really interesting is businesses are using fewer apps to get more done — and they’d love to use even fewer. The average number of apps SMBs use to run their business dropped over the past year. This coincides with a 24% increase since 2019 in SMBs’ use of a CRM system — CRMs are now used in more than half of SMBs and offer centralised systems for sales, service, and marketing within the same app. The technology (68%), consumer products (68%), and manufacturing (64%) industries are the biggest users of CRM systems.
Insurance company gm, which is based in Singapore, is using LIKE.TG to overcome that challenge.
When CEO Douglas Chia took over the company from his father in 2013, he wanted to simplify insurance. This meant offering straightforward protection for the things his customers care most about. To achieve this vision, he needed a trusted and user-friendly CRM solution.
“We looked at a few different CRM vendors, but they were too complex,” he says. “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. Our move to LIKE.TG delivered a revenue gain of 30 to 40 per cent.”
Learn how SMBs are navigating the present and preparing for the future, by downloading and reading our latest Small Medium Business Trends Report. Plus, find out the new technology trends reshaping the business world and see how they can help set up your business for growth.
This post originally appeared in the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
Infographic: 5 Ways WhatsApp Can Help Scale Your Conversations
Meeting the needs of today’s ultra-connected customers means delivering service on their terms.
It’s about two-way conversations, consistent service, and being there at the right moment. It’s also about making customer service effortless. Your customers want to engage with you via the same messaging apps they use in everyday life. One of the most popular apps is WhatsApp.
The mobile messaging app reached 2 billion users in 2020 and has been embraced by businesses across Asia as a way to service their customers. These businesses range from early-stage startups to companies like AirAsia. AirAsia launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot that responds to simple enquiries in several different languages.
So, how can you use WhatsApp to better engage with your customers?
As a start, WhatsApp should be used alongside all your other channels to deliver a connected customer journey. LIKE.TG can support you with this by providing you with a platform that allows you to manage all your channels and data in one place. It also lets you manage multiple text conversations at once so that you can deliver faster service and boost productivity.
Let’s take a look at how businesses are using WhatsApp and how it can help you to scale your conversations.
Learn how LIKE.TG and WhatsApp can help you have two-way conversations with customers at various points in their customer journeys. Join us for our on-demand webinar on how to leverage conversational platforms.
How Customer Engagement Has Changed, According To 15,600 of Them
To say this year has been different would be a huge understatement. Storefronts went digital, kitchen tables turned into conference rooms, and how we live, work, and shop have been generally turned upside down. What hasn’t changed for businesses, however, is the importance of providing an outstanding customer experience. In fact, 80% of consumers and business buyers say experience remains as important as products.
Of course, how to deliver those differentiated experiences transformed as life moved online and economic uncertainty moved in. Our fourthState of the Connected Customerreport, based on a global survey of over 15,000 consumers and business buyers, details how, and provides invaluable insights for business leaders navigating their paths back to growth.
The report details key elements of customer engagement in our radically changing times, including:
Earning trust pays dividends
People want to do business with brands they can depend on. While that was true before 2020, it’s an undeniable fact in a world taken by pandemic, social justice movements, and environmental crises, among other issues. Eighty-two percent of customers agree a company’s trustworthiness matters more than it did a year ago.
Like most relationships, gaining trust doesn’t happen overnight. Businesses mustearn trustthrough their actions over time, and it’s not getting any easier to accomplish. Sixty-one percent of customers say it’s difficult for a company to earn their trust – 7 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Evolving customer expectations present an opportunity for businesses to get closer to the audiences they serve through their actions. How are they showing up and what are they saying on issues beyond their particular industry? Ninety percent of customers say how a company acts during a crisis reveals its trustworthiness. And, this year, 56% of customers say they’ve reevaluated the societal role of companies. Customers want to see brands prove they’re interested in more than simply surviving through the pandemic and other crises. They want to see goodcorporate citizens making a differencein the communities they serve.
A company’s ability to build trust is inherently linked to its values. Customers expect brands to share their values and communicate honestly and openly. Brands that turn their back on doing the right thing risk taking a hit to their bottom line. Consumers will take their business elsewhere. The majority (62%) of customers say they have stopped buying from a company whose values didn’t align with theirs.
Empathetic, unified teams build differentiated engagement
Whether customers shop for themselves or on behalf of their companies, they expect interactions with brands to not only be convenient and digital first, but also infused withempathy and understanding. To no surprise, our survey results show customers want organisations to relate to their specific needs and expectations at every touch point. And they are making purchasing decisions based on personalised experiences.
There’snever beena more critical moment for companies to know their audience and relate to what they’re experiencing. Brands that get this – and actually invest in appreciating their customers’ varied perspectives – can gain a competitive advantage by delivering connected and contextualised engagement. While 66% of customers expect companies to understand their personal needs and expectations, only 34% say they usually do so. Moreover, more than half (52%) of customers expect offers toalwaysbe personalised.
So, how can companies get it right? One important way is for brands to ensure everyone under their roof has real-time information. When customers engage with a company, they shouldn’t have to worry about reaching the right person. Our research shows 76% of customers expectconsistent interactionsacross departments. However, 54% say it generally feels like sales, service, and marketing don’t share information.
“Disconnected experiences used to inconvenience customers,” noted Tiffani Bova, Growth and Innovation Evangelist at LIKE.TG. “They still do, but they cause so much more damage in our current environment because they signal insensitivity.”
Prior to 2020, customers were well on their way to becoming more digitally dependent in their interactions with brands. From Amazon to Hulu, more and more customers grew accustomed to having their wishes granted at the push of a button. In a socially distanced environment, those same customers – and many new converts – have come to viewdigital engagementas not only a convenience, but a necessity. Brands, in turn, have had to accelerate their digital transformations.
In just one year, online customer interactions grew from 42% (2019) to 60% (2020). While the sharp increase is, in part, a reflection of our overnight transition to a socially distanced society, the upward trend shouldn’t come as a surprise. Most brands were already in the midst of transforming their digital capabilities to cater to customers. COVID-19 just gave those plans a push. Customers agree, with 88% saying they expect companies to accelerate theirdigital initiativesbecause of the pandemic. Furthermore, 68% of customers agree that COVID-19 has elevated their expectations of brands’ digital capabilities.
In 2020, people are living and working much of their lives online. In fact, the vast majority (68%) of consumers say they’re online more often than not. As a result, they’re looking for companies to provide more digital options. Fifty-four percent would like companies to introducenew productsor services in response to the pandemic.
“To me, this really drives home the point that, yes, digital transformation is essential, but we need to think about it as part of something bigger,” observed Brian Solis, Global Innovation Evangelist at LIKE.TG. “The companies that use this moment to understand not just how to digitise their existing businesses, but how technology can drive new, innovative experiences that set them apart will prove more resilient as we move into the next normal.”
More insights to explore
The findings uncovered by our research reveal a customer base that craves personalised, digital-first experiences from brands they can trust. As our world continues to adapt and shift day by day, business leaders have an opportunity to use this knowledge to revamp how they engage their customers. In addition to the broad trends covered above, this research offers insights across demographic subsets and geographic boundaries. To further dig into this data, check out ourinteractive Tableau dashboards.
This post originally appeared on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
From Push To Personalisation, How AI Is Transforming Sales
With inputs by Alekhya Bodingari, Lead Solution Engineer, and Shantesh Akerkar, Lead Solution Engineer.
Sales as a business function is undergoing an accelerated transformation. Thanks to technological innovation, customers now expect personalised engagements and recommendations from sales representatives. The burgeoning role of sales in customer experience is no more a secret. But to rise to these new responsibilities, sales reps need deep insights into customer expectations to make effective decisions throughout the sales pipeline.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in decision-making helps sales teams take prompt, accurate, and insights-based decisions, transforming their engagement with prospects and customers. Here’s how AI tools support effective decision-making in the field of sales:
1. Better lead prioritisation for improved conversion rates
Lead and behavioural scoring is about predicting the leads that are most likely to convert. Several factors go into building a lead scoring model, such as:
Behavioural analysis: Understanding how potential buyers are interacting with a company is critical to lead conversion. For instance, someone visiting your pricing page is more interested in your products than someone who visits your home page and bounces back.
Company information: For a B2B enterprise, factors such as the annual revenue or any recent mergers and acquisitions (MA) of its leads are important parameters for lead scoring.
Engagement: The level and frequency of engagement shown by a lead for your content is also an indicator of their interest in your products. For example, someone subscribing to your newsletter is keen on engaging with you.
As customer journeys become more fragmented, and the volume of unstructured data rises, it can be easy to miss vital pieces of information. The use of AI tools can fine-tune lead scoring models such that the ‘hot leads’ are at the top of the pipeline. Besides, AI algorithms can continuously analyse consumer behaviour and adjust lead scoring criteria as the markets change.
Effective lead scoring accelerates an enterprise’s sales pipeline, helping reps close more leads faster.
2. Personalisation of sales strategy
Knowing when to reach out to a prospect and with what value proposition is just as important as who you are reaching out to. Historically, sales reps have relied on their experience and instinct to engage with prospects. But when sales reps use AI tools in sales, they rely on customer data to suggest a strategy.
Even unstructured data such as emails, social media posts, and minutes of a sales meeting can point to customer sentiment. When combined with factors such as a prospect’s annual revenue, territory, competitor involvement, and seniority of decision-makers involved, AItools like Einstein Account Insights and Einstein Opportunity Insights can suggest the best path forward for sales reps.
3. Better insights with automated data capture
Most customer relationship management (CRM) software are good at collecting structured data. But when it comes to unstructured data such as activity-data (emails, calendar events, minutes of meetings), CRMs often fail to capture it efficiently. Since activity data is alsoimmensely useful for extracting customer insights, sales reps capture it manually, which can be time-consuming. Enterprises want sales reps to spend more time selling. Ironically, sales reps today spend just a little more than 33% of their time selling. The rest is distributed between researching prospects, entering sales information, and generating quotes and proposals for prospects.
Sales Cloud uses Einstein to offer featuressuch as Einstein Activity Capture, which automatically syncs all emails and calendar events with the corresponding prospects in Sales Cloud. Thiseliminates data entry tasks for the sales team, translating to higher productivity, and eventually, better sales. It also helps sales reps find sales information in real-time with all the data pertaining to a prospect neatly collated in one place.
4. Accurate forecasting for an optimised sales strategy
Accurate forecasting is another way AI tools drive better decision-making in sales. Using AI tools, sales teams can do away with the guesswork and accurately predict how much revenue they stand to generate at the end of a forecasting period. The predictions are based on factors such as the past performance of a sales team, and the history and other recorded details of accounts in the sales pipeline.
For instance, with Einstein Forecasting, sales teams get real-time insights into predicted sales trends and how the team is doing against them. This data is available to the team on an intuitive dashboard that also offers graphical interpretations for maximum visibility and comprehension.
Leveraging AI for decision-making allows sales teams to do more with their time and sell more. It can also lead to higher revenues, enhance the overall customer experience, and enable richer relationships between your prospects and sales team.
To experience the power of AI in sales,tryEinstein for Sales Cloud.
This post originally appeared on the I.N.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
How To Become a Trailhead Ranger
Dreaming of becoming a Trailhead Ranger? Megan Petersen, Director Trailhead Evangelism, shares her advice and tips on achieving Ranger status. It’s more attainable than you think.
LIKE.TG’s online learning platform Trailhead has long been loved for its bite-sized content, badges and points. It’s gamified learning at its best, on a platform that anyone can use to build their skills. Trailhead is full of opportunities to ‘level-up’ – Trailhead Ranger is the highest rank.
It doesn’t matter if you’re starting from zero or already have 50 badges, becoming a Ranger is a fun way to learn, gain new skills and even help educate others.
To become a Trailhead Ranger you need to earn 100 badges and 50,000 points. It’s no easy task and not something you should try to do in a day or a week – the point is to learn and embed the knowledge gained, not simply to earn points and badges. If you’re keen to equip yourself with skills for in-demand jobs, make time for learning and plan your path, the #RoadToRanger program will help get you there.
Reskill for a changing world
Amid great change, Trailhead’s focus remains steady: breaking down the barriers to learning and empowering everyone to learn the skills needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow. With many people now working remotely and an increased business need for digital transformation, skilling up is more important than ever. That’s where the #RoadToRanger program steps in.
#RoadToRanger: the Trailhead Trailmixes that will help you level up
If you’re after a reliable way to achieve Trailhead Ranger status, the #RoadToRanger program will help you achieve your goal.
The #RoadToRanger program consists of three trailmixes (like learning playlists) with the perfect blend of badges and points that take the guesswork out of how to reach Ranger status.
Trailmix 1 — Get started with the basics about Trailhead, LIKE.TG, and important guiding principles
Trailmix 2 — Take a look at technology
Trailmix 3 — Get hands-on and earn points
Complete these and Ranger status will be yours ‒ I’ve done the maths!
Saying that, if you’re interested in certain topics or focused on certain roles I highly recommend you choose your own adventure. You can narrow your Trailhead search by applying filters based on roles, products and your learning level. Or if you know exactly what you’re looking for, type a relevant word into the search bar to find suitable Trailhead content.
Slow and steady always wins
It’s not a race. You should make sure you’re retaining what you’re learning. If you find yourself fading or losing motivation in the face of a tough module, don’t give up! Step away and do something you’re good at. Your positive mindset will quickly return and you’ll be much more motivated to tackle a module or unit you’re struggling with.
Aim for a mixture of fun and informative content, such as the Camp B Well Trail, as well as the more product-focused Trails like Building Apex Coding Skills, to keep your mind engaged.
The benefits of becoming a Trailhead Ranger
Taking the initiative to build skills shows you’re committed to self-improvement and giving back to the business model ‒ a great attribute in any employee. That’s part of why 25% of Trailblazers find a new job or score raises and promotions!
But the biggest benefit is to you and your ability to continuously learn. By the time you hit Ranger status, you’ve created a new, useful habit that makes learning part of your everyday life.
Earning Trailhead Ranger status helps you to develop the in-demand skills that lead to top jobs, like:
LIKE.TG Administrator
LIKE.TGArchitect
Developer
Business analyst or consultant
Whatever your role, Trailhead helps you on your certification journey and empowers you to help others along the way.
That Trailhead Ranger feeling
Wondering what it feels like to finally reach Ranger status? I’ll leave it to the experts to explain.
Ready to start your Road to Ranger journey? Sign up to Trailhead and complete the #RoadToRanger quest.
This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
What Organisations Should Know About Building Ethical AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a big impact on organisations across ASEAN. From assisting with process automation and decision making to predicting customer behaviour, AI is changing the way we work.
According to a LIKE.TG commissioned YouGov survey in Singapore, 86% of managers believe embracing AI is important to their organisation’s ability to survive and stay competitive.
However, only 34% of these managers currently using AI in business processes, or planning to implement AI in the next 12 months, are very confident that they/their organisations understand the potential ethical risks of AI.
Importantly, the survey found that 82% of managers currently using AI believe that organisations using AI should have a designated person for Ethical AI. Yet, only 57% report having someone in such a role.
Only 28% of managers are very confident of their organisations’ ability to implement AI processes and systems responsibly by taking into account privacy and safety of consumers.This demonstrates that while AI can deliver an enormous range of benefits, there are some key ethical issues that must be addressed.
For example, data bias in AI algorithms can lead to discrimination. User safety can be compromised by malicious players. Customer data privacy also needs to be protected.
That’s why infusing ethics into AI policy is vital now, and as the technology evolves.
Creating an ethical framework
Edward Santow, Australian Human Rights Commissioner, makes a clear distinction between ethics in AI and the rule of law. Speaking in the LIKE.TG/Observer Research Foundation Infusing Ethics into AI Policy webinar, he said:
“AI is enabling us to do things we’ve always done, but in powerful new ways. As such, there are already human rights, anti-discrimination, and privacy laws in place that should be the first port of call in determining what you can and can’t do with AI.
“Ethical rules are secondary to the law. Ethics can help us uphold the law and fill the gaps where the law is silent.”
To fill those gaps, organisations must set ethical parameters that govern how they develop and use AI-based technologies. Speaking in the same webinar, Kathy Baxter, Architect, Ethical AI Practice at LIKE.TG, explained what those parameters look like at LIKE.TG:
“We need to empower our users. To do so, our AI needs to be inclusive and respect the rights of everyone it impacts. So we created an AI charter that lays out what our AI principles are as a company.
“We believe we must safeguard all the data we are entrusted with and ensure what we are building protects and respects human rights. It must be accountable, and we seek and leverage feedback from our customers and civil society groups. Transparency is also important. We must be clear about how we build our models and explain to our users how our AI makes predictions or recommendations.”
Designing ethical AI
This clear ethical framework must be built into the DNA of the AI design and development process. Baxter explained how this is achieved at LIKE.TG:
“LIKE.TG works on the agile development methodology. During the very early design stages, we do an assessment with the teams to identify all the intended and unintended consequences of the AI application. We do an analysis of the likelihood and seriousness of the impact, and ask ‘should this application even exist in the first place?’. If the answer is ‘yes’, we identify the strategies we need to put in place to ensure those unintended consequences are mitigated as much as possible.”
However, infusing an ethical framework into the design and development of AI-based technologies may not always be practical. David Hardoon, Senior Advisor on Data AI, UnionBank of the Philippines, explained during the webinar:
“We need to be careful of the term ‘by design’. If an AI methodology or solution algorithm is applied within a specific context or application, then you can hard code the ethics in. But if you have something that needs to be applied more generally from east to west you have to deliberately allow for certain flexibility. In these cases, we need a second line of defence.”
That’s why LIKE.TG also builds in user education and guidance to the company’s AI-based applications. Baxter said:
“LIKE.TG is a platform, so what our customers do with our product may not be directly within our control. But, in the vast majority of cases, harm occurs not through malice but through lack of understanding of the context. We build in guidance and education to make our customers aware of when they are using sensitive fields, how to understand training data, and how to identify if there is a disparate impact occurring.”
Building a second line of defence
Rahul Panicker, Chief Innovation Officer at Wadhwani AI, India, added that this second line of defence can be reinforced in a four-step process:
“When it comes to AI, it’s processes and systems that can save us, not anticipation of unintended consequences. And this is not specific to AI. There is a long history of how to establish processes that ensure safety in technology development.
“Start with control testing for safety. Then you move on to a controlled pilot, and into an uncontrolled pilot that tests whether it works in the real world but still with safeguards in place Finally, the most important step is post-deployment monitoring to catch the consequences we could not anticipate.”
As such, Panicker argued that government regulation of AI should be application focused:
“Self-driving cars need to be regulated differently than healthcare AI, which needs to be regulated differently than AI used in banking. It’s the application domain that identifies the use case, the potential risks, and the stakeholder ecosystem.”
Reaping the full benefits of AI
When developing and using AI-based technologies, organisations must adhere to relevant human rights, anti-discrimination, and privacy laws. Organisations should also create an ethical framework to govern AI development and use the framework where the law is silent.
This ethical framework should be built into the AI design and development process, and where flexibility is required, there should be additional focus on post-deployment monitoring. This will mitigate unintended consequences and ensure that organisations — and the people they serve — will experience the full benefits of AI-based technologies.
Learn more about how LIKE.TG infuses ethics into AI here.
Top 5 Business Priorities for ASEAN Sales Leaders in the New Normal
The COVID-19 pandemic and shifting customer needs have transformed the sales environment in Asia.
To learn more about what’s changing and how sales leaders are responding, LIKE.TG surveyed 600 sales professionals across ASEAN. These findings were captured in the 2020 LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report.
In summary, the report reveals that digital transformation is rapidly accelerating throughout the region. Tools like Sales Cloud give sales leaders deeper insights into customers and enable more meaningful conversations.
Sales leaders are also focusing on reskilling existing sales reps to succeed in a remote selling environment. They use sales automation to gain better visibility into remote selling.
At the same time, the sales operations role is undergoing a strategic shift to provide more support for sales leaders who are eager to optimise sales processes.
1. Turning insights into closed deals
To build trust in the new normal, high-performing sales reps must become trusted advisors to customers.
Therefore, sales leaders must connect reps with the deep insights they need. This will help sales reps to anticipate customer needs and build consultative relationships.
For example, according to the LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report, more than 90% of high-performing ASEAN sales reps monitor customer purchase history, customer communication history, and competitor activity at least weekly.
Speaking in The New State of Sales webinar, Carol Fong, Regional VP, Commercial Sales at LIKE.TG, said sales leaders can use these insights to drive more relevant conversations with customers.
“You can use the customer’s transaction or procurement history to identify how sales reps can be more proactive when reaching out to customers,” she said. “Those conversations will be more meaningful to your customers.”
2. Reskilling to support shifting business needs
The LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report reveals that 82% of ASEAN sales leaders plan to meet changed staffing needs by reskilling existing employees. Just 57% plan to meet these needs by hiring.
“They have to because the world has changed,” Tom Abbott, Sales Optimisation Expert and Keynote Speaker, SOCO/ Sales Training said during The New State of Sales webinar. “We need to give our reps the tools they need to sell in this new environment. Don’t think about how to survive the next six months. Think about how to succeed for the next six years.”
Some tools that would be useful for sales reps to learn are customer relationship management (CRM) software and artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
3. Improving visibility as selling goes remote
Sales leaders need more visibility into sales activities in order to effectively manage remote teams.
However, this comes with a greater administrative burden. The frequency and length of pipeline management meetings is increasing . The enforcement of activity logging also reduces selling time.
According to the LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report, 61% of ASEAN sales organisations say AI has made major improvements to visibility into rep activity.
Fong says sales leaders must give sales reps autonomy while maintaining visibility into their activities.
“The sales cycle is becoming longer as customers need more hand-holding. We need to give our sales teams the tools they need to manage this,” she said. “At LIKE.TG, for example, we’ve noticed our high performers will typically automate tedious tasks. They’ll also likely have a lead priority system at their fingertips so they know where to focus their time.”
4. Rethinking the role of sales operations
The sales operations role has traditionally been responsible for optimising sales processes and systems. Now, sales leaders expect more strategy-based inputs.
The LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report reveals that 95% of ASEAN sales professionals say that sales operations is becoming an increasingly strategic role.
Abbott believes this is a move in the right direction. “Gone are the days when you could have a lone wolf sales rep out there running the show themselves,” he said. “We have to work as a team, and sales leaders are looking to sales ops to support them in the sales process.”
5. Accelerating digital transformation
Digital transformation is essentially the framework that supports the overall pivot to remote selling.
ASEAN businesses clearly understand this. According to the LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report, 91% of salespeople say their digital transformation has accelerated since 2019.
High-performing sales leaders are turning to AI, mobile sales apps, and sales process automation to bring the value of digital transformation to ASEAN sales teams.
However, Abbot says that digital transformation can begin with a simple CRM automation: “ For example, instead of a leave-behind brochure after a physical customer visit, now you’re emailing that brochure. Or you’re automating that email through your CRM to stay on top of your business opportunity.”
Turning crisis into opportunity
Sales leaders across ASEAN are accelerating digital transformation to build more proactive customer relationships and improve visibility into sales activities. They are also turning to sales operations for more strategic support and are reskilling reps to better leverage new technologies.
But Fong reminds us that digital transformation isn’t just about technology. “It’s also about your organisational structure and your people,” she said. “When there is a crisis there is always an opportunity. But whether you grasp the opportunity depends on how you pivot and change to reshape your team.”
Thailand SMBs Turn To Tech as More Customers Interact Online
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of customers have found a new way to interact with small and medium businesses (SMBs). Increasingly, they are shifting their purchasing from in-store to online.
LIKE.TG research shows consumers estimate their share of online versus offline interactions with companies has increased from 42% online in 2019 to 60% in 2020. In fact, 68% of consumers say they’re online more often than not.
“The population is digitally savvy, but ecommerce is just starting to take off here,” says Nicolas Faquet, the CEO behind the most visited insurance website in Thailand, Roojai.com. “That is why Thailand is the right place for us to catch the wave that we believe is coming over the next 10 years.”
For SMBs based in Thailand, finding the right technology to meet their needs is a key concern. This finding is highlighted in the fourth edition of the Small Medium Business Trends Report. The report looks at how more than 2,300 global SMBs are evolving in the midst of change. These include SMBs from the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, among others.
Technology drives 360-degree view of customer interactions
According to the report, customers are still top of mind for businesses. However, it’s now more challenging than ever to meet new and changing customer expectations.
Globally, 55% of SMB leaders say they’re more careful about their customer communications since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Forty-seven percent have expanded the ways customers can reach them. Further, 55% of growing businesses say technology drives their customer interactions.
In Thailand, keeping up with demand is the top challenge SMB leaders face in meeting customer expectations. This is a challenge faced by 80% of Thailand’s SMB leaders. Other challenges include bringing innovative offerings to market and personalising customer engagements.
“We launched Roojai.com on a traditional insurance platform, and we were using LIKE.TG as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool on top of that,” according to Faquet. “Very quickly, we realised how unreliable and painful that insurance platform was, and how much we were struggling to get things moving.”
Implementing LIKE.TG technology has enabled Roojai.com to grow its visitors per month to 1 million – 10 times the amount of its closest competitor – on the strength of an enhanced customer experience. WithService Cloud, Faquet and his team have a full 360-degree view of their customers. This enables them to deliver more customised solutions and a high level of customer service.
“From when the customer goes through the quote process, to when the customer buys a policy and then makes a claim, we have a full view of all interactions,” he says. “We are able to get so granular into the data set and can use it to optimise our marketing spend, and focus on the customer journey from origin to conclusion.”
Expanding customer base remains key
Beyond meeting customer expectations, the biggest challenge SMB leaders personally face when growing their businesses is acquiring new customers.
Overall, 72%* of SMBs believe a centralised application to manage business functions like sales, marketing, and support would be helpful. Increasingly, they have started adopting technologies like CRM to improve customer experience. In Thailand, 77% of SMBs have a CRM system, with 37% implementing it within the past year.
“Selling is science,” says Choonraki Singprasert, owner and managing director of Thai telecommunications company Riverplus. “You need detailed information to forecast and make sales. LIKE.TG gives us that information and helps us grow.”
According to Singprasert, the business lacked an effective solution to manage sales and was losing customer data and leads whenever an employee left. With the implementation of LIKE.TG, the company has been able to use data to better engage with customers and identify cross-sell opportunities.
“As a result of all of these activities, Riverplus has increased engagement with leads and customers and improved lead conversion by 30%. The company has also increased revenue by four times since using LIKE.TG, including two times growth in the first two years,” says Singprasert.
The way forward for SMBs
COVID-19 has caused a major shift in the way customers interact with businesses. Many are now comfortable with purchasing online.
To prepare for the future, SMBs need to adapt and change the way they operate to meet the new customer expectations. This includes digitising customer interactions, offering contactless services, and adopting technology.
To learn more about how SMBs are preparing for the future, download our latest Small Medium Business Trends Report.
The report is also available in Thai.
*Data from March 2020 survey conducted by The Harris Poll among 2,411 global SMB leaders.
How To Succeed in the All-Digital, Work-From-Anywhere World
Normally this time of year, we’d be with many of you in the APAC on Tour lounge in San Francisco, chatting about the amazing Dreamforce keynote we’d just seen. This year, LIKE.TG brought the magic of Dreamforce to our offices, living rooms, and kitchens around the world.
LIKE.TG Chair and CEO Marc Benioff stood before a holiday-themed LIKE.TG Park with a message of the power of community amid uncertainty. He celebrated those who have stepped up for their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nothing is possible without you, our Trailblazers,” said Benioff. “A lot of the help – in the distribution, the acquisition [of PPE] and in the support, things we’ve really needed to provide – came in partnership with you.”
LIKE.TG Chair and CEO Marc Benioff delivers the Dreamforce To You 2020 Keynote from LIKE.TG Park in San Francisco | WATCH THE DREAMFORCE TO YOU 2020 KEYNOTE
While Benioff highlighted LIKE.TG’s exceptionalquarterly results, he emphasised that in a year of unprecedented disruption, the company has been guided by its core values.
“Doing right and doing good is what is driving our culture forward. Whether it’s innovation or philanthropy, or culture,” said Benioff. “We are trailblazers, together.”
Come on down, Slack
Benioff also welcomed Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield to the Dreamforce keynote, following the announcement of the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Slack*, saying that combining Slack with LIKE.TG Customer 360 will be transformative for customers and the industry. The combination will create the operating system for the new way to work, uniquely enabling companies to grow and succeed in the all-digital world.
“This is a pivotal moment and opportunity to transform the way we work.” – Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield (left) joins Benioff on-stage. | WATCH THE DREAMFORCE TO YOU 2020 KEYNOTE
“This moment is one that we will remember in a couple of decades from now,” Butterfield said. “I think this is a pivotal moment and opportunity to transform the way we work so that we’re not as reliant on the physical office, that we can have a digital HQ.”
Benioff also introduced Bret Taylor, LIKE.TG President and Chief Operating Officer, who reflected on the shift to digital that many companies have made over the past year.
“We’re in an all-digital, work-anywhere world,” Taylor said. “Doctor’s offices have moved to telemedicine, [we’re] doing business over Zoom, consumer goods companies are going direct-to-consumer via custom apps. We’re not going back.
“When I look at what it means to grow in this new normal, it’s Slack plus the Customer 360.”
Digital experience is an imperative
Every business, Taylor continued, across every industry, needs to deliver seamless, connected digital experiences.
“This year is all about change. We have gone digital overnight. And we’ve been using this phrase with our customers, ‘the digital imperative’, because, let’s be honest, it’s 2020. If you don’t have a digital business, you don’t have a business.”
“It’s 2020. If you don’t have a digital business, you don’t have a business.” – President COO Bret Taylor discusses the digital imperative. | WATCH THE DREAMFORCE TO YOU 2020 KEYNOTE
In this time of enormous disruption, customer expectations are changing rapidly. This year’s State of the Connected Customer report surveyed 12,000 consumers and 3,600 business buyers worldwide, and found that 88% expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives due to COVID-19. A huge 80% of business buyers expect to conduct more business online, while 58% of consumers expect to do more online shopping after the pandemic than before.
It’s a challenging environment, in which leaders will separate from the pack.
“Trailblazers are using this year as an opportunity to overcome that adversity and accelerate that move into digital. To really transform customer experiences and recognise that next year is going to continue to accelerate this move towards the digital consumer, and the digital customer,” Taylor said. “I talk to a lot of CIOs and I know this is really hard in practice. Data silos and legacy systems feel like an anchor that are preventing you from moving forward and getting to where you want to go. This is why we created the LIKE.TG Customer 360.”
“I talk to a lot of CIOs and I know this is really hard in practice […] This is why we created the LIKE.TG Customer 360.” – Bret Taylor | WATCH THE DREAMFORCE TO YOU 2020 KEYNOTE
Announcing Hyperforce: The world’s #1 CRM on major public clouds
Taylor also announced a significant upgrade to that Customer 360 Platform. With Hyperforce, the world’s #1 CRM platform has been reimagined to securely and reliably deliver LIKE.TG Customer 360 on major public clouds.
“Probably the most significant technological shift in this platform since Marc and Parker created it” – Bret Taylor announces Hyperforce. | FIND OUT MORE IN THE DREAMFORCE TO YOU 2020 KEYNOTE
“We have been working for the past two years on probably the most significant technological shift in this platform since Marc and Parker created it over 21 years ago. We call this new capability Hyperforce. We’ve had to completely re-architect LIKE.TG to work in this way,” Taylor said.
“As a consequence it is horizontally scalable. That means that if you happen to be a B2B company with 10,000 customers, or you’re a B2C customer with 100 million or more consumers, you can now use LIKE.TG as your single source of truth for all of that data.”
Announcing Einstein Automate: Making every experience intelligent
“Creating connected, intelligent experiences for customers, employees, and communities is of the utmost importance,” Sarah Franklin, EVP GM, Platform, Trailhead AppExchange, LIKE.TG, told us as she introduced the new Einstein Automate.
“Laser-focused on intelligence, integration, and automation.” – Sarah Franklin introduces Einstein Automate. | FIND OUT MORE IN THE DREAMFORCE TO YOU 2020 KEYNOTE
Franklin explained how these intelligent innovations are helping governments go digital, fast – and helping local businesses get back to growth by making every customer experience intelligent.
AI-infused flows and bots help organizations automate tasks and workflows. Packaged libraries empower organisations to be able to quickly use solutions specific for their industry.
“With Einstein Automate, every organisation in every industry around the world can go with the flow of change,” said Franklin.’
Announcing LIKE.TG Service Cloud Workforce Engagement
With stores either closed or offering limited hours, contact centres today are dealing with a huge surge in the volume of questions from customers across service channels like phone, chat, text, and social media.
Service leaders need to be able to organise their entire workforce from anywhere and distribute the right work to the right agents based on skills and service channel. Enter Service Cloud Workforce Engagement.
To be made available in northern-hemisphere Summer 2021, Service Cloud Workforce Engagement will help service leaders in contact centres predict demand for customer service, staff appropriately, and remotely coach agents in real-time to deliver trusted service experiences.
Find out more – watch the Keynote.
How Trailblazers are succeeding
To navigate uncertain times, Benioff delivered a playbook for customers to drive success in the digital imperative. The playbook has three chapters, focused on leveraging intelligence, unifying data, and creating great experiences.
To explain, Benioff shared three stories of customers taking a Trailblazer’s mindset to succeed in an unexpected year.
The State of Rhode Island’s COVID-19 story
When the pandemic hit, the government of Rhode Island – an east-coast US state with a population just over 1 million – had to look at new ways of moving into action fast. In the keynote, Marc Benioff spoke with Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and we learnt how her team leveraged intelligence and automation to combat COVID-19 cases and protect the health of Rhode Island’s population.
Hear the story from Governor Gina Raimondo and her team in the Dreamforce to You Keynote
Bentley Motors’ Beyond100 vision
Live from Crewe, England, the Bentley Motors team shared how the organisation has transformed this year with a connected data strategy.
“With a 360-degree view of the customer, we can create a single source of truth that allows us to create extraordinary experiences for our customers and that’s what we need moving forward,” said Dr Astrid Fontaine, Member of the Board for People, Digitalisation IT, Bentley Motors.
Bentley had been a B2B company until the pandemic hit, and it had to market and sell directly to consumers. Today – less than a year into this transformation – Bentley brings the showroom experience to every prospect, digitally.
Customer Audience 360 is driving personalised and relevant experiences across every channel. Customer 360 Privacy Centre ensures Bentley Motors can collect and respect its customers’ privacy preferences and remain compliant. And with Tableau, Bentley builds a full picture of the business and turns insights and predictions into action.
Hear the story from the Bentley team in the Dreamforce to You Keynote
ATT: Seamless, connected digital experiences
Marc Benioff sat down with ATT Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh to talk about ATT’s seamless, connected experiences.
“They [ATT] were able to train more than 30,000 remote retail sellers on this new experience in under five months. That’s going digital, fast!” said Benioff.
Go along on the journey, with McElfresh and the ATT team in the Dreamforce to You Keynote
The show must go on – all month!
“We’ve heard some amazing stories today,” Benioff told us as he brought the keynote to a close. “But this is just the beginning of Dreamforce.”
Dreamforce to You runs for the entire month; and all Trailblazers can sign up at Dreamforce.com for the entire Dreamforce to You experience — including DreamTX starting 14 December.
DreamTX is four days, five channels, with hundreds of sessions deep-diving on innovation and new products.
Sign up for Dreamforce to You – you’re not too late!
This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
*Forward-Looking Statements
This communication relates to a proposed business combination transaction between LIKE.TG.com, Inc. (“LIKE.TG”) and Slack Technologies, Inc. (“Slack”). This communication includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements relate to future events and anticipated results of operations, business strategies, the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction, the anticipated impact of the proposed transaction on the combined company’s business and future financial and operating results, the expected amount and timing of synergies from the proposed transaction, the anticipated closing date for the proposed transaction and other aspects of our operations or operating results. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “foresees,” “forecasts,” “estimates” or other words or phrases of similar import. It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of LIKE.TG or Slack stock. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the parties’ control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the impact of public health crises, such as pandemics (including coronavirus (COVID-19)) and epidemics and any related company or government policies and actions to protect the health and safety of individuals or government policies or actions to maintain the functioning of national or global economies and markets; the effect of the announcement of the merger on the ability of LIKE.TG or Slack to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with customers, suppliers and others with whom LIKE.TG or Slack do business, or on LIKE.TG’s or Slack’s operating results and business generally; risks that the merger disrupts current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in employee retention as a result of the merger; the outcome of any legal proceedings related to the merger; the ability of the parties to consummate the proposed transaction on a timely basis or at all; the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to consummation of the proposed transaction, including the ability to secure regulatory approvals on the terms expected, at all or in a timely manner; the ability of LIKE.TG to successfully integrate Slack’s operations; the ability of LIKE.TG to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to LIKE.TG’s business after the completion of the transaction and realize expected synergies; and business disruption following the merger. These risks, as well as other risks related to the proposed transaction, will be included in the registration statement on Form S-4 and proxy statement/prospectus that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in connection with the proposed transaction. While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors to be presented in the registration statement on Form S-4 are, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. For additional information about other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to LIKE.TG’s and Slack’s respective periodic reports and other filings with the SEC, including the risk factors identified in LIKE.TG’s and Slack’s most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements included in this communication are made only as of the date hereof. Neither LIKE.TG nor Slack undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.
No Offer or Solicitation
This communication is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made, except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Additional Information about the Merger and Where to Find It
In connection with the proposed transaction, LIKE.TG intends to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4 that will include a proxy statement of Slack and that also constitutes a prospectus of LIKE.TG. Each of LIKE.TG and Slack may also file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. This document is not a substitute for the proxy statement/prospectus or registration statement or any other document that LIKE.TG or Slack may file with the SEC. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus (if and when available) will be mailed to stockholders of LIKE.TG and Slack. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the registration statement and proxy statement/prospectus (if and when available) and other documents containing important information about LIKE.TG, Slack and the proposed transaction, once such documents are filed with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by LIKE.TG will be available free of charge on LIKE.TG’s website at www.LIKE.TG/investor or by contacting LIKE.TG’s Investor Relations department at [email protected]. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Slack will be available free of charge on Slack’s website at investor.slackhq.com or by contacting Slack’s Investor Relations department at [email protected].
Participants in the Solicitation
LIKE.TG, Slack and certain of their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information about the directors and executive officers of LIKE.TG, including a description of their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in LIKE.TG’s proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 1, 2020, and LIKE.TG’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 5, 2020, as well as in a Form 8-K filed by LIKE.TG with the SEC on June 1, 2020. Information about the directors and executive officers of Slack, including a description of their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in Slack’s proxy statement for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on May 5, 2020, and Slack’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on March 12, 2020. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitations and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction when such materials become available. Investors should read the proxy statement/prospectus carefully when it becomes available before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from LIKE.TG or Slack using the sources indicated above.
Why SaaS Marketplaces Are Gaining in Popularity
One of the most exciting aspects of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market is the growing number of applications that businesses can readily plug into as new needs emerge. Businesses took advantage of this flexibility during the pandemic, resulting in a surge of adoption of cloud-based solutions. These included solutions for remote working as well as applications for more specific use cases like online learning.
The agility offered by SaaS and the ease of access to applications is clear. At the same time, business users tend to purchase these solutions at will. As a result, businesses find themselves with dozens, if not hundreds, of disconnected applications. This issue is known as SaaS sprawl and it can lead to siloed data, increased risk, and a range of other adverse consequences.
Global research firm Forrester highlights the issue of SaaS sprawl in a new report, The Forrester New Wave™: SaaS Marketplaces, Q2 2020. The report evaluates top SaaS marketplaces that can help to alleviate SaaS sprawl and bring everything back into line.
Here, we look at the advantages of SaaS marketplaces and break down the findings of the report.
How SaaS marketplaces provide a better buying experience
SaaS marketplaces help to tame SaaS sprawl by providing a centralised approach to finding, purchasing, and managing cloud-based applications. For example, they help businesses to find relevant or ‘add-on’ applications that are pre-vetted and peer reviewed. They also offer features like centralised management consoles to help reduce IT complexity.
The LIKE.TG AppExchange is one such marketplace. It features 6,000 solutions that allow businesses to extend the functionality of LIKE.TG across every department and industry. These include low-code and no-code solutions for nearly every business challenge. What’s more, solutions can be integrated with LIKE.TG and can be installed with just a few clicks.
What this means is that customers can benefit from all of the leading cloud solutions provided by LIKE.TG Customer 360, and layer on new capabilities from the AppExchange to create connected customer experiences.
Eighty-six percent of LIKE.TG users have installed one or more solutions from the AppExchange. Roojai.com is one of those. The online insurance provider was quick to pivot in response to the pandemic and used LIKE.TG and SightCall from the AppExchange to offer customers a video claims service.
Roojai.com has also built its own apps that it hopes to package and sell to other insurance companies through the AppExchange.
What sets the AppExchange apart from other marketplaces
While SaaS marketplaces are not new, Forrester’s report reveals that they’re gaining more attention these days. They’re also being enhanced with chatbots and other new features to support the buying experience.
The Forrester report evaluates a total of eight SaaS marketplaces against criteria such as availability of applications and buyer interface.
We’re delighted to share that the report says LIKE.TG “leads the pack with a mature marketplace with scale and breadth of SaaS solutions.”
The Forrester report states that the LIKE.TG AppExchange “will generally appeal to anyone in the LIKE.TG ecosystem.” It also specifically notes that “LIKE.TG has thousands of applications in its marketplace in a range of categories.”
LIKE.TG received the highest possible score of ‘differentiated’ in seven criteria – the most of any vendor evaluated. These include:
Availability of applications
Buyer interface
Due diligence and assurance
Management console
AI and automation
Roadmap, and
Market approach
In conclusion, the Forrester report acknowledges that, “Despite this being an overall newer market, LIKE.TG has a long history of running the LIKE.TG AppExchange and offers features such as private marketplaces and advanced search.”
To learn more, download The Forrester New Wave™: SaaS Marketplaces, Q2 2020 report.
Visit the AppExchange to find applications and partners to support your business needs.
How LIKE.TG and Its Partners Are Building the Workforce of Tomorrow
At LIKE.TG, customer success is one of our core values. Our commitment to this extends beyond our investment in our own products and services.
I alluded to this in September when I wrote about the expansion of our partners’ Global Talent Centres (GTCs) and how we’re helping to equip them with the skills needed to deliver digital transformation.
Our LIKE.TG Days training events support this capability building. Recently, we held our first LIKE.TG Days event in Asia. It featured eight days of training and culminated in a virtual Global Talent Centre Summit for our partners in Greater China and the Philippines.
With this event wrapped up, it’s time to take a more detailed look at GTCs and how we’re working with our partners to build the workforce of tomorrow.
Building opportunities for everyone
GTCs were born out of a need to meet global demand for LIKE.TG practitioners and are run by recognised LIKE.TG Partners.
According to the IDC LIKE.TG Economic Impact Report, thanks to the growth of cloud computing, LIKE.TG and its partner ecosystem will create more than 4.2 million jobs between 2019 and 2024. This global number includes 24,260 new jobs in Thailand alone.
We want to help partners meet that demand by upskilling current LIKE.TG practitioners and bringing new talent into the ecosystem. GTCs provide a central hub for training and operate as a community where partners and LIKE.TG can share best practices and resources.
Our recent LIKE.TG Days event was held to build up capability within the GTCs and therefore expand the pool of expertise available to our customers in Asia. Featuring more than 40 workshops on current and emerging technologies, the training provided up-skilling and cross-skilling opportunities for more than 2,000 practitioners.
LIKE.TG Days also offered entry-level sessions for those new to LIKE.TG. This included 150 new developers who signed up for Trailhead and earned a collective 300 badges.
Expanding the talent pool
Our partners in India have already embraced the GTC concept and currently employ a combined 1.5 million people. Several of our largest partners have come on board in Greater China and the Philippines this year and they are scaling up to meet growing demand for offshoring of digital transformation services. Finding new talent will be key and that’s why we’ve recently launched the LIKE.TG Talent Alliance.
Members of the Talent Alliance commit to ensuring that 20% of new hires come from outside of the ecosystem. They also pledge to adopt more inclusive hiring practices such as standardising interview processes through competency-based interview questions. Our partners find that a diverse workplace is a strong one. Especially when talented people bring real world experience from outside of the LIKE.TG ecosystem or our usual channels of recruitment.
Delivering more than just digital transformation
This is where the ultimate benefit lies. Through diversity initiatives and programs like LIKE.TG Days, we build a strong and diverse talent pool with the skills that our customers need today and tomorrow.
We’re also providing those located near the GTCs with the opportunity to move into new, well paying, and extremely satisfying jobs in which they can make a positive impact on society. This is the LIKE.TG economy delivering more than just digital transformation – it is also delivering societal transformation through local community based investment.
This matters to me a great deal and is at the core of the program.
Learn more about the LIKE.TG Partner Community and how you can join here.
How Growing Small Businesses Are Preparing for Future Crises
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way customers interact with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). More customers are shifting their purchases from in-store to online, and they expect SMBs to adapt and provide smooth online experiences.
In this infographic, we focus on how SMB leaders are preparing for future crises by adopting technology. According to the fourth edition of the Small and Medium Business Trends Report, growing SMBs are digitising their customer interactions, internal communications, and workflows. For example, more SMBs are using customer relationship management (CRM) software, which helps them focus on serving their customers well.
Learn how digital-forward SMBs are transforming their businesses and driving growth, now and in the future.
Marc Benioff & Tharman Shanmugaratnam on the Opportunity in Crisis
Amid the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a powerful opportunity to break with the past and shape a values-led future.
How do individuals, businesses, and governments prepare for a post-COVID-19 future where nothing is as it once was?
As potential vaccines allow us to imagine a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, it is more important than ever for individuals, businesses, and countries to make decisions and set actions around values that will drive future behaviours. This was the overarching message from Singapore’s Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and LIKE.TG Chair and CEO Marc Benioff at the recent SG Tech Forum.
“Speaking of Singapore, our future is to be a hub – a hub for talent, local and foreign, a hub that’s connected to the rest of the world as efficiently as possible,” Mr Shanmugaratnam said. “Also a hub…which is predictable, reliable, and resilient.”
Such hubs are going to be a vital part of the smooth running of the reconfigured, globalised economy, Mr Shanmugaratnam said. But in this new reality, they require a special ingredient – a clear value set.
“We have to avoid thinking about economic objectives as somehow separate from social objectives,” he said. “They either inflict damage on each other, or they reinforce each other. If we’re able to run a competitive and efficient economy, we’re able to create a lot more opportunities for people.”
Mr Shanmugaratnam and Mr Benioff outlined the value-based decisions and considerations that must be made by individuals, organisations, and nations, to make the most of the powerful opportunities handed to us by the pandemic.
Compassionate capitalism
Business will not continue to be all about money, Mr Benioff told us. It will not be focused purely on shareholder returns.
“It is about a much greater mission than that,” he said. “What is required is a ‘new capitalism’ – a compassionate capitalism that is equitable, environmentally sensitive, and human.”
“At LIKE.TG, we put 1% of our equity, 1% of our profit and 1% of all of our employees’ time into a foundation the day we started,” Mr Benioff said. “We have delivered hundreds of millions of dollars to philanthropy and grants, and delivered five million hours of volunteerism.”
People investing in people
A major differentiator between nations during the pandemic, Mr Shanmugaratnam said, is whether people believe in the public good.
“It’s turning out to be quite an important differentiator,” he said. “If you think that wearing a mask, or respecting the norms required to keep COVID-19 at bay, are just about your individual rights or preferences then everyone is going to be worse off, including yourself.”
The nations that have the virus under control are those in which everybody is working towards the same strategic goal, and so they succeed. As a result, they all benefit.
Along those same lines “a big differentiator going forward is going to be where the companies and ecosystems of companies treat investing in their people as a responsibility,” Mr Shanmugaratnam said.
Do it well and the company will be more successful. The real power for the nation, however, is if every company does it.
“If everyone does the responsible thing, you find that skills will keep moving up and we achieve a more inclusive society,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do in Singapore.”
Aligning values with operations
“We have to choose our values as countries, as companies, and as individuals,” Mr Benioff said. “Then, how do we operationalise our values?
If values are discussed but never operationalised, they will never become reality. That’s the heart of our culture at LIKE.TG, how we get alignment, communication, awareness. We have to be conscious of our core values.”
This pandemic, Mr Benioff said, can be “the great reset to a new, more compassionate, more fair capitalism–stakeholder capitalism.”
All it requires is for businesses to activate their values, rather than simply discuss them, he said.
Good business collaborates with good government
One of the benefits businesses in Singapore have over other nations is strong government, Mr Benioff said.
“Having a government that can manage during a crisis, this is valuable,” he said. “Singapore has benefited from having a phenomenal government.”
Just as important, Mr Shanmugaratnam said, is collaboration between the public and private sectors. This means leading companies find ways to invest in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) up and down their supply chains, to help all businesses move upwards.
For example, the LIKE.TG Small Business Relief Grants Programme is a partnership with the Singapore Business Federation that helps SMBs to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and return to growth.
“If everyone does that, and if you do it across industry clusters, you end up with a spiral that moves up,” Mr Shanmugaratnam said.
Success in the future will be defined by values-driven actions, rather than rhetoric. It will be about collaborative thinking and community-minded behaviours, rather than winning at all costs. It will come from a combination of the economic and the social, creating an exciting, more humanistic future that is enabled by great business.
7,000+ Service Pros Tell Us How To Deliver Service That Customers Love
Every business leader can agree the stakes have never been higher to build trust and maintain customer loyalty. Ninety percent of customers say how a company acts during a crisis demonstrates its trustworthiness.
Customer service has taken center stage as companies build trust and drive loyalty today and into the future. Now, meeting customer service expectations while balancing distributed workforces and new business models means service professionals need to rewrite their approach to customer service. This includes key strategies to respond to customer needs, ways to help agents adapt to a more strategic role, and ensuring everyone stays safe.
We’ve compiled recommendations, based on insights from over 7,000 service professionals across 33 countries for the fourth edition of the State of Service report, to help write your next chapter on customer service.
In part one of this two-part series, we look at how to exceed expectations and reduce silos.
Note: If you’d like to check out the State of Service findings first before diving in, read the executive summary.
Exceed customer expectations
Besides fast resolutions, customers want more flexibility and an empathetic ear. Here’s how to meet these new customer service expectations.
Be empathetic
Seventy-one percent of consumers say that businesses showing empathy during the pandemic have earned their loyalty. Teach emotional intelligence best practices. Conduct role playing exercises from the side of your customer and your organisation. Encourage agents to use positive language. Instead of saying, “That’s against our policy,” try, “Here’s how we can handle this.”
Turn agents into superheroes
The right digital tools help agents use their time efficiently instead of searching for customer information or details from past interactions. Ensure agents have a 360-degree view on a complete service platform like Service Cloud.
Let’s take a phone interaction as an example (customers choose phone calls second to email). Equipping agents with cloud telephony allows them to stay focused on the customer. That’s because calls are automatically transcribed in real time. At the same time, agents can access complete customer information for the context they need to deliver personalised service.
Agents can also engage with customers using messaging apps. In Asia, one of the most popular messaging apps is WhatsApp. Service Cloud enables agents to manage multiple WhatsApp conversations with customers at once, resulting in faster service and better agent productivity.
Offer flexibility
Eighty-three percent of service professionals say they’ve changed policies to provide more flexibility to customers during the pandemic. Agents on high-performing teams — those defined as having high customer satisfaction — are most likely to have clarity, encouragement, and training on how to be flexible with customers.
The key is to regularly communicate new updates. Train agents on new processes by setting up a customised digital learning module. Frequently audit your knowledge base to ensure articles are up to date.
Reduce organisational silos
Sixty-seven percent of customers expect consistent interactions across departments. But 53% say it generally feels like sales, service, and marketing don’t share information.
Here’s how to connect the dots:
Align your teams
Everyone in your organisation affects the customer experience. Bring teams together to rally around the customer. Set shared goals. Encourage ongoing communication and collaboration. (Check out this Customer 360 playbook to help.)
Partner with IT
Customer service has become more connected and more digital. This means partnerships with IT are critical. Eighty-eight percent of service decision makers call IT a strategic partner. Make technology strategy and selection a joint effort with IT.
Get a complete view
Forty-eight percent of agents say they can find what they need on a single screen.
To ensure they can deliver quality service, agents need access to service history, past interactions, and preferences. Platforms like LIKE.TG Customer 360 can help. It aggregates data into a single source of truth so everyone gets a complete view of your customers for the personalised support they expect.
Meralco, the largest private sector electricity distribution utility company in the Philippines, benefitted from having a complete view of customers on one screen. After Meralco moved its sales and service pipeline to LIKE.TG, its employees no longer needed to navigate through multiple successive screens to help customers. They went from using fifteen screens to just one. This resulted in a five-fold improvement in productivity and cut the time taken to complete a customer service application form by two-thirds.
Use your data
Thirty percent of service decision makers say they have an excellent ability to use data to make strategic business decisions. That’s because it can be difficult to analyse data spread across systems. To combine data, try tools like MuleSoft. Mulesoft provides integration software for connecting data with application programming interfaces (APIs) to give a complete picture of how your service performs.
Start building trust and loyalty today
Customers appreciate when businesses empathise with their challenges and demonstrate flexibility during a crisis. You can uncover what customers want by using a service platform like Service Cloud to get a 360-degree view of your customers. With this understanding, you can then deliver more customised solutions and a higher level of customer service.
Get started by diving into the latest findings from the LIKE.TG State of Service report.
Learn how Service Cloud helps you build trust and loyalty, as well as exceed customer expectations.
Another version of this article originally appeared on theU.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
3 Things Top Sales Reps do to Succeed in the New Normal
Selling is hard. Selling amidst a pandemic is even harder. Yet, there are sales reps who continue to perform well and build good relationships with their customers. What are their secrets to success?
To learn more about how selling has changed, LIKE.TG surveyed 600 sales professionals across the ASEAN region. These findings were captured in the 2020 LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report.
The report reveals that high-performing sales reps recognise the importance of showing empathy — before, during, and after the sale — to build customer trust through challenging times.
High-performing reps are also more insight driven in anticipating customer needs. Finally, they embrace technology that makes selling easier, faster, and more intuitive.
High-performing sales reps recognise the importance of trust
Building long-term customer relationships requires trust — before and after the sale. According to our State of Sales report, 89% of sales reps believe there is an increased need to build trust before a sale. Eighty-five percent agree there is an increased need to build trust after a sale.
To achieve this, high-performing sales reps show empathy for their customers during their most challenging times.
At a recent webinar on how sales reps can retool for the future, Tahsin Alam, Regional Vice President, Philippines at LIKE.TG, said:
“It’s no longer sell and run. You have to be there before and after the sale to build that trusted relationship. If the reps can be there with customers during their trying times, the relationship will be stronger.”
Philip Macahilig, Group Head Commercial Operations at Del Monte Philippines, shared an example of how his reps built trust during the difficult lockdown period. He explained that his reps spoke up when data showed that some buyers were unnecessarily over-ordering during the height of the pandemic.
“Our buyers appreciated that because after the lockdown we were one of the suppliers that didn’t have a lot of unsold inventory with our customers. Acting with integrity and making sure we do what’s best for our customers is how we build a foundation of trust.”
High-performing sales reps are more insight driven
For reps to understand what’s best for their customers, they need access to deep customer insights.
According to the State of Sales Report, high-performing reps are 2.4 times more likely to monitor customer communication history than poor-performing reps. They are also 1.6 times more likely to monitor competitor activity, and 7.3 times more likely to monitor customer purchase history.
Successful sales teams consider customer insight tools vital. Del Monte, for example, has engaged Tableau to consolidate data from multiple sources into a single repository. Macahilig explained:
“Our drive now is to make sure our reps are armed with data that enables them to generate customer insights and make their action plans hard hitting. We’d like our reps to think like management, and when they look at the data see several dimensions of the business in a single repository.”
High-performing sales reps embrace digital transformation
For many businesses, digital transformation has accelerated and their sales technology needs have undergone rapid change. The State of Sales Report found that the top five sales tools that have grown more valuable since 2019 are:
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Mobile sales app(s) for employees
Sales process automation
Customer insight tools
Marketing automation
According to Tom Abbott, Sales Optimisation Expert and Keynote Speaker at SOCO, high-performing sales reps use tools like Sales Cloud to be more responsive to their customers.
“That’s how they beat the competition. Look at AI tools, for example. Something as simple as a chatbot on your website can capture leads, then prequalify and assign them to a sales rep very quickly.
“Automating your sales process with auto-responders and templates through your CRM means sales reps can focus on high-value tasks like actually picking up the phone and building relationships with customers. Providing a mobile sales app to your reps enables them to access the CRM remotely. That makes selling easier and faster for reps.”
Sales success in the new normal
There is no magic formula that transforms a struggling sales rep into a high performer. Rather, sales success in the new normal depends on the rep’s willingness and ability to adjust to new conditions.
As customers continue to find their feet in this new environment, high-performing sales reps will be a pillar of support before and after the sale. Reps will use data-driven insights to anticipate customer needs. They’ll also use a variety of sales tools to become more responsive to their customers.
To learn more about how sales teams in ASEAN are staying on top of their game, read the LIKE.TG Trends in ASEAN Sales report.
How Twitter Leverages Its Platform for Good
When this story was first published in 2020, Maya was Vice-President of Twitter in APAC. Her role changed to a global role in 2021 and her title was updated in this blog.
In the beginning of the pandemic, people came to Twitter for information.
What came next, according to Maya Hari, now Global Vice President of Global Strategy and Operations, was conversation and connection.
“People have found themselves embracing technology very easily, very freely, and very deeply, and we have seen two interesting trends from that,” said Maya. “First, our audience has grown 29% year-on-year globally and [growth in] Asia is a big part of that. Partly due to lockdowns, people also found themselves with more time so hobbies became a large part of the conversation.”
Popular topics in the past few months have ranged from gaming and shopping to baking and K-pop. There have also been many examples of people using the platform for good. Maya shares one heartwarming example with our podcast host Asha Popatlal. She also offers a crash course on what makes a good tweet and discusses how use of the platform has evolved this year.
Here are key takeaways from their conversation on the topic of business as a platform for change:
What is Twitter doing for good? Tell me a story that sticks out
First of all there’s the platform itself. There are stories arising from this everyday because of the public nature of the platform and the way it connects people rapidly. One recent story is that of a 12 year old boy who was stuck on the streets of Delhi during the pandemic. He was separated from his parents who were in another town and he could not get back to them. Someone tweeted his story and within a few days, the word got out….good samaritans kept him fed and people raised enough funds to send him back to his parents.
Everytime I hear something like that it warms my heart, but it is not just one story a day that we hear. This is quite normal for us. You can imagine that as an employee, it feels tremendous to [be part of] a business with this kind of purpose and ability.
What does diversity and inclusion mean for you and Twitter?
I define inclusion as the moment where we all feel like we truly belong and we are able to contribute and interact by bringing our whole selves unashamedly to work. It sounds utopian, but in the last few years we have made great strides as a company. The reason we do it is that we believe as a platform that every person in the world should have the ability to express themselves on Twitter. If we want all of these voices to be heard, we owe it to all of our users to build a platform and business that allows for that.
What are you doing to increase the representation of women at Twitter?
I am not the first female leader we’ve had in Asia-Pacific. My predecessor was a woman so there is a lot to say about the history of women leaders in the business. If I look at Twitter’s country leaders in Asia-Pacific, there is a very even mix of men and women. I feel very privileged to be able to say that and it is a tremendous credit to Twitter for having systemically focused on this, with things like equal and extended parental leave, to hiring practices that are consciously focused on bringing enough women into the pipeline.
It is good to have that even balance. Men have wonderful ideas too, but they are made even better when we work together as men and women.
How do you use Twitter for good when it comes to the environment?
We have seen the conversation around the environment really skyrocket over the last two to three years. We have also seen tweets from consumers overtake corporate tweets in some ways. It is moving beyond corporate social responsibility (CSR) to people saying that [protecting the environment] is a good thing to do. So the platform itself is a big catalyst to bring about that type of activism on the environment, which is very important.
As a company, we have focused on the spaces we own. This includes efforts to make sure we have green buildings and that we use renewable energy. We are also focused on reducing plastic consumption in the offices and running sustainable events.
Technology companies have it somewhat easier compared to brick-and-mortar companies or consumer goods companies. The amount of disruption and change required in their businesses goes beyond the things that we’re doing because they also have to think about things like product packaging and their supply chains. It really needs to be a collective effort between governments, enterprises, and consumers to bring about that change.
Listen to the full episode to learn more about how Twitter is using its platform for good. Maya also provides more insight into current conversations on Twitter and reflects on her very first tweet.
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 podcast series and the latest LIKE.TG stories.
This Is What Makes LIKE.TG One of the Best Workplaces in Singapore
I am honoured to share that LIKE.TG has been named one of Great Place to Work’s “Best Workplaces in Singapore” for the sixth year in a row! This award is great recognition of our amazing employees based in Singapore who have build such a great workplace culture based on our core values of Trust, Customer Success, Innovation, and Equality.
This is my first year at LIKE.TG, but it’s been clear since my first day that this is a company that cares deeply about its employees and the culture it creates around them. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons that I wanted to join. While this year has presented us with changes large and small, what hasn’t changed is the company’s focus on its values. It’s because of those values that we’ve been able to come together as a team to solve problems for our customers, give back to our communities, and support each other through this unprecedented year.
I’m inspired by the work we’ve done, and have seen so many examples this year of people coming together for each other, our customers, and our communities.
Giving back to the community
In Singapore this year,LIKE.TG teamed up with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) to offer S$960,000 to 120 eligible small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). We know SMBs that have embraced digital transformation and these grants will help them to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and return to growth.
LIKE.TG is a company that believes inpurpose beyond profit. That’s why we practice the 1-1-1 model: donating 1% of our equity, our employee time, and our product back into the communities.We also encourage our employees to give back through our volunteer time off (VTO)and donation matching programs. All LIKE.TG employees are given seven days of paid time off per year to volunteer. Employees are also given access to a generous matching policy of up to US$5,000 every year.
Throughout this year, we’ve also come together and donated over 14,400 hours of our employees’ time to help support the most vulnerable members of our communities. We raised more than S$40,000 to give free meals to migrant workers in-need and the healthcare workers who were on the frontline fighting COVID-19. Wesewed hundreds of face masksand donated them to migrant workers. Additionally, our SDMiles for Jamiyah fundraiser and wellness challenge saw our team contributing more than 1,600 hours of VTO to help the local communities in Singapore.
Prioritising wellbeing
We’ve shone a spotlight on wellbeing this year. Many of us have undergone stressful situations that we never would have imagined. In response, the company has introduced new benefits, especially for parents and primary caregivers.To support our parents as they work from home in Singapore, we offered a fully subsidised, daily, online interactive school holiday program for children, with a variety of engaging skills-based activities and experiments. We also have programmes to support employee wellbeing, such as the B-Well Together series (catch up on some great videoshere).
One of the biggest adaptations we’ve had to make is to our mindset. It’s become more important than ever for us to lead with compassion. We understand that people are doing the best they can to helpour customers and work with each other in new ways, while keeping up with the various demands on ourselves. Our free online learning platform, Trailhead,offers resources or trails f or employees to learn soft skills, including “Leading with Empathy”. During the circuit breaker period in Singapore, we saw a 70% increase in soft skill-based trails completed in Trailhead.
Thank you to everyone at LIKE.TG Singapore for your passion and commitment to making this a great place to work year after year.
Find out more about life at LIKE.TG Singapore and join us!
7,000+ Service Pros Share How Businesses Can Empower Them for Success
Customer service has taken center stage as companies build trust and drive loyalty today and into the future. Now, meeting customer service expectations while balancing distributed workforces and new business models means service professionals need to rewrite their approach to customer service. This includes key strategies to respond to customer needs, ways to help agents adapt to a more strategic role, and ensuring everyone stays safe.
In our earlier post, we talked about how customer service teams can deliver standout service. But you can’t keep customers happy without empowering your customer service team. Your team needs to be comfortable using new tools like chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI). They will also need support when it comes to helping customers remotely.
This post, the second in our two-part series on the state of service today, will focus on how to set your customer service team up for success. These recommendations come from over 7,000 service professionals across 33 countries for the fourth edition of the State of Service report.
Note: If you’d like to check out the State of Service findings first before diving in, read the executive summary.
Adapt at scale
Despite an increase in customer inquiries, service budgets and headcount largely remain flat or down.
To help your teams do more with less, try these tips:
Scale support with chatbots
Service organisations have increased adoption of chatbots by 67% since 2018. Chatbots play an important role in answering common questions, like order status or password resets. If a case requires an agent, chatbots collect customer data and share it with the agent so that they have everything they need to resolve the case.
Automate tasks
Seventy-seven percent of agents say automating routine tasks, such as gathering basic information and customer feedback, allows them to focus on more complex work. Use automation to scale support, close cases faster, and classify cases. With automation, you can also route cases to the next available agent with the right skillset. Finally, automation powers chatbots to collect information and resolve routine issues.
Predict actions
Artificial intelligence (AI) analyses data and works behind the scenes to trigger actions. So, if a customer reaches out with a question on how to change a shipping address, AI can prompt next steps for the agent. (Learn more about how to apply AI to your customer service.)
Support your team
Many agents are optimistic about what the future holds. Sixty-seven percent see a clear career path — up from 59% in 2018.
Here’s what you can do to empower your team:
Invest in training
In addition to their central role in keeping customers happy, the trend of service teams functioning as new and valuable sales channels puts them in increasingly high esteem. Use digital training tools like MyTrailhead to teach cross-sell and upsell techniques.
On the flip side, train employees impacted by temporary store closures or layoffs to work in service and support. Sixty-two percent of service organisations say employees from other departments took on customer service roles during the pandemic.
Encourage collaboration
The majority of service professionals either expect to work remotely into 2021 or remain uncertain about their future work settings. Give your teams digital tools, like collaboration documents, to work together from anywhere in real time. Keep morale high by encouraging teams to connect on enterprise social networks or employee communities as well.
Offer visual remote assistance
Reduce the time onsite or eliminate the need for visits altogether to keep mobile workers safe with visual remote assistance.
During the pandemic, Sports Engineering And Recreation Asia Ltd. (Seara) could not send technicians to customers’ homes. That did not stop the fitness equipment supplier from helping customers to install equipment. When a customer needed an installation but had elderly people at home, Seara assisted with the installation in the customer’s home by video.
Keep employees safe
Eighty-two percent of customers say that treatment of employees during this year’s crises influence their decision to buy from a company. Try Work.com solutions, designed to help businesses adapt to the new ways of working. Assess employee health and wellness, train employees on new safety protocols, and manage shifts to reduce potential exposure to the virus.
In cases where on-site visits are necessary, Seara uses Field Service Lightning to ensure that it sends the right parts and right technicians. This reduces the need for repeat visits.
Start empowering your customer service team today
New safety challenges, technological advancements, and changing customer expectations mean that continued training is paramount. Improving your team’s skills also helps to make them feel like you are invested in their growth.
Get started by diving into the latest findings from the LIKE.TG State of Service report.
Learn how Service Cloud helps you build trust and loyalty, as well as exceed customer expectations.
Another version of this article originally appeared on the U.S.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
Why Data-Driven Companies Are More Confident and Resilient
One year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, recovery is uneven across the Asia-Pacific region. Many businesses are uncertain about the future and the challenges it might bring.
But there are business leaders who feel optimistic about the next six months, in spite of the uncertainties ahead. These are the leaders of data-driven organisations. In data-driven organisations, leaders value data and ensure employees have access to the data needed to make business decisions.
Data-driven companies are more optimistic
More data-driven companies (63%) are optimistic about the future health of their business in the next six months than non data-driven companies (37%).
This is the most notable finding we uncovered in a recent study conducted in conjunction with YouGov. We surveyed more than 2,500 managers and IT decision makers. Our focus was on four markets in the Asia-Pacific region: Singapore, Australia, India, and Japan.
We asked business leaders across various industries about their use of data during the pandemic, lessons learnt, and confidence in the future health of their organisations. Overwhelmingly, we found that data-driven organisations are more resilient and confident during the pandemic. Eighty-two percent of data-driven companies have reported critical business advantages during the pandemic. Business leaders experienced these benefits:
Being able to make strategic business decisions faster (54%)
More effective communication with stakeholders (54%)
Increased cross-team collaboration (51%)
Making their business more agile (46%)
Bank Mandiri, one of the leading financial institutions in Indonesia, is a great example of a data-driven organisation.
At the height of the pandemic, when many of its customers faced cash flow problems, the bank turned to its data. It tapped into data sources, built data squads, and created key dashboards focused on real-time liquidity monitoring and a law restructuring programme. All within 48 hours. A Tableau solution allowed Bank Mandiri to increase flexibility in their operations, and assess customers’ suitability for their new loan restructuring program. Customers could still carry out their financial transactions and receive support with their financial and loan repayment needs.
What is troubling is that across the region, there remains a disconnect in how businesses value and use data. Only 39% of non data-driven companies recognise data as a critical advantage. But, as the pandemic has shown, a strong data culture is no longer a nice-to-have. It has become a must-have for organisations.
Explore the full dashboard here.
Investment in data skills key to gaining competitive advantage
One of the fundamental areas of focus for organisations during the pandemic is retaining and investing in their people. On this front, data-driven companies are again leading the charge. Eighty-two percent of them are eager to increase or continue their existing level of data skills investment in employees over the next six months.
Worryingly, 32 percent of non data-driven organisations have opted to either reduce or not invest in data skills at all. These non data-driven companies are at high risk of being at a disadvantage. Without the requisite skills, it is hard for employees to make data-informed strategic and tactical decisions.
Zuellig Pharma, one of the largest healthcare service providers in the region, is deeply committed to investing in data skills training. The company has Tableau and automation training, as well as self-directed learning on its online Academy. These efforts have paid off well during the pandemic.
At Zuellig Pharma, even ground level staff such as warehouse operators demonstrate data competency. They can review and analyse data using Tableau and understand how warehouse processes map against business goals. An empowered workforce gives the organisation more confidence in planning, preparing, and overcoming new operational challenges brought about by the pandemic.
Start building business resilience with data analytics now
Economic recovery remains uneven and there is much uncertainty across the region. It is more important than ever for business leaders to build operational resilience and business agility with data insights.
Actually, becoming a data-driven organisation does not require dramatic changes right off the bat. Business leaders can start with data that already sits within their organisations. They can also empower their employees with the necessary data skills and tools. Over time, business leaders can work towards building communities centred around making data-first decisions.
Look to data-driven organisations like ZALORA for inspiration on how to drive organisational transformation with data. Data enabled ZALORA to diversify its product offerings and unlock new revenue streams, even amidst the pandemic. In 2020, it introduced TRENDER, an embedded analytics solution, which gives brand partners on its platform real-time insights and trends on sales performance. That’s how ZALORA stayed relevant and competitive in the retail scene.
Find out more about our YouGov research and how to get started on your data journey here.
Another version of this post appeared on the Tableau blog.
13 Trailhead Badges for Your Best Start To 2021
A little while back, we suggested a few Trailmixes that would help you on the Road to Ranger. This time around, we’re all about preparing for the ‘next normal’ – we’re yet to see what 2021 holds, but we do know a few sure-fire ways to head into it as strong as possible.
Create space for success
Most of us have spent the better part of 2020 (was there actually a better part?) working at home – we’ve settled into the spare room, the dining table, whatever corner we can make work, increased our data plans, and gotten on with it as best we could.
I’ve been delighted recently to see what our amazing community has gotten on with throughout this year – check out #TrailheadTaughtMe on Twitter to see for yourself!
Now, as we wrap up 2020 and move towards a more flexible version of “normal”, we need to optimise these spaces for the long-haul of hybrid working, so we can stay productive and motivated while we work from anywhere.
So we’ve made a Trail for that – Succeed from Anywhere During COVID-19 is all about doing old things in new, better and sometimes surprising ways. These include simple but powerful processes around email, calendar, and time management.
Showcase your experience
You never know what’s around the corner, particularly in such an unpredictable environment. The only way individuals can mitigate risk is to be in the best position possible when opportunity comes along.
In terms of the latter, there could be a new opportunity in your organisation or with a new employer, or a chance to spread your wings and head into a new market, industry or territory.
To take advantage of such potential opportunities, it’s vital to be prepared. Start with the LIKE.TG Skills and Experience Building Module, which not only showcases your ability to analyse a business challenge and identify a specific problem, but clearly demonstrates your creative and strategic problem-solving talents.
Then, why not Build an App to Track Your Trailblazer Journey? This serves a number of powerful purposes. It demonstrates your technical confidence, sharpens your app-building skills, deepens your knowledge of and familiarity with the LIKE.TG ecosystem and, of course, results in an app that will be enormously practical throughout your Trailblazer journey.
Of course, if you’re serious about taking advantage of new opportunities you’ll want to rev up your resume. For this, you’ll benefit from the Resume Writing Strategies Module, which teaches you how to choose the best structure, represent your skills in the strongest possible way and add unforgettable finishing touches to your curriculum vitae (CV).
Once that’s done, it’s time to supercharge your CV by Building Your Personal Portfolio on LIKE.TG. This Module will lead to you having your very own site that shines a spotlight on your unique and highly valuable talent.
Finally, spend some time on the Career Development Planning Module to help you recognise what options you might enjoy and where to identify your next opportunity.
Become a data buff
As more organisations start considering themselves “data companies” – rather than energy companies, retailers, or banks – data analysis skills will become even more highly sought after across all functions.
Data is only as useful as its analysis and the insights that can be gained from it, so this is an excellent time for you to learn to use Tableau to prepare and visualise your data, and share insights from it, in The Tableau Workflow module.
Sharpen your business analysis skills
LIKE.TG Business Analyst: Quick Look teaches you all about what’s involved in the LIKE.TG Business Analyst role. And the Essential Business Analyst Skills Module will inform you of the vital skills required to drive projects successfully, and how you might best develop those skills.
Further learning around business analysis can be had in the Business Analyst Best Practices Module, and the Admin BA Job Comparison: Quick Look Module will teach you the differences between LIKE.TG admins and LIKE.TG business analysts.
All of these Badges can lead to fascinating new opportunities, within your own workplace and elsewhere. It all helps to make you a more valuable employee – never has the need for multi-skilled workforces been more pressing.
Beef up your security status
During the pandemic, cybersecurity was one of the top concerns for large, medium, and small organisations across all industries – and it became far more complex to manage with a distributed workforce.
Two of the most powerful Trailmixes for those who’d like to boost their security ratings are Get Started with Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Resources During Covid-19. Both offer a mass of valuable learning around personal and professional digital security matters, intrusion analysis, social engineering, threat intelligence, cybersecurity career paths, and much more.
Use this time to upskill via Trailhead and you might remember 2021 as the year your career took a fabulous new turn.
These are the top badges we’ve picked for your 2021 prep, but there are so many more to choose from. That includes a raft of new Architect badges. Head over to Trailheadand get inspired!
This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
3 Success Stories of Digital Transformation in Asia
At LIKE.TG, Nichola Palmer works with customers to bring their stories of innovation and transformation to life. Every month, she highlights three small businesses in Asia that use LIKE.TG to overcome business challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present significant challenges to businesses across Asia. Success in the new normal requires the agility to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing business and social environment. For these three innovative businesses, that has meant embracing organisation-wide digital transformation. Here’s how they have digitally transformed to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.
1. Oneworld Alliance Logistics
Since the company’s launch in 2003, Manila-based Oneworld Alliance Logistics has rapidly developed into one of the largest logistics companies in the Philippines. In fact, the company has achieved double digit year-on-year growth for most of its 17-year history. Now, Oneworld Alliance Logistics is embracing digital transformation to continue building on that success.To do so, the company has replaced paper-based processes with new digital workflows. This involved building and deploying new custom financial systems on Sales Cloud as the company’s new customer relationship management (CRM) software.
The results have been impressive. Oneworld Alliance Logistics has achieved a 50% improvement in the efficiency of its administrative processes. The company has also seen an 85% to 98% improvement in the efficiency of its back-office processes.LIKE.TG has also been instrumental in helping the company maintain operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This was particularly challenging with restrictions in the Philippines that forced the company to send half of its workforce home. “LIKE.TG has given us the ability to adapt as fast as COVID-19 is changing the business landscape,” says Miko Sumagang, Technical Adviser at Oneworld Alliance Logistics. “Gone are the days when our employees would have to physically walk between departments carrying paper slips. Digitalisation limits physical interactions, which of course is paramount to preventing workplace infections.”
2. Myra (OIB Group)
Malaysia-based Myra is more than your average property development company. It is in the business of building happily ever afters.For Ken Goh, Head of Marketing at Myra, that means creating customer experiences that extend far beyond the pre-sales pitch. “Purchasing a home off the plan is not as tangible as buying an existing home,” he says. “Our customer lifecycle can be up to three years. We want to support our customers through their entire journey with us.”However, managing complex customer journeys was difficult with the company’s cumbersome paper-based customer management system. Goh knew that digital transformation was the way forward. He secured Sales Cloud for customer segmentation and Pardot for marketing automation.“With LIKE.TG, we are now able to act more as a consultant than a standard property developer. We can provide advice and support throughout the entire customer journey, from finance to interior design,” he says. “That has helped to reduce our drop-off rate from 6.7% to 1.45%, while achieving a 65% to 70% reduction in the cost per lead.”Goh says that the company’s LIKE.TG deployment has made it possible to continue operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even when Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO) meant that the company had to send 300 employees home on short notice.“LIKE.TG made that pivot possible,” he explains. “Construction had to be shut down, but most of our other departments were able to jump right back into work and operate at 70% to 80% efficiency throughout the MCO. That translates to about MYR$82 million worth of sales bookings from the middle of March that we might not have been able to close without LIKE.TG.”
3. BAYA
After transforming Vietnam’s furniture industry with a super-store business model, BAYA is now embracing digital transformation to drive the company’s next chapter of innovation.“We have a lot of competition now and a very aggressive vision for growth,” says Vu Anh Nguyen, General Manager of BAYA. “It’s not enough to compete just on furniture design any more. We need to provide the best customer experience available, and we’re putting the technology in place to achieve that.” That has included the deployment of LIKE.TG Customer 360 to integrate data from multiple customer databases. BAYA uses Sales Cloud to increase transparency, speed, and efficiency across the sales pipeline. They deploy Quip to boost customer collaboration in the interior design process. Finally, they use Marketing Cloud to drive lead generation and personalise service journeys.This organisation-wide approach to digital transformation paid dividends quickly. The team at BAYA secured a major account within two months of their Sales Cloud deployment. “A client needed to furnish 40 apartments across two floors of an apartment building. She came into a BAYA store in the afternoon and we were able to get the design draft out to her that night,” says Nguyen. “She was impressed with our speed and we closed the deal the next day. Just that single account represents a 3,000% return on our investment in LIKE.TG.”This strong commitment to digital transformation has also helped BAYA bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s post-pandemic growth rate is stronger than ever. BAYA opened a new store in Bac Ninh in early July, and has plans to open two more new stores in the coming months.
The trail to growth can have lots of twists and turns. The Small Business Growth Kit helps to make the trek easier with tips on how to plan a path forward and prepare a sales pitch. There’s also a list of indicators that can help businesses decide when it’s time to invest in new tech.Download The Small Business Growth Kit here.
How To Break Down the Complexity of B2B Commerce
While the last year has brought unprecedented change to how we work and connect with our customers, customer experience remains a key differentiator.
For the Fourth Edition of our State of the Connected Customer report, we surveyed over 15,000 global consumers and business buyers. Four-fifths indicated that they place the same emphasis on flawless engagement as they do on product quality.
The percentage was even higher amongst business buyers. These individuals no longer want to be treated as an entity. They have come to expect a personalised customer experience that is just as intuitive as what they would get when buying a pair of shoes or a jacket online. It’s an important reminder that while B2B purchases can be complex, the buying journey need not be.
Here’s how LIKE.TG can help make the B2B buying journey as straightforward as possible:
Simplifying customer engagement
Technology has fundamentally changed customers’ expectations. Our latest State of the Connected Customer report revealed that 65% of business customers prioritise convenience over brand. It also found that 66% of business customers prefer personalised products and services.
These demands are putting digital technology at the forefront of B2B selling. We see many businesses transform processes like quoting and pricing. One of these is PLDT.
PLDT is a leading Philippines-based telecom operator that serves both businesses and consumers. The Enterprise Business within PLDT is transforming digitally with LIKE.TG , with the aim of simplifying customer engagement.
“We want to make a positive impact on every single business. To do that, we realise that we first have to make an impact on the people of our organisation. That’s why we have endeavoured to drive our vision forward with a digital transformation that will allow us to simplify the complex for our organisation and likewise for our customers,” said Jovy Hernandez, Senior Vice President and Head, Enterprise Business from PLDT.
The first step in PLDT’s digital transformation is consolidating all customer needs onto a single platform in order to streamline operations and serve customers better.
PLDT also plans to digitise proposal and contract generation. Leveraging LIKE.TG, the sales team will be able to prepare proposals faster. The team will also have access to a product catalogue that highlights all solutions that are suited to a customers’ needs. Customers will be able to sign contracts digitally and receive the solutions they need more quickly.
Making online buying easy
Changes in customer behaviour are also accelerating the growth of B2B ecommerce. LIKE.TG B2B Commerce can help businesses take advantage of this shift and offer more consumer-like buying experiences. These include seamless online ordering and purchasing recommendations that can be tailored to each customer in real time.
LIKE.TG B2B Commerce was recently evaluated by Forrester in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Commerce Suites, Q2 2020. LIKE.TG was found to be a leader amongst 13 B2B commerce suite providers.
LIKE.TG received the highest possible scores in the criteria of business intelligence and analytics, content and offer personalisation, and product and service configuration. It also scored on-par with other vendors in the criteria of promotions and order and inventory management.
The Forrester report described LIKE.TG as a “powerhouse for end-to-end customer engagement solutions centred around its CRM.” It also said “LIKE.TG is above par in its approach to the market, setting strategies that speak to customer needs and delivering (as promised) with reliable technical and support resources.”
Access the full report here to learn more about why LIKE.TG has been named a leader. You’ll also find guidance on what to look for in a B2B commerce solution.
Meet Gratiano Yeung: Transforming Service by Delighting Customers
At LIKE.TG, Nichola Palmer works with customers to bring their stories of innovation and transformation to life. In this series featuring Trailblazers who are LIKE.TG customers, Nichola introduces Gratiano Yeung (Grat) from Roojai.com, the most visited insurance website in Thailand. With service in her blood and technology driving her dreams, Grat has become one of Asia’s most respected Chief Customer Officers (CCOs).
For 14 years in her birth city of Hong Kong, Grat walked the beat as a volunteer with the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force. On the streets and wearing her uniform, she learned the true meaning of service.
“Hong Kong is one of the safest cities in the world – the crime rate is very low. So, the role of the police is more about providing services and solutions,” says Grat, now Chief Customer Officer at Thai insurtech Roojai.com.
During her years in the police force, Grat also manned the phones in the Regional Command and Control Centre – liaising with police, firefighters and paramedics following emergency calls. In the last four years, she was serving at Inspectorate level and was a Patrol Sub-Unit Commander.
Policing was a volunteer role. Her paid work was in customer service.
“I graduated in 1998 with a Finance degree, but this was just one year after Hong Kong was returned to China, so there was also a big financial crisis and it was not easy to get a job,” she says. “By chance, I went to a start-up and was employed as an agent in their contact centre.”
For two decades, Grat worked her way up in customer service. She managed, designed, and implemented new technological systems for contact centres.
“I think it’s in my blood,” she smiles. “I’m passionate about delivering very good customer experience. When you’re able to help someone, you always feel joy and happiness.”
A cultural exchange
Grat moved from Hong Kong to Pattaya in Thailand with her family for the job with insurtech Roojai.com.
The change in culture prompted a change in management style, and presented an opportunity to rethink Roojai.com’s service operations. In Thailand, Grat says, people work quite differently to Hong Kong.
“That has pushed me to think about how I can implement technology better for different cultures,” she says. “For example, I developed more automation to increase efficiency. By automating more workflows, we streamlined collaboration across the team.”
Grat had the perfect career background to develop such a system. From helping citizens on the streets of Hong Kong, to helping car and motorcycle insurance customers on the streets of Thailand, Grat’s service journey has always involved a delicate balance of human connection and technological wizardry.
Technology makes us better humans
The systems Grat has helped to implement, for her team and customers, are now revolutionising the automotive insurance industry.
Grat’s service team utilise LIKE.TG solutions to ensure absolute personalisation of every customer interaction. They also use artificial intelligence, via the smartphone cameras of customers, to make the insurance claims process easier and quicker, and far cheaper for the business.
“People’s expectations are getting higher and higher,” she says. “Contact centre staff must proactively figure out what else they can do to provide better innovation or better solutions for our customers.”
“For example, Roojai.com is the first online company for car insurance in Thailand to offer video car inspections after an accident. We don’t need to send a surveyor to inspect the car. This is built into the app with AI.”
“With this, the customer saves time and we save time, effort, and money. From an operational perspective, every time we send out a surveyor it costs about 600 baht if it’s in the Bangkok metropolitan area, and upwards from 1,000 baht in upcountry regions. Every month, we cover 3,000 to 4,000 inspections. So, imagine how much we save using this technology.”
Great leaders transform processes and people
So, is Grat a customer service leader who also implements technology, or a technologist who also works in customer service?
Actually, she’s neither, she says.
“I’m a transformer,” Grat explains. “Previously, I worked in call centre operations, but now I create innovative solutions, not just for our customers but also for our agents and other users.”
“My vision is to share my knowledge on contact centre innovations. I’m looking forward to being an impactful leader in the contact centre industry and helping more agents to deliver value-added service to customers.”
Infographic: What Customer Connection Means Now
The COVID-19 crisis has shifted customer expectations radically, rapidly, and permanently. Digital capabilities have become imperative, and offer an opportunity to build a precious resource: trust.
We spoke to more than 15,000 consumers and business buyers about the unprecedented shifts in customer expectations and behaviour. This infographic sums up what they told us about trust, data, and their expectations for customer experience and post-COVID-19 digital initiatives:
This post originally appeared on the A.U.-version of the LIKE.TG blog.
Meet Francisco N. Collantes Jr. : Deliver Energy Through Collaboration
At LIKE.TG, Nichola Palmer works with customers to bring their stories of innovation and transformation to life. In this new series featuring Trailblazers who are LIKE.TG customers, Nichola introduces Francisco N. Collantes Jr. (Cookie) from Meralco, the Philippines’ biggest energy company. Cookie is a natural and dynamic project manager, with a passion for quality customer service.
Francisco N. Collantes Jr. (Cookie) beams with enthusiasm for his most recent role, and well deserved promotion, as Head of Customer Interaction Management with the Philippines’ power utility giant, Meralco. Since graduating with a degree in Business Management fifteen years ago from Ateneo de Manila University, Cookie has had an action-packed career full of hands-on experience and a few interesting twists and turns along the way.
A date with data
Cookie’s interest in business was initially broad, but his career motivation has always been clear. “Delivering exceptional customer satisfaction and improving the quality of everyday life through our products and services has always motivated me,” he says.
“I’m not a tech guy. I’m not even a programmer!” Cookie says. But in his first role with Meralco as a Business Analyst, he gained an appreciation for data and programming. He recognised that clever use of data made an impact on both customer satisfaction and business results. And as proof that he was putting his new knowledge to good use, Cookie moved into a more senior role as Relationship Manager.
“I managed relationships with some of our key channel partner accounts, and trained in project management,” says Cookie. “This was where I really began to understand data modelling and technical architecture. It was also where I came to know LIKE.TG.”
Having the right tools for the job
The billing system Meralco worked with five years ago was also its CRM system. The CIO at the time decided that a cloud-based CRM platform, rather than the existing on-premise system, would help better understand and service customers.
“It was an all-hands-on-deck digital transformation for us,” says Cookie, “I led the pilot project implementation as we moved from on-premise to a cloud CRM solution.”
From there, with additional training, Cookie transitioned into a critical Project Management role. “The move to project management became a natural fit for me,” he says. Cookie’s innate ability to lead teams and projects through to completion was recognised by his leaders and, as a Project Manager, he was able to deliver results right to the frontline of customer service – a powerful motivator for him.
Cookie says he couldn’t be more pleased with the decision to upgrade the CRM. “LIKE.TG suited our needs on many fronts,” he says. “Our energy is no longer taken up with trying to make backend systems work. Because we now have such a seamless system, we can concentrate on moving our customers into the digital space. This is really exciting to me.”
Success built on collaboration, leadership and learning
Cookie mentions that collaboration is a key ingredient for success when leading his project teams. “People have unique capabilities and talents. We have to work as a group to deliver the best results,” he says.
“I rely on the great collaboration between our tech teams and our customer-centric teams. It’s not business dictating technology, nor technology dictating what the business needs. Rather a true collaboration that leads to success.”
Cookie credits inspiring leaders with the team’s success and his own career development.
“Having good leaders – and being a good leader – makes all the difference to a person’s success,” he says. “Rather than claiming to be an expert in a particular field and expecting people to follow, the team leaders I’ve been fortunate enough to work with were at the top of their careers. They generously shared their learnings with me.”
Focused on continual learning along the way, Cookie advises those working their way up in their careers to have an open dialogue with their leaders about mistakes and lessons.
“After every project, whether it has been a success or failure, always track the lessons learned,” advises Cookie. He notes that there are often many unknowns going into a project, which makes it so energising, but also provides so much opportunity for learning and growth.
“Take a step back and analyse the success metrics. What went well? What didn’t go so well? And then map the way forward.” Taking the time to reflect and learn from each task, project, or activity is a guiding principle that has made Cookie a highly successful project manager and an inspiring leader.
Watch Cookie’s session at LIKE.TG Live: Asia to hear more about the projects he leads at Meralco.
