How Is Salesforce Elevating Connected Customer Experience?

Connected customer experiences using Salesforce CRM

We all know how important it is to stay connected with your customers. Connected Customer Experience has a new level of closeness as Salesforce added innovation partnerships with Amazon and Meta-owned WhatsApp. In Dreamforce22, among Salesforce’s many innovation announcements, the #1 CRM company announced a strategic partnership with the #1 messaging app WhatsApp which will allow businesses to stay closer to their customers. 

Messaging is a convenient and important channel for customer engagement. According to Kantar’s 2022 Business Messaging Usage Research, “66% of online adults agree that messaging is their preferred way of communicating with a business” Customers these days prefer timely and personalized crafted messages and trust brands that deliver a seamless experience across all channels. The new WhatsApp-first business messaging will help brands now have modern, convenient, integrated, and personalized experiences for their customers while staying on their Salesforce CRM platform. This integration is a breakthrough innovation in connected customer experience. Seamless connectivity with conversational engagement across marketing, commerce and service transactions will deliver the right customer 360 value that Salesforce promises its customers. 

And that’s not all! Salesforce also introduced its new wizard- the Salesforce Genie, a new data platform powering the world/;s first real-time CRM that delivers seamless, highly personalized experiences across sales, service, marketing, and commerce. Now companies can cast the magic web using the Genie to target audiences with real-time data that informs Click to WhatsApp ads on Facebook and Instagram to drive customers to a one-to-one messaging experience. 

How will WhatsApp with Customer 360 deliver connected customer experiences?

In Dreamforce 2022, Salesforce again re-emphasized its promise of staying connected to the customer. The three key things that Salesforce customers can now expect with this new integration with WhatsApp and Salesforce Genie are: 

  • Increase in Revenue
  • Increase in Customer Engagement
  • Increase in Brand Loyalty 

Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and Commerce Cloud applications will now be able to integrate with WhatsApp to promote customer support and service messaging. Along with customer service messaging, the platform will soon allow transactional conversational commerce capabilities. This is a massive breakthrough in creating a connected experience on the #1 CRM platform. Businesses can now engage their customers to accelerate sales, drive customer support 24/7, and build stronger brand relationships and brand loyalty. 

New Features to Build Connected Experiences

End-to-end customer journey: Now, Salesforce customers can create, send, and manage connections with their end-users throughout their journey using WhatsApp and marketing Cloud’s Journey Builder to create and deliver seamless customer experiences. Customizable message templates that include brand and product videos and images and showcase products or services with interactive messages can now help customers review and purchase products via WhatsApp. They can open a web link or make a purchase with just a single tap or click.

Example: Loyola, a university student, expects an upcoming order of new fall clothing. She gets a reminder message that it’s going to be delivered to her by next week. To sweeten the relationship, the brand now offered her a following 20% discount on matching shoes that will help her complete the look she saw in the picture that made her order the same. All Loyola now need to do is confirm the offer via a button, and the new shoes get added to her cart for the next delivery. 

Personalization and hyper-personalization: The Marketing Cloud Customer Data Platform, now powered by Salesforce Genie, will enable Salesforce customers to personalize their marketing-driven interactions on WhatsApp in real time using trusted first-party customer data. Powered by AI insights, brands can now quickly activate audiences directly to target high-value segments or new audiences with Click-to-WhatsApp ads from Facebook and Instagram to unify the one-to-one customer experience. 

Example: AMobile, an industry-leading mobile phone company, has a new model of phones to be launched. It is a high-end device that is tailored for executive leaders. They can now use first-hand customer interaction data from Marketing Cloud CDP to target their audience. With AI-insights, they can now recommend the device to the segmented data set, click on WhatsApp ads from Facebook and Instagram to start one-on-one conversations with customers, and help them make purchasing decisions. 

AI-powered automated conversations: Brands can now reduce their support wait time and enhance efficiency by using a conversational platform like WhatsApp integrated with their Salesforce Service Cloud. Now available via Einstein Chatbots, automated messages can be sent via the integration with WhatsApp. This prompt customer service will significantly increase customer satisfaction, agent productivity, customer retention, and case resolution. 

Privacy and confidentiality: Marketers target their customers, keeping privacy and compliance in mind. Every message sent between the business and the customer using the WhatsApp Salesforce integration is protected by a single encryption protocol that secures messages before they leave the device. 

The new WhatsApp Business Platform integration with Salesforce Marketing Cloud will soon be available from December 2022 while additional integrations are expected to follow soon after that. Need more information on platform integration and connected experiences? Let our award-winning team of Salesforce experts and implementation specialists connect with you.

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Satch Patel, Executive Vice President, MD, UK & EMEA

Satch brings 25+yrs of enterprise global solution experience having contributed to the growth of some of the worlds largest marquee software and hardware giants in the industry from Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Cisco/EMC, to Apttus & Salesforce.
 
Satch has helped many blue chip organisations realise their vision to modernize their systems from the front office to back office revenue operations to meet the demands of today’s radically transforming and digitally-driven business models, having worked with the likes of Linklaters, CliffordChance, Barclays, RELX Group, Microfocus, Novartis, Siemens, PayPal, Vista Equity Group Companies, London Stock Exchange, TPICAP and Princes Trust.
 
With his leadership approach, experience and passion for helping companies drive transformative change, Satch has a deep expertise in many industries, technologies and best practices across the lead to revenue lifecycle and how driving such digital transformation(s) can improve business growth and increase operational efficiencies  as well as preparing businesses for M&A activities.

Brion Schweers, Board Observer

Brion Schweers is a Senior Vice President of Product Management at Salesforce, currently managing the Revenue Cloud Solution Excellence team. During the past 30 years, Brion has assisted enterprises around the world in transforming their business by focusing on their Product-to-Cash processes. Prior to joining Salesforce Brion was VP & GM, CPQ at Apttus, VP, Sales & Success at A5 Consulting, served on the OAUG ConfigSIG Board and spent 15 years at Oracle in various roles related to their CX and CPQ products. Brion is also the executive Sponsor of Vetforce – Carolinas and is actively involved in the Salesforce Military program where he mentors Veterans and their spouses with actionable, personalized career advice.

Joseph Truhe, Board Member

Joseph Truhe has over 20 years of investing experience. Prior to joining Jefferson Capital in 2013 Joseph was a Portfolio Manager with Whitney Bank in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he oversaw the company’s Trust accounts and served as the Energy sector analyst for the Hancock Horizon Funds. Prior to Whitney, Joseph worked as an analyst and member of the investment committee at HFR Asset Management, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund platform in Chicago, Illinois. There, Joseph reviewed and maintained investment discretion over the firm’s Event Driven and Asia-focused hedge fund allocations. He was also responsible for the expansion of the firm’s Asia-focused fund offerings.  Joseph holds a BA in Economics from Yale University.

Steve Swartzman, Board Member

Steve Swartzman is a Principal and co-founder of CPC. Previously, as a co-founder of C3 Capital, he helped originate and manage over 35 investments, including national brands such as American Apparel, Traeger Grills, and Grunt Style. Steve’s chief focus remains consumer brands and e-commerce enablement businesses, and he currently serves on the boards of Grunt Style, Accel Clinical Research, Spoke Custom Products, Warne Scope Mounts, and New World Natural Brands.

Prior to C3, Steve structured and managed subordinated debt investments at KC Venture Group, and he spent 7 years as a Vice President with Citibank in New York, managing client relationships for emerging markets clients and structuring over $1 billion in complex trade financings. He is a past President of the Midwest chapter of the Small Business Investment Alliance, and he serves on the board of the International Center for Music at Park University in Kansas City.

Steve received a MBA from Columbia Business School and an AB in History and Literature from Harvard College.

He resides in Kansas City, where he was raised, with his wife Evelina and two sons, Harrison and Zandy. When he’s not working, his favorite activities are fishing, golfing, and eating.

Charles Scripps, Board Member

Chad has over ten years of experience investing in dynamic, growing businesses in diverse industries and geographies. His private equity experience includes HIG Capital, which has over $12B in capital under management, and AEA Investors, which manages over $3B of invested and committed capital. While at HIG and AEA, Chad led diligence, structuring, and financial analysis of potential and existing investments, and completed transactions in the industrial products and consumer services industries. Chad also has experience investing in the public equity markets, most notably as a Managing Director at Fox Point Capital, a $1B fund seeded by Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. He invested across a number of industries, including industrials, financials, technology, and consumer products, and led Fox Point’s international research. Prior to focusing his career on investing, Chad was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company, solving strategic problems for the world’s leading companies. Chad earned an MBA with Honors in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS with Distinction in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lester F. Alexander II, Board Member

Les Alexander is a partner with Jefferson Capital Partners where he provides mezzanine and equity capital for growth and buyout transactions. Mr. Alexander is a member of the firm’s investment committee and serves on the board of directors of several portfolio companies where he is actively involved in strategic planning and corporate governance. Prior to joining Jefferson Capital, he worked at Advantage Capital Partners where he completed several portfolio company investments and served on the investment committee. Before becoming a private equity investor, Mr. Alexander served as president of Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc., a leading fire truck and emergency vehicle manufacturer. At Ferrara, he was responsible for managing a workforce of 450 employees producing over 300 vehicles annually for its domestic and international customers. As an investment banker for 15 years with such firms as Howard Weil, Southcoast Capital, and J.C. Bradford & Co., Mr. Alexander completed over 50 public offerings of debt and equity securities, private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions totaling more than $7 billion for public and private companies in a variety of industries. Mr. Alexander is an adjunct professor at Tulane University and Loyola University where he teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in investment banking, private equity & venture capital, advanced financial management, investments, and entrepreneurship. He is also the board president for Benjamin Franklin High School, a public charter school in New Orleans. Mr. Alexander is the former Chairman Finance of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and served on the global Board of Directors. He is a founder of the Louisiana chapter of ACG and was a recipient of the ACG global Meritorious Service Award and the Louisiana chapter’s Outstanding Service Award. Mr. Alexander received his bachelor of science in Commerce from the University of Virginia in 1989 and his MBA from the University of North Carolina in 1993.

Patrick F. Healy, Board Member

Based in Kansas City, Mr. Healy is a co-founder of C3 Capital. He has been an active private equity investor since 1985 and was a co-founder of C3 Holdings in 1994. Prior to this time, he sponsored and structured equity investments in real estate. He gained extensive workout and restructuring experience as chair of the creditor’s committee of a $1 billion bankruptcy and from being called upon to rescue a publicly-traded company from a major fraud. Mr. Healy was a senior tax partner at Mayer Hoffman McCann, a regional CPA firm, for eleven years. He received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Kansas.

Chris Waters, VP of Strategic Sales

As Vice President of Strategic Sales, Chris guides and influences all strategic sales activities at A5 , starting in presales activities, successful sales methodology, sales process, and continued revenue generation and expansion opportunities. Furthermore, he will provide oversight in strategic sales function for the company and develop strategic sales plans that will promote growth in sales and customer satisfaction. Chris has proven his commitment to sales leadership and organizational success through field leadership as National Sales Manager at Deluxe Corporation, Field Sales Manager within the Social / Analytics Cloud at Oracle, US Regional Manager for CPQ Major Accounts at Oracle and now as Vice President on Sr. Leadership Team at A5.

Keith Fox, GM Salesforce Canada

Keith Fox is a software and consulting veteran for the past 34 years. Keith started his career at EDS which was followed by 4-year stint offshore in Bermuda. Keith then returned to Canada where he held a number of progressive sales and technical positions with software companies such as Sybase, BEA, and Oracle. After his stint with Oracle, Keith founded Cloudware Connections, a premier Salesforce consulting partner. 11 years down the line, Cloudware was acquired by A5, and Keith joined as GM for Canada.

Tarun Sharma, Vice President Delivery

Tarun Sharma is Vice President Delivery at A5 and is responsible for customer success, project operations, recruitment, resource utilization, and sales operations functions for Oracle practice. As a business and technology leader Tarun helps businesses develop solution strategies to streamline the sales process and improve customer relations to drive revenues, profits, and build brand loyalty. Tarun has led customers through digital transformation journeys. He has commanded strategic and tactical initiatives to shorten sales cycles, increase deal values and productivity, improve brand awareness and help organizations become easier to do business with. He has helped customers modernize their sales enablement tools and present a single source of information to support an omni-channel sales approach. This includes global roll-out for multiple business units included multi-currency and multi-language. Tarun graduated from Texas A&M University with a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering.

Adam Rosenfield, VP of Salesforce Practice

As Vice President of A5’s consulting practice – Adam is responsible for both strategic alliances with partners and expanded sales growth through the entire portfolio of A5 services. With over 20 years of Sr. level management consulting expertise – Adam has worn multiple hats in his career including practice development, sales, and client advisory. He has sold & delivered countless enterprise transformational initiatives creating a measurable competitive advantage for his customers. In addition to various technical software certifications, Adam holds an undergraduate and master’s degree in Accounting & Information Technology from the University of Texas at Austin and resides in El Paso Texas with his wife and 3 children.

PJ Alfrejd, CFO

As the CFO, PJ is responsible for all things financial at A5. With over 20 years of experience in financial leadership positions, PJ has worn all the hats required of a growing tech business. His extensive knowledge of the consulting industry, experience with M&A, and strength in operational finance is another catalyst to take A5 to the next level in its growth trajectory. PJ is a CPA with a BS in Accounting from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and has held various finance leadership positions at Exodus/Savvis (acquired by Centurylink), Neohapsis (acquired by Cisco), and mFoundry (acquired by FIS).

Vinay Kruttiventi, President & CEO / Chairman of the Board

As the CEO of A5, Vinay plays an active role in all aspects of day-to-day business operations. He is also actively involved in establishing a strategy and vision for the company. As a true customer advocate with Salesforce and Oracle product development, Vinay is actively engaged in various industry user/special interest groups. Since founding the company in 2004, Vinay has grown the business into a leading Salesforce, and Oracle partner focused on multi-cloud transformations.

Vinay has successfully implemented and architected CPQ solutions and multi-cloud complex transformation projects for various Fortune 500 companies since 1996. He has a strong authority over industry, process, and technology in Configure-Price-Quote and ERP applications. Vinay graduated from Osmania University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree and JNTU (Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University) with a Master in Technology degree.