Does AI Integration Equal IT Consternation?

This week on Funnel Frontier: AI vs IT Teams: The Showdown, SugarCRM's Customer Breakthrough Awards, and your next CX BFF revealed!

This week on Funnel Frontier:

• IT vs AI: the 2024 Connectivity Report (via Salesforce)
• Break on through to the customer side (via SugarCRM)
• Customer vs consumer (via Capsule)
• Bid adieu to ‘23 CX trends (via Zendesk)
• Marketing plans that aren’t phoned in (via HubSpot)

Stat of the Week 

For 45% of business leaders, getting a total view of customer interactions is a top priority for maximizing CRM value the next five years. (SugarCRM)

AI good, data integration and team capacity woes bad (via Salesforce)

Asking IT to integrate AI flawlessly is like expecting grandpapa to blitz the Olympic sprint – bless his heart, we may need a plan B.

62% of IT leaders confess their digital toolboxes are more like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, unable to harness the full power of AI.

So says a new report by MuleSoft (which is owned by Salesforce).

The villain of this story: data silos. Those notorious, evil blockers of digital transformation affect 80% of IT innocents. Picture these poor souls valiantly attempting to integrate and unify data—like trying to herd cats in a zero-gravity chamber. 

Amidst this meowing, the dream of seamless user experience melts into a wild feline chase. Only 26% believe they've nailed this. 

Still, 85% of tech leaders foresee AI as their salvation from the onslaught of IT requests, which, by the way, have spiked by a casual 39% last year. 

As IT teams grapple with their own digital transformation odysseys and wrestle with skills gaps, AI stands by, ready to amp up developer productivity. 

But it's no easy feat, with only a third of teams embracing automation as their trusty sidekick.

The plot twist is clear: integration is the hero we need (but aren’t quite ready for).

The Week @ CRM.org

Monday CRM Review.  Expanding the idea of “Monday”—beyond coffee chugging and email dodging.

Best CRM Software: Top 10 Comparison. Picking the best CRM software is like choosing a favorite child, but these kids are more SaaS-y.

Dieter Rams 10 Principles of Good Design. Lessons from the design maestro who made your toaster into art.

Weekly Bloom

History of Computing: Part VI. Post-Y2K scare and dot.com despair, 2000s computers soldiered on. Brave.

Beep beep, it’s the Customer Breakthrough Awards 2024 (via SugarCRM)

Hooray for Hollywood, but make it tech.

SugarCRM has unleashed its 2024 Customer Breakthrough Awards, a parade of champions who've parlayed with AI and two-stepped their way to Tinseltown.

From the Central American shoe titan Empresas ADOC (a partner of The North Face & Steve Madden) to the international-student-outreaching Swedish Institute, it's a showcase of pan-industry triumphs that could make even the most cynical CRM jockey crack a smile.

Here’s a few who took the “W”:

• Sales Excellence: J&J Ventures Gaming, one of the fastest growing companies in the US, has been using Sugar Sell to centralize sales, marketing, and accounts and raise industry standards. 

• Service Excellence: Super General Company of the UAE, not to be outdone, turned technician dispatching into an art form, with Sugar Serve helping technicians do 26% more service calls.

• Customer of the Year (Asia-Pacific): Down under, ‘Straya’s zazen Water made a splash thanks to SugarCRM, handling Black Friday with the calm of a Zen master despite limited hands. 

• Customer of the Year (EMEA): Germany’s FAMO GmbH & Co. KG (they do wholesale for electrical/plumbing) triumphed in this geo-sector, using Sugar partner Insignio to deploy SugarCRM and Sugar mobile with ERP data integration. 

Wait a second; I think SugarCRM may have a vested interest here?

(Scope the complete list of wins at the Sugar site.)

Stellar Strategies: Tips & Tricks for Sales, Marketing & Service

Cosmic conversion tactics (via Capsule)

What’s a customer? What’s a consumer? 

Well, you see, it’s a bit like the difference between the big dipper and the little one…

Customers are the cash-dishing heroes who purchase products; consumers are the ones using them. 

For sales, keeping the payer and the player happy is the ultimate high-wire act. Every move should be a calculated dance in the dark art of customer-consumer alchemy. 

Purchase frequency, average spend, and word-of-mouth recommendations matter for both. But, behaviors vary between the two. For example, customer problems tend to land on the service/supply/payment side, whereas consumers can face accessibility and quality issues.

Full remedial wisdom by Capsule… here. 

Marketing plans not from Mars (via HubSpot)

When navigating the dense jungle of SWOT analyses towards SMART goals, vague notions are about as welcome as damp socks.

It’s easy to get slightly lost. Thankfully, HubSpot has updated its marketing plan guide for 2024.

A few ideas:

• Weave through the intricate Customer Analysis channels, dissecting the constellations of demographic and psychographic data to understand who you're selling to, truly.

• Space-scope in hand, survey the Competitive Analysis landscape, to reveal where X marks the spot for your unique market positioning.

• As you journey through Market Strategy, think of the seven Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical Evidence) as your crew, each contributing their unique skills to sail your ship smoothly through the tempest of market competition.

Charting a course for CX (via Zendesk)

Zendesk's latest CX Trends report dropped.

Apparently, 67% of CX leaders believe chatbots are the new BFFs. 

Meanwhile, 77% have joined the conscience-core subculture, pinky-swearing they’ll keep customer data locked up tighter than grandma's preserves. 

As for the future, 56% are repping “conversational commerce,” i.e., chit-chatting your way through shopping or to a support agent, because that's what’s been missing in our lives.

Will your CX be on-trend? You may peep the report here.

Tasty Tidbits

CRM blips from around the web

Monday.com to announce Q4 & Fiscal Year 2023 results. The conference call happens at 8:30 AM EST, Monday, February 12th. 

Process mining market to grow at CAGR of 45.6%, according to a new report. The wild growth is projected to take the global market from $1.8 billion in 2023 to a whopping $12.1 billion by 2028.

Close CRM boosts Baird & Warner agent production by 36%. The Illinois-based real estate services company saw nearly $1 million in added production per Close-using agent.

Healthcare CRM to hit $23.14 billion USD by 2030. According to a new market report, it’s forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2023-2030. 

Freshworks does good things for IT service at Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. They now have an 86% CSAT score (that means “excellent”).

Nucleus Research says Zendesk has 43% lower total ownership costs vs. Salesforce. Shots fired. Zendesk is praised for ease of use and “platform adaptability and agility.”

Stocks of the Week

Significant Moves (01/22-01/26) 

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