CRM’s Google-Gate Drama Continues

This week on Funnel Frontier: Discover Google's market-shaking move on HubSpot! Plus, a huge AI skills gap haunts the public sector.

This week:

• Rumor round-up! Google’s potential HubSpot acquisition in the news

• AI skills gap in the public sector? Believe.

• Some pro-tips for project managers (via monday.com)

• Pipedrive or Salesforce?

• Retail CRM for customer loyalty (via EngageBay)

Stat of the Week 

70% of sales reps believe that CRM is key to closing more deals. (Pipeline)

Rumor roundup: Google’s potential HubSpot acquisition grabs headlines

Yes, grabs headlines… including this one. Whoa, meta.

Moving into week two of CRM Land’s tectonic-yet-tentative news, commentators are split on whether Google + HubSpot = good.

Echoing the chorus of Alice Deejay’s 90s Eurodance Hit, Danny Vena at the Motley Fool says, “Better Off Alone”—HubSpot “has a long and profitable road ahead,” and shareholders “have more to gain if it travels that road alone.”

Muhammad Zulhusni at Techwire Asia, on the other hand, seems to prefer seeing the world through Google Glass, suggesting “an acquisition could… quicken Google’s growth within the burgeoning CRM market, offering a pathway to expand its market share and influence significantly.”

However, as Reuters reports, getting this deal off the launch pad could be tough. Google has already faced several antitrust lawsuits, and its big move into CRM will prompt a sharp showdown with regulators. 

Former general counsel of the U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee Seth Bloom said, “My initial reaction is that such a deal would face a pretty tough reception from the antitrust regulators.”

On the other hand, Google doesn’t have any presence in the CRM market yet—strange but true, my friend.

Salesforce is by far the biggest planet in the CRM universe, with HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics trailing distantly in second and third positions. The idea that Google would hamper competition here is not so tenable. 

Nonetheless, Google’s search engine supremacy leaves regulators weary.

In other words: stay tuned for further drama.

The Week @ CRM.org

Automotive CRM. We compare 21 solid CRM systems for car dealers. 

Key CRM Statistics, 2024 Edition. CRM usage is exploding like some kind of champagne supernova. We survey all the stats that are fit to print.

CRM for MacOS. Apple users rejoice—finding a Mac-optimized CRM is no longer more challenging than doing quantum physics in the upper atmosphere.

Weekly Bloom

Productive sans Productivity Guilt. Even on your winningest day, your mind can be a sci-fi villain: “Good, but not good enough—time to go to Mars." Here are six strategies for assuaging your internal antagonist.

Take me to your public sector (where there’s an AI skills gap)

The AI has landed. And unlike the slow-moving extraterrestrial fleet of the Three Body Problem, its arrival has been fast and furious.

Do we understand this alien tech, or do we need Jeff Goldblum? Well, a whopping 60% of public sector IT warriors are grappling with a galaxy-sized gap in AI skills. So finds a recent Salesforce survey.

Other oof-inducing stats from the study:

• Just 28% of public sector IT pros rated themselves “expert” re: GenAI

• 30% called themselves experts at AI implementation in their orgs

According to Deloitte research, an AI skills upgrade for government techies would save hundreds of millions of staff hours and billions of bucks. I imagine it could cut down on the ineffable ennui too.

Oh, woe is me. If only mastering AI was as easy as the Starfleet Academy exam. 

Enter the new, federally mandated Chief AI Officers aimed at steering their agencies toward AI enlightenment. 

Casey Coleman, SVP of Salesforce’s Global Government Solutions, piped in, advocating training in the AI art of prompt development and related skills. Coleman says empowering public sector IT pros in AI use can help them “increase productivity, build deeper relationships with constituents, and improve the quality of public services.”

But for now, mind the gap.

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

Protips for being a project manager (via monday.com)

How to manage a complex project with many stakeholders, without imploding?

According to tech project manager Moria Arami, there are three essential items to focus on. 

1. The first is MVP, which stands for “minimal valuable product.” Arami says it’s important to publish products as fast as possible—the order is publish, measure, fix. 

2. The second is being agile. That means ensuring everyone has access to everything to get one source of truth.

3. The third is transparency. Save time by sharing information so stakeholders are informed and more engaged. 

Arami’s insights are shared on Monday.com’s recently launched YouTube series, “See How They Run.” In it, they interview real people who use CRM and project management tools. 

Watch the full episode here. 

Pipedrive or Salesforce?

So you’re weighing Pipedrive and Salesforce as options. Is it a case of ketchup vs catsup?

Pipedrive targets SMBs craving efficient sales pipeline management. However, Salesforce looms as CRM’s flagship vessel, promising a one-stop-shop of services that cater to a broad spectrum of business sizes and types.

Pipedrive wins for pricing, ease of use, and free version. Salesforce wins elsewhere, for example, in AI assistance and integrations. 

Honestly, it’s a real nail-biter. 

You better believe we’ve got more to say. Check out this detailed comparison.

Clear-cut CRM integration ideas from ClickUp

In the retail world, CRM isn’t just a tool—it’s the wiz behind the curtain, turning casual shoppers into fanatical brand-enjoyers. 

How’s that? Thoughtful CRM use boosts loyalty by:

• Improving customer engagement via omnichannel communication

• Helping you identify customers at risk of fleeing and intervening in time via predictive analytics and segmentation 

• Boosting team productivity and collaboration for better customer outcomes

More here.

Galactic Gourmet

CRM blips from around the web

Salesforce and life sciences company IQVIA expand partnership. The idea is to boost the development of Salesforce’s Life Sciences Cloud, a platform that aims to unite IQVIA data and Salesforce CRM know-how to engage healthcare professionals and patients.

Accenture to acquire customer strategy & CRM specialist Unlimited. With this deal, Accenture gains Unlimited’s proprietary AI-driven “Human Understanding Lab” platform LUCA.

Foreign aid org USAID developing enterprise-wide CRM based on the Salesforce platform. The government organization, founded in 1961, is building a CRM called “Compass” to modernize operations. Case study available here. 

Astronomical Assets

Significant Stock Moves from Last Week

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