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Digital disruption has equipped consumers with vastamounts of information, including social media reviewsabout products, services, and businesses — literally attheir fingertips.There are also more businesses vying for your customers’business and all too willing to lure them away. So, it’simperative that businesses today focus on delivering asuperior customer experience throughout the entire customer life cycle and build a long-term relationship thatyour customers will want to partner with and know theycan trust.Customer experience today is as important asthe product itself, oftentimes even more so.Customers have more influences than ever asthey make decisions, from social media anddigital forums to review sites on the web.Looking at the NewResponsibilities of theLine-of-Business ManagerOnce upon a time, in the not-too-distant past, everydepartment and business line within a company reliedupon the IT department for their information technology8These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

needs. Today, business managers (and individualemployees) are increasingly making IT decisions andturning to the cloud to address their technology needs.The same shift of influence toward business lines andaway from IT is happening elsewhere in the organization.This change is happening in large part due to the proliferation of cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) solutions, which usually don’t require installation andmaintenance by the IT staff. Business units gain the ability to shop and buy for themselves, basing their decisionson cost and the capabilities of the solution. That doesn’tmean IT is out of the picture. In fact, the advance of cloudsolutions can free up your IT department to become moreengaged in innovation and strategy for the business.In Chapter 2, I fill you in on the many SaaS solutions thatare available to address your business needs.9These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

IN THIS CHAPTER»» Selling more effectively»» Marketing with intelligence»» Delivering exceptional customerexperiences»» Keeping your top employees»» Moving beyond traditionalfinance»» Improving your supply chainand manufacturingChapter2Empowering YourBusiness with SaaSSolutionsThis chapter explores how cloud-based solutions canhelp department heads and line-of-business (LOB)managers transform their organizations with11These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

software as a service (SaaS)–based solutions designed fortheir specific business functions.Getting Sold on the CloudFew professionals need the mobility and interconnectivity of the cloud more than those in sales. They tend to beon the go all the time, away from desks, in airports, ontrains, at coffee shops, and in prospects’ lobbies inbetween video conferences and phone calls. They need toaccess a whole lot of stuff, and they need access on theirlaptops, tablets, and smartphones. Cloud-based salesforce automation (SFA) solutions provide everything asalesperson needs to stay productive and push dealsforward.Robust sales cloud solutions are so muchmore than contact lists, schedules, andsources of prospects. They really get to theheart of the challenges facing those in salesleadership roles: How do you put your perfectsales plan into action and make it really fly?On that level, the challenges revolve around getting themost out of your sales force. As a vice president of sales,for example, it’s critical that you identify who your topperformers are, recognize them, and keep them happy,while helping the B team develop into top players, too.You need to provide the best training at the outset and be12These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

aware of coaching opportunities when there’s still timeto turn problems around.Imagine what would happen if you couldmagically show up to coach a salespersonwhile an issue is still top-of-mind, perhapseven still occurring? Wouldn’t that be a lotmore effective than discerning a problemwhile reading an after-the-fact report?A cloud-based SFA solution provides solutions to thesesales challenges and more:»» Maximizing your talent: Give members of yoursales team access to every morsel of informationthey need to succeed while in the field, and makesure they can access SFA tools on any device. Keeptabs on how they’re doing while they’re out inthe field.»» Improving the selling and buying experiences:Give your sales reps more time to engage faceto-face with customers, while also providing themwith the right information at the right moment.»» Closing the gap: Start with a reality-based forecastthat draws upon the most solid information. Thentrack the trends in real time, making changesquickly if needed. Gain credibility with accurateforecasting and planning for the sales vicepresident.13These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

»» Creating a plan: Move past gut decisions and useartificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)to guide selling actions. Build a sales plan that yourteam can take out and pursue for a big win. Set theright goals and incentives, and use cloud-basedintelligence for territory management.»» Predicting your customers’ behavior: Performwhite-space analysis and determine the most likelyopportunities for cross-selling and upselling. Spendthe most time on the most high-probability deals.Use predictive analytics to provide insights thathelp you identify the next likely purchase acustomer will make, based on what similarcustomers have purchased in previous encounters.Leveraging PowerfulMarketing AdvantagesAs tailored marketing becomes more of a reality, customers seem to be increasingly expecting a more personalized marketing experience. They’re losing patiencewith invasive marketing tactics that don’t address theirimmediate concerns and needs. Companies that meet thechallenge of making personal connections are creatingmore impactful and satisfying customer experiences —and increasing their sales. Customers will give your brand14These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

permission to market to them if you provide a worthwhile and trusted customer experience.Of course, it takes some big data to pull it off, and thatdata must be managed in seriously sophisticated andsecure ways. There’s no better solution than a cloudbased marketing automation system — the marketingcloud.The goal is to orchestrate a highly personaland useful marketing experience across multiple channels: web, social, mobile, email,and all other digital channels. You need marketing content that matches where theviewer is in your customer life cycle, toachieve better engagement, improve retention, and make it more likely that a potentialcustomer will become an actual buyer — andon top of that, a loyal one who becomes abrand advocate.Social marketing is, of course, an incredibly powerfulway to have customers amplify your brand and marketing voice, but there’s also incredible value in listening toand analyzing what’s being said out there. Do all that,and you’ll end up with a boatload of data, which meansyou need a way to aggregate and analyze that data.How can the cloud help? Consider what a comprehensivecloud-based marketing automation solution can help youaccomplish:15These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

»» Delivering personal customer experiences:Create data-driven customer experiences that aretailored to every visitor and viewer yet are unifiedacross the various channels. Capture and displaythe online behavior and social interactions ofcustomers and prospects. Ensure that your contentstrategy speaks directly to the target, across thesales process.»» Collecting effective campaign metrics: Trackhow each campaign and program contributes torevenue, and do so with enough speed andnimbleness that you can adjust course as needed.Measure the impact of specific content at eachpoint in the sales funnel, and analyze the “digitalbody language” of each customer and prospect.»» Tracking revenue performance: Take smartaction to optimize top-line growth by identifyingrevenue drivers and monitoring performance.»» Connecting marketing and sales: When it comesto business-to-business (B2B) marketing, ensurethat the sales and marketing teams are on thesame page and a single platform, so that everyone’s on board with the same goals, strategies, andmetrics. Do a more effective job of identifying,engaging, and qualifying potential buyers beforepassing them along to sales as leads. Provide yoursales professionals with visibility into customerinteractions with marketing campaigns and extend16These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

marketing-approved content directly to your salesprofessionals.»» Creating a strategy for paid, owned, andearned: Leverage the platforms that’ll help youcreate and distribute content for your paid andowned assets, such as your website and socialmedia channels. At the same time, activate yourmarketing data to discern how to proceed withpaid advertising.»» Building better data: Use targeting and segmentation, data, profiles, and preferences to generatebetter-quality leads. Get better leads for businessbuyers, while creating more relevant experiencesfor consumers.Providing Exceptional ServiceBefore and After the SaleCustomer experience has become at least as important asthe product itself. A key make-or-break component ofthe customer experience is service. Create a great product, deliver a stellar shopping and buying experience, butthen drop the ball on service, and your loyal customeradvocate may become a social media nightmare.Important as it is, this is an area where even the bestcompanies sometimes stumble. And it isn’t hard to see17These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

why. For one thing, different areas of support are oftensiloed, and to customers it appears that one hand has noclue what the other hand is doing.Also, for some companies, the contact center has had atough time keeping up with call volume because toomany people are calling to ask questions that didn’t evenneed to be answered by a human being. On top of that,some of the tougher questions may stump the contactcenter employee.These are challenges that a cloud-based customer servicesolution can address well. Here are just a few of the customer tasks a cloud solution offers any business:»» Helping customers help themselves: Free upyour call center representatives for the toughercalls with self-service sites that offer guidedanswers. Supplement that with online chat,click-to-call, co-browsing, and virtual assistance.Make it all happen regardless of the device thecustomer is using.»» Collecting customer interactions: Bring it alltogether by unifying all your customer servicetouch points to better understand customer needs.Bring contact center, field service, web, mobile, andsocial onto the same cloud-based solution so that18These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

service agents have a 360-degree view of thecustomer, in a single, unified desktop integratedwith other critical systems.»» Listening to customer commentary: Keep an earto the ground by monitoring social media channelsfor service-related comments and potential issues,so that you can respond and engage customersproactively.»» Sharing knowledge with customers: Underpin allservice channels with a single knowledge base, soit’s easy for customers and agents to find the rightinformation that’s consistent and accurate. Make iteasy for agents to author and publish to theknowledge base so it becomes a living, growingrepository that is constantly updated.»» Improving customer contact: Give your contactcenter agents the tools and technologies they needto deliver the caliber of service customers will raveabout on social media, no matter what channel ordevice your customers are using to reach you. Helpyour team answer complicated questions andresolve complex issues quickly. Build upon virtualassistant web self-help with live-agent assistanceand guided interactions, and give agents the powerto co-browse (viewing a customer’s screen to walkthrough online tasks).19These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

»» Fostering customer advocacy: View service as thenursery for establishing and building customeradvocacy. An exceptional and personalized serviceexperience, delivered through preferred channels,can have more impact than anything else ongetting customers to recommend your companyand refer others in your direction.»» Building customer loyalty: Generate repeatbusiness, increase order size, and keep customersloyal with the right engagement through thecontact center or during the online experience.»» Converting customers from shoppers to buyers:Build up your online service options to increaseconversions to sales. Make effective use of onlinechat, click-to-call, co-browsing, and virtual assistance to reduce shopping cart abandonment andenhance opportunities to cross-sell and upsell.»» Anticipating customer needs: Don’t just react tocustomer demands. Instead, anticipate their needs,intentions, and behaviors so you can behaveproactively. Offer more robust and personalself-service options to head off inbound contactsand improve customer satisfaction along the way.Connect with customers using the platform theyprefer.20These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

Finding and RetainingTop TalentAre you a human resources leader or a miracle worker?Odds are, you’re expected to be both these days. Executives want you to increase operational efficiency and cutcosts, all while streamlining core HR functions.At the same time, you need to find, hire, reward, andretain the best talent. You must help build a workingenvironment that’s collaborative and productive —whether it is a home office or hybrid workplace — andmake an ever-greater contribution to the organization’sbusiness vision and execution, while ensuring the general health and well-being of your employees.Thankfully for HR professionals who are used to limitedlegacy HR management systems and first-generationcloud platforms, SaaS 2.0 combines AI and ML at its coreto deliver personalized recommendations and highquality insights that expand HR’s ability to positivelyimpact business outcomes.It takes the right cloud solution to be able tohandle both local HR needs and the challenges that go along with being a globalorganization. The right HR cloud solutionpossesses the deep intelligent, mobile, andanalytical capabilities required to competeeffectively today.21These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

So, what can a world-class HR cloud solution do for yourcompany? Here are some thoughts:»» Find the best and the brightest. Acquire talentthrough effective recruiting and socially sourcedreferrals using AI to recommend the right candidates and develop existing talent. Make therecruiting and onboarding process simpler, withintuitive applications and mobile accessibility thatallows you to provide a fully mobile (or remote) andfrictionless hiring experience.»» Track your talent. Gain a better understanding ofinternal and external sources of talent, andanticipate the talent you’ll need. Identify areas ofattrition within your organization, and get in frontof staffing issues before they happen.»» Get everyone collaborating. Maximize knowledgesharing and collaboration among employees bygiving them access to capabilities such as aninteractive directory, social sourcing, performancemanagement, mentoring, goal and career management, social learning, and collaborative analytics.»» Better equip your workforce. Gain data insightswith predictive and embedded analytics, allowingHR staff to respond to complex questions, forecast22These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

performance and risk, make better decisions, anddeliver better service.»» Support employees more effectively with asmart digital assistant. Automate knowledgebase searches and scale your HR help desk to meetneeds quickly with an intelligent, AI-driven digitalassistant.»» Make information easy to access. Serve up aconsistent experience for HR applications andinformation wherever your staff may be, no matterwhat kind of electronic device they may have intheir hands.»» Streamline global processes. Handle localcompliance needs regardless of the country, andstay up to date with changes in your organization.»» Make payday happen efficiently. Get paychecksout accurately and on time, in locations around theworld, complying with the many different localcompensation regulations.»» Pay for performance. Reward your top talent withattractive and competitive compensation packages,while keeping overall labor spend in line.»» Optimize your workforce management. Keeptabs on absenteeism and productivity easily, evenfrom a mobile device.23These materials are 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized useis strictly prohibited.

»» Encourage diversity. Use the cloud to buildrecruitment programs that encourage diversity.»» Teach your employees well. Build a collaborativelearning environment that delivers a combinationof in-person and online training tailored to theaudience.»» Enable internal mobility opportunities. Providean internal marketplace with short-term gigs andinternal job postings that give employees a chanceto learn new skills and grow their careers.»» Create a high-performance culture. Alignpersonal goals with corporate strategies andtargets, a

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