Introduction to Salesforce Data Cloud
Companies face significant challenges when it comes to managing data silos within their CRM systems, Which hinders their ability to make informed decisions and develop effective strategies based on data. Data is undoubtedly crucial for the success of any organization. However, if it remains isolated within records without being utilized to its fullest extent, its value is greatly diminished.
Not anymore, Salesforce Data Cloud can mine the full potential of your Salesforce data. This product has significantly progressed from the Customer Data Platform to Salesforce Data Cloud. But what exactly is it?
Salesforce Data Cloud is a real-time data platform that centralizes customer data from various sources, both internal salesforce CRM and external platforms, creating a unified and single source of truth for businesses.
Salesforce Data Cloud leverages Al and automation to provide actionable insights in real-time, enhancing customer experiences across sales, service, marketing, and commerce.
It is an integral part of the Salesforce Platform, strengthening the functionality of all Salesforce clouds and facilitating data-driven decision-making and personalized experiences across different business functions.
Feature of Salesforce Data Cloud
- Connect: Unify all your customer data at scale, from any source, with out-of-the-box connectors.
- Harmonize: Anticipate customer needs and preferences with unified profiles that adapt to their activity in real-time.
- Activate: Empower teams to create intelligent, automated experiences across the Customer 360 with unified data.
Business Impact of Data Cloud
Have you ever called a support line and spent unnecessary time talking the agent through your purchase history to get the right level of support? Or how about browsing through an e-commerce site, expecting to see those glasses you’ve been looking at for weeks, but instead you need to scroll around and waste your time looking for it? These are some known scenarios to most of us, with today’s demanding and time-consuming life we expect the best user experience which is only possible through real-time updated data. This is where the Data Cloud comes into the picture.
We have talked about how it seamlessly consolidates data from every aspect of the customer journey into a cohesive customer profile, But how exactly does it impact business in the real world? Let understand this better through a few scenarios:
- You lose your credit card and report it stolen at 3 p.m. Someone attempts to make a purchase using your card at 3:05 but is blocked immediately because the merchant uses Data Cloud for Commerce and receives up-to-the-second alerts.
- You call customer service about a problem you’re having with a product. Because the company uses Data Cloud for Service, this triggers an automatic action pausing all marketing and sales interactions with you until your problem is resolved. As a result, you are spared from the kind of everyday, annoying interactions that drive customers away – like getting an email offer to buy the very product you’re having a problem with.
- A personalized offer on a website you’re browsing changes instantly because of something you just clicked in a marketing email. Because the company uses Data Cloud for Marketing, that offer immediately is now more relevant to you than the one you’d otherwise be looking at, convincing you to go ahead and make a purchase.
- You have an urgent healthcare need. When milliseconds matter most, your healthcare provider can deliver proactive guidance and care recommendations with access to your real-time patient data.
Now after Having gained insight into the Data cloud and its potential business impact, the logical progression leads us to the question: What sets the Data cloud apart from the myriad of tools available in today’s market, and why should it be our preferred choice?
What sets it apart
- Pre-Wired to Salesforce Objects: Although there’s still a need for mapping systems and implementing measures to enhance data quality, Data Cloud lays the groundwork for you. It’s pre-configured to seamlessly integrate with Salesforce objects, streamlining the data integration process.
- Industry-Specific Data Models: Through Salesforce Industries, organizations gain access to tailored data models and processes designed to meet the unique needs of their respective industries. This extends to additional objects in the Data Model, regulatory compliance measures, and specialized applications within specific verticals.
- Prompt Engineering: With harmonized data across your Salesforce database, you can leverage your organization’s data for generative AI. Users querying the data using prompts can be applied to a variety of cases. Plus, Salesforce has wowed us with Prompt Studio, which allows admins to create templates for user prompts, transforming prompts from sentences to buttons. This improves the output that the user would expect by reducing human variation and, by showing a toxicity rating, it ensures that the prompt outputs are coming from reputable sources.
Above all these qualities data cloud implements data ethics and keeps data secure. Data Cloud leads the industry on privacy and data ethics via best-in-class consent management, policy automation, and more. Data Cloud is designed with privacy and data ethics best practices from the ground up. Most importantly, the Salesforce Platform adds a layer of data policy management to Data Cloud to make it possible for customers to keep their data safe and meet regulatory compliance requirements globally.
Concluding remarks
In summary, the Data Cloud represents the long-awaited solution to the persistent data challenges inherent in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, earning it the title of the ‘Holy Grail of CRM’. But is investing in Data Cloud truly worth it, and what are the mechanics behind its functionality? Stay tuned for our upcoming article where we dig deeper into these questions. In the meantime, keep reading for further insights and understanding.
