For the first time, companies can now create their own trusted, LinkedIn-like communities that are connected to their business processes to engage customers, partners and employees in a whole new way
New Community Cloud propels salesforce.com into the fast growing $3.5 billion enterprise collaboration market
Salesforce.com ecosystem embraces Community Cloud\u2014Deloitte Digital unveils new practice, harnessing the digital experience of more than 4,000 consultants, to accelerate customer success
More than 2,000 leading global organizations including British Sky Broadcasting, Cornell University, GE Capital, Honeywell, Key Bank, Pearson, Pono Music, State of Colorado, Tata Communications and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth are connecting with customers in a whole new way with Community Cloud
San Francisco \u2014 Aug. 27, 2014 \u2014 Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the world\u2019s #1 CRM platform, today launched the Salesforce1 Community Cloud, defining the next battleground for customer engagement. For the first time, companies can now create trusted destinations for customers, partners and employees that are not only personalized and mobile like LinkedIn, but connected to their business processes. Salesforce.com\u2019s ecosystem has also embraced the Community Cloud. With 4,000 consultants dedicated to the digital experience, Deloitte Digital unveiled a new practice to help customers build thriving digital communities. Leading global organizations including British Sky Broadcasting, Cornell University, GE Capital, Honeywell, Key Bank, Pearson, Pono Music, State of Colorado, Tata Communications and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth are using Community Cloud to connect with customers in a whole new way\u2014propelling salesforce.com into the fast growing $3.5 billion enterprise collaboration market.
Comments on the News
\u2022 \u201cMore than 2,000 active communities have gone live since we first offered a communities product just over a year ago,\u201d said Nasi Jazayeri, executive vice president of Salesforce1 Community Cloud, salesforce.com. \u201cBased on the success we have seen with customers, tremendous market opportunity and support from our ecosystem, salesforce.com is doubling down on communities with our new Community Cloud.\u201d
\u2022 \u201cThe Community Cloud represents an important moment in the industry, ushering in new lattice-like business models for how people work, how they engage their customers, and how they connect,\u201d said Cathy Benko, vice chairman and managing principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
\u2022 \u201cAny company can benefit from creating an engaged community,\u201d said Vanessa Thompson, research director of enterprise collaboration and social solutions, IDC. \u201cSalesforce.com raises awareness of the immense value of community solutions with Salesforce1 Community Cloud by putting business processes at the center of engagement.\u201d
\u2022 \u201cWhen you take on a challenge like transforming government, you need a partner to help you connect directly with the community. That’s why we work with salesforce.com and use Community Cloud,\u201d said Rich Negrin, deputy mayor and managing director, PhillyRising, City of Philadelphia. \u201cOur community members say it all\u2014helping us to empower citizens like Pastor Cookie and Marsha Walls to run a mobile citizen community, and the people of Hartranft and Kensington decrease car burglary by 70 percent.\u201d
Introducing Salesforce1 Community Cloud\u2014Defining the Next Battleground for Customer Engagement
The world is becoming completely connected. Every day, millions of new products, apps and devices are connecting to the Internet. And, behind every product, every app and every device, there is a customer. Welcome to the Internet of Customers\u2014where customer engagement is more important than ever before. In fact, according to a recent IBM study, more than 75 percent of C-level executives want to know their customers better and are doubling down on digital engagement. [1]
Companies now have an imperative to transform their business and are looking to next-generation collaboration solutions to solve the engagement gap. According to IDC, spend on collaboration tools is forecasted to grow to $3.5 billion from 2013-2018, framing the massive market for communities. [2]
LinkedIn is an example of a company, that, among other things, in the consumer world, has created a community for recruiters and job seekers. Members can personalize their job search, connect with colleagues and discover and share information about job openings\u2014all from any device. Today, companies want to create their own communities with the same personalization and mobile access of LinkedIn, that are also completely connected to their business processes.
Create Trusted Communities to Engage Customers, Partners and Employees in a Whole New Way
By combining the power of the Community Cloud with the business data and processes of the world\u2019s #1 CRM platform, companies can quickly create trusted destinations to engage with customers, partners and employees in a whole new way. Now every company can build communities that are:
\u2022 Personalized\u2014Companies can now create communities that are personalized to each member\u2019s unique needs. Community members can follow topics and people and stay up-to-date about the issues that are most important to them. Each member\u2019s profile page is updated with content and suggested groups that match their specific interests. Through profiles, endorsements and reputation ratings, members can find the most knowledgeable and trusted experts on any topic that interests them. For example, a runner could personalize their community experience to get the latest news on shoes and local trails, while a cyclist would see information on new equipment and races in their region.
\u2022 Connected\u2014Built on the Salesforce1 Platform, the new Community Cloud is connected directly to Salesforce CRM and essential business processes. Now resellers can update leads, employees can create and escalate service cases and customers can review and rate products all from within the community. Additionally, with new SEO optimization and unauthenticated access, companies can now attract potential new members through their Internet search engine queries. For example, a musician can discover and join a brand\u2019s community based on an Internet search on a specific guitar model.
\u2022 Mobile\u2014With Community Cloud, companies can create communities with a device-responsive design to ensure every member has the same amazing experience whether they are on a tablet, smartphone or laptop. For example, now every member of a home improvement community\u2014from contractor to engineer\u2014can easily see the tools they need to tackle a new project from any mobile device. And, admins and community managers also love Community Cloud because they can track trending topics, monitor content and update files\u2014all from the Salesforce1 Mobile App.
\u2022 Fast\u2014Companies can now create communities faster than ever, using a community template that provides a proven engagement framework with a modern design. In addition, with community designer, non-technical community managers can easily customize their deployment to accommodate company requirements and match corporate branding. For example, an admin can quickly create a self-service community for a particular subset of customers designed to suggest best practices, videos or any other answer to common questions with a consistent look across all the corporate marketing digital properties.
Salesforce.com Ecosystem Embraces Community Cloud
In response to customer demand, partners from the salesforce.com ecosystem are creating dedicated practices for Community Cloud. Today, Deloitte Digital unveiled a new practice, harnessing the digital experience of more than 4,000 consultants to accelerate Community Cloud success with best practices across customer, partner and employee engagement as well as digital strategies and high-growth industries.
Global Organizations are Connecting with Customers, Partners and Employees in a Whole New Way
Now with more than 2,000 active communities, Community Cloud is helping companies transform their engagement through their own trusted communities that are personalized, mobile and connected to business processes. Leading global organizations, including British Sky Broadcasting, Cornell University, GE Capital, Honeywell, Key Bank, Pearson, Pono Music, State of Colorado, Tata Communications and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth use Community Cloud to connect with customers, partners and employees in a whole new way.
Pricing & Availability
\u2022 Salesforce1 Community Cloud starts at $500 per month and is currently available with new advances expected to be generally available in October of 2014.
Additional Information
\u2022 Learn more about the Salesforce1 Community Cloud: http:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/communities\/overview\/
\u2022 Like salesforce.com on Facebook: http:\/\/facebook.com\/salesforce
\u2022 Follow @Salesforce on Twitter: http:\/\/twitter.com\/salesforce
[1] IBM Institute for Business Value (2013) Exploring the Inner Circle – The Customer-Activated Enterprise [Research paper]. Retrieved from http:\/\/www-935.ibm.com\/services\/us\/en\/c-suite\/csuitestudy2013\/
[2] IDC (2014) Worldwide Enterprise Social Networks 2014-2018 Forecast and 2013 Vendor Shares [Research paper]. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.idc.com\/getdoc.jsp?containerId=249846<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the first time, companies can now create their own trusted, LinkedIn-like communities that are connected to their business processes to engage cus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"sf_subhead":"For the first time, companies can now create their own trusted, LinkedIn-like communities that are connected to their business processes to engage cus","sf_i18n_disclaimer":false,"alternateThumbnailId":0,"sf_product_cta_id":0,"footnotes":""},"sf_content_type":[1755,1792],"sf_theme":[1917,1912],"sf_topic":[1734,1726,1763],"sf_product":[1761],"sf_industry":[],"sf_role":[],"sf_multimedia_asset":[],"sf_location":[1724],"sf_collection":[],"sf_visibility":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-21240","sf_press_release","type-sf_press_release","status-publish","hentry","sf_content_type-press-releases","sf_content_type-press-releases-product","sf_theme-customer-engagement","sf_theme-digital-transformation","sf_topic-customer-engagement","sf_topic-digital-transformation","sf_topic-innovation","sf_product-experience-cloud","sf_location-amer"],"yoast_head":"\n