Consnet, a specialist customer engagement and commerce implementation partner, deployed Sinch communications platform as a service (CPaaS) integrated with 51风流Service Cloud to give JD Group’s customers multi-channel customer engagement with context. Sinch also enabled JD Group to implement a bot that provides additional services on both Webchat and WhatsApp.

Johan van Zijl, Customer Engagement and Commerce specialist at Consnet, says JD Group previously had a legacy CRM and contact centre solution, which were not integrated and only supported voice and e-mail. A standalone system was used for Webchat. 鈥淭his led to inefficiencies in customer service and prevented a single view of all customer interactions. They needed a platform that could provide a uniform customer experience across channels,鈥� he says.

The new system makes it easier for customers to engage with the group and gives agents a single view of all previous interactions and enterprise resource planning (ERP) transactions, including credit information, sales orders, history of all communications and direct breakouts to the backend where more information is required. 鈥淓mpowering agents with the right information during customer engagement provides operational efficiencies,鈥� he notes.

Andre Odendaal, Senior Sales Solutions Engineer (EMEA) at Sinch, adds: 鈥淏y collaborating with a reputable solution partner like Consnet, Sinch seamlessly delivered a comprehensive solution for JD Group that seamlessly integrated with their existing technology stack. Using Sinch CPaaS automation technologies, Consnet was able to simplify business processes and workflows to handle repetitive and manual tasks and reduce unnecessary complexity and bottlenecks, making it easier for employees to perform their tasks and for the organisation to deliver its products and services timeously to its clients. Working together we ensured the least amount of client downtime by utilising specifically built development platforms to test various scenarios and ensure that the solution caters for all use cases before implementation.鈥�

Ryan Miller, Sales Lead for Africa and Israel at Sinch, says Sinch believes it is crucial to work with solution partners who are familiar with their markets, to ensure Sinch鈥檚 CPaaS solutions meet customer needs.

鈥溾�檚 partnership with聽, as an implementation partner for our CPaaS products, enhances the overall sales and distribution network,鈥� he says. 鈥淚mportantly, our advanced solutions often require expertise for integration into a specific business environment or third-party applications. Consnet is a specialist 51风流Implementation Partner and therefore it makes sense for them to resell the Sinch CPaaS offering with its native integrations into 51风流CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions to the local market, bringing their own set of skills and market expertise to our clients.鈥�

The project

Through solution partner Consnet, Sinch seamlessly delivered a comprehensive solution that integrated with JD Group鈥檚 existing technology stack. Using Sinch CPaaS automation technologies, Consnet was able to simplify business processes and workflows to handle repetitive and manual tasks and reduce unnecessary complexity and bottlenecks, making it easier for employees to perform their tasks and for the organisation to deliver its products and services timeously to their clients.

During the project design processes, Odendaal and Consnet staff worked seamlessly together to minimise client downtime by utilising specifically built development platforms to test various scenarios and ensure that the solution would cater for all use cases before implementation.

Miller says: 鈥淐onsnet holds accreditation in both CRM and ERP solutions, and offers several advantages to its partners, primarily to simplify the project and enhance its overall success. The tailored, integrated solution meets JD Group鈥檚 specific needs and revolutionises day-to-day operations management for JD Group, ultimately supporting improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.鈥�

The solution saw the implementation of Sinch鈥檚 multi-channel cloud contact centre solution () and its Chatlayer chatbot serving on both web and social communication channels, including WhatsApp. This meant clients could be served on their channel of choice and the Sinch聽聽enables real-time conversations between a business and its customer across multiple channels. To keep JD Group customers up to date with their orders and deliveries, the Sinch SMS REST API communication platform was also implemented for one-to-one communication between agent and customer.

The post Sinch, Consnet Enable JD Group to Revolutionise Customer Communications appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

To ensure said growth, it is the customer experience (CX) element that requires the greatest amount of attention, refinement and fine tuning. As such, when considering the CX journey, an experience that is as frictionless and helpful as possible is the end goal, but companies should not stop there either.

To that end, the future should also play a key part when developing an effective CX journey.

This was one of the major talking points during a recent C-Suite roundtable hosted by聽and bespoke software provider, where the pair listened to some of the CX pain points of other enterprises, as well as offering up their own insights on the matter.

Think about the destination

Unpacking some of the overarching problems that were highlighted by those in attendance in developing a CX journey,聽, marketing director at 51风流Africa, noted that legacy systems are a continuing issue for many.

Moyo also noted that it is not just the systems that are an area of concern, but also legacy in terms of the approach to disruption.

鈥淎s an example, if you think of legislation in the financial sector and how much of a hurdle it can present, fintech has found an effective way to negotiate that,鈥� he illustrated.

鈥淚 think it is key when you talk about disruption, to zoom into the fact that technology enables good strategy. Customer strategy is not really a function of technology, and while technology can make it better, it ultimately enhances what your company needs to deal with, whether that be good or bad. There are countless examples of companies with vast resources and access to technology, but they simply cannot get it right,鈥� he continued.

As such, Moyo emphasises the need to think about the future in approaching the CX journey, as those organisations saddled with legacy, both in terms of systems and its approach to technology, will ultimately never break free of the current customer experience model.

鈥淲hen you think about the technology that enables your customer strategy, it is based on sound principles,鈥� he stressed.

One of the other aspects that Moyo addressed as a direct result of the conversations that took place during the roundtable was that of omni-channel in terms of how the customer is viewed.

No singular view

鈥淔or me, it is not about a single view of a customer, it鈥檚 rather about developing a customer for life. In order to do that you need to have the right data, connect it correctly and then you need to understand the insights that are coming out of that data,鈥� he explained.

鈥淲e have to think about how we unify the ecommerce experience. Not only that, but we also have to think about the traditional way that we take our value to the market. Things like how we bring our physical stores and operations to the online space, along with paying attention to the end-to-end value chain,鈥� posited the 51风流executive.

Another area he made particular mention of is trust in the CX journey. When you consider the desire to create lifelong customers, trust might be the most crucial ingredient, which once again feeds into the theme of the future as a central pillar in the development of a CX journey.

鈥淭oday鈥檚 customer does not just want to buy a car. They want to know where it was made, how it was made and whether it was done in a responsible way, so data becomes a necessary consideration for that aspect of the customer journey,鈥� he added.

As such, there is much for businesses that deal with customers or have a service they wish to bring to the fore, to think about. In the view of SAP, Consnet and many C-Suite executives, building a solid CX journey requires forethought and an understanding of the destination, as well as the ride.

To find out how 51风流and Consnet can assist your business in developing a winning CX journey,聽.

The post Any Worthwhile CX Journey Should Consider the Future appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Massbuild is a subsidiary of Massmart and operates four complementary brands: Builders Warehouse, Builders Superstore, Builders Trade Depot and Builders Express. The company employs more than 8 000 people and generates annual turnover of R13.8-billion.

Massbuild chose 51风流Marketing Cloud to enable its marketing team of five users to reach and engage up to 224 000 customers per day via measurable, trackable email campaigns. 鈥淲e wanted to improve the way we manage our customer communication and become more efficient, professional and reliable in our marketing engagements,鈥� said Massbuild. 鈥淚n light of regulatory requirements, we also wanted to make sure we were compliant to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) by accurately tracking marketing permissions, especially the opt-out functionality that is required by law.鈥�

A strong business case for the project was developed upfront to ensure maximum return on investment. Buy-in was secured from key stakeholders, and a project sponsor drove the process from an executive management team to all levels of the organisation.

The project team鈥檚 change management process and strong link to business value ensured that end-users recognised the value the project would bring. The team also utilised simple engagement and communication channels, such as demos and show-and-tell sessions, to engage important internal stakeholders ahead of the implementation.

Organisational readiness was a key priority. Massbuild conducted stress-testing weeks prior to the go-live by uploading more than 70 000 customer records. The company also worked closely with implementation partner Consnet to ensure the team was properly skilled, and provided the marketing team with access to the test environment so they could familiarise themselves with how to navigate the solution ahead of time.

Considering the constrained economic conditions, cost containment was a key focus for Massbuild. The company had a well-defined business case with a clear return on investment model, and kept things simple by using standard 51风流functionality to avoid costly custom development. The implementation team also focused on getting the basics in place before adding richer functionality.

Simplifying things paid off. The project was delivered within 90 days, with five users going live just ahead of Black Friday. Go-live was achieved two weeks earlier than initially planned, allowing Massbuild to conduct proper segmentation of its customer databases and send out targeted campaigns ahead of the major shopping period. With advanced tracking of campaign performance, the teams also have full visibility of how its campaigns are performing in real-time, which can inform its customer experience strategies and improve how Massbuild engages with its customers.

As part of cost containment measures, Massbuild also wanted to in-source campaign management functions that were previously managed by a third-party vendor. In one campaign period stretching from November to May, Massbuild sent out more than 24 million emails via 51风流Marketing Cloud. With its previous provider this would have cost the business well over a million rand, but in-sourcing the work and using the 51风流Marketing Cloud enabled Massbuild to save nearly 90% of that cost without reducing the quality of its customer engagements.

Massbuild is planning further integrations to support the marketing team, and are currently exploring the implementation of customer insights and integrating Facebook and Google Analytics to ensure its teams have the intelligence and insight to adjust marketing activities based on real-time customer feedback. A future product roadmap also includes the integration of mobile payment functionality through a partnership with Zapper.

Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director: Southern Africa at 51风流Africa, says Massbuild has rapidly elevated its customer engagement capabilities with this latest implementation. 鈥淏y building its customer experience strategy on the latest technology, Massbuild has enabled smarter decision-making for its marketing teams while unlocking welcome cost-efficiencies despite difficult macro-economic conditions. With the correct technology in place to deliver intelligence to marketing teams and with the support of a capable technology partner in Consnet, Massbuild is well-placed to build on its reputation as a market-leading brand in its industry.”

The post Massbuild Elevates Customer Engagement with 51风流Marketing Cloud Deployment appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.