Five9 - gettectonic.com
Co-opetition
05Sep

Co-opetition

Tech companies frequently partner for mutual benefit-Co-opetition, but in the customer service and contact center sector, the competition is heating up. Established players like Genesys, Five9, and Nice are now facing significant competition from tech giants such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google. To strengthen their positions, longtime partners Genesys and Salesforce introduced a joint platform called CX Cloud earlier this year. This platform combines Salesforce’s advanced Service Cloud and CRM with Genesys’ leading contact center as a service (CCaaS) solution- the very epitome of Co-opetition. It integrates telephony, journey management, and employee-focused workforce engagement management tools to optimize contact center operations and track agent satisfaction. While both companies compete in areas like AI, digital engagement, and generative AI, the CX Cloud partnership exemplifies their “coopetition” strategy. Salesforce runs the desktop interface, while Genesys excels in workforce management. By integrating their technologies, the two companies offer customers a flexible solution, enabling them to use the tools that best suit their needs—whether it’s managing digital channels through Salesforce or Genesys. This collaboration eliminates competition in key areas, with both Salesforce and Genesys sales teams working closely together. The partnership between the two companies is not new; their integration dates back to 2015. However, the recent deeper integration, which now covers not just voice but also digital channels, offers customers a unified view of their data. This allows users to harness customer conversation data across both platforms more effectively, giving them the flexibility to use tools from either Genesys or Salesforce. In addition to competition from one another, both Genesys and Salesforce face challenges from cloud hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, which also offer contact center tools. Despite this, Genesys’ and Salesforce’s CX Cloud collaboration stands out by offering a unified framework that benefits customers through combined capabilities. As an example of this complex tech landscape, AWS is both a competitor and a top partner for reselling Genesys Cloud. Both companies agree that the real focus isn’t on competing with each other, but on helping customers solve challenges around customer engagement in an efficient and cost-effective way. The joint platform also integrates with other technologies, such as Google’s Contact Center AI and AWS tools like Lambda and Polly, making it adaptable to diverse enterprise needs. Both Genesys and Salesforce emphasize the importance of an open platform with pre-built integrations, allowing customers to get more value from both platforms faster than before. CX Cloud has seen adoption across various industries and company sizes, from large enterprises to smaller, faster-moving companies. Smaller businesses, in particular, have been quick to adopt this innovation, as it allows them to access enterprise-level integrations without needing to build custom solutions. Larger enterprises, such as ADP, have also benefitted from CX Cloud by using it to deliver proactive customer experiences, addressing potential issues before they arise. Overall, the partnership between Genesys and Salesforce exemplifies Co-opetition-a collaborative approach in a highly competitive market, enabling customers to leverage the strengths of both platforms for enhanced contact center operations. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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September 5, 2024in Generative AI
Five9 Cautious Forward Looking
04Sep

Five9 Cautious Forward Looking

Recently, Five9 reported its second-quarter FY24 results, revealing a strong performance for the period. However, the company’s cautious forward-looking guidance led to a significant drop in its stock price, which fell by over 25%. In response to queries about the conservative outlook, a Five9 spokesperson attributed the reduced 2024 revenue guidance—a 3.8% decrease—to macroeconomic headwinds. This cautious forecast stands in contrast to the more optimistic outlooks of Five9’s publicly traded peers. Economic factors such as global issues, talent shortages, AI uncertainty, and the upcoming election are influencing customers’ decisions on IT investments, which likely contributed to the reduced guidance. Additionally, sales execution challenges have prompted the company to take corrective measures. While Five9 might face unique challenges that other CCaaS providers do not, the full impact will become clearer in the next quarter. In response to these challenges, Five9 has taken steps to stabilize its operations, including promoting Matt Tuckness from VP of Global Customer Success to EVP of Sales and Customer Success. This move, described by leadership as promoting a “dedicated sales leader” with a decade of experience at Five9, aims to enhance sales execution. Scott Berg from Needham questioned the timing of the promotion, suggesting it might be a reaction to a single quarter’s results. Dan Burkland, Five9’s President, defended the decision, emphasizing that having a dedicated EVP of Sales is crucial for focusing on enterprise deals, especially given Five9’s efforts to grow its enterprise base. Five9 has also announced a 7% workforce reduction, affecting approximately 185 employees. This marks the company’s first layoff in its history, which is notable given its history of growth through acquisitions, such as the recent planned acquisition of Acqueon, a real-time revenue execution platform. Typically, acquisitions lead to headcount adjustments, but Five9 had managed to avoid such cuts until now. The company stated that the reduction was necessary to focus on profitable growth and long-term business resilience while continuing to serve global customers and innovate. Although layoffs are challenging, they are sometimes necessary for business adaptation. Many UCaaS and CCaaS providers expanded their workforces during the pandemic and later faced the need to trim excess staff as the market softened. Five9’s adjustment in headcount reflects changing market conditions. The acquisition of Acqueon is expected to accelerate Five9’s vision by integrating expertise in inbound and outbound communications to enhance personalized customer experiences across marketing, sales, and service. Acqueon will operate as a separate business unit within Five9, with plans to eventually integrate its brand into the larger Five9 brand. Overall, despite the quarter’s challenges, Five9 had a strong performance. It achieved a record-breaking $1 billion ARR run rate for the first time, with total subscription revenue growing by 17%. The company maintains a robust balance sheet with over $1 billion in cash. The recent organizational changes, including new leadership and headcount adjustments, are indicative of Five9’s maturation and aim to return the company to its pattern of strong performance and growth. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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September 4, 2024in Salesforce
Salesforce Climbs on Back of AI
29Aug

Salesforce Climbs on Back of AI

Shares of Salesforce (CRM.N) climbed approximately 4% on Thursday as investors responded positively to the customer relationship management software maker’s strong quarterly performance and its strategic focus on artificial intelligence to fuel growth. Salesforce has been making significant investments to integrate AI technologies into its existing products, including its messaging platform Slack, to enhance functionality and attract more customers. “We continue to see Salesforce as an underappreciated AI winner due to its unique data and early success in developing and deploying GenAI agents,” noted Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan. Despite concerns from Wall Street that reduced cloud spending might impact Salesforce in a challenging economy, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) company exceeded expectations with better-than-anticipated revenue, profit, and margins in the second quarter. Additionally, Salesforce raised its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending January 2025, as margins continue to improve, largely due to restructuring efforts undertaken last year. The stock is currently trading at 24.49 times Wall Street’s profit expectations, compared to 52.11 for SaaS peer ServiceNow and 13.30 for cloud contact center firm Five9 (FIVN.O), according to LSEG data. If the gains hold, Salesforce could add about billion to its market capitalization, bringing its valuation to 8 billion as of Wednesday’s close. However, Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow cautioned, “We think these results alone are not sufficient to drive a sustainable rally from here. For that, we need additional catalysts, which could come with the new AI solutions,” set to be unveiled at Dreamforce and launched in October. Some analysts suggest that ongoing growth in the coming quarters may be driven by Salesforce’s customer support platform, Agentforce, which has yet to be commercially released. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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August 29, 2024in Salesforce
Five9 Salesforce AI Integration
05Jun

Five9 Salesforce AI Integration

Five9 and Salesforce Enhance AI-Powered Solutions for Superior Customer Experiences Five9 (NASDAQ: FIVN), a provider of the Intelligent CX Platform, today announced the next step in its collaboration with Salesforce. Five9 Salesforce AI Integration. This partnership aims to deliver AI-powered solutions to enhance customer experiences (CX) in contact centers. The latest release, Five9 for Service Cloud Voice with Partner Telephony, integrates Salesforce Einstein with Five9’s suite of AI solutions. This empowers agents to better service customer requests, improves management’s understanding of contact center operations, and delivers customer resolutions that exceed expectations. Using Five9’s open APIs and Five9 TranscriptStream, the Einstein AI engine identifies opportunities to provide real-time solutions for agents, prompting ‘Next Best Action’ guidance. The solution also offers real-time transcription of customer conversations, ensures call recordings’ accuracy and relevance, and integrates with Salesforce Einstein Conversation Insights to enhance conversation intelligence. “Five9 understands the power of elevating the customer experience through innovative technology and seamless integrations,” said Dan Burkland, President of Five9. “Our collaboration with Salesforce pushes the boundaries of what is possible. Infusing Einstein’s AI insights into the contact center and CRM eliminates repetitive tasks while guiding agents with the next best actions to help them be more effective.” A Long-Standing Partnership The Salesforce-Five9 collaboration, now over 15 years strong, recently introduced Five9 call dispositions for agents within the Salesforce Omni-Channel widget or Voice Call page. This allows organizations to automatically update call dispositions in the Five9 call database, ensuring accurate reporting across the integration. Both companies are meeting the growing demand for AI solutions to enhance customer engagement throughout the customer journey. “Five9’s deeper integration with Salesforce Einstein offers a new level of choice for customers seeking AI capabilities that best match their contact center needs and existing technology investments,” said Sheila McGee-Smith, President & Principal Analyst at McGee-Smith Analytics. “Coupled with features like Five9 TranscriptStream, organizations can significantly reduce an agent’s workload while enhancing the customer’s overall experience. This next step in the Salesforce-Five9 relationship demonstrates each company’s commitment to their joint customer base, enabling them to leverage the latest AI innovations easily.” “Service Cloud Voice with Five9 uses AI to deliver a better customer experience,” said Ryan Nichols, Chief Product Officer of Service Cloud, Salesforce. “Our collaboration focuses on more than just a ‘single pane of glass’– we’re bringing together customer data, knowledge, and real-time conversation transcripts to help make agents more productive and delight customers.” Availability and Further Information These new enhancements to Five9 for Service Cloud Voice with Partner Telephony will be available starting June 30. For a deeper look into the Five9 integration with Service Cloud Voice and to explore common use cases, register for the webinar “Unlock Efficiency with the Power of AI: Five9 and Salesforce Service Cloud Voice” on Tuesday, July 23. An on-demand playback of the December 2023 Five9 and Salesforce joint webinar is also available, covering topics such as using data for personalization, best practices for leveraging engagement data to improve experiences, and how companies can become more customer-centric. Salesforce, Einstein, and other related marks are trademarks of Salesforce, Inc. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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June 5, 2024in Salesforce, Salesforce Einstein, Salesforce Service Cloud
Marketing Cloud Cloudpages
20Dec

Salesforce Marketing Cloud for a Healthcare Provider

Personalized Care & Communication: Salesforce Marketing Cloud for a Healthcare Provider As the elderly become more tech-savvy, they expect modern, efficient ways to communicate with healthcare providers. A regional Medicare provider in the Northeastern United States faced challenges with their outdated communication systems. Relying solely on paper mail, postcards, and phone calls, the organization struggled to connect with members, lacked visibility into the success of their campaigns, and experienced early turnover due to minimal engagement. These inefficiencies strained the customer experience and made it clear that modernization was overdue. To address these challenges, we implemented Salesforce Marketing Cloud to engage customers through email and SMS. Goals for the Project: Tectonic’s Role in the Transformation Tectonic designed and implemented a Salesforce Marketing Cloud solution that transformed how the provider communicated with its members. The solution enabled multi-channel, multi-language communications integrated with Salesforce Health Cloud via the Marketing Cloud Connector and additional systems like MuleSoft and Snowflake. To enhance SMS capabilities, the organization also integrated with Five9. Early collaboration with the provider’s Salesforce Health Cloud team enabled Tectonic to address outdated customer data issues, create safeguards for inaccurate information, and plan future strategies for seamless customer data collection. A custom preference center was also developed and translated into multiple languages. Overcoming Data Challenges Accurate customer data was a significant obstacle—only 60% of records included valid email or mobile phone numbers, with an even smaller percentage having both. Tectonic conducted multiple working sessions to develop strategic efficiencies and establish a foundational process for gathering and cleansing member contact information. Customized journeys were created to ensure messaging aligned with available communication channels. For example: Key Outcomes Tectonic’s efforts allowed the healthcare provider to modernize their communications, better analyze engagement data, and improve member interactions. The results exceeded expectations: Impact Across Departments This project not only improved member communication but also empowered internal departments—including Marketing, Customer Experience, Sales, and Retention—with easy-to-understand metrics. It laid the foundation for future campaigns, enhanced data accuracy, and fostered stronger member relationships. By leveraging Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Tectonic’s expertise, the healthcare provider transformed its operations to deliver personalized, timely communication and ensure lifelong member satisfaction. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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December 20, 2023in Data, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Salesforce Health Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Snowflake

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