Salesforce Data Cloud is a unified data platform that helps businesses connect all their data, regardless of where it resides. This includes data from Salesforce applications, as well as from external systems, such as ERP, marketing automation, and customer support platforms.
Once your data is connected to Data Cloud, you can use it to create a single, unified view of your customers and business. This unified view gives you a better understanding of your customers’ needs and preferences, as well as your business performance.
Data Cloud also includes a powerful set of tools for data management and analytics. These tools help you cleanse, normalize, and enrich your data, as well as build dashboards and reports that can be used to track your progress and identify areas for improvement.
How Salesforce Data Cloud Works
Salesforce Data Cloud is built on a new technology called Salesforce Genie. Genie is a unified data platform that uses artificial intelligence to connect and manage all your data in real time. When you connect your data-to-Data Cloud, Genie automatically creates a unified customer profile for each of your customers. This unified customer profile includes all the data that Genie knows about each customer, regardless of where that data resides. Genie also uses AI to automatically detect and resolve data anomalies. This helps ensure that your data is always accurate and up to date.
Here’s a more detailed explanation on the various steps on how Data Cloud works:
1. Data ingestion
Data Cloud ingests data from a wide range of sources, including Salesforce applications, external systems, and files.
2. Data cleansing and normalization
It cleanses and normalizes your data to ensure that it is consistent and accurate.
3. Data enrichment
It enriches your data with additional information from third-party sources, such as demographic data and social media data.
4. Unified customer profiles
Data Cloud creates a unified customer profile for each of your customers, which includes all the data that it knows about each customer, regardless of where it came from i.e irrespective of the source of data. This feature is what makes it a very powerful platform to unify data onto a single view.
5. Real-time data access
It provides real-time access to your data, so you can always have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips. This ability to source data in real time completely mitigates data degradation due to time lapse.
6. Data analytics
Data Cloud includes a powerful set of tools for data analytics, so you can build dashboards and reports to track your progress and identify areas for improvement.
Salesforce Data Cloud Benefits For Your Business
1. Improved data visibility and accessibility
Salesforce Data Cloud makes it easy to access and manage all of your data from a single place. This is because Data Cloud is a unified data platform, and it can connect to all your data sources, regardless of the location. This includes data from Salesforce applications, external systems, such as ERP and marketing automation platforms, and even files.
Once your data is connected to Data Cloud, you can easily access it from anywhere, at any time. This can help you to break down data silos and improve collaboration across your organization.
For example, a salesperson can now easily access a customer’s purchase history from their Salesforce account, even if the purchase history is stored in a different system.
2. Increased data quality
Data Cloud includes a variety of tools for cleansing, normalizing, and enriching your data. This helps ensure that your data is accurate, complete, and consistent.
It’s achieved by removing errors and inconsistencies from your data. This could include removing duplicate records, correcting spelling errors, and filling in missing values. Followwd by converting your data into a consistent format, making it easier to store and analyze it. And finally by adding additional information to your data including adding demographic data, social media data, or other data from third-party sources,
Data cloud improves your data quality and making it more useful and reliable for your business.
3. Enhanced data analytics
Salesforce Data Cloud includes a powerful set of tools for data analytics. These tools help you build dashboards and reports that can be used to track your progress, identify trends, and make better business decisions. Data Cloud includes a variety of pre-built dashboards and reports. You can also create your own custom dashboards and reports to meet the specific needs of your business.
For example, you could create a dashboard that tracks your sales pipeline, customer churn rate, and product adoption rate. You could also create reports that drill down into specific areas of your business, such as sales by product category or customer satisfaction by region.
4. Accelerated digital transformation
Digital transformation is the process of transforming your business using digital technologies. This could include moving to a cloud-based ERP system, launching a new e-commerce platform, or developing a new mobile app. Salesforce Data Cloud helps you support all these initiatives by providing you with a single place to store and manage all your data. This helps you break down data silos and improve collaboration across your organization.
5. Improved customer experience
Data Cloud helps you provide a better customer experience by providing you with a single unified view of each customer. This allows you to understand your customers’ needs and preferences better and to provide them with more personalized and relevant experiences.
For example, an online retailer can use Data Cloud to see all the customer’s interactions with the company, such as their purchase history, website visits, and customer support tickets. This information can then be used to personalize the customer experience, such as by sending the customer targeted product recommendations or by providing them with expedited support.
6. Increased revenue
The Cloud increases your revenue by helping you identify new sales opportunities, improve your marketing campaigns, and reduce customer churn. For example, a software company can use Data Cloud to identify new sales opportunities by analyzing customer data to identify customers who are most likely to be interested in new products or services. The company can also use Data Cloud to improve its marketing campaigns by sending more targeted and relevant messages to its customers.
7. Improved operational efficiency
Data Cloud improves your operational efficiency by automating tasks, streamlining workflows, and improving communication across your organization. For example, a financial services company can use Data Cloud to automate tasks, such as generating reports and processing transactions. This goes a long way in helping the company save time and improve its operational efficiency.
8. Reduced costs
It also helps you reduce your costs by eliminating the need to maintain multiple data systems and by improving your operational efficiency. For example, a healthcare organization can use Data Cloud to eliminate the need to maintain multiple data systems by consolidating all of its data into a single platform. This helps the organization save on its IT costs.
Salesforce Data Cloud Use Cases- How it can benefit various departments.
Sales and marketing
Here are some examples of how Salesforce Data Cloud can be used to personalize your sales and marketing efforts:
- Segment your customers
Data Cloud can be used to segment your customers based on their demographics, interests, and purchase history. This allows you to send more targeted and relevant messages to your customers.
- Personalize your marketing campaigns
The Cloud can be used to personalize your marketing campaigns by including dynamic content that is tailored to each individual customer. For example, you could send an email that includes a customer’s name, product recommendations based on their purchase history, or a special offer for their birthday.
- Predict customer behavior
It can also predict customer behavior, such as which customers are most likely to churn or which customers are most likely to purchase a new product. This information can be used to create more effective sales and marketing campaigns.
Customer service
Here are some specific examples of how Salesforce Data Cloud can be used to improve your customer service:
- Provide a single view of the customer
Data Cloud provides customer service representatives with a single view of each customer. This includes all of the customer’s interactions with your company, such as their purchase history, support tickets, and social media interactions. This helps customer service representatives to quickly and efficiently resolve customer issues.
- Proactively identify and resolve customer issues
The Cloud can be used to proactively identify and resolve customer issues as well. For example, you may use it to identify customers who are having trouble with a particular product or service. You can then reach out to these customers before they even contact you and ask for assistance.
- Personalize customer support experiences
Data Cloud can be used to personalize customer support experiences. For example, you could use it to identify high-value customers or customers who have had a negative experience with your company. You could then provide these customers with more personalized support, such as a dedicated account manager or expedited support.
Product development
Here’s how Salesforce Data Cloud can be used to improve product development:
- Collect and analyze customer feedback
Data Cloud can be used to collect and analyze customer feedback from a variety of sources, such as support tickets, surveys, and social media. This feedback can be used to identify areas where existing products can be improved and to develop new products that meet their needs and expectations.
- Understand customer behavior
It can be used to understand customer behavior, such as how customers use your products, what features they use most, and where they encounter problems. This information can be helpful to further improve product design and development.
- Test and launch new products
Salesforce Data Cloud can be used to test and launch new products. For example, you could use it to create a beta test program for a new product or to launch a new product to a limited group of customers before launching it to the general public.
Business intelligence
Here’s how Salesforce Data Cloud improves business intelligence:
- Track key performance indicators (KPIs)
Data Cloud can be used to track key performance indicators (KPIs), such as sales revenue, customer churn rate, and product adoption rate. This information can be used to track your progress over time and identify areas where your business needs improvement.
- Create dashboards and reports
It can be used to create dashboards and reports that track your business performance and identify areas for improvement. For example, you could create a dashboard that tracks your sales pipeline or you could also create reports that drill down into specific areas of your business, such as sales by product category or customer satisfaction by region.
- Predict future performance
Salesforce Data Cloud can be used to predict future performances, like expected sales revenue, customer churn rate, product adoption rate, etc. And this information can be leveraged to make more informed business decisions.
Let ETG Digital help you get the most out of your data
We are ETG Digital, a Crest Level Salesforce Partner, headquartered in Plano, Texas. Over the last two decades, our global team of 500+ Salesforce experts has been dedicated to customer success, leveraging the unlimited potential of Salesforce. Let us be your strategic partner too to help you transform your data with Salesforce Data Cloud, paving the way for unlimited growth and success.
Talk to our experts today. Book your free consultation now!
You may also connect with us by mail at info@etg.digital or call +1 469 666 1119