Salesforce.com Unveils Service Cloud 3, the Next Generation of Social Contact Centers

NEW YORK, March 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CLOUDFORCE 2011 -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing company, today unveiled Service Cloud 3, the next generation of social contact centers. Service Cloud 3 will let organizations engage with customers on any social community, including Twitter, Facebook and other social networks via Radian6. Companies will also be able to scale their operations quickly and easily to manage a high volume of service issues, including the millions of conversations that are happening every day on social media sites. Leveraging built-in social analytics, agents will be able to prioritize interactions across any channel and tailor support strategies to meet changing sentiments on the social web.

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Comments on the News

• "The explosion of social technologies has changed the game for customer service," said Alex Dayon, executive vice president of CRM, salesforce.com. "Facebook and Twitter taught consumers to expect social customer service in real time.  Service Cloud 3 is the next-generation social contact center that lets companies prioritize and manage a high volume of customer issues over any social channel."
• "We decided to make social media an important component of our overall KLM customer service strategy after handling stranded customers via Facebook during the volcanic ash cloud that struck Europe in May, 2010.  Leveraging the Service Cloud 3 is going to enable us to recognize patterns, handle cases via social media throughout different teams, and discover commercial opportunities. We believe this will allow us to pro-actively build a strong and loyal relationship with our customers and fans and enhance our service to them," said Martijn van der Zee, vice president, E-Commerce of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
• "Social customer service presents a challenge to contact centers dealing with high-volume, publicly visible interactions with their customers that require near-immediate response times," said Denis Pombriant, principal analyst, Beagle Research.  "Service Cloud 3 will enable companies not only to monitor, but manage, resolve, and respond to issues in real-time, delivering the kinds of positive customer service experiences that can create champions of your brand."

Any Community – Monitor and Engage Instantly With Customers Across the Social Web

Directly within Service Cloud 3, companies will be able to instantly monitor and capture conversations about their brands on Facebook and Twitter, and use Radian6 for Salesforce to monitor blogs, forums and discussion groups.  Agents will be able to engage directly with customers using any device, including the iPad 2, to deliver customer service in real time.

• Salesforce for Facebook: With more than 500 million members, Facebook is the fastest-growing social network in the world.  Companies will be able to manage interactions with their fans in real time by converting Facebook wall posts and comments into cases within Service Cloud 3.
• Salesforce for Twitter: More than 110 million tweets are posted to Twitter every day. Agents can now join conversations with customers on Twitter by creating cases and sharing knowledge - all inside Service Cloud 3.
• Radian6 for Salesforce: This new AppExchange app will let agents work entirely within Service Cloud 3, engaging with customers via Twitter, Facebook and other social channels including blogs and video and photo sharing sites. Fully automated case creation will mean that social media content is automatically added to Service Cloud 3 based on the customizable Radian6 workflow rules engine.

Any Volume – Manage High-Volume Social Interactions and Respond in Real Time

The proliferation of social technologies has forced a massive shift in the customer service industry and the sheer volume of social media conversations places incredible demands on today's contact centers.  An unanswered, public complaint can cause a company to lose decades of hard-earned brand equity overnight.  A seemingly innocuous afternoon tweet can become an Internet sensation by the next morning if left unaddressed. Providing an optimized agent experience, Service Cloud 3 will let companies quickly wade through millions of public comments and cut through the social media noise.

• Social Contact Center: With the next-generation Service Cloud Console, agents have an optimized, tabbed screen for managing all social media and case activities with fewer clicks and less scrolling.  Chatter for Cases lets agents follow important cases in real time and collaborate as a team to resolve issues faster.
• Social Knowledge: Now teams can collaborate with Salesforce Chatter around knowledge articles in real time for increased accuracy and article relevance.  Using Chatter, agents can contribute comments, see input from internal experts, and stay up to date on the articles they follow.

Any Channel – Prioritize Interactions Across Any Channel with Real-Time Social Analytics

With Service Cloud 3, companies will be able to prioritize social interactions across any channel, such as phone, e-mail, chat and social communities, according to built-in social analytics.  Drawing on these real-time insights, agents will be able to determine the best channel to respond to customers and tailor support strategies to effectively address changing sentiments on the social Web.

• Social Analytics: Companies will be able to monitor and manage customer interactions across every social channel with real-time reports and customizable dashboards that give complete visibility of the metrics that impact business.  Social channel reports, customer conversation analyses, and social dashboards will help agents identify trends and alert managers of issues that are impacting the business.  
• Social Communities: Today smart companies handle higher volumes of customer inquiries through collaboration with customers and tapping the wisdom of crowds.  Similar to Facebook, Salesforce Answers lets customers ask questions, post answers, and vote on those they consider most helpful.  Additionally, high-volume business-to-consumer portals give customers access to an intuitive, 24/7 site for case management, knowledge, help and training.
• Live Agent: Service Cloud 3 will give companies the ability to resolve a higher volume of customer issues with less agent time using live chat.  Live Agent can be embedded into the company's web site for instant chat functionality -- and instant answers for customers.  Live Agent will be fully integrated with Service Cloud 3 and Salesforce Knowledge, so there's nothing for companies to install or set up.

More Than 15,000 Companies Now Delivering Social, Mobile and Open Customer Service

More than 15,000 customers including Ally Bank, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and Nikon Instruments have deployed the Service Cloud to deliver social, mobile, and open customer service.  According to a recent third party survey, companies who have deployed the Service Cloud have seen a 41% increase in agent productivity, a 34% increase in first call resolution, a 35% increase in customer satisfaction, and 85% indicated they offered improved customer service and support.(1)

Pricing and Availability

• Service Cloud 3 is generally available today.
• Salesforce for Facebook is currently scheduled to be available in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 at no additional cost on the AppExchange for Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited Edition customers.
• Radian6 for Salesforce is currently scheduled to be available in the third quarter of fiscal year 2012 on the AppExchange, and is currently scheduled to be available in closed beta by the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Live Agent will be priced at $50 per agent, per month for salesforce.com customers and is currently scheduled to be available in the second quarter of fiscal year 2012.
• Customers who purchase salesforce.com technologies should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.

Supporting Resources

• For more information on Service Cloud 3, please visit: http://www.salesforce.com/crm/customer-service-support/
• Follow @salesforce on Twitter

About Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company that has transformed the way companies collaborate and communicate. Salesforce.com is leading the effort to bring Cloud 2, the next paradigm for computing, to the enterprise by offering its customers the social collaboration, mobility and openness that are the hallmark of this new world. The company's platform and application services include:

• Salesforce Chatter, a private social network for your enterprise
• The Sales Cloud, for sales force automation and contact management
• The Service Cloud, for customer service and support solutions
• The Jigsaw Data Cloud, for ensuring data integrity and quality
• The Force.com platform, for custom application development
• Heroku, for building social and mobile apps in Ruby
• The AppExchange, the world's leading marketplace for enterprise cloud computing applications

Salesforce.com offers the fastest path to customer success with cloud computing. As of January 31, 2011, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 92,300 customers including Allianz Commercial, Dell, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Pricing and availability are subject to change. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.  Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

Copyright (c) 2011 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and the "no software" logo are registered trademarks of salesforce.com, inc., and salesforce.com owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(1) Voice of the Customer Survey, 6,293 respondents, conducted by independent third-party MarketTools, Inc.

SOURCE salesforce.com