David Needle

Companies interested in doing more with Lightning, the Salesforce application framework that underpins its customer relationship management platform, suddenly have a lot more options. On Dec. 13, Salesforce.com announced plans to let developers use JavaScript to create Lightning Web Components. Previously, Lightning developers were limited to Salesforce’s own, less widely used Aura programming model to […]

Salesforce said its latest offering will help field service agents better serve customers by leveraging internet of things data to get better information as to when products in use need servicing or replacement. The new Salesforce IoT Insights, released on Dec. 5, also overlays IoT data with customer relationship management (CRM) data so both the […]

Business productivity software maker Citrix announced the purchase of micro apps provider Sapho Nov. 15 in a move that both companies said is a great fit. “As a startup we were focused on one thing, but customers want better analytics and workflow, and putting us together is a no-brainer,” Fouad ElNaggar, co-founder and CEO of […]

Among the many new features in ThoughtSpot 5 is a new voice-driven analytics engine called SearchIQ. The analytics software maker said the latest version, unveiled Nov. 14 at the company’s user conference, lets people use their own voice and “casual language” to ask the system to analyze data from customers and a wide range of […]

Customer-support software provider Zendesk is moving upstream with a new CRM offering called Zendesk Sunshine revealed Nov. 13 at the company’s Relate2018 conference. Zendesk is banking on a few points of differentiation to give it a competitive edge, including the fact that Zendesk Sunshine was developed in the cloud—specifically, in Amazon Web Services. “It’s clear […]

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.—There isn’t much if any dispute that artificial intelligence will eliminate certain types of jobs done by humans, but experts here at the Techonomy conference Nov. 12 said the threat and solutions aren’t well-understood. “We see AI changing 90 percent of the work people do, and we think most companies are behind […]

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — There isn’t much, if any, dispute that artificial intelligence will eliminate certain types of jobs done by humans, but experts here at the Techonomy conference at the Ritz Carlton Nov. 12 said the threat and solutions aren’t well understood. “We see AI changing 90 percent of the work people do, […]

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Intuit talked up its core accounting software for small business at the company’s annual QuickBooks Connect conference here Nov. 7, but it also discussed a new offering for midsize firms that is aggressively priced compared with NetSuite and other competitors. The cloud-based QuickBooks Online Advanced, released on Oct. 15, uses machine learning to […]

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.—Artificial intelligence is routinely touted at tech conferences and elsewhere as the “Next Big Thing” that is going to transform the customer experience and the ability of companies to better sell and market their wares. But there were also skeptical and cautionary notes sounded here, even from vendors, at the Connected Enterprise […]

Sales professionals don’t lack for technology solutions, but using them effectively and establishing customer trust are keys to keeping and maintaining customers. These are two of many insights from LinkedIn’s annual State of Sales report that surveyed more than 500 sales pros as well as 500 buyers in August 2018. “Relationships are still fundamental, but […]

As integration announcements go, the news from Adobe is quite significant. The software giant announced an integrated platform for e-commerce that combines Magento Commerce with Adobe Experience Cloud, a combination the company said will help make “every experience shoppable” by giving enterprises the ability to create engaging, personalized shopping experiences. The integration combines the content […]

Enterprise software giant SAP announced a major update to the SAP Data Hub at the company’s annual SAP Tech-Ed conference in Las Vegas on October 2. Described as an all-in-one data orchestration solution, Data Hub helps customers build, execute, orchestrate and govern flow-based pipelines and maximize the reuse of existing data developments while encompassing digital innovations. […]