Salesforce has altered the enterprise IT landscape drastically in the past few years. Now, customer relationship management solutions are critical pieces of corporate tech stacks, but more importantly, more businesses have turned to the cloud to support those systems.
The good news is that Salesforce doesn't plan to stop innovating anytime soon. As a result, the company is predicting a very successful 2016 with respect to its product offering. After all, organizations of all types have deployed the CRM system and experienced operational improvements in customer service, sales, accounting, health care and much more.
Salesforce recently released its estimated earnings for its full fiscal year of 2016, and they represent a 24 percent increase over 2015's numbers. Furthermore, the CRM provider forecast another 22 percent boost in revenue throughout its fiscal 2017. It's safe to say that 2016 will be another winning year for Salesforce and the enterprises that take advantage of it.
But what exactly is on the horizon? Let's take a look into Salesforce's 2016.
"Salesforce Marketing Cloud Predictive Journeys and its add-ons will release in 2016."
Predictive marketing analytics
In November, Salesforce introduced Marketing Cloud Predictive Journeys, a tool that allows marketing professionals to make accurate forecasts into customer behaviors, with their Salesforce data and information from other IT solutions. This new module will also support two add-ons, Predictive Scoring and Predictive Audiences – the former grades the chance of engagement for promotions and advertisements, while the latter analyzes customer data in order to place individuals in specific audience categories, effectively allowing for better targeted campaigns.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Predictive Journeys and its add-ons will release in 2016, but if companies want to start planning their enterprise IT strategies for this new tool now, a beta is available.
More mobile apps
Salesforce already has a few solutions for enterprise mobility, even supporting a platform that allows organizations to create their own mobile apps, but there is reason to suspect that Salesforce will further innovate in the mobile market in 2016.
According to Bluewolf's State of Salesforce report, 77 percent of professionals want more mobility from the CRM system. Specifically, they wish opportunity management was easier since those processes take the longest to complete, and believe that mobile apps could solve that problem.
If Salesforce pays mind to that concern, enterprises should anticipate new mobile Salesforce solutions in the coming year.
Better SMB solutions
Salesforce supports organizations of all sizes and in a variety of industries, but recently, the CRM provider announced that Salesforce will support integration with two SMB solutions: Desk.com and SalesforceIQ. Computer Business Review Online reported that this move will make it easier for smaller organizations to improve their customer experiences, as the two systems will provide customer service representatives and sales teams with insight into the previous sales activity and other client data automatically right in Salesforce.
"With Desk.com integrated into SalesforceIQ, SMBs are armed with a complete view of their customers across sales and service, enabling them to build deeper relationships and deliver a better experience at every touchpoint," said SalesforceIQ CEO Steve Loughlin, according to the source.
While Salesforce certainly wasn't lacking in the SMB-support department, smaller enterprises will have more reason than ever to deploy the CRM system in 2016.
Microsoft solution integration
Microsoft technology will exist in enterprise tech stacks for many years to come. So, when Salesforce announced that it would enter "a strategic partnership" with the famous tech corporation, it was a good day for IT departments. Today, companies can connect their Salesforce apps, add-ons and modules to Skype for Business, Office 365, OneNote and other Microsoft solutions, but tomorrow might offer even better integration.
Organizations should expect more information on Microsoft, Windows 10 and Salesforce in 2016.
Internet of Things support
For a few years now, there has been chatter about the Internet of Things across the Web. In 2016, many predictions are likely to come to fruition, as businesses begin to deploy Internet-connected devices around the office, in manufacturing centers and more.
Therefore, Salesforce Thunder couldn't come at a better time. According to ZDNet, the IoT data collection platform will release sometime in 2016. To prepare, businesses should start looking into Salesforce Lighting deployments.
Salesforce will continue to influence the very foundation of enterprise IT in the coming years, and 2016 looks like another great year for organizations using the CRM system.