Salesforce Tableau CRM in the ‘Big Data’ era
“Data is the oil of the 21st century. The deployment of sensors and the increase in processing capacity are key to the transformation of many sectors and the creation of a more measurable and programmable world,” said César Alierta, the former president of Telefónica for 16 years. This is precisely why Tableau CRM, the Salesforce data analysis tool that we are introducing to you today, was born.
Nowadays, it is increasingly common to hear terms such as big data, machine learning, data science or artificial intelligence… Even so, you may not know what exactly that all means, but surely today you have already seen the weather forecast for your location, the playlist of songs suggested by Spotify on Mondays or the price of the euro for this week. All of them are examples of how information processing and analysis have added value to people’s lives, providing them with knowledge which is relevant for their decision making. Now, let’s think of some of the more than 150,000 companies around the world that are powered by Salesforce technology, and where their decisions can mean multi-digit transactions.
Since its first release in 1999, Salesforce.com has incorporated along with its components the tools to explore all the information collected in each of its modules, in accordance with the importance of managing business visibility and, of course, receiving the signals that help to take effective action. With each release, analytics has been gaining more prominence by linking innovative technologies (also via acquisitions) that have enriched the portfolio of functionalities of each cloud, adding to the Salesforce family a surname we’re all used to hearing in the context of rigorous scientific advancement: Einstein.
Did you know… Salesforce began its life in March 1999 in a one-bedroom apartment next door to Marc Benioff’s house at the top of Telegraph Hill, San Francisco. The three men who started working in this small office along with Marc? Parker Harris, Frank Dominguez and Dave Moellenhoff. They were also accompanied by posters of the Dalai Lama, Albert Einstein and two dogs.
A dynamic front three for your Salesforce
There are trios that generate mixed passions. Much has been heard about the groups of Messi-Suarez-Neymar, Bale-Benzema-Cristiano or Valderrama-Asprilla-Rincón (in my case), who have made history in the world of soccer. However, if we translate this to the business world, very few technology companies can talk about a set of tools that lead business users to incorporate augmented analytics into their daily lives in a simple and intuitive way. Below, I’ll try to illustrate how Salesforce’s tech trinity of Einstein Discovery, Reports and Dashboards, with Salesforce Tableau CRM at the helm, helps organizations find answers to their business challenges.
Reports and Dashboards, the easiest way to display your data
This journey of data analysis in organizations should start with an ‘in situ’ approach to the information that has been collected with your customers, which is reflected in entities (defined as objects and fields) in their Salesforce clouds. This primary analysis will allow you to answer questions about transactions that do not change very frequently, with a controlled number of records, and that are not computationally complex.
To do so, we can always rely on the standard Report Builder, which has a user-friendly interface and is increasingly integrated into the Lighting Experience. Likewise, you can build dashboards based on these reports that can be shared with all users in the organization without much difficulty and without the need for additional licenses.
Tableau CRM, or how to turn data into knowledge
You and I both know that organizations do not only have all their information in a single system, and when they need to establish a more advanced business intelligence exercise, it is essential to link the different sources hosted outside their main systems. This implies handling large volumes and, above all, performing some transformations and calculations with a higher degree of complexity in order to efficiently measure their KPI’s. This is when we must incorporate the star of the show, Salesforce Tableau CRM (formerly called Einstein Analytics), which joined the Salesforce squad in 2014 under the name Wave Analytics.
This solution introduces a robust and dedicated Big Data architecture to the analytics landscape. As a result, it is capable of integrating cloud sources of millions of records without affecting the storage of your Salesforce platform, in addition to having data preparation and transformation tools designed for end users. You also have a design suite with powerful, dynamic and versatile dashboards that take the use of your information to the next level, revealing critical data insights that were previously invisible to you.
To complete the experience, thanks to its native integration within the Salesforce environment, Tableau has the ability to perform actions within your platform from its data scans. For example, you can create tasks, events, custom triggers, etc… to object records without leaving Analytics Studio, while embedding panels on home and record pages to generate an intelligent 360-degree experience.
Einstein Discovery, machine learning to build your stories
To complete this magic trifecta, how about a Data Scientist? Once we have the advantage of integrated information from different sources in one single point, of combining them to create consistent and enriched databases, and having explored different patterns in our data with compelling graphs, it is time to apply artificial intelligence to obtain accurate answers to questions that require the evaluation of multiple variables applied to millions of datapoints. This is what Einstein Discovery offers, using machine assisted learning to apply highly reliable statistical models to millions of data in just a few minutes. It generates documents called ‘Stories‘, which contain answers, explanations and recommendations that are arranged in an organized manner with logical flows and related sections.
The story contains insights about the data and variable outcomes that may be of interest to you. Einstein Discovery will provide information about what changed, what is likely to happen and what you can do about it. Now anyone can harness the power of data science and perform statistics and predictive analytics.
The Tableau CRM Trinity answers all of your business questions
This package of solutions allows platform users, depending on their analytical needs, to explore their information sources and answer multiple questions that could only be solved with the interaction of their data. A solid point of cohesion between these three components delivers elements of value for decision making to all levels of the organization. From strategic planning; through the approach of decisive moments for customers, relying on information on historical trends to anticipate their reaction; to objective recommendations in real time thanks to Artificial Intelligence (not Terminator). But above all, to offer better experiences to all business actors. That is what the new ANALYTICS FOR ALL is all about!
In future installments we will take you deeper into the ins and outs of the new Salesforce Analytics Cloud. We are sure that its features will win you over. Still, if you can’t wait and want to know more about Salesforce Tableau CRM, don’t hesitate to contact us.
