Will AI spell the end of CRM as we know it?

This week:

• Are we GenCRM?

• This little AI went to market

• New tables, old vendor

Also, we’re introducing something new - stocks & stat of the week - so you’re always caught up with the latest happenings in the CRM world.

Stat of the Week

Will GenZ be GenCRM, via GenAI?

Confused as I am? Let’s unpack acronyms and see what the heck is going on.

Forrester, a big research and advisory firm, recently published a thinkpiece about generative AI’s effect on CRM.

There’s a lot of Iron Man analogies in there—mileage on that may vary. But the basic ideas… interesting, interesting.

Kate Leggett, Forrester’s Vice President and Principal Analyst, notes that today's generative AI is gobbling up your customer chit-chats. From those dull meeting notes to the awkward post-meeting emails.

But before you shriek, no, ‘genAI’ isn’t going to take CRM’s place in the world. Phew.

“genAI will actually increase CRM’s strategic importance. How? It will make CRM data more complete and processes more accessible and useful to the front office,” says Leggett.

In other words, CRM will get a beautiful facelift. Software should get more insightful and less tedious, with cleaner data and better CX. GenAI might even make Gen Z—who, by the way, will be 27% of the workforce by 2025—consider your company cool.

“How do you do, fellow CRM enjoyers?”

The Week @ CRM.org

Avidian Prophet CRM Review. Hark! A CRM descends from the software heavens, perchance to bless our businesses?

Less Annoying CRM Review. For businesses small but mighty, LACRM aims for serenity.

Salesflare Review. Looking for a solid CRM without the fluff?

Nextiva Review. Dialing past the hype, one VoIP feature at a time.

CiviCRM Review. A touch of tech for nonprofits.

This little AI went to market

Ah yes, 2023. It’ll go down as “year zero” for passing off tedious content chores to thee bots. Don’t believe me? Well let’s just consult HubSpot’s updated “State of AI in Marketing” report!

Of the marketers who said “yes” to using generative AI for work:

• 58% used it for social media posts

• 36% went in for AI-imagined pictures

• 35% automated blog post (ex. research, drafting)

• 19% used it for landing pages (mainly to troubleshoot UX)

Meanwhile, in the blog post realm, AIs are not just suggesting topics but practically drafting cyber-Hemingway short stories.

Full-bore ebooks though? Don’t pop that bottle of Moët. It would seem AI isn't quite ready to pen the Great American Novel. Something about lacking authenticity, and not appreciating complex language nuance…

Ditto for whitepapers. AI might crunch the numbers, but it still lacks the je ne sais quoi for insightful analysis.

TL;DR: if you want to ride the AI marketing wave, hold onto your ego. At least for now.

New tables, old vendor

C’mon, I know that face. Don’t ‘Act!’ like you don’t want better visualization of customer data!

Ta-dah. Some new custom tables for Act! CRM. A company that’s been in the game since 1987, the same year “Bananarama” had a Top-5 hit.

The new tables offer a tender farewell to those old-school spreadsheets you've maybe been clinging to.

Personalize and visualize industry-specific details, why not. Now, you can cram all that juicy sales gossip and ultra-boring insurance-type stuff into one place, making your Act! CRM beefier than your aunt's homemade lasagna.

Bruce Reading, the top dog at Act!, is pretty chuffed. He said “it’s about understanding customers holistically and gathering meaningful insights—without the time or cost of development.”

So, for everything from finance fluff to warranty waffle—this one's for you. Go ahead, be the cool kid in the SMB playground—and get your Act! together.

Deal of the Week 🎁

Special 20% off FreeAgent CRM!

Use PROMO CODE:

CRMorg20

Tasty Tidbits

CRM blips from around the web

New Asia Pacific Loyalty Programs report just dropped. $46.9 Billion in 2023 → $75.5 billion in 2027, it says. And you better believe CRM is involved.

Acxiom wins Salesforce Partner Innovation Award. They won in Transportation, Travel & Hospitality for helping London Heathrow run better. No joke.

Stocks of the Week

^{*Figures are for the previous week (10/09/23-10/13/23), price calculated at close of markets on Friday, October 13th. We look at publicly listed CRM-related vendors only. This is not financial advice, and we make no claims on the accuracy of these figures.}