Salesforce launches Desk.com, slick social customer support software based on Assistly
Enterprise cloud powerhouse Salesforce has launched Desk.com, a savvy customer support application that connects agents with e-mail, phone calls, and social channels, the company announced Tuesday.
Context & Ripple Effects
Salesforce had already pushed its Service Cloud toward social support through Chatter, Facebook and Twitter integrations, then expanded Chatter with real-time chat, screen sharing and groups in 2011. Desk.com applies that multi-channel approach to the support-agent desktop.
The launch also follows Salesforce's Do.com release for small teams, reinforcing a product strategy built around cloud applications that organize work around collaborative, social interactions.
First-order effects
- Support teams using Desk.com can handle email, phone and social-channel interactions in one Salesforce-backed application rather than treating those channels as separate agent workflows.
- Assistly becomes the foundation for Desk.com, placing its support-software approach inside Salesforce's broader cloud portfolio.
Second-order effects
- Customer-support software rivals face pressure to match a unified agent view across conventional and social channels, not merely add social-network integrations as stand-alone features.
Third-order effects
- If Salesforce keeps connecting collaboration tools and service applications, the support desk shifts toward a conversation-centered work surface where the customer interaction is the organizing record.
The trend: Enterprise cloud software is moving customer service from channel-specific tools toward unified workflows organized around conversations.