Even when most businesses went into lockdown in response to COVID-19, Canadians still needed to feel there was somewhere safe they could go to get food, medications and other essential products. As Canada’s leading food and pharmacy retailer, Loblaw had a big role to play in responding to that need, but it involved a lot more than simply keeping our doors open.

Our leaders recognized that amid fear and uncertainty, clear and transparent communication was vital. That was why consumers began to see detailed and transparent updates from us via email, mobile app and other channels, and why we did the same thing for our own team.

Within Loblaw, we not only had to think about those working in the checkout aisle or stocking shelves. For our colleagues who handle everything from customer support to operations, we were like many other organizations in having to tackle a large-scale — and immediate — shift to remote work.

Fortunately, we had already made investments in cloud computing and software-as-a-service tools, including Salesforce, which eased this transition considerably.

While we had to expand our network capacity, all those who needed to log in from home were able to do so within a week’s time. That meant we didn’t have to stagger employees to access IT resources in shifts, but could instead maximize productivity across our entire organization.

When you put yourself in your colleagues’ shoes, of course, you have to recognize that some of them might never have used a laptop for work before or accessed their work from home. Training had to be quick but also comprehensive — all while we were seeing a massive spike in commerce of between 300 and 400 percent.

Keeping Calm, Staying Connected And Looking Ahead

What made this work was a shift in mindset as to how we would function as a team and making the most of the technology we have available.

This not only included using tools like videoconferencing but thinking about the overall approach to internal communications, which was just as extensive as the messages we were bringing to customers. Our leaders began a daily update from our President that went to all our colleagues, for example. If there were people who didn’t use a laptop or computer regularly for work, it would be printed out and posted within our stores and offices.

We also began having leadership calls twice a day and weekly huddles among teams that focused on three major areas. First, we wanted to ensure everyone remained calm as the crisis continued to unfold. Second, we wanted to stay connected to each other and to the customers we serve. Third, we wanted to make sure we were always looking forward — recognizing that we may have some changes that span years, not weeks.

Salesforce helps us deliver on all these areas. A good example would be programs like PC Optimum, where our call centre agents receive urgent questions or complaints about their points balance. Customers don’t need any extra stress amid COVID-19 and with the use of Service Cloud we have made a single change that enables more than 600 agents to give them the help they need.

Salesforce technology lets us move seamlessly across cases coming in from the web, e-mail and other channels, keeping us connected to customers regardless of where our agent colleagues are working. This becomes extremely important given that our call centre supports multiple brands including Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart and others.

The volume of inquiries during the pandemic also led us to create more rapid-fire innovations like a chatbot that answered anywhere between 20 to 30 per cent of the questions during the COVID-19 peak that might have otherwise taken up our agents’ time.

Compassion During COVID-19

One of the most important ways we looked forward was in recognizing that those who lost their jobs during COVID-19 may also have lost their insurance coverage. That’s why we formed a powerful alliance with Salesforce, Deloitte and Bayer to create a portal through Shoppers Drug Mart’s Speciality Health Network where customers were able to get free access to an expensive medicine to treat high blood pressure.

While digital transformation is a marathon and not a sprint, we were able to develop and launch what we called our “Compassionate Portal” in only three weeks. The purpose of this portal is to provide funding support to patients who have been prescribed medication and are experiencing financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The portal is powered by the Salesforce platform, specifically the Health Cloud, which allowed us to be both proactive and quick to deliver help to Canadians who really needed it.

Although much of the Canadian economy is now reopening, we don’t know how long it will take for a COVID-19 vaccine to be developed and distributed. That makes it all the more urgent that businesses take the time to have a good and robust plan that takes into account multiple what-if scenarios to protect the safety of employees as well as customers.

We have already seen that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation on the consumer side, where click and collect options have become an expectation. As we develop our roadmap for 2021 and beyond, we know we’ll need to continue investing in digital transformation to provide an experience that customers will not only demand from us, but that they’ll appreciate and enjoy, to achieve our company purpose – to help Canadians Live Life Well

The post Why Loblaw Used Compassion As the Cornerstone Of Our COVID-19 Response appeared first on Salesforce.

As restaurants and businesses reopen and consumers go back to work, grocery shopping will change again. The surges will slow, but certain behaviors are here to stay. In fact, 68% of U.S. shoppers say they expect to buy essential goods online after the threats of COVID-19 subside. Consumers will continue to rely on digital-first shopping and will expect special in-store considerations. Only this time, they will be less forgiving about subpar experiences.

These are the five lessons grocers can apply to their businesses going forward.

Lesson 1: Personalize shopping experiences

What someone buys during a pandemic may not reflect their typical buying habits. Between March 13-15, 44% of U.S. household grocery shoppers stocked up on essential supplies. Post-pandemic, normal purchasing habits will likely resume. Grocery shopping will go from a long-term play — in which consumers plan for groceries weeks or months in advance — back to a routine task for in-the-moment purchases.

As purchasing habits shift back, grocers will need to deliver personalized experiences to move more shoppers past transactions and build increased loyalty.

There are three ways grocery retailers can do this:

1. Artificial intelligence (AI): AI learns from customer data to suggest relevant items based on past and recurring purchases. Connect AI to your customer relationship management (CRM) system to build tailored customer journeys across marketing, commerce, and service.

2. Customer surveys: Surveys and quizzes let customers tell you exactly what they want — and when they need it. Create email surveys and a section on your site for feedback. Include questions on lifestyle and dietary restrictions to deliver new product options.

3. Chatbots: Chatbot usage increased since COVID-19. Besides helping service teams scale, bots can provide curated information for customers. Use bots to set up order subscriptions and recommend products. Bonus: Bots make service agents more efficient because they free them up to focus on higher-value cases.

Lesson 2: Increase pickup options

Consumers will still want flexibility after shelter-in-place orders lift. Continue special considerations and services, including special pickup times and delivery options.

Take curbside pickup a step further. Reserve a certain number of spaces in your parking lot for pickup. Enable customers with an app to schedule their pickups and match them with a time and zone. Let them add their phone numbers to receive text updates. Text ahead of time with a pickup reminder and special instructions. You can also add staff to assist with curbside pickup zones by maximizing self-checkout lanes inside the store. Lastly, be sure to embed service so customers can connect with an associate and ask any questions.

Third-party delivery partners will continue to play an integral role. Find ways to evolve the partnership to continue to offer at-home delivery options. For example, make it easier for customers to receive items through subscription-based delivery from the store. Or explore automated vehicles for in-town deliveries.

Lesson 3: Partner with restaurants for wider reach

Restaurants were hit hard during COVID-19 and were quick to collaborate to create new revenue streams. Offer support to the industry by using your business as a platform for change. Create strategic partnerships with restaurants to make a positive impact.

To do this, consider offering ready-made or heat-and-serve restaurant meals. Then cross-promote to both restaurant and grocery customers for maximum reach. If there’s a bundled meal for Taco Tuesday, customers could click one button and add the ingredients to their cart. This expedites the service and creates a seamless experience.

Another approach is to co-create digital content such as recipes, how-tos, and blogs to increase consumer engagement between purchases. For example, a restaurant that features recipe content on its website can link to online grocery ordering.

Lesson 4: Empower associates to reduce contact risks

During the pandemic, store associates, warehouse workers, and delivery drivers became frontline heroes. Consumers trust and respect companies that recognize and fairly compensate these employees. According to a recent survey, after discounts, safety of employees was the top influencer for shopper purchases and loyalty.

When states reopen, frontline employees will be tasked with even more safety measures. Empower associates to handle customer questions while reducing contact and risk. For smaller grocers, this may mean scheduling appointments for at-risk in-store shoppers. For larger grocers, formalizing training on proper safety and social distancing protocol is key for one-to-one interactions.

Many grocers are implementing ways to reduce employee contact with customers such as encouraging shoppers to pay by card and use self-checkout. Safety screens and increased sanitizing can also protect workers.

Lesson 5: Change how you track inventory

Long delivery times and order substitutions marred the COVID-19 shopping experience. Post-crisis, consumers will have less patience for delays and inconsistencies.

To get ahead of expectations, track inventory the day of the order, not the day of delivery. Remove ordered items from the inventory system and keep them in the back of the store or in a dedicated section of your warehouse. If a customer tried to order an item but it was out-of-stock, notify them if it becomes available before their delivery time, so they can add it.

Evaluate order management capabilities as well. Ingest orders from online and route them to the correct store locations.

Prepare for new shopping habits, future disruptions

While the future is uncertain, digital commerce will be increasingly important for both large grocers and small shops. Small grocers may actually have an agility advantage without disparate, legacy systems.

Grocery retailers will begin to focus on transformational projects to prepare for future disruptions. Such projects don’t have to take months or even years. For example, the Salesforce Commerce Cloud Quick Start for Grocery and Food Service is a tailored, out-of-the-box solution has everything you need to offer buy online, pickup curbside experiences.

Get more tips, thought leadership, and resources with our Leading Through Change series.

The post Post-Pandemic Grocery Shoppers Will Want Personalization, Options Galore appeared first on Salesforce.

An Internet connection may not be quite as important as food and water, but during COVID-19 it’s probably safe to say it became an important staple for consumers and businesses alike.

For those living in a small, quarantined area, for example, services like phone, TV and Internet offered a critical link to the outside world. The need is even greater for frontline workers such as doctors in medical centres, or companies that helped keep our economy going.

At Cogeco, we faced a lot of pressure to maintain connectivity for all our residential and business customers — regardless of who they were — and to make sure they didn’t experience any disruption to vital digital services. We were able to achieve this in part by counting on our reliable and robust network, but also on our heroes in the field.

Sometimes we need these exceptional events to remind us how amazing our employees are. In this case, our team completely changed their operations schedule and worked tirelessly, making the most of the time when they were working on the network and self-install solutions.

It was not rare, for example, to see some of our technicians working at night when Quebec and Ontario were sleeping, to make sure that our clients would be able to work during the day. This was especially critical between periods like 11:00 am and 2:00 pm, when we saw major peaks in network utilization. Teams in our Network Operational Centres, meanwhile, were busy monitoring systems 24 hours a day in case of a network emergency.

Proving the value of planning ahead

Fortunately, Cogeco Connexion had conducted extensive business continuity preparations to ensure that our customers could maintain their access to services as the situation evolved. We have also invested heavily in our fibre-broadband infrastructure over the past years to build bandwidth capability and to achieve high levels of reliability and redundancy. All this allowed the network to accommodate increased levels of demand during this time, especially as work-from-home arrangements became increasingly necessary.

We didn’t just see an increase in network usage overall as COVID-19 unfolded. As social distancing became the norm in business and society, we also saw a massive change in some behaviours, such as the use of chat for customer service.

There was a drastic acceleration in the deployment of our self-install solutions. These became a fantastic way to reduce physical interaction between consumers and technicians for installation, product upgrades and equipment swap. If a customer was experiencing some issues with their installation, we equipped our technicians with a video application to continue supporting them directly from their trucks without going into the home.

Offering trusted local information

Collaboration was the key between teams: the digital, social media, PR and website teams did an amazing job quickly aligning content information to the organization’s strategic objectives and decisions.

The same was true across sales and marketing to keep customers updated in real time. It was amazing how everyone was playing their role; it made me remember my time at a startup! For example, we managed to forget the hierarchies we usually have in an organization and focused on being fully transparent and authentic. We also conducted meetings across the organization to plan how to face challenges and scope solutions. It was a process of ‘deploy, integrate, report, iterate and repeat.’

Cogeco also plays a special role in providing information to communities through our local TV stations. Creativity and adaptability were essential: our Community Relations team shifted from events to helping with food bank donations and gifts for medical employees. At every stage we shared information as soon as it became available, quickly becoming the trusted voice for news and information in all of our communities.

We worked closely with municipalities and were seen as an essential and unique vehicle to share important messages and information.

Interestingly, we saw our Net Promoter Score increase during the crisis. Salesforce Marketing cloud was key to orchestrating near real-time communication between Cogeco Connexion and the consumer base. Email was clearly the right channel to communicate in a timely manner with relevant information. We were able to turn around email creation from brief, design, integration, QA, and communication push in less than 3 hours.

Salesforce was at the centre of the successful self-install consumer experience, leveraging marketing automation capabilities to simplify the consumer onboarding process and collect customer feedback and NPS at the right moment after installation.

Demonstrating compassion and caring

Beyond ensuring customers had the services they needed, we had to make some important decisions as COVID-19 continued to unfold and their situation changed. In many cases this meant reviewing their options and taking steps to protect their safety.

Since the pandemic began, for instance, we have transitioned virtually all of our contact centre and office employees to work from home, and have converted customer visits to remote repairs in part through the use of new customer-friendly video technology. We have also transitioned all store operations to be handled either online, by phone or by mail, and increased network capacity in certain areas to handle higher traffic. We clearly see consumer behaviour shifting toward online tools such as chat, to browsing TV channels online, and buying via e-commerce.

“Supporting customers” takes on new meaning during a crisis like this, which is why Cogeco also offered a high number of free previews of movies, family, and local news channels. We also participated in the Connecting Families initiative, offering discounted Internet services to eligible lower income families, and we were among the first companies to commit to donate to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund of Centraide (United Way) of Greater Montreal aimed at ensuring food security during this crisis. Our company has also supported several food banks in its local communities across its network.

As the economy progressively reopens, our focus will remain on our customers—providing them the best customer experience by leveraging our tools and customer service expertise, as well as continuing to expand our reliable and redundant network. We will continue to focus on our goal to expand our network and connect more unserved or underserved areas aligned with our government’s ambition to connect all Canadians to high-speed internet.

This crisis may be taking longer to overcome than any of us would like, but in the meantime, we want to offer an end-to-end digital experience along the customer journey towards a post-pandemic world.

The post Keeping Customers And Communities Connected: Cogeco’s COVID-19 Response appeared first on Salesforce.

Now that all 50 states have relaxed stay-at-home measures, retailers large and small are reopening physical stores. But when they do, little in retail will seem familiar to shoppers or store associates. The pandemic forced stores to redesign, rethink, and reimagine the entire experience around new health regulations and new customer expectations.

Of course there are the “basics” of shopping in the age of COVID-19: signage asking shoppers to wear masks, plexiglass barriers, hand sanitizer and wipes, conspicuous cleaning, and primitive people-spacers like duct tape floor markers.

But, according to Big Red Rooster (BRR), a brand experience firm, retailers need to replace those temporary fixes with long-term solutions around safety and sanitation. “Retailers are just now moving beyond band-aids and are thinking about how to implement permanent changes,” says Emily Miller, VP of Strategy and Insights at BRR. This could include everything from fitting room restrictions to the amount of merchandise on the floor to checkout solutions like pay on your own device. According to research, 54% of consumers expect to see “significant” change in stores when they return to shop, anyway.

In an interview (paywall) American Eagle chief commercial officer Andrew McLean said, “From the moment you walk into our store we want you to see something that’s new. It’s many new protocols,” he said, “all are triggers in the customer’s mind that things are different now.” These fundamental alterations translate to a feeling of safety for customers, so they need to be visible and clear.

“Ship-from-store”

Even before COVID-19, I’ve watched retailers like PetSmart, Vineyard Vines, Bath & Body Works and Adidas start to use their stores as distribution points for ecommerce sales. These “ship-from-store” efforts reduce the time and cost of delivering goods to local customers from central distribution centers. Expect more of this as stores look to accommodate more and more online orders. But this is really just the beginning.

If shoppers perceive browsing as unsafe (hint: they do), they’ll visit a store on a purposeful and quick mission to acquire specific items — to get in and get out. In order to support this new behavior, retailers need to have order management and inventory systems in place to provide a real-time reflection of the stock they have in a specific store. Say an online customer wants to purchase two glass end tables from a furniture store for curbside pickup. If the store has the proper systems in place, that customer would be able to check online to make sure the tables are in stock before they bother to trek to the store to purchase them.

Some retailers may also pare down their portfolio of stores, using one or two in a particular region as a “ghost” location for inventory overflow or a pickup location for items that customers buy online. Other locations would be reserved for actual shopping and branded experiences.

Stores as … marketing channels?

That said, Doug Stephens, founder of retail industry consultancy Retail Prophet, feels stores’ core post-COVID purpose will be more about marketing and service than distribution. That means increased usage of storefronts as showrooms, event spaces, or venues for VIP and loyalty members. Store rents, he posits, will become a more economical avenue for customer acquisition than some of the legacy methods of drawing customers, such as advertising, digital marketing, paid search targeting, or offering discounts for new customers.

In line with their new function, these spaces may only display one of each item of merchandise, (despite some reports that clothing fibers are a lower risk carrier of the virus). The rest of the inventory will sit in the back of the store, perhaps sealed in protective plastic, and accessible only to associates.

“There is still a very relevant role for physical retail when it comes to learning about a brand,” says Ashley Renzi, Director of Global Direct to Consumer Strategy at New Balance. “It’s enormously important to clearly communicate the reasons for people to come to the store. What is it about the space that makes the experience special?”

The answer to that question, largely, remains to be seen.

Smart doors, smart mirrors (so much smart)

Shoppers will be able to pick up on these profound differences even before they enter stores. For starters, there will be only one dedicated door for entry and one for exit, in order to reduce congestion and the associated potential for virus transmission. And those doors? Many will become automatic to eliminate the need to touch them. If dedicated doors are not possible, store associates may serve double duty as gatekeeper, letting one person in and out at a time and keeping track of the number of people in the store.

Once inside, shoppers will find new one-way traffic patterns designed to help them avoid face-to-face interactions. Miller says some of her retail clients are even considering smart lighting to direct shoppers in a specified direction around the store. One layout option is a racetrack design in which shoppers move in one direction around merchandise displayed in the middle and around the edges of the store.

Stores will have less clutter and may even appear sparse. For example, consultancy firm Kearney advises that areas of a store “designed to increase dwell time” like couches, fixtures, and impulse buy displays, need to be removed. And get ready for smart mirrors, which take hands-free browsing to the next level, allowing you to envision yourself in a new dress or hat without ever placing it on your body. All of these measures enable social distancing, less touching of things, and moving merchandise off the floor.

Renzi adds “We’re presenting customers with relevant items in the least amount of time, moving them through the in-store journey so we can serve the next group of customers.”

Sanitation takes center stage

In the past, professional cleaning of retail stores was done in the wee hours, well out of view. Now, because research shows shoppers want assurances that the environment is clean, retailers can’t show off their cleaning practices too much. Stores will implement new CDC protocols that call for continuous wipe downs and sanitation of all areas, which may include UV lighting. Even something viewed in the past as benign, like a disorganized shelf, is a cue to shoppers that retailers aren’t bringing their sanitation A-game.

And what about common areas like fitting rooms? Some major retailers have said they won’t open them due to sanitation concerns. Where they are open, employees will clean them after each use. Miller says customers may have the option to reserve a clean fitting room ahead of time online. In a similar vein, many are considering appointment-based shopping models.

Some of the ways in which the store is changing in response to the pandemic, like contactless checkout may be permanent. Some, like hands-off browsing, may not. The crisis will impact consumer behavior in ways that perhaps we haven’t even considered yet and when it does, retailers will need to step in line with those new behaviors or risk irrelevance. All told, the crisis is asking customers and retailers to be more flexible and agile. In the words of Miller, “We can’t unlive this experience.”

Learn how to build trust with today’s shoppers with The New Retail Playbook.

The post Say Goodbye to Browsing: Retail Shopping in 2020 Gets a Total Makeover appeared first on Salesforce.

Packaging is an essential part of manufacturing, whether you’re talking about feed for animals or food for humans. It’s one of several areas Premier Tech has made its speciality over the past 97 years — and an area where we continue to flourish, even during COVID-19.

Within our Systems and Automation Group, we make it our mission to enhance manufacturing facility efficiency with the best packaging equipment possible.

The kind of equipment I’m talking about can last for 25 years, but it needs the same regular care and maintenance you would put into your car. Normally that might be a routine operation, but the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus forced us to get creative in addressing the needs of our global customer base.

When governments had to make the tough decision to close their borders, for example, there was an immediate impact on the delivery of our packaging equipment. Items could still be shipped, but they still needed to be installed within our clients’ facilities. How could we do that without being able to send installation technicians?

This was where an investment we had already made in digital technology provided an unexpected payoff. We had decided to deploy Service Cloud Lightning to 16 of our sites around the world for our partners team, our technical support staff and field service employees.

Moving to cloud-based technology made sense because, like many businesses, we wanted to have a full overview in real time of client requests, as well as the resources we had available to help them.

Just a month before the pandemic began, we had completed our Salesforce deployment— the timing could not have been better. It has meant that we were not only able to continue offering the kind of client experience we always had, but also to outperform what we had been doing in the past. Let me explain what I mean.

Bridging Physical Distances To Solve Customer Problems

Through monitoring requests and measuring our response time in Service Cloud Lightning, we were able to get a clearer picture of sites where our installation technicians wouldn’t be available.

At the same time, however, we were able to determine which service technicians might be nearby, and were able to reassign them. Given that installations and service technicians have similar backgrounds, they were able to ensure the job got done.

This is huge for us, because while clients pay us when we send in field technicians, one of our competitive differentiators has been the free remote support we offer for the lifetime of our equipment. Even amid COVID-19, Service Cloud Lightning has helped us to deliver on that promise by letting customers reach out for help via email, call or text.

Better yet, since deploying the technology we were actually able to reduce our usual global response time, despite the challenges the pandemic created.

Innovating With Video And AR

We didn’t want to stop there, however. We wanted to bring innovation to our customer experience, so we installed a plugin that allows our clients to open up a videoconferencing-style application where they can show us exactly what’s going on with their equipment.

Then, using an augmented reality (AR) tool within the same Salesforce environment, our experts can draw over the image the client is seeing on their screen. They can see exactly what they can do on their own to solve a particular problem. It’s an unprecedented way for us to bridge the distance we have to maintain because of COVID-19.

Working on the cloud has brought a lot of benefits internally at Premier Tech, too. For many weeks now, the president of our Client Service division has been producing a regular video update that gets sent out to team members around the world. He uses data to explain how we’re meeting our KPIs during the current crisis.

These videos are keeping us all on the same page, and proves the power of acting as a truly digital business. Most of the KPIs and screen shots he’s sharing are coming right out of Salesforce.

Building On Success

Next up, we’re going to be expanding the scope of our Service Cloud Field Lightning deployment so it can benefit all of our installation and commissioning technicians this summer. That means they will get a similarly full picture of the projects they need to complete, and be better able to optimize the resources they have to do so.

At the same time, we are in beta with a Community Cloud project that will bring self-service capabilities to customers, a B2B commerce project to ease the purchase of spare parts and have plans to extend our use of AR to all our technicians around the world.

Overall, we feel we’re in a really good position to expect more growth in our business next year, just as we did during the last recession. The secret has been staying local to our clients — even if the nature of acting “local” means being more strategic about how we use technology.

The post Premier Tech Proves It’s Still Possible For Global Businesses To Offer A Local Touch During COVID-19 appeared first on Salesforce.

On June 13, 2019, the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Championship, for the first time in franchise history, and marked a historic moment at Scotiabank Arena in terms of teamwork, all-out effort and community spirit. Though we might never have imagined it at the time, there was an equally historic moment requiring the same teamwork, all-out effort and community spirit that was still to come.

In March, just as the outbreak of COVID-19 led the NBA, NHL and MLS to suspend their seasons, Scotiabank Arena was among the many venues that seemed destined to sit idle for an indefinite period of time.

At Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), being idle has never been part of our DNA.

Our business is unique, in the sense that our core product can change daily based on the wins, losses and memorable moments. Our business units are used to being nimble, innovative and responsive. This comfort with being flexible is what allowed us to shift our thinking quickly – from the execution of the core business to the execution of a community program to support a core human need.

Besides all the empty seats, the arena was full of food that would have gone to waste. That week, MLSE’s team of chefs came together to help donate over 27,000 lbs. of product to Second Harvest, a long-time partner of ours, which receives donations from MLSE venues throughout the year.

We could have stopped there. Much like the Maple Leafs and the Raptors during their finest moments, the company recognized an opportunity to up its game.

Project Management FTW

Following that initial donation, MLSE began discussions with the City of Toronto and the Province about the urgent needs arising from the pandemic. This inspired the food and beverage team to develop a program that would maximize MLSE’s ‘paused’ resources and infrastructure to make a big impact and support our fans.

Our goal was to build a large-scale meal program that would deliver meals to the vulnerable population and to also thank front-line healthcare workers for all they are doing to help keep Toronto and the surrounding communities safe during this challenging time. Doing so would be a win equivalent to a come-from-behind victory that gets fans jumping up with thunderous applause. With that in mind, there was perhaps no better name for this program than Bringing Toronto back to its feet.

The earliest meal-production volume estimates were ambitious, to say the least, but in some ways, MLSE had a lot of internal skills that paved the way. This included the ability to anticipate and chart a project path. Applying this to our estimates, we identified variables that could alter the original plan and the potential resulting outcomes, and from there, charted potential new paths so we could agilely adjust.

After assigning department leads, building the right communication processes and establishing milestones, we were ready to get started.

Redefining ‘Team Effort’

There were bumps along the way, especially doing it all by phone and video meetings. But thankfully the foundational strengths of the company and the project-oriented skill sets of our employees helped us overcome all obstacles to get the program to launch.

This started with the efforts of MLSE’s executive leadership team, who kept employees engaged and motivated by being transparent, sharing all the relevant information through town halls and weekly updates. They have recognized and acknowledged the hard work of their teams and they have encouraged open and honest conversations at all levels.

Hundreds of employees from different areas of the business came together to support this great initiative by volunteering their time. Every business unit in the company has had a hand in developing and executing this program. It requires clear objectives, concise communication and role clarity to be successful in working with such a broad group – much like that of a sports team on the ice, court, pitch or field.

MLSE’s partners also had a hand in supporting the program. Their response has allowed the program to not only achieve but surpass its distribution goals.

Bring new life to our mission

In that sense, Bringing Toronto back to its feet has been a good example of how MLSE’s mission statement — “Uniting and Empowering our employees to create extraordinary moments for our fans and each other” — is more than just a quote on the wall. It is important for us to be a community builder and play a leadership role. This is one of the ways that MLSE was able to showcase our commitment in a time when our business has halted, and we aren’t able to bring fans together the way we normally would for a game or event.

The feedback that we have received from the people that we are helping has been incredible, and we are very proud of the extraordinary moments we have created.

During this period of uncertainty and the halt of our operations, MLSE has turned one of the most challenging times in the history of our organization and city into an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

MLSE’s commitment to health and safety during this time has also strengthened the relationships and trust between employees and management.

This experience will only make MLSE and its employees stronger and enhance our culture of team spirit and giving back. It has also reminded us of the incredible talent, strength and agility that we have as an organization.

The post The Play-By-Play On MLSE’s Effort To Bring Toronto Back To Its Feet appeared first on Salesforce.

For the last 20 years, our unofficial motto at D2L, a Canadian-headquartered education-technology company, has been “changing the way the world learns.” We’ve been steadily delivering on that motto year after year, growing into a global leader in online and blended learning in leading K-12 classrooms, colleges, universities and corporations through our Brightspace platform.

When COVID-19 struck, however, suddenly institutions around the world realized they urgently needed to change.

In the last two decades, many companies and schools embraced a blend of in-person and online learning. But overnight, those existing customers — as well as many institutions and organizations that have never used a learning platform — suddenly had to move to a digital first model. Supporting that unprecedented, rapid and global shift was a massive, all-hands-on-deck undertaking for all of D2L. I think we more than rose to the occasion – and our customers think so too as evidence by the kudos seen in social media.

Three months into the crisis, our deployment of resources and teams to quickly onboard new customers are a textbook case of business agility, strategic thinking and determination — all enabled by digital technologies to provide the best possible business outcomes.

Looking at The Data, and Preparing Accordingly

To move forward quickly, the D2L team made a counterintuitive decision: we decided to look backwards.

The first step involved looking at historical data to analyze and minimize potential infrastructure availability issues. Like many businesses, we know that there are times of the year where our platform will face increased demands, such as exam periods in schools, or when schools or corporate training sessions start up after the summer.

We began figuring out how to scale our IT to meet the expectations, even though it was clear that all its previous models would be blown out of the water.

We treated the COVID-19 onboarding rush like it was a school startup period. We took our semester start graph to see what normally happens over a period of 10 weeks around labour day and overlaid it on what was happening around March 23, and it looks like the same pattern — plus some, because obviously all of our corporate clients have moved digital-first, too.

Use of video alone has grown by 2500%+, requiring strategic use of IT resources to maintain a quality experience.

Besides looking internally at what we could deliver, we also had to look across all the integrations within our ecosystem to make sure our partners had a clear business continuity plan and, where necessary, to advise them if it wasn’t sufficient to ensure a strong customer experience.

We’re a learning company first and a technology company second. We would never advise a customer to adopt something that wasn’t in the best interest of learners — and we work hard with our customers to find the best-possible outcome.

Accelerating Time to Value for Customers

Once the quality and scalability of our services were ensured, we also had to rethink the way we onboard customers, particularly new ones, and minimize the disruption that COVID-19 might have caused. To address this, we introduced a “Quick Start” program, which helps accelerate getting customers up and running with Brightspace.

As well, we offered deferred usage costs for the first three months, built new online resources to support the shift to digital first, ramped up and added capacity on our service teams, surveyed and connected with customers to measure progress and shared business continuity plans openly.

As a team, we carefully review each new customer to assess their most urgent needs, removing elements that may slow down the adoption process, creating a more custom package.

This was all done with the help of Salesforce technology. We funnel all those decisions through our automated deployment mechanism, which we have driven out of Salesforce, so the minute contracts are closed, it becomes available within one hour.

Of course, customers will always have questions and occasional challenges, but data-driven thinking played a strong role here, too. As a Service Cloud customer, we had a lot of expertise in how its business and education segments might be affected by COVID-19. Onboarding resources, training, release notes, and more are all available on the Brightspace online community, which is on Salesforce. Additional assets include blog posts, webinars, best practice guides and customer success stories. These resources empower customers to get ahead of potential problems. Based on what you’re trying to do and your persona, we have a plethora of assets on how we’re helping customers through COVID-19.

Building Resilience Across the Team

Behind the scenes, we are like most other companies where we were having to shift our office-based teams to working from home, and ensuring they had the right technologies was only one step.

Developing systems to keep internal communication flowing is key. At first we held daily standups and the senior leadership offered regular Ask Me Anything sessions to cover off important questions. We’ve used Slack to replace water-cooler chatter. All of this makes sure people stay connected and grounded at a very difficult time.

For many learners, the post-pandemic future is still foggy, but we’re continuing to push forward. We’re already more than a third of the way through the annual planning process we conduct for the Fall semester.

We’ve pivoted from our traditional advisory board type conversations to, ’What are you seeing in your respective environment? How ready were you? What will be the changes for the coming months? Even with the help D2L already provided – what can we do to facilitate the continued transition to engaging online learning ensuring that your goals are achieved? It’s not just about enrollment but what will happen in terms of content delivery, the entire learner experience.

We don’t know what’s going to happen. This might be the new normal for an extended period of time. When we say that we want to change the way the world learns, we mean it. And in a changing world, that’s never been a more important mission.

The post How D2L is Changing Learning in a Changing World appeared first on Salesforce.

Businesses now face a shared challenge: how do you predict the unpredictable?

Here’s what you need to know to make sure your AI predictions support your customers in this time of uncertainty.

Where AI predictions can go wrong

Think about how many changes you’ve made in your life over the last several weeks. Multiply that by thousands, millions, and even billions of other people making similar lifestyle changes, and you can imagine the uncertainty it creates for businesses that rely on AI in their customer workflows.

Previously reliable models are suddenly unable to accurately predict an outcome:

• A forecasting model can’t cope with an unforeseen need for increased staffing.

• A lead scoring model for sales has no knowledge of how widespread school closures impact customer meetings.

• Churn models don’t include variables for social distancing or sudden massive job loss.

AI uses historical data to create accurate predictions. But this pandemic is throwing off predicted outcomes. While models can adapt and learn, the rapid changes currently in motion make it difficult for them to learn fast enough.

What can you do in the midst of this volatility? Use these tips to help focus your efforts so you can best support customers today and tomorrow.

6 tips for using AI to empathize with your customer

Now is the time to take a closer look at your AI strategy to ensure accurate data and predictions support a positive customer experience. Companies that get the customer experience right lay the foundation for long-term loyalty. Here’s how.

1. Examine your data and dashboards

Take a close look at dashboards that track important business KPIs: how have they changed? Are your customers waiting longer than usual for resolution?

Slice your data by hour, by day, by week — even by records related to COVID-19. This will help you isolate normal (generally seasonal) patterns from the current shifts in customer behavior.

But take note: if something looks different from one day to the next or one week to the next, it might just be a red herring! Ask yourself why you’re observing specific new behaviors: is it a one-off or is it the new normal? For example, customers buying excess toilet paper isn’t necessarily a new trend, but prolonged purchases of immune-boosting vitamins may be.

2. Inspect your AI models

A powerful, data-driven way to understand how your business is impacted by the pandemic is to compare AI models built on different segments of data.

Use data from last year to build a model, and compare the model to data from this year, or this month if you have enough. Are the models changing? Which attributes were most important? Do they tell you something about how the data is shifting?

3. Monitor, monitor, monitor

It is crucial to know what happens with predictions over time. For example, if you predict how many customers will convert to paid after a free trial, will they exhibit the same behavior given the current situation? Build reports to compare your predicted to your actual values and slice by time again. Has this changed over the last few weeks? These comparisons will help determine which changes are due to COVID-19 factors and will guide you in providing the best support to your customers.

4. Don’t (over)react to every new insight

Pay attention to all areas of the business where you leverage AI. Your fraud detection algorithms looking for anomalous behaviors may go haywire because everything is in a state of flux. These anomalies may be the new normal or may return to the way things were before.

The challenge is we simply don’t know yet, so you need to wait and see.

Depending on where we land, this will determine how to respond in the new steady state. Do you keep this data from future model training? Do you leverage it differently? You will need to continue to monitor your predictions and continue to adapt.

5. Update your business processes

A prediction is no better than the business process it powers. After all, you may be able to perfectly predict the future, but if it doesn’t drive a business outcome, it’s not very useful.

During this time of rapid change, you may need to make adjustments to your automated workflows. Maybe you have a model that predicts if a customer will pay an invoice late which kicks off a reminder email if the likelihood is high. Be sure to adjust your customer communications so the message to customers is empathetic and compassionate. The last thing you want to do is send a nasty-gram that creates more stress and alienates the customer.

6. Above all else, win as a team and lead with empathy

It takes a village to solve this problem.

Bring together your business experts and your Salesforce admins to examine models. Bring in analysts to slice your data and discuss insights with them. Everyone from your product teams to sales teams can bring diverse perspectives and collaborate on the right way forward.

In our day-to-day lives, we are excited about the possibilities of AI, and the opportunities it brings to our business. It can be easy to forget that every data point is a person. But in this crisis, more than ever, we need to remember this simple fact — every one of us is living this shared experience. How do you want your company’s response to be remembered?

For more business and leadership inspiration, check out our entire Leading Through Change series.

The Einstein team is here to help you through this uncertain time. If you and your team need help to audit your predictions and create an action plan to move forward, please reach out to your AE to get in touch with one of our Einstein experts. Read more about how to get started with Einstein Artificial Intelligence on the Einstein Hub.

The post How to Adjust Your AI Strategy to Address Volatility in a Time of Crisis appeared first on Salesforce.

As many of you are now responsible for keeping work-from-home environments secure, here are some important steps you can take to protect yourself, your data, and your work.

Beware of COVID-19 phishing emails

Hackers are taking advantage of the heightened emotions during this time. Cybercriminals are targeting individuals and organizations throughout the globe. To help protect yourself, take time to review the details of your received emails, such as:

• Subject line: Is something off? For example, if you receive an email with a notice about a delivery you weren’t expecting, it could be a phishing attempt.

• Unrecognized email addresses: Do you know this person? Were you expecting anything from this person? If not, be wary.

• Attachments: Anything suspicious about the attachment? The name? The format? Do not click on these suspicious attachments.

• Credential requests: Is an email asking you to log in to something? Are they asking for your username, password, or other sensitive information? Do not give this information away unless you are sure the email is from a trusted sender.

• Content integrity: How does the message read? Is it poorly written? If so, it may be up to no good.

• Calls to action: Is the message requesting immediate, urgent attention? Are they asking for money? These types of emails are suspicious.

If you notice any of the above, do not reply or click the links within the email. Instead, forward the suspect email to your organization’s security team, mark it as suspicious through your email provider (if possible), and then delete it.

Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA)

You may be more familiar with the concept of two-factor authentication, or 2FA. MFA and 2FA both protect against unauthorized access by requiring a user to provide multiple authentication factors to prove their identity. This second layer of security may come in the form of a hardware security key or temporary tokens, Touch ID (which requires you to use your fingerprint to authenticate your identity), or authentication apps like Salesforce Authenticator. Always check the security settings of the programs you use and enable MFA when it’s available.

Use a strong password

A different password on all your apps and devices — work, social, and personal — is a simple measure you can take to protect your account,especially if MFA is not available. Ensure each password includes a mix of letters, numbers, special characters, and contains at least eight to ten characters. Do not share your password with anyone. Use a password manager, like LastPass, to securely store all your passwords and make it easier to create and use unique passwords across apps and services.

Ensure a secure connection

Devices that connect to the internet, such as computers and phones, have varying levels of security controls. If your organization provides a VPN (Virtual Private Network), use it consistently to make your internet connection more secure. You can also help keep foreign devices off your network by using the router’s administrator console to enable encryption (use WPA2 or WPA3) and updating your firmware when it’s necessary.

Secure your virtual meetings

The use of video conference platforms is at an all-time high. Take a moment to review your web conference platform’s security settings (Google Meet, Cisco WebEx) to help prevent gatecrashers from joining your meetings. Use the platform’s built-in security features, such as waiting rooms, screen sharing permissions, and participant notifications to manage activity to prevent unauthorized attendees. Be sure to create new meeting access codes and links for each meeting. Also, disable features on the platform that you don’t need — such as file transfer and recordings — to prevent unsolicited content and unauthorized sharing.

Secure your calls

Whether you are on the computer or on the phone, be aware of your surroundings and use headphones for work calls to minimize what others can hear. When using a landline, make sure others can not pick up the line on a different phone.

Secure your physical workspace

Prevent accidentally sending a sensitive email from your device by remembering to lock your screen when you walk away from your computer. If available, use a privacy screen for additional security.

Secure your data

Working from home can be a little chaotic at times, but especially in a pandemic. Be sure to store online work-related data like important files and emails in a secure location that is approved and accessible by your company. Also, be sure to back up your data in the cloud so you can alway retain it, even if your son spills his morning orange juice on your MacBook. If you have sensitive information in hard copy, keep it stored in a locked file. When you no longer need it, shred it immediately.

Keep devices patched

Your day-to-day schedule isn’t the only thing that needs a reboot — so do your devices. Reboot at least once a week and stay up-to-date with the latest versions of software and browsers. Through patching, aka version updates, your device automatically adds necessary new features, removes old ones, fixes performance issues, and removes bugs, all of which helps keep hackers out.

Check out some additional Salesforce security resources here:

• Updates on Salesforce Safety and Wellbeing Actions

• Measures in place in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Salesforce Security Best Practices

• Salesforce Help: Protect Your Salesforce Organization

To get more tips on navigating through COVID-19, check out our Leading Through Change series, where you’ll find thought leadership, tips, and resources to help business leaders manage through crisis.

• Here are five ways we’re helping our employees navigate work

• Ways to maintain customer relationships when you can’t meet in person

• You need to have a crisis communications plan in place

The post Is Your Remote Environment Secure? Here’s How to Keep It Safe appeared first on Salesforce.

Make digital commerce more “in-person”

We are hurting for the day-to-day interactions that used to lift us up, like a laugh with our hairdresser or favorite barista. People are turning to digital experiences – like meeting friends for coffee online. Commerce brands can join the trend with online forums and other digital experiences that help everyone feel more connected right now. How can you play a role in fostering these connections?

While it might seem too difficult to build digital experiences from scratch right now, creating a commerce portal is relatively easy. It also boosts customer engagement while getting them the information they need. A commerce portal is simply an authenticated digital doorway to interactions and content that you tailor to your customers. Look for tools with out-of-the-box (OOTB) components to speed the creation of engaging digital experiences. OOTB components are ready-to-use building blocks that let you deploy experiences like the ones listed below faster.

Here are five digital ways to use portals to go beyond the transaction while working from home:

1. Make loyalty programs digital-friendly

Ensure your best members have an easy way to manage and redeem rewards online. Revisit your rewards experience, ensuring it doesn’t require an in-person interaction. You may find customers who usually shop in stores need a little explanation of how to take advantage of your loyalty program digitally.

Beer and beverage company Mahou San Miguel created a personalized loyalty portal. Fans of Mahou San Miguel brands sign up for the program online. They get points when they enter product codes from cans and bottles online. Redeeming points is as easy as selecting a gift or experience. Based on the members’ stated interests and locations, the company matches members with experiences they might enjoy.

2. Personalize your portal content

Initial content efforts should focus on delivering fast access to information about crisis-driven changes to policies and hours. Personalize that content by region and customer using the data in your CRM. Some content management systems connect to CRM data readily, making personalization simple. But don’t stop there.

Once you’ve handled crisis communication, focus on connecting customers to information they may find useful or interesting in their current situation, while hunkered down during a pandemic. For example, pizza lovers might be interested in trying to make dough from scratch for the first time. So if you’re a grocer, your portal could offer instructions along with a recipe and related shopping list.

3. Promote (or launch) community forums

This is also the perfect time to let the world know about the community or forum you already use to connect with your biggest fans. Now that access is limited to in-person events, people who aren’t usually “forum types” may be surprisingly eager to join your community, share tips, and give and get advice.

Financial technology provider nCino does a nice job offering added benefits for its online community members. Within the community, members share ideas, interact with subject matter experts, and vote for future product developments. The digital experience keeps people up to date and adds value in an environment that’s also social. nCino also highlights their community on its COVID-19 response page, helping users take advantage of this interactive resource.

4. Reimagine VIP experiences

Use data-driven personalization to help customers find and schedule in-person product pick-up options in their areas. Consider ways to offer an online version of the VIP shopping experience you may provide to your best customers. A portal can help you stand up these VIP experiences quickly. For instance, an exercise retailer might offer VIPs access to a coaching tool or goal tracker.

5. Streamline post-purchase transactions

Make it easy for customers to register warranties, schedule deliveries, and apply for credit – without having to start an assisted interaction. These types of interactions don’t need to feel like contacting customer service. For example, you can make scheduling (and rescheduling) a delivery more seamless by finding ways to reduce the number of clicks required. Easy post-purchase management goes a long way toward making customers happier. That’s because you’re providing customers with processes that they control.

Outerwear-maker Canada Goose stands behind its products with a warranty covering materials and craftsmanship – for the lifetime of the product. And the company provides a simple and digital way to connect to warranty information and registration. An online warranty experience can be as simple as a digital form that lets customers register their product no matter where they bought it. But what if you sell products covered by a variety of warranty terms? Retailer Mattress Firm sells products from multiple manufacturers, each with their own warranty. To simplify this, Mattress Firm offers a portal that guides customers through the warranty process for the many products they sell.

Upgrading digital experiences can have a big impact on customer loyalty during this unprecedented time. Commerce businesses can use this as an opportunity to create new experiences for their customers and think beyond the transaction.

Learn more about building your own portal

To learn more about how to implement the advice above, watch “Reimagine How You Digitize the Customer Lifecycle as You Work from Home.” You’ll hear from portal experts and explore how you can forge deeper relationships with customers – even if you’re working from home. Watch it now.

To get more tips on navigating change, read other articles in our Leading Through Change series. Find thought leadership, tips, and resources to help business leaders manage through crisis.

The post 5 Fast Ways to Take Consumer Experiences Beyond Transactions appeared first on Salesforce.