AT&T, which stands for American Telephone and Telegraph Company, provides most of the telephone services in the United States. As a telecommunications company, AT&T offers several solutions like satellite television, internet service, network security, among others. According to this, the company must hold an impressive amount of customers; hence, it’s important for AT&T to have a great CRM.
For starters, the company relies on CRM provided by Salesforce. Questions like “what is a CRM?” and “how does it work?” are meant to be answered here before understanding how AT&T manages its interactions with customers.
AT&T Overview
AT&T’s history dates back to the 1980s when Alexander Graham Bell founded it after patenting the telephone. Pretty much as then, AT&T’s business in the present is about connectivity. The company is built around three units: AT&T Communications, AT&T Latin America, and WarnerMedia.
- AT&T Communications: Is in charge of providing communication networks among individuals and businesses via mobile, TV, and broadband services.
- WarnerMedia: Leads in entertainment by creating diverse content through brands like Warner Bros., TBS, HBO, TNT, Adult Swim, CNN, Cartoon Network, and more.
- AT&T Latin America: Focuses on bringing wireless and TV solutions to Latin American countries and the Caribbean.
Formerly, Xandr was the fourth unit of AT&T business. It was dedicated to selling analytics and advertising solutions but was sold to Microsoft in 2021.
How Does CRM Work?
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a process employed by any company to manage its interactions with customers. It works by compiling as much data as possible from multiple channels (social media, email, the company’s website, etc.) to enhance the company’s understanding of its target audience.
Every interaction involving a company and its customers is part of its CRM, from sales to (most importantly) market analysis. Thus, if an action can lead to the company gaining and retaining consumers, it is important to CRM. Additionally, CRM works in alignment with the company, so the type of activities pursued by it depends on the company’s purpose.
Salesforce As CRM
This cloud-based company specializes in CRM, analytics, marketing automation, and customer services. Despite being a relatively young company (founded in 1999), it has been able to serve really valuable companies like Paypal, McAfee, IBM, e.l.f, and Mercedes-Benz.
All of the services provided by Salesforce are meant to be used as tools to allow companies to interact with their employees and customers most efficiently. For example:
- Service Cloud is a platform where all customers’ data are present so that experts can use it.
- Slack serves as a communication platform to bring teams together.
- Einstein AI is a smart assistance tool that makes recommendations to customers and experts based on past interactions.
- MuleSoft is a type of software used to integrate devices, applications, and data.
- Tableau is the best tool for getting real-time analytics and fresh insights based on the collected data.
Besides these, Salesforce provides 12 more services! And the integration of all of them is called Salesforces Customer 360, a platform where data, channels, teams, and insights can become one project.
AT&T And Salesforce
AT&T decided in 2020 to make a strategic agreement with Salesforce to accelerate the impact of its solutions. By relying on Salesforce Customer 360, the company will collect information of every customer and all of its actions, disregarding whether they’re in-store or through a mobile app. This process is supposed to help AT&T deliver what the customers expect when they expect it, especially enhancing customer experiences.
To attain this, AT&T will use every solution provided by Salesforce Customer 360, such as MuleSoft, Einstein AI, Tableau, and Service Cloud. All of which will enable AT&T to track customers’ actions (through multiple touchpoints), understand their preferences and make more accurate suggestions to make their relationships with the company grow. By doing so, services provided by AT&T will excel in every need.
Conclusion
AT&T provides more than mobile services; it is in charge of connecting the biggest part of the country to the rest of the world through several ways (TV, internet, mobile, etc.). Because of this great responsibility, the company needs to trust all of its customer data in a reliable CRM, such as Salesforce. The national recognition of this company is paired with a broad portfolio of tools that enable AT&T to continue delivering the best connectivity solutions and now even more accurately.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What was the former CRM used by AT&T?
In the past, CRM used by AT&T was developed by Siebel Systems.
- Is Salesforce Customer 360 a single product?
Not really. Salesforce Customer 360 is a technology portfolio (hence the name of “integrated platform”).
- If a company starts working with Salesforce, is it forced to use all of its tools?
No, since Salesforce is meant to be tailored assistance to your company’s specific needs.
