Customer 360

CHAPTER 7The Evolution of Customer Data and Platforms—A Case Study

In this chapter, we will follow the evolution of a single company as it developed its own approach to the Customer 360. Today it offers a single platform with the components needed for a successful end-to-end customer experience. This company is Salesforce.

We would never say there is only one approach to building a Customer 360. Realistically, enterprise tech stacks will always host components from dozens—often hundreds—of different vendors combined with homegrown and agency- and consultant-built tools. Experts like Scott Brinker, known as @chiefmartec, make a compelling case that dramatic vendor consolidation is neither imminent nor even necessary.

We’ll focus on Salesforce because it has the advantage of global scale, cross-industry focus, market success, and a comprehensive Customer 360 offering. (Full disclosure: another advantage is that both the authors work there, so it’s familiar.) But we’d like to be clear that Salesforce is not the only vendor making important contributions in this space.

THE SALESFORCE STORY

Salesforce.com was launched in 1999 at the height of the internet boom in the Valley—a time when adding a dot-com to a company’s name marked it as a challenger. Two dogs and four cofounders, including Marc Benioff and Parker Harris, set to work in a one-bedroom apartment on the top of San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill, spiritually supervised by posters of the Dalai Lama and Albert Einstein.