Biographical Information

Articles for Paul Greenberg

CRM in 2025: Data Is Key to Bringing Predictive, Generative, and Agentic AI Together

While everyone is fixated on prescriptive, generative, and agentic flavors of artificial intelligence, the executive CRM vendor panel brought together for the CRM Playaz "What is CRM in 2025" series say data should really be at the heart and forefront of any AI discussion, regardless of the type of AI being discussed. Defining successful outcomes and which data is needed to design those outcomes should be the primary concern.

CRM in 2025: Will the Promise of Agentic AI Be Enough to Overcome Organizational Inertia?

As part of the CRM Playaz conversation series on what 2025 has in store for CRM and CX, executives from Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, and ServiceNow discuss whether the promise of generative AI in the year ahead is powerful enough to overcome the organizational inertia that slows down adoption and limits the impact of disruptive tech in the enterprise.

With Big Data, Big Isn’t Necessarily Better

The specific kinds of data matter—the kinds that generate insights

When Designing Customer Engagement Programs, Remember: Style Matters

Interfaces should be simple and intuitive, but also visually appealing

Customer Self-Service: Fast, Cheap, and in Control

Self-service has gone from an acceptable alternative to a desirable one

Where Systems of Record Will Go from Here

They're continually evolving, not going away

Data Is Useless (at Least on Its Own)

Marketers should view data as just one ingredient in a successful recipe

Storytelling in Business: Art, Science, Necessity

You have to make customers connect with you in a personal way

To Engage Customers, Your UI Design Needs These 6 Qualities

It's about giving customers what they want in the most frictionless way possible without breaking the bank

ABM and Content Marketing Thrive in the Age of the Customer

These new (sort of) approaches to marketing bring personalization into the modern age

A Customer-Engaged Culture Must Be Believable and Respectful

When customers view companies as trustworthy, true engagement happens

A Customer-Engaged Company Has Empathy in Its DNA

It has to be both baked into your company's culture and present in your people.

A Customer-Engaged Culture Requires a Vital Ingredient—Trust

Customers trust ‘people like me'; it's time for your business to become ‘a company like me'

Separating AI Reality from AI Hype

Artificial intelligence is about to go mainstream, so let's talk about what it is, and isn't

Software Ecosystems Are Becoming Critical Business Infrastructure

To deliver great customer experiences and outcomes, vendors have to band together

Customer Engagement Starts (and Maybe Ends) with the Basics

A #FAIL with baseline expectations will have your customers looking elsewhere

Sales and Marketing Alignment: Trend or Necessity?

Two departments that haven't always seen eye to eye need each other now more than ever before

Reimagining CRM, Part One

CRM has lived through interesting times—and the changes aren't over

It’s Time to Rethink Customer Lifetime Value

Look past transactions to interactions

Gloomy CRM Forecasts Lead to New Opportunities

The technology's benefits are too obvious to ignore.

Mastering the Alignment of Sales and Marketing

With today's connected customers, engagement is more vital than ever.

What's Customer Engagement Again?

More than just a buzzword, it's key to retaining today's digital customer.

CRM in the Age of Customer Engagement

When definitions are in flux, flexibility is key.

The Long Tail of Customer Experience

How American Girl dolls became much more than child's play.

The Fan Business

Winning sports franchises know that selling tickets is only the beginning.

Insights Matter, the Data Proves It

Look to uplift modeling to predict customer actions.

Customer Experience Finally…and Once Again

This "novel" concept is nothing new at all.

Big Data, Big Deal

What you don't know can hurt your business.

Lessons from CRM Idol 2011

Takeaways any business can use.

Social Everything Comes of Age

Enterprise 2.0 and social CRM form the core of social business

Never Underestimate the Power of Traditional Methods

It's not the medium but, rather, how you use it to engage customers that counts

Interacting with Social Customers, 101

By acknowledging social media's influence and capitalizing on it, you could create evangelists for your company

Boarding the Cluetrain

Transparency and authenticity are the cornerstones of trust between a company and its customers.

The Shotgun Marriage of Sales and Marketing

In this exclusive excerpt from the fourth edition of the industry bible, legendary thought leader Paul Greenberg explains why the unification of sales and marketing is finally upon us.

The New Customer Record

You need more than just transaction data if you want to take action.

Managing Social Customers for Profit

A new paradigm calls for a reassessment of an industry metric.

Social Customers Want to Engage

But are you prepared to let them?

Life in the Fast Lane of Context

Providing an experience requires a better understanding of your customers.

Gather the Tools for Customer Engagement

Social media is changing the face of CRM. Are you prepared?

A Company Like Me

It's going to take a very special kind of organization to truly make a personal connection with customers.

Everything Is Social

The word is everywhere now: social networks, social frameworks, social platforms.

Collaboration: The ''C'' in CRM

CRM is changing, and you better change with it.

Try to Dig What We All Say

It's time for marketers to understand how social networking sites cater to every generation.

Loyalty Versus Commitment

Loyalty doesn't have a bidirectional requirement, but the relationship between customers and a business demands that two-way street.

Creating Realistic Customer Expectations

Customers are willing to stay if they can expect a significant value of some kind from the product or service they are using.

Customer Loyalty? Get Over It. Customer Satisfaction? Way To Go.

Customers are rarely loyal. They are willing to jump at the first perceived slight or problem, even if they have been dealing with you for years.

PRM Is Not So Different From CRM After All

Channel partners are salespeople, too. It's time we recognize the relationship for what it actually is.

Mobile Workers Are Integral to CRM Success

If you have a vested interest in having customers, then field service is not only relevant to you, but is also a crucial part in the successful CRM mechanism.

Making CRM Whole-Brained

Metrics and ROI will not materialize unless CRM incorporates major cultural change as an element of success.

Partner Pen, Not Poison Pen

The facts of CRM life dictate that to succeed we must all get along.

What Are You Really Buying?

Call it vendor selection, not package selection, please

The More Things Change, The More They...Change

Give CRM system users a reason to embrace the new system, or failure is guaranteed

Getting More Than You Bargained For

When companies purchase an application, they're buying the vendor.