Back on the 1st of June, Salesforce finalised the acquisition of the ISV, Vlocity, for an impressive 1.33bn dollars. While the generosity of the acquisition was met with surprise, for many in the CRM industry this seemed like a deal that was waiting to happen. For many years, Vlocity has been a key player in the Salesforce ecosystem. But why?

For many years, Salesforce has understood the need for a more vertical approach to its business model. With this acquisition, Salesforce hopes to double down on this idea with the help of one of the leading, industry-specific, Salesforce partners in the industry. Aptly renamed Salesforce Industries, Salesforce hopes to capitalise on Vlocity’s expertise across a wide range of industries to specialise their CRM solutions further.

One of the leading benefactors of this news is the Media industry. Vlocity’s expertise in media has been well known for many years. From subscription management to advertising sales, Vlocity has helped media companies all over the world maximise their revenue. In this blog we will discuss how this acquisition will change the face of the media industry.

What is Vlocity?

Perhaps the first question to ask when it comes to Vlocity is who are they? Founded in 2014, Vlocity has striven to provide the most optimised solution for each industry it provides for. Directly built on the Salesforce platform, Vlocity provides out-of-box and bespoke solutions for each of the following industries.

• Communications
• Media & Entertainment
• Energy & Utilities
• Insurance
• Health
• Government

It has helped drive digital transformation for some of the world’s largest companies. Unique to many ISVs within the Salesforce ecosystem, all of Vlocity’s solutions were built directly onto the Salesforce platform. This gives the startup intimate knowledge of Salesforce infrastructure as well as its expertise in industry specifics.

What does this mean for media?

Salesforce’s acquisition of Vlocity is part of an ongoing drive for verticality within the Salesforce ecosystem. While Salesforce is undoubtedly powerful in its sheer ability to cater for any industry, it lacks the industry expertise that many companies need to digitally transform smoothly. With the acquisition of Vlocity, Salesforce can now leverage the knowledge of a company who has specialised in adapting Salesforce to different industries for many years.

For the media industry, Salesforce unveiled the all new Media Cloud, a Salesforce solution tailored specifically for media companies of all shapes and sizes. Media Cloud will include many of the advanced solutions found in Vlocity’s pre-acquisition solution and combine it with Salesforce Einstein and Salesforce Customer 360. This will speed up implementation and adoption of Salesforce within the industry as well as driving growth by developing unique insights that are specific to media.

What is Media Cloud?

Media Cloud is Salesforce’s response to many of the challenges found in developing an efficient media company. Media is a unique, fast moving and vibrant industry. The success of a media company relies on the satisfaction of its audience and its advertisers simultaneously. 

The fickle nature of both of these parties means that media companies need to be able to comprehensively understand its audience, effectively manage its partnerships and adapt quickly to trends.

Media Cloud hopes to alleviate the pain points experienced by media companies through its use of analytics and artificial intelligence. Some of the key areas that the new media cloud will allow you to enhance are described below:

Subscriber Management

Naturally, one of the most important aspects of any media company is their subscriber base. Media Cloud drives subscriber management with a comprehensive, AI-driven, solution that allows your company to have a complete view of their subscriber base. This will allow companies to create highly personalised subscriber journeys driving customer value, loyalty and satisfaction.

Ad Sales

Advertising is the main revenue source for the majority of media companies. It is also one of the more difficult products to package effectively. Both advertisers and the audience must be managed coherently to maximise revenue. Media Cloud integrates Salesforce’s Product Catalogue functionality, CPQ and Contract Management for a comprehensive solution in media advertising. Combined with Salesforce’s Sales Cloud, your sales teams will have a complete view of their sales processes in the advertising space.

Content Sales

Similar to advertising sales described above, Media Cloud hopes to revolutionise content sales within the media industry. Instead of having many different platforms for different content, media cloud will allow your media business to combine all of your content packages onto one platform. This will significantly speed up your company’s ability to publish content as well as your customers ability to purchase content.

In conclusion

The acquisition of Vlocity marks a turning point in the Salesforce ecosystem that has been developing for some time. Salesforce has always been a master at creating a horizontal ecosystem that can cater for any industry. Now it is turning towards driving expertise in many of the largest verticals. One of the standout examples for this is Media Cloud and it should be interesting to see how media companies can benefit from this shift in direction.

To find out more how we at Trigg can help your media company contact us here.