Creating great experiences for your customers starts with having a complete understanding of who they are—and that requires having the right customer data. But too often, this data is siloed in disparate systems that don’t talk to each other and is spread across a complex landscape that’s hard to analyze and understand. The end result is ineffective agents, poor customer insights, and unsatisfied customers.

Change can be scary. We’re living through a global pandemic, SpaceX is launching more rockets into space, and scientists have discovered a way to grow mini brains from skin cells. People like the comfort of things they know, like their favorite fuzzy socks or Mom’s chocolate chip cookies. So even when change is a good thing, it might be met with fear and resistance. And when it comes to business, leaders need to recognize that the human side of change can impact their outcomes.

Consumers today expect a personalized customer experience catered to them as individuals. In order to meet these expectations, you need to understand what your audience wants and needs, and you must understand how to deliver on those needs better than your competition. The CRM process helps your organization achieve these goals. Consisting of five main steps, it’s a strategy for keeping every customer interaction personalized and meaningful.

Your customer support team are heroes. Zendesk was founded on a belief in the power of great service experiences. We wanted the world to experience a positive interaction as the norm—as customers, as agents, and from any other side involved in using, operating, maintaining and paying for a customer support solution. Your company may have been founded on an entirely different passion. For amazing chocolate, or an alternative to big-box retailing experience, or a certain kind of footwear.

Every business owner wants to keep their customers happy and loyal. But in today’s digitally connected world, word spreads faster than ever before, so if a customer isn’t pleased, they might let their entire social network know about it. Your customers want to get in touch with your business the same way they would with friends and family—so you need to be present on the channels they prefer.

What is data visualization? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like — using charts, maps, infographics, and other images to visually convey the meaning of data. There’s nothing particularly new about data visualization. One could argue that ancient cave drawings constitute an early example — even the pie chart, dates back to 1801 when it was used to illustrate the Turkish Empire’s landholdings.

Every business has a customer base that they’ve worked hard to attract and retain through a combination of marketing, social media and brand strategies. You invested a lot of time and effort (and probably money) to gain those customers’ trust, so it makes sense that you want to keep them. That’s where a strong focus on customer retention comes in handy.

With evolving technology and rising customer expectations as the byproduct, businesses need to be agile and accept change. Change is difficult, but as we’re experiencing in a world gone digital, imperative. At its core, change management is about helping people through change, whether you’re restructuring leadership, rolling out new software, or adjusting strategies that are no longer profitable.

Though the world is going through some pretty dramatic changes, Zendesk and our ecosystem of partners are here to help with tools to keep your business moving forward.