This week in CX has seen the apparent cooling off of Salesforce’s acquisition of Informatica, a slew of new releases from HubSpot, SAP’s contentious “workforce transformation”, and a c-suite shakeup at Medallia.
Here are the extracts from some of our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Salesforce Backs Out of Informatica Deal, Reports
Salesforce has withdrawn from discussions for the potential takeover of Informatica, according to sources close to the matter.
The reports claim that the two tech firms have been unable to agree on terms, with an unidentified Bloomberg source stating that the disagreement is due to price.
The apparent breakdown in talks comes just over a week after news broke that Salesforce was deep in discussions to acquire the global data integration platform provider.
At the time, Informatica’s shares were trading at $38.48, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Salesforce was aiming for a price in the mid-$30s a share, which would have made the acquisition one of the most significant in the company’s history.
While the reported cooling off seems a bit abrupt – particularly when you consider that the Wall Street Journal was, at one point, anticipating that a deal could be agreed before the end of last week – there have been criticisms within the CX space about the proposed merger (Read on…).
HubSpot Declares “Customer Experience Is Broken”, Unveils the “All-New” Service Hub to Fix It
HubSpot has declared that “customer experience is broken” during its Spring Spotlight platform release.
In doing so, the CRM stalwart suggested that the current reactive approach to CX “isn’t working”, where brands don’t hear from customers – post-purchase – until there is an issue.
To challenge the status quo, HubSpot has unveiled the “all-new” Service Hub.
The Service Hub 2.0 serves up many new features to pull customer support leaders closer to other customer-facing functions.
As a result, they can collaborate, share data, and more proactively manage customer journeys.
Diving deeper, Paul Weston, Senior Director of Product & GM of Service Hub at HubSpot, stated: “CX Leaders are under more pressure than ever, whether it’s support fielding urgent customer challenges or success teams trying to spot those challenges before they happen.
Both customer support and customer success are vital to customer retention, but – until now – businesses have had to manage support and success in different places. Not anymore.
One critical element within that one place is the Customer Success Workspace, now available in beta (Read on…).
SAP Shares “Workforce Transformation” Update After Employee Pushback
SAP has shed a little more light on the ongoing workforce transformation taking place within the company.
As announced in January, SAP plans to eradicate 8,000 roles but retrain many impacted employees and offer them new, AI-centric posts within the business.
Yet, as CX Today reported earlier this month, SAP’s European Workers Council accused the enterprise tech juggernaut of using the “transformation” as a guise for layoffs.
Indeed, in an internal email – first publicized by the German newspaper Handelsblatt – the employee reps council stated:
[SAP appears to have made decisions] solely or primarily based on costs, and not on the actual value that existing employees, teams, and locations represent for our customers.
Moreover, they voiced dissatisfaction with SAP’s internal communication regarding the move.
Indeed, the Workers Council claimed that leaders had not justified its business logic or provided precise information about the inefficiencies it strives to push past (Read on…).
Medallia Confirms CEO Joe Tyrrell Has Stepped Down
Medallia has confirmed to CX Today that CEO Joe Tyrrell vacated his post on April 19.
Tyrrell had held the role since March 2023, but now leaves citing personal reasons.
In steps Mike Lipps, Chairman of Medallia’s Board of Directors, who will take the CEO hotseat on an interim basis as he leads the search for a full-time replacement.
A spokesperson for Medallia shared the news with CX Today, stating:
Joe’s last day was April 19, but he is available and working with Mike on the transition.
Lipps brings decades of senior leadership experience to the role, having previously held the CEO mantle at LexisNexis, insightsoftware, and Intelerad Medical Systems.
However, Lipps is unlikely to stay as CEO for long, as he plans to return to his role as Chair of the Board once the full-time CEO search comes to a close. (Read on…).
