It’s with great pleasure that we share yet another partner story with you, this time from one of the world’s leading strategic consultancies, Accenture. Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. Combining experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, they offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology, and Operations services—all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Their 537,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries.
In a recent discussion, our CTO Jonathan spoke to Jeroen Milewski, Marketing Cloud & Pardot expert, at Accenture. Jeroen works specifically with Accenture’s sales & marketing automation platforms, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Pardot, and has a great deal of experience working with complex data marketing projects.
Jeroen explained how Accenture recently helped onboard one of their clients using DESelect.
Before DESelect
Accenture’s client had once used a relatively old platform, handling basic segmentation, which was quite simple, and in fact, did not require any SQL knowledge to use the tool. In 2018, they switched to Marketing Cloud but didn’t immediately use the system. It was when they began using SFMC much later that the problems arose, as they suddenly had a large number of daily and weekly queries to handle.
With so many queries scheduled, there was a need for campaign-specific data segmentation, but it became clear that SFMC handled segmentation differently from their old tool. The realization dawned that some of the team could use SQL, whilst others were not at all comfortable using it. At this point, Accenture was consulted, and Jeroen suggested a tool that would make segmentation much easier.
Jeroen went on to explain that he felt there were no other solutions in the market or on the Salesforce AppExchange, and since he had other clients who were very happy with DESelect, he introduced us to his client, to discuss the solution in more detail.
Losing time on SQL
Having received feedback from his clients, Jeroen was happy to report that those not comfortable using SQL now feel much more comfortable carrying out their duties. He added that segmentation is not a full-time job for this team, but if you don’t have SQL experience, this sort of work can distract marketers from their real workload. Their focus ought to be on KPIs and targets, rather than spending time figuring out how to do segmentation.
All aboard
Jeroen explained how Accenture helped their client prepare to onboard DESelect, which wound up only requiring two one-hour sessions. From there, Jeroen didn’t even need to be involved. Following this, the client received some training where the marketers raised questions and received support about the nuances of DESelect all apparently painlessly.
Accenture recommends DESelect
Jeroen had no hesitation in stating he’d recommend us to other clients. From his perspective, helping clients figure out SQL segmentation isn’t really what Accenture should be doing. Accenture aims to help clients create real solutions, so in this case, it was all about making sure that Marketing Cloud works for them.
He added that SQL is something that not a lot of marketers are comfortable with. So DESelect’s drag-and-drop functionality and a more visual representation of SQL statements really help marketers make their segmentations, avoiding spending more time than they should.
Hearty thanks to Jeroen for taking the time to share Accenture’s DESelect experience with us. As always, we’re immensely pleased to receive such positive feedback.
If you’d like to learn how DESelect can help your organization, check out this quick tour.
Alternatively, since a demo won over Accenture’s client, perhaps you’d like to schedule one today?