Worldwide spending on customer relationship management software crossed the $48-billion mark over the past year. However, a recent survey conducted by Whatfix found that 40% of responding enterprises that didn’t regularly use CRM systems claimed that data entry was too time consuming, and nearly the same percentage needed more training.

To address this issue, Whatfix developed its Digital Adoption Platform, in-application user guidance designed to help drive CRM adoption and improve organizational productivity.

“We’re enabling learning in the flow of work,” said Gary Malhotra (pictured), vice president of product marketing at Whatfix. “Customers are different globally, and the products that they’re selling are different, so the CRM has to be customized. There’s so much cross-application workflow that it’s not easy for an average employee or sales representative to keep up with it.”

Malhotra spoke with Donald Klein, guest host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at theCUBE’s studio in Palo Alto, California. They discussed how Whatfix’s solution is integrated in the user’s application experience, as well as demands placed on enterprises to stay current with the faster pace of software releases.

Merging learning with work

Whatfix’s approach is to provide in-application flows, step-by-step guidance to help users along the workflow journey. The key is being able to integrate the learning process while a user is in the application itself so that the guidance becomes meaningful and more likely to be retained.

“There is this whole megatrend of the merging of learning and work together,” Malhotra said. “This is not a YouTube video they’re watching offline and hoping to get back to the screen again. This is actually them clicking through the screen.”

The are a number of enterprise CRM software tools available today, and it has become standard practice to roll out new customizations and updates on a regular basis. This process, combined with complexity added by increased migration of services to the cloud, demonstrates how the need for a platform to provide seamless onboarding for users becomes even more critical.

“There used to be a time when product software companies would release once every 18 months,” Malhotra noted. “Now it’s once every three weeks. There’s no choice other than enabling users throughout their workday, throughout their applications with microlearning moments.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations.

Photo: SiliconANGLE