On Monday, Facebook announced on its official blog that it had acquired the customer relationship management (CRM) platform Kustomer.
This move is the latest in a string of updates Facebook has been conducting across its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, to benefit businesses. Not so long ago, I wrote about new business tools being released on WhatsApp to provide an enhanced customer experience. Facebook cited these new updates in its blog post, which allow for integration across various platforms.
On its acquisition of Kustomer, the social media giant said this is the next step in bringing interaction across channels together, with its goal being to provide “best-in-class tools” to deliver excellent support and services to businesses. It added that:
“Kustomer is an omnichannel CRM platform that brings customer conversations from various channels together into a single-screen view. It helps businesses automate repetitive tasks so their agents can maximize the time and quality of interactions with customers.”
The blog post also highlighted Facebook’s intention to support the CRM’s operations by providing resources for it to enhance its product offerings, scale its operations and “delight” customers. Facebook did also add, however, that it will be continuing to support businesses integrating their chosen CRM with its messaging services, so making the jump to Kustomer is not necessary to reap the benefits of the developments in integrated messaging.
Facebook appears to be set on a mission to provide all the online tools a business could need across its platforms. The new tools for WhatsApp, the announcement that it plans to launch its own web hosting service and now its acquisition of a CRM mean that a business could quite easily run its entire online operations using only Facebook-owned platforms.
Businesses shouldn’t be so quick to depend on the social media giant for its entire online presence, however. As I warned when Facebook announced its web hosting, this is a company that switches its algorithms at the drop of a hat, and frequently introduces paid features that are necessary to boost engagement and exposure.
If you need advice in starting up an online presence using time-tested platforms and resources, get in touch with our team at Engage Web.
- Facebook removes followers from personal profiles - December 18, 2024
- Should I be the only admin of my Facebook page? - November 7, 2024
- Meta makes questionable audience targeting change for ads - October 3, 2024
