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Cision Communications Cloud vs. Salesforce Agentforce Sales

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cision Communications Cloud

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ACIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A

    Agentforce Sales

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/ASalesforce' Agentforce Sales (formerly Salesforce Sales Cloud) is the company's flagship CRM platform. The AI CRM for Sales features data built right in.

    $25

    per month

    Pricing
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Starter
    $25.00
    per month per user
    Professional
    $80.00
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    $165.00
    per month per user
    Unlimited
    $330.00
    per month per user
    Agentforce 1 Sales
    $550
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Considered Both Products
    Cision
    Chose Cision Communications Cloud
    Have not tried any other similar products.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cision Communications Cloud
    I was using Vocus and then switched to Cision PR for the ease of use. Since the two platforms have merged the intuitiveness and user friendliness has only improved. Radian6 is not for media list building since the influencer section is very clunky. It's better suited for …
    Incentivized
    Salesforce
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    91%
    Would buy again
    209 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    179 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    216 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    143 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    81%
    Implementation went as expected
    125 Answers
    Features
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Sales Force Automation
    Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    8.2
    268 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.6268 Ratings
    Workflow management00 Ratings8.6258 Ratings
    Territory management00 Ratings7.5211 Ratings
    Opportunity management00 Ratings9.0258 Ratings
    Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings7.7243 Ratings
    Contract management00 Ratings8.0214 Ratings
    Quote & order management00 Ratings7.6197 Ratings
    Interaction tracking00 Ratings8.9228 Ratings
    Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings8.0190 Ratings
    Customer Service & Support
    Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    7.7
    104 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Case management00 Ratings8.3102 Ratings
    Call center management00 Ratings7.782 Ratings
    Help desk management00 Ratings7.286 Ratings
    Marketing Automation
    Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    7.8
    243 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Lead management00 Ratings7.8238 Ratings
    Email marketing00 Ratings7.9205 Ratings
    CRM Project Management
    Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    8.0
    247 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Task management00 Ratings8.3235 Ratings
    Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings7.078 Ratings
    Reporting00 Ratings8.7200 Ratings
    CRM Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    8.3
    260 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Forecasting00 Ratings7.8228 Ratings
    Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.5247 Ratings
    Customizable reports00 Ratings8.7257 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    8.4
    251 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Custom fields00 Ratings9.0248 Ratings
    Custom objects00 Ratings8.7238 Ratings
    Scripting environment00 Ratings7.7175 Ratings
    API for custom integration00 Ratings8.5209 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    9.0
    282 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.0220 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings9.0254 Ratings
    Social CRM
    Comparison of Social CRM features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    7.7
    160 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Social data00 Ratings8.0158 Ratings
    Social engagement00 Ratings7.4156 Ratings
    Integrations with 3rd-party Software
    Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    7.9
    216 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Marketing automation00 Ratings7.9212 Ratings
    Compensation management00 Ratings7.9146 Ratings
    Platform
    Comparison of Platform features of Cision Communications Cloud and Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Sales
    8.3
    231 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Mobile access00 Ratings8.3231 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Small Businesses
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Salesflare
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Kintone
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Oracle Sales
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    8.9
    (470 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    9.1
    (61 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    8.4
    (166 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (29 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (20 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    9.0
    (98 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (12 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (15 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (19 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (9 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.9
    (85 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.3
    (8 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cision Communications CloudAgentforce Sales
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cision
    For a small start-up, the cost-benefit to add lift to press releases [and] particular milestone accomplishments is definitely there with the Cision [Communications] Cloud. Much of what we do, by necessity, is done internally without the benefit of outsourced press folks, so the Cision [Communications] Cloud ease of use and reporting is very important.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    Obviously, for any business, there are two main areas to focus on — the sales path and the service path. Sales Cloud wouldn’t be suited for a company that’s primarily into support services. For those kinds of companies, Salesforce has a different product — Service Cloud. So, for anyone in the support or service space, Sales Cloud isn’t the right fit.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cision
    • Their upgraded press release templates and ability [to] pull in an entire, completed release makes the [process] faster and easier, and allows for more graphics, such as company mastheads, [are done well].
    • The media tracking offers the ability to find relevant placements across the entire country.
    • The journalist database streamlines the process of finding relevant reporters to directly connect [to] on news releases that are relevant to their beats.
    • The process of setting up, creating, and distributing a release is seamless, easy to use, and not labor-intensive.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    • The customizations - We have an organization that operates differently from most companies, so we’ve had to implement quite a few customizations — and Salesforce allows us to do that quite quickly. Most of the time, delays come from dependencies on other internal parties rather than the system itself.
    • From my perspective as a consultant, one of the biggest advantages is that everything is in Salesforce — all the details, all in one place. The ability to customize it easily is a big plus; there’s really a lot you can do with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cision
    • In the media influencer database, the classic Cision allowed us to do a zip code radius search to really drill down to the neighborhood level. That's because we do localized media advisories and press releases for events at neighborhood schools. One part of a big city like Chicago really doesn't care what's happening in another part of Chicago that's too far away. The zip code radius search was a feature in the classic Cision but not with the current Cision Communications Cloud. We've asked for this to be restored several times, but nothing's happened. In fact, we were told to use DMA — which actually goes wider in a search (bigger than a city), not more narrow as needed. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of what we need.
    • Another missing feature involves a merge field when sending out an email press release through Cision. This is the "select insert field" button in the upper right that's used to personalize a release with the media contact's name and other information. This is key for localization of the release. Many media outlets won't run a release unless it's local. While "county" is a feature in the influencer database when putting together a media list in Cision, "county" is not available to insert into a press release as a merge field. Counties are important because this is how many newspapers and health departments are organized and identify themselves. I've asked for this to be implemented, to no avail. As a workaround, we've had to use "contact city" or "outlet city."
    • After refining a media list in Cision using filters, I've had to download the list and take it offline to see the big picture, screen for duplicates, etc. While there is a button on the bottom left intended to help with this, it doesn't do the trick. That's because there may be multiple contacts with the same email address. In addition, one media contact may represent numerous media outlets, so this same contact could show up several times. It would be nice to have a better way to see the whole list online and eliminate both duplicates as well as those who previously opted out.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    • We still need to include the production part. We started using Salesforce to sell the seeds — our inventory is in SAP — and from there we handle sales and track the process of planting, harvesting, selling, and then collecting payments. But we don’t yet manage the earlier production processes, like production planning. We handle allocation, but not full production planning, and that’s an area where we still have room for improvement.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cision
    While I am happy with the product performance overall, TrendKite's recent merger with Cision is cause for concern. When we first signed on with TrendKite, I spoke with several users and the best response I received was that the company was a startup and we could expect there to be hiccups along the way as the company grew and the platform got more robust. That has certainly been the case. However, now that they have merged with Cision — a company that has grown too fast, has not focused on improving its product and has poor customer service — I have concerns that TrendKite will lose some of the qualities that have made it a great company and great product to work with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    There are days when I wish we hadn't switched, but I know that if we put in the time, we will get to where we want to be with the software and that it has many more capabilities than anything else we looked at. However, the amount of time and onboarding we need to do is also far greater than we realized/were told when we originally bought the product. They told us we should hire onboarding support, but at the end, after we had already reached our budget maximum for this, so it's been slower than we had hoped.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cision
    The flexibility and customization of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* is among its most important features. Changing the dashboards, using keywords in the saved searches to pull out the best stories and the integration with marketing automation tools gives me confidence that I will able to continue using this tool well into the future. The future implementation and integration of the media contact database will complete the suite, making list management and email marketing programs much smoother. *This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    Because I think it could be easier. We have different standards today since we’re used to interacting with consumer apps like Starbucks, where all you do is scan your card. Then, when you use Sales Cloud, there are still a lot of manual inputs. So my mission with AI is really about figuring out how to make that easier.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    Salesforce is always available securely from any internet-capable device anywhere in the world, UNLESS you choose to set security measures so that ONLY trusted IP ranges may access the system at certain times of the day. It's all about choice and flexibility with Salesforce products.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Cision
    Generally, Cision performs well day to day, but it's got some annoying bugs that slow down usage/require user workarounds which is inefficient. More seriously, a few months ago, as a result of a major system upgrade, certain critical functionality was not working and I was unable to use the service for more than a day when I had time-sensitive work to execute
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    Salesforce
    Salesforce performance in general is excellent. "The cloud infrastructure beneath Force.com has been fine-tuned over the past 10 years. It powers nearly 100,000+ businesses running more than 185,000 applications that 3 million users count on every day."
    Points per Salesforce -
    1) Multitenant kernel - With a multitenant platform, each business that uses the app doesn’t have its own copy. Instead, all businesses share a single copy and then customize it for their specific needs.
    2) ISO 27001 certified security - You can’t compromise when it comes to enterprise-level security. Force.com is road-tested and trusted by nearly 100,000+ companies, including many of the world’s most security-conscious organizations, such as banks and health care providers.
    3) Proven reliability - All Force.com apps run on world-class data centers with backup, failover, and disaster-recovery facilities. Force.com has had a proven 99.9 percent uptime record for years.
    4) Proven, real-time scalability - Force.com is used by many of the world's largest enterprises, including Cisco, Japan Post Network, and Symantec. Applications can automatically scale from a few users to millions of page views, as needed.
    5) Real-time query optimizer - You need fast access to your data. The Force.com query optimizer delivers under 300ms response time, at a massive scale.
    6) Real-time transparent system status - You can always see real-time system performance, availability, and security information at trust.salesforce.com.
    7) Real-time upgrades - Unlike traditional software platforms, our upgrades never break your customizations, code, or integrations. We upgrade the platform for you 3 to 4 times each year. As a result, you’re always on the latest version, with access to the latest features, performance, and security enhancements.
    8) Real-time sandbox environments - With a single click, you can create copies of your applications, configuration, and data in separate environments for development, testing, and training.
    9) Three global production data centers and disaster recovery - Force.com runs on three geographically dispersed, mirrored data centers with built-in replication, disaster recovery, a redundant network backbone, and no single points of failure
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    Support Rating
    Cision
    For Cision TrendKite in particilar, support always responded, but it was sometimes slow. For some of our booleans and search queries, we would need help refining and excluding terms/phrases that weren't relevant to our client or campaign. This sometimes took 1-2 days just to get a response back, which sometimes was too late when a last-minute report was due. This was only with the support staff, not necessarily our customer success manager or sales rep.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    The overall support has been good. More and more features are being released quite frequently. Very small features are also making big difference in how the tool can be adapted and used better. If there is anything we need or are stuck, the support team sets up a call and helps in resolving the issue/provides workarounds.
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    In-Person Training
    Cision
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    I attended two training sessions. I would rate them a 4 as an advanced user. It was very basic – great for someone new – would give 8+ for new person.

    I had 3 years of experience at the time. I skipped basic and went onto advanced and still not helpful. A lot of it was best practices that didn’t feel relevant for our business
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    Online Training
    Cision
    The online training sessions available for the Cision Communications Cloud are helpful and informative. There's more than one option - initially, I signed up for the live webinar classes on basic functions and that is what I recommend other new users do as well. If I have specific questions or something I want to learn more about, I can search the online database and find article or online training videos to get the information I need.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    I have gone through multiple. The content that’s delivered is quite basic – I wish they had more advanced training.

    We are grandfathered into premium support plus training. We get unlimited access to instructor led and online training for free. We have taken advantage of this
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    Implementation Rating
    Cision
    There is no implementation at the customer's end so this doesn't really apply to my instance of Cision (possibly to all instances of it).
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Just from an organizational standpoint - we standardized our data prior to moving to Salesforce. But we essentially standardized it wrong. That's created a big disgusting mess for us know that I'll have to deal with as the Admin. Be sure you think through use cases prior to doing something like that - seek outside opinions on how the data will work best, especially depending on what else you're going to integrate with Salesforce.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cision
    It's a similar product. I think Meltwater sells itself as being a bit more niche, but I have not found many significant differences between Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater's sales process is a very high pressure and their prices are inflated.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    So I've evaluated, implemented Microsoft Dynamics in the past. I've used Oracle CRM solutions. I've used Daylight, which is a very niche CRM system the last couple of years. And I've evaluated a variety from Legacy Microsoft Ones to Zoho and Sugar when making implementation decisions at other companies. But usually I've gone with Salesforce. I'd say it's better than most. The only one that I generally prefer, and last time I chose an implementation from scratch, I did Microsoft Dynamics. And the reason is for small mid-size organization, Microsoft Dynamics, if you already have Microsoft Office products, it's much better integrated to all of the Excel, Word, OneNote, Outlook email than what you get from Salesforce. And so that's the only one that if someone's a Microsoft organization and small sized company, it'll save a lot of integration things, a lot of security, a lot of login and access and IT management by just sticking within the Microsoft ecosystem. But outside of that, if you don't use Microsoft or if you're a large organization or have other needs that you want, Salesforce I'd say is better than all of the other CRM offerings out there. It's the easiest to use and the most robust and the most vendors and products for the ecosystem.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Cision
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    Salesforce is the most widely used CRM system. Professionalism tends to increase when things go wrong for market leaders. Salesforce considers us as users because they own the market. Having all of our data in one place and all of our teams working within Salesforce. Anyone who uses Salesforce is impacted by it, even if they don't.
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    Scalability
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    It's very scalable as it has a ton of features (but you do need an admin who understands how to leverage these features). Because of the various features, we've also needed to host onboarding sessions with our users so that they can familiarize themselves with the platform, which isn't always super user-friendly or intuitive.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    Cision
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    Using Salesforce.com has made my daily routines more efficient and simplified the manual tasks I had to perform independently. I can now access data from any device, online or offline, and provide better guidance to my team about the forecasts provided by the built-in artificial intelligence (AI). A chat with a Salesforce support specialist would be great. The knowledge base has a community forum where Salesforce users can ask questions and learn more about the product.
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    Return on Investment
    Cision
    • Cision has a net positive impact on time savings for staff so we can be quicker to market
    • Cision has a positive impact on internal savings as it is used internally across multiple accounts and with the internal PR team
    • Cision is extremely useful when it comes to resourcing and conducting outreach in those DMA's where our agency doesn't have a physical presence
    Incentivized
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    Salesforce
    • It allows me to keep a close eye on all of my performance metrics through the Dashboard Reporting, ie what my sales pipeline looks like, how much it's changed in the last 60 days, new opportunities created in the last 7 days, # of emails sent for the week, etc. The ease of the design and output make it really easy to check my progress throughout the day to find where I have holes and am falling short on my personal and work goals. It's resulted in greater transparency with my Mgmt Team and shorter 1-on-1 mtgs with my boss as he can see exactly where I am at all times (to be fair, I'm a senior sales rep, so he pretty much lets me do my job completely unfettered), but it does prove that I am continually producing which recently resulted in a raise I didn't even ask for.
    • The SF repository is so detailed that I don't have to spend tons of time finding frequently used websites attached to a client or see what all interactions with the company look like. Even though I don't use SF for my bulk emails and email sequences, SF provides me with an email to use in the bcc of these emails which links everything back to SF. I find that extremely helpful. This really impacts my efficiency and I can honestly say that once I started using all the functionality of data management, it saved me about 20% of my time/week that I could then allocate towards other revenue-generating tasks like prospecting and account management. The more time I have for those, the better. My year-over-year on accounts 1 year and older just grew by 17% this last year.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Media Monitoring and Analytics are just part of the complete Comms Cloud. It combines deep data dive with a database of journalists and influencers, and a media relationship management tool.Screenshot of Track brand mentions in real time across the millions of online stories on the internet. Monitor millions of stories and breaking news happening daily across the web. Professional services consultants teams are in place to ensure best practices while setting up a monitoring account.Screenshot of Cision’s media and influencer relationship management tools include audience insights, combined with a pitchable database that enables brands to uncover the best media contacts and social influencers to reach their target audience.Screenshot of Identify the social conversations and influencers that are impacting a brand. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube monitoring capabilities track brand mentions across all major social channels. Analyze results for social mentions or campaigns on the fly with its reporting features.

    Agentforce Sales Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot