Anaplan is the only scenario planning and analysis platform designed to optimize decision-making in today’s complex business environment so that enterprises can outpace their competition and the market. Trusted by more than 2,400 market-leading customers like Amazon Web Services, L’Oreal, Jaguar/Land Rover (JLR), Konica Minolta, and Salesforce, Anaplan connects data and enables collaboration across silos. By leveraging real-time models and forecasts, the platform intelligently surfaces critical insights, empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions that maximize impact across finance, sales, and operations.
A Salesforce customer for 15 years, Anaplan uses many CRM components in its go-to-market business practices, including Sales Cloud, CPQ, Service Cloud, Slack, the Sales Elevate connector, and Tableau.
To support an internal transformation designed to solve critical business problems for customers in key industries, Anaplan sought new ways to integrate systems and establish data foundations. “We’d already been using Slack across the business to encourage cross-functional collaboration, conversations, internal shoutouts, and celebrations, and it’s all taken on a new life since Slack AI and Sales Elevate,” said Bill Schuh, Anaplan’s Chief Revenue Officer. “We can now bring CRM data directly into Slack, where we’re already working, and our sellers and leadership can take actions in context and at pace.”
“Further unifying communication, Slack allows us to streamline conversations, increase visibility across functions, and ensure alignment in our go-to-market teams.”
Driving faster, deal-specific collaboration
To enable insights that would activate decisions as efficiently and effectively as possible, Anaplan has invested in Slack Sales Elevate. “With Slack Elevate, we hope to provide the Salesforce data in the Slack environment, where teams are already collaborating,” said Schuh.
Instead of waiting for an open window of time to address administrative tasks, sellers can do them in seconds with automated workflows and notifications. They can receive reminders if there are gaps in a sales plan or if they’re being overzealous on a forecast, leading to much more reliable and predictable outcomes. “Using AI and data-driven insights, our go-to-market team can significantly reduce the time spent on administrative tasks, enabling them to focus on what matters most — helping customers meet their goals,” said Schuh.
Moving forward, Schuh’s vision for Slack Sales Elevate is to accelerate collaboration at scale to ensure the customer gets valuable outcomes early in the relationship. “Whether it’s collaborating on sales plays or developing deployment plans, all of this happens within Slack. Elevate is a natural extension of our strategy, because it will allow us to operate as one cohesive team, regardless of function or location.”
“Customer success is of paramount concern at Anaplan. Tools like Slack and Salesforce are integral in ensuring we deliver on this promise, helping us win as one unified team.”
Optimizing data to elevate customer engagement
No stranger to the cutting edge, Anaplan infuses AI throughout every aspect of its platform. Anaplan tools surface indiscernible patterns, trends, risks, and growth drivers – so customers gain precise, predictive and generative insights to inform their next-best actions.
Slack AI empowers Schuh’s teams to move faster and with more intention. “Slack AI has been a win for me, our leaders, and our sales pursuit teams,” he said. “It summarizes the latest notes or a deal’s status in seconds so we can jump into our next conversations with ease and focus on action steps.”
Anaplan uses Slack AI to help synthesize strings of information, whether that’s the status of an account’s implementation, a deal that’s pulling someone new into the pursuit team, or a regional best-practice channel. “We use the Slack AI feature to help get up-to-speed on historical collaboration or conversations in a matter of seconds. These interactions historically would have meant additional meetings, briefing kits, or lengthy reading materials,” said Schuh. “We can use the extra time gained to help our customers.”
With the ability to ask Slack AI real-time, context-based questions, Anaplan’s teams can make informed decisions on the fly, enabling faster adjustments in day-to-day activities. “Slack AI helps accelerate customer value by ensuring that teams are focused on the most impactful activities and quickly addressing potential roadblocks,” said Schuh.
“Slack allows us to accelerate collaboration at scale, driving even greater value for our customers. By leveraging these tools, we’re confident in our ability to innovate and adapt to the ever-changing landscape, ensuring our customers’ success and, ultimately, our own.”
Removing obstacles to scale with confidence
With Slack, Anaplan teams can maintain visibility throughout the customer journey, from the initial sale to post-sale customer support. With Slack and Salesforce integrated, teams will have instant access to vital customer information, allowing them to make smart decisions and respond quickly to customer needs.
Unlocking CRM data beyond just sales will allow Anaplan to maximize the value of their customer information, enabling better collaboration across departments. By freeing up employees’ time, the team can focus on building meaningful customer relationships rather than spending the day chasing people and information. This, in turn, removes obstacles and friction that hinder peak performance, creating a smoother workflow and driving more effective outcomes across the business.
It also speaks to Anaplan’s internal values. “At Anaplan, we have an internal culture of openness and accountability. We hope that with tools like Slack, every team member, regardless of their role or level, will be able to see into the customer journey and make decisions that benefit each customer,” said Schuh. This is critical in driving client success and fostering a healthy ecosystem of happy, loyal customers.
