Earlier this week, Salesforce announced the launch of a new customer service platform called Desk.com. The service is cloud-based and integrates social media as well as traditional channels including email and phone.

According to Alex Bard, the Vice President and General Manager of Desk.com, Salesforce developed the platform because it recognizes the challenges businesses have with customer service.

What’s the biggest challenge your business faces over customer service? Please share.

As Bard explained, Salesforce talked with thousands of businesses about their customer service needs. What they found was that these businesses want a customer service platform that is social, mobile, and simple.

“In today’s world, really the driving factor is the customer, and the customer is now social… the customer is now mobile… and the customer is global,” he said.

Social has quickly become an important component to businesses because it is such an integral part of everyday life. Simply put, it creates an ideal channel for reaching masses of people. Companies such as Southwest Airlines and Budweiser recognize this and have utilized social channels to handle and defuse any damaging situations.

“That pressure is forcing big companies and small businesses to revisit their tools and process and, really, philosophy around customer support,” said Bard.

He went on to say that investing in social was just as important as investing in traditional methods.

The mobile capability that businesses need is also very important because customer service issues happen any time during the day or night.

“For these businesses, business doesn’t stop when you leave the office,” said Bard.

Therefore, businesses need to be able to address these issues no matter where they are.

To answer the simplicity factor, Bard said Desk.com can be set up very quickly and doesn’t need IT help.

“[Desk.com] helps you capture all your interactions across these channels – social and traditional – it’s got a mobile aspect that helps you carry your help desk with you no matter where you go… and finally, it literally takes just minutes to set up,” Bard summed up.

Desk.com is geared toward small and medium-size businesses and also provides overall management capabilities such as easy reporting. As for pricing, the first seat is free, but every subscription added after that is $49 per month.

Do you see Desk.com helping to meet your customer service needs? Let us know.