“What’s in a name?” That’s what people say, right? Well, a lot is in a name, actually. If you’re paying attention to what’s been going on with Salesforce recently, you’ll know that our beloved Pardot is no longer going to be called Pardot going forward. A series of sweeping changes to the Salesforce naming conventions has seen Pardot rebranded to “Marketing Cloud Account Engagement”... Quite the mouthful, but as we know, you can’t bring innovation without change, and Salesforce is looking to the future.

What’s the reason for the change?

Salesforce just wants to make their next-gen Marketing Cloud experience consistent and easy to understand to anyone at-a-glance. Per Salesforce, the new language is

more aligned with the language that marketers already use, so the capabilities of these tools should be easier to understand. Pardot is a quick, snappy name, but it doesn’t necessarily convey what the tool is able to do.

Salesforce also wanted to make their marketing cloud a more unified platform. Pardot isn’t the only name changing! Salesforce CDP, the Interaction Studio, and Datorama are all getting new names consistent with one another to create that cohesive experience.

Finally, Salesforce wants there to be flexibility in all these different areas that will allow for growth and innovation going forward. Some of the names weren’t conveying all the capabilities of the tools, even though the functionality was there. Now they can’t be pigeon-holed.

Salesforce sees all the potential of these things in the future, and when it comes to naming, they wanted to rip that band-aid off sooner rather than later. It’s sounding like something they knew needed to be done awhile ago, and even though it can be confusing, it’s that kind of forward-thinking that has made Salesforce the powerhouse they are.

When Is This Going To Take Effect?

It’s already happening! The first updates are already happening throughout Salesforce’s website, marketing, and

sales communications. Later this year, the updates will start changing in the products themselves, the Salesforce official training and help materials, Customer Success, their Support pages, and their external certifications. Buckle up! You’re already on the ride!

What that Means for SalesLabX Going Forward

You may have noticed that the word Pardot appears on our

site and materials a lot. Like, a whole bunch. We’ve built our platform with foundational Pardot integration, and heading into the future, we’re going to have to update a lot of our marketing and educational materials going forward. The change definitely caught us off guard, but you can rest assured that no matter what it’s called—Pardot, or the “Marketing Cloud Account Engagement—You’ll still receive the same, amazing service from us. We’re still the authority when it comes to all things Account Engagement, and it’s going to take a lot more than a name change to throw us off our game. As of right now, we don’t foresee any changes to our processes or disruptions to the services we reliably provide.

We know that people have a hard time when it comes to something familiar suddenly changing. When we heard about the changes, you can bet that our internal chats lit up like a Christmas tree. Pardot is who we are, and to lose the word we’ve used since the beginning is jarring, to say the least… but then we thought about our organization, and the things that we hope to achieve.

Salesforce is doing what they believe they need to do in order to ensure that all future endeavors can be integrated smoothly, and that all new customers and experts will be better able to acclimate to their marketing cloud more easily. How we feel about it in the moment may be one way, but how the platform will be viewed in the future is an entirely different animal.

Sometimes change can be hard, and we know that Salesforce didn’t make these changes lightly. It’s actually a good lesson in how to conduct your own organizations and yourself going forward: Sometimes change is needed. Clinging to things just because they’re familiar isn’t going to prepare you for what’s ahead, and the sooner we can shake those attachments, the sooner we can innovate, adapt, and surge forward.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to update a whole lot of stuff.

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