Unraveling the AI Evolution: The Present and Future of AI in Salesforce

“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but in reality, it is a technology that is designed to enhance human life. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
– Ginni Rometty, Former CEO of IBM and author of Good Power ^[i]

91.5% of businesses have already invested in AI. Not only this, but 63% of companies plan to increase or maintain AI and machine learning spending in 2023^[ii].

The statistics unequivocally point to the reality that AI will shape the future of businesses across the globe.

With Salesforce planning to double down on AI investments[iii], we believe that the ‘Cloud King’ is well-positioned to boost its investment in AI and ML, potentially becoming the pioneer in incorporating the latest AI models into its cloud services.

Let’s discover Salesforce’s AI journey and explore what’s their next move in this space.

Salesforce’s AI Journey

Source^[iv]

From the introduction of Einstein, their AI platform, to the implementation of AI-driven features like predictive analytics, natural language processing, and machine learning, Salesforce has demonstrated a commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology for the benefit of its users. Through strategic acquisitions and innovative developments, Salesforce has solidified its position as a frontrunner in the AI-powered CRM landscape.

Salesforce’s Trail of Investment in AI and ML

Over the past years, Salesforce Ventures, alongside other prominent tech companies and corporate venture arms, has continuously placed significant investments in AI, although these investments have grown more costly.

According to data from Crunchbase, Salesforce Ventures has actively participated in over 50 deals involving AI-related startups since the beginning of 2019^[v].

In the current year, the venture arm has engaged in four notable deals, including its involvement in the recent substantial fundraising efforts of Anthropic. Additionally, it contributed to Cohere’s impressive $250 million funding round^[vi].

Significantly, it’s worth noting that recent investments made by Salesforce Ventures highlight the rising financial commitments involved in supporting startups focused on AI. While the venture division dedicated resources to 10 investments amounting to $736 million in the previous year, the combined investment for the four transactions this year has now reached $705 million^[vii].

The Current State of AI Applications in Salesforce

Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI, said: “In today’s business landscape, adopting an AI-first approach rooted in trust and transparency isn’t a choice, but a necessity to succeed.^[viii]

For almost 25 years, Salesforce has spearheaded the CRM industry, continuously developing and introducing products that harness interconnected data and have seamlessly integrated AI and ML. Salesforce’s AI and ML capabilities are now embedded across its entire product suite, from Sales Cloud to Service Cloud to Marketing Cloud to Commerce Cloud.

Here are some examples of how Salesforce customers are using AI and ML today:

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Sales reps can:

• Automatically log emails, meetings, and other customer interactions into Salesforce with Einstein Activity Capture.
• Predict which leads are most likely to convert with Einstein Lead Scoring.
• Get insights into opportunity health with Einstein Opportunity Insights.

Salesforce Service Cloud

Service agents can:

• Automatically route cases to the right agents based on their skills and expertise with Einstein Case Routing.
• Classify cases based on their topic and severity with Einstein Case Classification.
• Find relevant knowledge articles and other resources to help them resolve customer cases with Einstein Knowledge Search.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Marketing folks can:

• Automatically segment customers based on their demographics, behaviour, and other factors with Einstein Segmentation.
• Personalize emails, landing pages, and other marketing content based on individual customer preferences with Einstein Personalization.
• Automate customer journeys across multiple channels with Einstein Journey Orchestration.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Retailers can:

• Recommend products to shoppers based on their browsing history, purchase history, and other factors with Einstein Product Recommendations.
• Enable shoppers to find relevant products and content on retail websites with Einstein Search.
• Automate the order fulfillment process with Einstein Order Management.

Salesforce Genie

Salesforce Genie is a real-time customer data platform that uses AI to provide businesses with a complete understanding of each customer and recommend the next best actions. Salesforce Genie is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way businesses interact with their customers.

Here are some examples of how Salesforce Genie can be used:

• A sales rep can use Salesforce Genie to get a real-time view of a customer’s profile, including their demographics, purchase history, and engagement history.
• A customer service agent can use Salesforce Genie to get a real-time view of a customer’s case history and any open issues.
• A marketer can use Salesforce Genie to segment customers based on their real-time behavior and interests.

Considering the trend, where Salesforce is strategically paving the way for an AI-centric future, the company’s consistent efforts underscore their dedication to harnessing the full potential of AI within their operations. With each innovative release and strategic investment, Salesforce continues to solidify its position as a frontrunner in the AI-powered CRM industry, setting the stage for further advancements and transformative possibilities.

Future of AI and ML in Salesforce

Salesforce is committed to investing in generative AI startups and research, developing trusted AI solutions. Considering Salesforce’s previous acquisition of AI startups like RelateIQ, or its latest agreement to acquire Airkit.ai[ix], it can increase investment in generative AI startups and research to develop responsible generative AI solutions to help customers develop enterprise AI solutions.

We believe, Salesforce might partner with other established tech companies, like it did previously with Google, Microsoft, and AWS^[X] to accelerate their AI vision. We are also expecting collaboration on joint research and development projects, and integrating each other’s AI products and services.

We second Salesforce’s vision that generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way businesses operate. Their most recent launch, Einstein Copilot – introduced during Dreamforce 2023, is a stride forward in a similar direction, providing a glimpse into the future of generative AI integration within the Salesforce ecosystem.

Salesforce would continue to invest in AI Cloud and Einstein GPT trust layer to improve its capabilities for delivering trusted, open, and real-time generative experiences across all applications and workflows.

Apart from this, we can foresee that the upcoming wave of generative assistants will prioritize proactive large action models (LAMs). This advanced form of AI will handle various tasks within Service Cloud and Sales Cloud use cases, encompassing activities like code testing and debugging, data collection through internet searches, and more.

The Bottom Line

As Salesforce continues to pave the way for transformative advancements in AI and ML, it remains strategically positioned to make further investments in cutting-edge technologies. By actively incorporating the latest innovations, Salesforce is dedicated to enhancing user experiences and driving business success. As end-users, our primary goal should be to prepare ourselves to adapt and train our teams to effectively harness these changes, ensuring that we can readily leverage the evolving technological landscape to our advantage.

Statistical References:

^[i] Nisum
^[ii] Connect.comptia
^[iii] Crunchbase
^{[iv][v][vi][vii]}Cyntexa
^[viii] McKinsey
^[IX] Zdnet
^[x] Salesforce News