On 13 June, Melbourne played host to one of the biggest and most anticipated tech events on the calendar: Salesforce World Tour Essentials 2024.
The hot topic of the day was the new era of AI – where staying ahead requires embracing a whole new way of connecting with customers.
With the potential benefits of AI evolving daily, World Tour Essentials Melbourne was a great opportunity to hear from trailblazers like the AFL to see how they’re preparing for the future of AI.
There were also plenty of great insights and tips from AI experts and industry thought leaders, while the Campground offered visitors a first-hand look at the latest innovations driving business growth and transforming customer experiences – like Einstein 1 and Data Cloud.
Here are our top highlights from the event, with a spotlight on the higher education and public sectors.
Main keynote
We are in the midst of an AI enterprise revolution
Keynote Frank Fillman, Executive Vice President ANZ, Salesforce, stated that we are in the midst of a fast-moving AI revolution, outlining four waves of AI enterprise: 1) Predictive,
2) Generative; 3) Autonomous and agents, and 4) Artificial general intelligence.
Right now, we are all about predictive and generative AI. Predictive AI is helping us to understand how to increase conversions, optimise spend, personalise experiences and grow relationships. Salesforce Einstein has this covered – helping users to anticipate next steps and empower agents to deliver the right answers with confidence.
Generative AI meanwhile takes a set of data and uses it to create something new – like Einstein GPT, the world’s first GenAI for CRM, which can automatically generate personalised content at hyperscale.
In the future, we’re likely to use personal AI agents to help with everyday tasks without human intervention. The furthest frontier we know of right now is artificial general intelligence, where human-level cognition is combined with high-performance computing.
No matter where AI takes us, the way forward, says Frank, is to ensure this revolutionary technology is aligned with trust and human values. With Einstein 1 tailored to today’s challenges and built on the formula of CRM + AI + Data + Trust, Salesforce is right there with you on your AI journey.
Data Cloud spotlight
Improving productivity by unlocking data
One of the biggest challenges for companies right now is how to create real, personalised customer relationships at scale. Unlocking trapped data is the key, explained Rowena Westphalen, senior vice president of innovation AI and customer advisory at Salesforce.
Rowena says many enterprises have issues with islands of trapped data, reporting that 72% of company applications are disconnected.
Improving productivity is a big opportunity for Australian companies, with 47% of Australian worker’s time being spent on tasks that are repetitive or of low value.
Salesforce can help unlock your trapped data with Data Cloud – a trusted hyperscale data engine designed to enhance, not replace, systems like data warehouses and data lakes. It unifies company data regardless of where it comes from – internal apps, systems, emails, images, PDFs and more – to help your teams better understand customer needs, boost productivity and build deeper customer value.
Customer keynote
AFL kicks goals with hyper-personalised content
This year’s keynote by the AFL provided a great example of improving productivity by unlocking data with a single, trusted platform.
The AFL operates a massive and diverse ecosystem with 18 clubs and one in seven Australians considering themselves a fan. With Salesforce, the AFL has been able to connect with fans in a whole new way and bring ‘footy into every home’.
We needed to build one platform to be scalable, reliable and work for every one of our organisations. Einstein 1 platform does that in the best possible way. It gives our fans hyper-personalised content. I’ve seen hundreds of hours of manual work taken out of our club ecosystems.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Simplus booth session
Strategic product road mapping for tertiary institutions
At Simplus, we understand that while universities have similar objectives to enable students’ success, the challenges they face are also very common – like limited CRM capabilities, siloed data and a lack of insights, all impacting the student experience.
Fortunately, no matter where you are on your journey, Salesforce’s new Education Cloud can help —whether it’s a relatively simple implementation or a more complex, enterprise-wide transformation.
Purpose-built for education, Education Cloud offers access to cutting-edge AI capabilities and cross-industry innovations unavailable on legacy platforms. It centralise data to improve student personalisation and retention, boost Alumni engagement for increased giving, and improve recruitment, including faster lead conversion.
View the migration to AI CRM as an investment in future growth. We have a wealth of expertise as a systems integrator and will work alongside you to unpack your strategic vision and map out exactly how to get there.
Customer case study
UTS embraces predictive AI to anticipate student issues
David Reeve, Chief Information Officer at UTS revealed how the University is using AI to transform business processes and outcomes and create a connected digital future for its students and staff.
According to David, AI has enabled UTS to better understand student problems, create interventions and achieve better insights into real learning outcomes.
David says the secret to its successful digital transformation is all about focus. “We ensured that we had a clear vision that everyone understood. It was also important that people could see what part they played to ensure that we could move at the required pace while bringing our people on the journey with us.”
Use the AI capabilities included in the platforms you use today to focus and eliminate unnecessary and tiresome tasks. Utilise partners to support platforms, freeing up knowledgeable resources. And use GenAI and Predictive AI to build experiences. Experience is everything.
PUBLIC SECTOR
Simplus booth session
Delivering user-centric services to transform citizen engagement
Simplus was pleased to give visitors a live demonstration of how government agencies can accelerate the licence and permit approval lifecycle by giving their teams and citizens the tools to collaborate more effectively and remove application approval bottlenecks.
Mayank Jain, Public Sector Solution Lead at Simplus, said common challenges faced by public sector organisations include communication gaps between departments and roles, a lack of insight into work order status, and difficulty prioritising jobs, which results in backlog issues. Citizens also experience their own challenges working with multiple agencies and disparate systems, slowing processes and making them more difficult than they need to be.
Simplus helps build stronger connections between citizens and government teams by using one trusted CRM platform. Mayank demonstrated how a business customer wanting to apply for a licence can use Salesforce – showing how easy it is for both the customer and government to access the right information with a unified view of the entire process.
Public sector insights
How GenAI is improving trust and service delivery for government
GenAI presents significant opportunities to make government services more accessible, less complex, more personalised, and seamless. However, it’s imperative that the appropriate, responsible AI guardrails are in place.
This was the key takeaway from the Trust Imperative 4.0, a report by Salesforce and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on how responsible adoption of GenAI can improve government service delivery and multiple trust.
BCG and Salesforce surveyed more than 4,800 internet users across Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) and sought input from 18+ global experts to understand online government service delivery trends.
It revealed that while citizens are cautiously optimistic about governments’ use of AI in service delivery (e.g. communicating in multiple languages or providing access to simple government services), many are still wary. Roughly half do not trust the government to use GenAI/AI responsibly, while only 2 in 5 believe the benefits of AI in government outweigh the risks.
To maximise GenAI’s transformative potential, government should adopt a strategy that balances launching manageable, targeted initiatives with the pursuit of an ambitious future vision.
According to the report, the the top three ways governments can increase trust are by instilling:
- Laws and regulations on how AI can be used
- Rules to safeguard personal information
- Disclosure and transparency if AI has to be used
AGCCC on fostering a safe and responsible gaming environment
A great example of how AI CRM is helping the public sector improve productivity and have a positive impact on society is the Victorian Gambling & Casino Control Commission (VGCCC).
As the new, independent regulator of Victoria’s gambling industry, the VGCC has a dedicated purpose and powers to regulate gambling to ensure integrity, safety and fairness for all. To hold gambling operators to account, Annette Kimmitt, VGCCC CEO, discussed the challenges of navigating complex regulations with limited resources.
“Before Salesforce, our teams used to spend 50-60% of their time looking up information across 5,500 obligations that hold the industry accountable. Now, those obligations have been codified into a single register, allowing my team to easily find anything they are looking for.”
As for how VGCCC will be using data and AI in the future, Annette gave two use cases. First, they are looking to embed genAI using Einstein so they can use natural language to find any compliance information. With the time saved, the team will be able to turn their attention to higher value activities.
Second, they want to harness real-time gaming data and predictive AI to better understand future risks, such as the likelihood of money laundering, regulation breeches and red-flag activity. “We want to eventually make the shift from protection and enforcement to prediction and prevention to keep the community safe.”
Ready to start your Salesforce AI journey?
No matter where you are on your AI journey, Simplus is here to help scope, design, build and maintain your digital platform. Ready to boost your productivity and transform customer experiences? Get in touch with Simplus today.
