Selecting highlights from Dreamforce is always a challenge – there is so much to choose from, and Dreamforce 2022 was no exception. Here are the insights and moments that we found most valuable.
IT Keynote: Deliver the future of IT, today
Seeing the power of Salesforce Genie up close was our favourite moment of DF22. Genie looks set to grant wishes all over the place by uniting data on a single platform and adding real-time capabilities. It integrates seamlessly with other Clouds like Sales, Service and Marketing, so teams can have a real-time, 360-degree customer view across the enterprise instead of chasing data. Think centralised customer profiles that will simplify personalised sales and marketing interactions. And Genie makes sure you never miss an opportunity because changes in collected data are seen in real time.
This is going to take businesses from good to great by unlocking a multitude of use cases across industries where real-time data makes every interaction an opportunity to delight the customer.
Top challenges and priorities for CIOs today
Brenda Kirk from KeyBank made the point that we have to start thinking about talent in a different way, taking note of the talent that already exists in our organisations and recognising that people who aren’t technical today can end up being real innovators. We need to retain and grow existing talent just as much as we need to recruit talent, and building career paths for our people is a critical part of that.
Sam Jaddi at ADT spoke about making the goals of IT the goals of the business. They are not separate and it’s incumbent upon IT leaders to make sure they can speak the language of the business so they understand those goals and can build trust across other parts of the business.
Sales keynote: Your playbook for efficient growth
Ketan Karkhanis, EVP & CM at Sales Cloud, shared the three fundamentals underpinning Sales Cloud Genie: intelligence, real time, automation. They’re a familiar trifecta of course but this keynote really drives home the increasingly urgent need for real time data to drive sales execution and automation to drive productivity gains. And Genie provides a complete sales tech suite for sales teams to meet those imperatives. As Ketan said, “From bots to billing, everything is connected by Salesforce Genie.”
CFO talk: The value customer service brings to your business
Given service has traditionally been seen as a cost rather than value-generating aspect of business, it was great to hear Salesforce CFO Amy Weaver talk about the critical role played by service in creating efficiencies, driving growth and reducing costs. She used the example of security company ADT which was able to cut its service trips by around 40% by using Service Cloud for its contact centre and field service.
The visionary moment
Ninety per cent of marketers say recent data privacy changes have impacted the way they track performance. So Salesforce is innovating new ways to help brands create meaningful moments and build relationships with their customers. Lidiane Jones took us through how Genie makes every Cloud app more automated and more intelligent, harmonising data points to create a single source of truth in a clean, unified profile.
New brand partnerships with Snowflake, Amazon SageMaker and WhatsApp are prioritising the customer experience by driving easier and more cost-effective ways to share customer data in real time without having to copy it – and take risks with it.
Net zero keynote: A new day for the environment
And it’s always a privilege to hear Dr Jane Goodall speak on everything from meditation to virtual lectures and empowering young people to take action for the environment. “We have a choice about the kind of impact we will have on the planet.” She remains an inspiration.
With ESG factors more important to businesses than ever, tracking metrics – from energy use to diversity – is critical. Net Zero Cloud is a single source of truth for your business’s sustainability measures. It can pull data from third-party sources – travel, suppliers, energy providers, water management, waste management – so you have a clear picture of the entire environmental footprint of your business. It can also forecast travel emissions and give intelligent recommendations about how to reduce your carbon footprint.
A last word on Communications Cloud
It was exciting to get a sneak peak at the product strategy for Communications Cloud which incorporates a focus on intelligence, growth, scale, digital experiences and simplification.
Prioritising performance and scalability by moving to core provides communication service providers (CSPs) the ability to optimise multi-site quote and ordering experiences needed for B2B segments. And actionable insights allow service agents, enterprise sales and fulfilment managers to work more efficiently in context.
All this and more now helps Salesforce Communications Cloud achieve true industry alignment.
