The IT Nerd

Salesforce has announced Salesforce Web3 to help companies create, manage, and deploy non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in a sustainable and trusted way. Salesforce Web3 enables brands to create connected customer experiences across Web2 and Web3, and scale efficiently with a unified platform.

Salesforce survey data finds nearly half (45%) of consumers would be more interested in purchasing an NFT if it came from their favorite brand and NFT Management and Web3 Connect innovations deliver a seamless experience creating NFTs easily and securely.

• NFT Management helps retailers build brand love with digital collections. With NFT Management, brands are able to:
  • Create NFT Collections with Clicks, Not Code: In just a few clicks, customize and deploy secure, audited smart contracts they fully own and control in perpetuity.
  • Deliver Trusted Experiences: Keep their data secure with configurable privacy controls and proactive fraud detection.
• Web3 Connect unifies customer data from Web3 across the Customer 360. By using Web3 Connect, companies can:
  • Enrich customer profiles with Web3 data: Unify Web2 and Web3 identities in their CRM with Web3 wallet IDs, NFT transaction history, and wallet risk scores
  • Create personalized, omnichannel experiences: Delight customers with a seamless experience across Web2 and Web3 channels, powered by their Customer 360 platform.
• Salesforce customers Crown Royal, Mattel and Scotch & Soda agree after successfully creating and securely deploying NFT Collections during the pilot program that supported nearly 275,000 transactions between them.

See the newsroom post HERE for more details on these Web3 product innovations.

Today, Salesforce put out a number of announcements. Each announcement leans into building responsible generative AI tools and ensuring they’re accessible to all scales of business. 

Einstein GPT

• EinsteinGPT is the next generation of Einstein, Salesforce’s AI technology which currently delivers more than 200 billion AI-powered predictions across Customer 360 per day. 
• With the combination of proprietary Einstein AI models with leading large language models, customers can use natural-language prompts on CRM data to trigger powerful, time-saving automations, and create personalized, AI-generated content.
• At hyperscale, the technology delivers AI-created content across every sales, service, marketing, commerce and IT interaction.

ChatGPT for Slack

• As part of an ongoing partnership, Salesforce and OpenAI introduced the ChatGPT app for Slack, built by OpenAI on the Slack platform, available immediately to all users. 
• The app taps ChatGPT’s powerful AI technology to bring instant conversation summaries, research tools, and writing assistance directly into Slack. With the new integration, customers can:
  • Get up to speed faster on channels or thread: AI-powered conversation summaries help users quickly catch up on what’s happening.
  • Instantly find answers on any project or topic: AI-powered research tools, users can learn and build expertise faster right from Slack — whether they’re researching best practices, prospecting a new account, and more.
• Draft messages in seconds to communicate with customers and teams: AI-powered writing assistance, users can spend less time crafting replies, status updates, and meeting notes — and more time putting the plan in action.

Salesforce Ventures Generative AI Fund

• Salesforce Ventures launched a $250 million generative AI fund to bolster the startup ecosystem and spark the development of responsible generative AI. 
• The fund will initially invest in four companies, Anthropic, Hearth, You.com and Toronto-based  Cohere.ai. Each organization has demonstrated an ability to meaningfully transform application software and impact end users’ workflows using responsible and trusted development processes.

You can click the links above to learn more about each announcement.

Today, as part of Mobile World Conference, Salesforce announced a series of innovations tailored to the communications industry that feature analytics, AI intelligence, and prebuilt solutions that automate common processes to boost customer experiences while driving down operational costs. The company also announced new integrations with WhatsApp and Infosys.

With the new features, communications providers can:

• Accelerate time-to-value and deliver better customer experiences with enhanced agent performance through Salesforce’s new Contact Center for Communications. 
• Leverage data and AI-powered insights to predict order delays and recommend fulfillment dates. 
• Enrich communications and meet customers where they are through new WhatsApp integrations. 

You can read full release linked here as it has way more details.

New Salesforce research that reveals while companies agree about the advantages of using data to make decisions, there’s a clear disconnect from how they’re using it in practice.

Salesforce’s Untapped Data Research published today, surveyed nearly 10,000 global business leaders. Here are some key findings below:

• Companies do agree data can help drive decisions: 73% of business leaders agree that data helps reduce uncertainty and make more accurate decisions in business conversations.
• Data is doubling, but data skills are struggling to keep up: 41% of business leaders cite a lack of understanding of data as a barrier to entry.
• Companies are struggling to put data into practice as leaders can’t make sense of it: 8 in 10 (80%) business leaders say data is critical in decision-making at their organization, but 1/3 of business leaders cite the lack of ability to generate insights from data.

Please see here for the Untapped Data Research newsroom post.

Today, Salesforce released its 2022 All Wrapped Up Report, which analyzes shopping data from over 1.5 billion shoppers from the holiday season across ecommerce, marketing, and service.

Key Canadian shopping trends:

• Order volume in Canada was down 7% YoY but Average Selling Price (ASP) grew 0.5%
• The highest discount offered in Canada was during the cyber week at 18%, but highest growth in shopping was observed Pre-Christmas at 11% YoY
• While credit card remained the most popular payment method for Canadian shoppers at 78% usage, but the highest growth was shown by Financing and Apple Pay at 74% and 65% respectively

Major global trends revealed:

• Holiday returns spike to record highs: Salesforce predicted over 1.4 billion orders purchased this holiday season would be returned. Today’s data shows that the number reached 1.39 billion, accounting for 13% of total holiday orders and a 63% increase in returns YoY. These numbers spiked in the six days after Christmas, with 16% of orders returned over that week — a 5% increase over last year. 
• BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick-up In Store) brings hope to last minute shoppers — and growth to retailers: Nearly one out of every five online orders placed globally this holiday season were via BOPIS. BOPIS adoption by consumers peaked at 35% of all orders on the Friday before the Christmas holiday as shoppers retrieved last minute gifts. 

More insights can be found at the shopping insights HQ.

Salesforce has released its latest State of Sales Report that highlights the importance of fostering career advancement among sales reps.

The data found one in four reps is looking for or planning to look for a new job within 12 months. And when already 85% of sales leaders say they struggle to get the budget for needed headcount, no one can afford to lose more of their team. A few other key stats that may be of interest:

• Selling has gotten harder, as 75% of Canadian sales professionals agree their job is harder now than it was before the pandemic. In fact, only 30% expect their team to hit its annual quota.
• Globally, reps are underwater in admin work, spending only 28% of their week selling – down from 34% in 2018.
• Complexity adds to the grunt work, with 66% of sales reps saying they’re overwhelmed by too many tools. Canadian sales teams use an average of 6 to close deals.
• The pressure is on to hit quotas and reps are feeling the heat with half open to leaving for a better opportunity.

Here’s a link where you can read the report.

As Cyber Week 2022 draws to a close, Salesforce released its annual Cyber Week report, which analyses shopping data from over one and a half billion shoppers on the Salesforce Customer 360 platform. Overall, global sales reached $280.8 billion, a 2% increase YoY. However, Canadian shoppers held back as compared to last year.

In Canada, over the course of Cyber Week we saw:

• Online sales down 8% YoY
• While the online sales were down as compared to last year, the average order value was up by 0.3% at $106
• Overall traffic was down 1% YoY. In terms of device traffic, mobile proved to be the most popular for shoppers to visit from, with 70% of Black Friday traffic coming from mobile, 29% from computer and 3% from tablet

Further information on the results is available in the Holiday Hub, which has been updated daily over Cyber Week.

As we lead up to Cyber Week 2022, Salesforce has released its latest digital commerce data and predictions for the period that you might be interested in.

Key Canadian findings include:

• Digital traffic was up 4% in Canada YoY as consumers started their hunt for holiday gifts.
• While consumers started their browsing early, digital commerce revenue was down 10% in Canada YoY.
• While the digital commerce revenue is down, the average order value of Canadian shoppers is $112 – a 0.3% increase compared to last year 
• Credit card payment remains the most popular method, but Financing and Apple Pay have shown significant YoY growth by 70% and 76% respectively

As a result, Salesforce predicts that:

• A sluggish start could mean a bigger than expected Cyber Week
• Discounts will deliver value to consumers and free up inventory and shelf space for retailers
• Chatbots and automated service will skyrocket

Further information on the data and predictions is available in their newsroom post alongside Salesforce’s Holiday Hub, which will be updated daily over Cyber Week. 

Even before the news that Meta has slashed thousands of jobs hit the wires, news filtered out on Tuesday that customer relationship management software provider Salesforce has cut jobs on Monday. CNBC has the details:

Salesforce on Tuesday confirmed that it cut some employees this week after the enterprise software maker saw demand lighten in some countries and industries.

Protocol reported earlier on the cuts, saying they could affect up to 2,500 employees. One person familiar with the matter said Salesforce let go of fewer than 1,000 people Monday. At the end of January it employed 73,541 people. In August Salesforce said in a filing that headcount rose 36% in the past year “to meet the higher demand for services from our customers.”

“Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition,” a Salesforce spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

With a looming recession, I’m expecting to be writing a lot of stories like this. And the thing is that I work with a number of people that are employed by Salesforce. I’ll be pinging them to make sure that they still have jobs because things are getting brutal out there.

A recent poll from Ipsos shows that 84% of buyers wish the process of shopping for or purchasing a car was easier, illustrating that the role and model of the automotive industry needs to change. 

Bringing that change to the industry, Salesforce today announces Automotive Cloud — a new product tailor made for automakers, their customers, enabling real-time personalization and intelligence across the customer and vehicle lifecycle.

Only 23% of retailers and 26% of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) actually believe their companies have adapted well to selling online, according to Salesforce’s first Trends in Automotive Report published in August. With the Canadian and US governments continuing to champion the push to EV, businesses will need to adapt to survive this period of historic transformation, making technological innovations like Automotive Cloud an imperative. 

Also of interest is the full Trends in Automotive Report features key data and insights from 500 global decision makers across the automotive industry, including OEMs, auto finance subsidiaries, and dealers.