Salesforce: what’s new in May 2024?
Salesforce is a global leader in the CRM market, offering advanced tools for customer relationship management, personalization and automation of business processes. With innovative solutions like Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud and CRM Analytics, Salesforce helps companies increase revenue and operational efficiency. Transition Technologies MS (TTMS) supports businesses in fully exploiting the potential of Salesforce, offering comprehensive implementation, integration and consulting services tailored to the individual needs of customers. What new features in Salesforce can further improve your company’s operations? What has happened in the “Salesforce world” in recent weeks? You can read about it in the article below. Enjoy reading! 1. Salesforce No. 1 in the IDC report The international analytics company IDC (International Data Corporation) once again named Salesforce the best CRM provider in its semi-annual software report. This is the eleventh time in a row that Salesforce has won this distinction. Salesforce achieved a CRM market share of 21.7% in 2023 (in previous years it was: 19% share in 2020, 23.9% in 2021, 23.8% in 2022). The company is a leader in North America, Latin America, Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Salesforce also won first place in the sales, customer service and marketing categories. 2. Beyond, Inc. Invests in Salesforce Beyond, Inc., owner of the Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and Zulily brands, announced an expansion of its investment in Salesforce with the goal of increasing customer loyalty and delivering a more personalized shopping experience. This strategic decision aims to integrate customer data from various brands and implement personalized customer paths, which is expected to contribute to the growth of an active customer base. What technologies does the investment involve? Leverage of Salesforce Data Cloud: With this technology, Beyond, Inc. plans to integrate customer data from various brands such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and Zulily. Data integration will allow for a more complete picture of the customer, which will enable offers and communications to be better tailored to their needs. Use of Salesforce Marketing Cloud: This platform will be used to implement personalized customer journeys, which means that each customer interaction with the brand will be more tailored to their individual preferences and purchasing behavior. Personalization of customer paths aims to increase customer engagement and satisfaction, which in turn translates into their loyalty and return to the brand. Marcus Lemonis, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Beyond, Inc., emphasized that this investment is crucial to increasing the number of active customers. He underlined that it is important to invest in users who are willing to buy and return, which will contribute to the growth of the active customer base. 3. New Salesforce White Paper: Threats of AI Language Models Salesforce has published a detailed white paper discussing the emerging threats of Large Language Models (LLM) and defensive strategies for organizations. Key risks identified in the document include: “Injecting” malicious prompts: Malicious actors can manipulate LLM models by inserting malicious commands, causing the model to perform unintended actions. Salesforce recommends using machine learning-based defense strategies and heuristic methods such as discard filtering to mitigate these risks. Infecting training data: Attackers can corrupt training data, compromising the security and effectiveness of the model. Organizations should verify the integrity of this data to prevent such problems. Supply chain vulnerabilities: Security risks can arise throughout the application lifecycle, including libraries and services provided by third parties. It is important that all components meet safety standards and undergo internal inspections. Model Theft: Protecting your LLM models from unauthorized access is crucial. Salesforce recommends using authenticated access, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and strong audit trails to secure models. Secure training environments: Training environments should be as secure as data environments to prevent security breaches during the development of AI models. Salesforce emphasizes the importance of staying ahead of potential security threats as generative AI continues to evolve. For more detailed information, you can check out the full document on the Salesforce website. 4. Unified Knowledge: New Salesforce Solution Salesforce introduced Unified Knowledge, a tool that integrates organizational knowledge resources from various external systems to support customer service agents in quickly resolving issues. Thanks to the partnership with Zoomin Software, Unified Knowledge enables the integration of data from sources such as SharePoint, Confluence, Google Drive and brand websites, thus increasing access to information for customer service agents. Key features of Unified Knowledge include: Generating answers to customer questions based on an integrated knowledge base: Thanks to AI technology, the tool can provide answers based on a comprehensive set of data, which allows for quick and accurate resolution of customer queries. Einstein Copilot for mobile workers: Mobile workers have access to Einstein Copilot, which allows them to interact with an expanded set of information, providing support in the field. Search Answers: This feature generates responses to queries from both agents and customers, making it easier to find the information you need. Advantages of Unified Knowledge: Increased efficiency of customer service teams: Integration of data from various sources allows agents to respond to customer questions faster and more effectively, which translates into better service quality. Better use of knowledge resources: Thanks to integration with external systems, Unified Knowledge enables more effective knowledge management and its use in everyday work. Salesforce plans a long-term migration of Unified Knowledge to Data Cloud, which will enable better data management and integration, although currently the solution is based on Core structures. 5. Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Innovations for B2C Salesforce was recognized as a leader in the latest IDC MarketScape report on digital applications for B2C commerce. This prestigious rating confirms Salesforce’s strong position in the digital commerce technology market. The company continues to innovate its Commerce Cloud platform, which helps companies increase revenue and operational efficiency. New features in Commerce Cloud AI Automation with Generative Page Designer: The new Generative Page Designer feature uses artificial intelligence to automate website creation. Thanks to this tool, companies can quickly generate attractive and functional websites, tailored to the individual needs of customers. AI analyzes data about user behavior and creates personalized content, which increases customer engagement and conversions. Increased flexibility and extensibility for developers: The Commerce Cloud platform has been enriched with tools that increase its flexibility and extensibility. Developers can now more easily integrate external systems and create custom solutions that meet specific business requirements. This enables companies to respond faster to changing market and customer needs. Retailer Efficiency with Composable Storefront: Composable Storefront is a new feature that allows retailers to create modular and scalable e-commerce sites. Thanks to this tool, companies can make changes to their websites faster, test new solutions and optimize customer shopping paths. This significantly improves user experience and increases sales efficiency. Michael Affronti, Vice President and General Manager of Commerce Cloud, emphasized that Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a trusted platform that helps companies maximize digital commerce revenues. According to him, the new features introduced in Commerce Cloud allow companies to better use data, automate processes and offer more personalized shopping experiences. 6. Texas Tech University: Success with Salesforce Texas Tech University used Salesforce to increase student enrollment and improve student relationships. Using advanced tools such as CRM Analytics, Marketing Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Salesforce for Education, Texas Tech successfully achieved its recruiting goals while improving graduation rates. Result? An increase in the number of registrations by 12%! Thanks to the use of CRM Analytics and Marketing Cloud, the university was able to reach potential students more effectively, personalize communication and monitor the effectiveness of recruitment campaigns. Automation of marketing processes and data analysis enabled precise targeting and an increase in the number of registrations. The university also saw its four-year graduation rate increase to 49% in five years. The implementation of Experience Cloud and Salesforce for Education allowed for better monitoring of students’ progress and providing them with support at every stage of education. Personalized learning paths, individualized advice, and constant access to university resources have contributed to improved graduation rates. Texas Tech University What exactly contributed to this success? Personalization and use of data: Mitzi Lauderdale, Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovation and Student Success, emphasized that personalization and effective use of data in CRM are crucial to the university’s success. This made it possible to adapt the educational offer and support to the individual needs and expectations of students. CRM Analytics: Salesforce’s advanced analytics tools enabled Texas Tech to accurately track and analyze enrollment, academic progress and student support data. Thanks to this, the university was able to make informed decisions and optimize its activities. Marketing Cloud: Integrated marketing campaigns conducted using Marketing Cloud allowed for precise targeting of potential students and effective communication with them. Automation of marketing processes and analysis of campaign results contributed to increasing the effectiveness of recruitment activities. Experience Cloud: The Experience Cloud platform made it possible to create personalized educational paths and provide students with constant access to university resources. Thanks to this, students could better plan their education and use available support tools. Salesforce for Education: Specialized Salesforce for Education solutions allowed for better management of relationships with students and monitoring their learning progress. Thanks to this, the university could quickly respond to students’ needs and provide them with appropriate support. Summary May 2024 brought many important news in the Salesforce area that are important for large companies and business representatives. From being recognized as a Top CRM Provider by IDC, to innovations in Commerce Cloud and successes in education, Salesforce continues to evolve its tools to provide customers with even better customer relationship management, personalization and automation solutions. Thanks to new features such as Generative Page Designer, Composable Storefront and the Unified Knowledge tool, Salesforce increases the operational efficiency of companies and improves customer experiences. How to fully use the potential of Salesforce? You just need to choose the right implementation partner. Transition Technologies MS (TTMS) has been supporting business for years, offering comprehensive implementation, integration and consulting services. Read our case study and contact Salesforce experts – they only need 3 weeks for you to enjoy your new CRM platform.
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