Your Ultimate 5-Min Connections 2023 Recap

Our team had a blast being back in person this year in Chicago for three days filled with inspiring keynotes, educational sessions, and networking opportunities. Were you able to attend #CNX23? If you were not able to make it, you did miss out on a lot but do not fret, we have a lot of amazing highlights to share with you! Let us dive into some of the important announcements and updates of Salesforce that inspired our team. 

What We Loved About #CNX23 

This year’s Salesforce Connections started with a bang! The fantastic keynote speech by Sarah Franklin, President, Salesforce was a great way to introduce the new motto “AI is the new UI” and the importance of keeping the Salesforce core values at the forefront in the new age of AI. Throw away the old traditional storefronts or ways of marketing and let your AI do the work to find the right products and deliver a more personalized experience. 

Highlights You Should Watch on Salesforce+ 

The keynote is actually broken down into episodes on Salesforce+. Episode 3 on AI was a great watch to learn how Rossignol uses Commerce GPT and Einstein to deliver products and reach their customers in all four seasons, and not just on the slopes!  

With great data comes great responsibility, and no one knows that more than Formula 1. In Episode 4, you can learn how Formula 1 grew its customers exponentially by visualizing their data faster than ever before and reaching customers that do not attend any races but still get the same thrill! 

We also thoroughly enjoyed Episode 11 on the Retail 2023 Holiday Shopping Predictions, learning what is happening in the retail industry. Some of the challenges center on consumers being conservative and discerning about where they spend their money and buying less. So, what will this year look like? In 2023, we need to be all about customer retention, transparency, and automation – not just about profitability. Predictions are centered around AI to influence digital holiday sales and increased returns which will push companies to optimize reasonable return policies. Do not miss watching the rest of the session on Salesforce+ to learn more. 

Another great session that is worth watching on Salesforce+ is Episode 12, Build Loyalty with Partner Marketing which not only helps grow and engage partner ecosystems but also supports marketing teams. Legacy systems and manual processes clash with growing product innovation which creates challenges as a foundational shift is happening from transactional to strategic relationships. There is enormous value to developing long-lasting relationships and PRM solutions are equipped to help change the dynamics in the right direction. Read more about what we have developed for our clients with Salesforce technology.  

On day two, Episode 26 on Orchestrating the Multichannel Customer Journey was gold, highlighting the power of cross-cloud solutions using AI for retailers. An important service capability they mentioned as they moved to the cloud was being able to answer 2,000-3,000 daily inquiries online. Our team is passionate about leveraging Salesforce technology in innovative ways to enforce business scalability and we have extensive experience and knowledge in the retail industry.  

We could not finish this article without mentioning the fun and inspirational session with Dan Levy, you can find it under Episode 6. Especially for marketers creating content and promoting products, there is an accepted rule that if it is not relatable, it will not succeed. But when it comes to powerful storytelling and building a brand, magic happens when you take risks and produce meaningful content, it will help to open the mind of consumers and drive growth. Definitely, a must-see! 

Tip: Over on Salesforce’s YouTube Channel, there is a great playlist highlighting all the important sessions and discussions on AI + Data + CRM = Customer Magic!  

Top Salesforce Connections Announcements

Even though the talk of the town may well be about Salesforce announcing their partnership with Google Cloud, we were more excited about the continued personalization capabilities driven by new innovations utilizing a combination of generative AI and predictive AI. So, let us get into it! 

Marketing GPT & Commerce GPT 

Salesforce has done it again! A complete reinvention of Marketing Cloud with AI-infused within to change the way users interact with marketing systems – such as being able to ask your own data questions, which in turn will help you decide which products to promote or how to develop a successful campaign.  
 

And when it comes to Commerce, users can hyper-personalize content for each customer or partner to deepen relationships in a tangible way. This truly helps to create options and helps to generate ideas for innovation for companies versus dealing with routine tasks. Not only that but instead of being data-driven, we can be led by the data and interact with it faster to develop successful campaigns. Our recommendation is for companies to focus on developing an actionable data foundation through Data Cloud to get the most out of the GPT! 

Salesforce & Google Cloud 

It is no surprise that Data Cloud is now the foundation to connect and share internal and external data from sales, marketing, service, and commerce in one place to create one unified customer profile. 

The newly announced hyper-efficient data sharing between Salesforce Data Cloud and Google Big Query will provide secure data access with seamless data access across platforms and clouds, without the need to copy or move data! The new shift will help create unified profiles to deliver more personalized experiences, better understand behavior, and run effective low-cost campaigns across marketing, sales, service, and commerce. 

Updates to come: 

• The Data Cloud and Google Vertex AI integration will be available in late 2023.  
• The Data Cloud and Big Query integration will be available in early 2024.  
• The Marketing Cloud and Google Analytics integration will be available later this year and compatible with GA4. 

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Salesforce Connections 2023 proved to be a resounding success, from thought-provoking keynotes to hands-on workshops and networking opportunities, empowering marketers and developers alike with the knowledge and tools necessary to thrive in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. 

Contact us to find out what is available today out of the latest Salesforce announcements and what case-specific cases can help your company scale for the future.