Our Top Takeaways from Dreamforce 2022
On September 20th, thousands of people descended on San Francisco for a much anticipated return to Salesforce Dreamforce. Needless to say, our team was excited to attend this year and participate in this big reunion! As is expected, Salesforce had MAJOR mic drop moments across the week. With all of the amazing announcements we heard, demos we saw, and sessions we attended, here are our biggest takeaways from Dreamforce 2022.
1. Salesforce Genie: The real-time platform for customer magic
In an era when third-party data tracking is on the outs, Salesforce Genie will be a huge asset.
Genie is a real-time data platform powering the entire Salesforce Customer 360 platform, transforming customer data and transactional data into a harmonized view, creating even more “hyper-personalized experiences” for customers. Have you ever called a customer support line and spent an excess amount of time talking the agent through your order history to get the right level of support? Customers expect every experience we have to be connected and updated in real-time. When they aren’t, they’re disappointed.
That’s where Genie comes in. Genie allows for even greater data unification, bringing typically siloed data into one unified customer profile with real-time metrics. What is the goal of all of this? Helping companies organize complicated, disorganized tech stacks so they can treat their customers like more than just a number. What’s really exciting is that Genie delivers on an essential, efficient need for all those working across platforms, let alone across clouds, and it even includes built-in connectors that pull in data from everywhere, including legacy data via MuleSoft. Magic!
2. MuleSoft: Amazing things happen with AI & Automation
MuleSoft RPA and MuleSoft Composer will launch customers towards full automation more than ever!
The MuleSoft Keynote at Dreamforce '22 was a packed house. Sold out and standing room only, but for good reason! When you can automate processes, integrate data, and connect all of your applications — digital transformation takes off and it caught the eye of many businesses who attended the big reunion. MuleSoft provides the easy-to-use tools you need to automate anything for everyone. Not only does it connect your systems in a sustainable way, but it also provides the only end-to-end automation platform available in the market that can generate revenue and save at the same time.
This year at Dreamforce, MuleSoft highlighted new features and products that were built to help businesses connect real-time data from any system, automate processes using clicks or code, and accelerate business growth with ready-to-go solutions.
The announcement of MuleSoft RPA and MuleSoft Composer, were the talk of the town. During the keynote, it was announced that “MuleSoft RPA uses AI-powered bots to unlock unstructured data that’s trapped in documents and images. Because these bots automate through the UI, they work for any system, from anywhere” (MuleSoft Dreamforce recap). Additionally, MuleSoft Composer, the magical feature that allows for no code integration, “extends these capabilities of RPA into more modern systems with pre-built connectors and a drag-and-drop user experience.” Pretty neat, right? It doesn’t end there. With the announcement of Composer Templates, pre-built automations with built-in best practices, customers will be able to build in minutes, not hours.
If you have questions about these new features, or what MuleSoft can do for your business, connect with us!
3. Slack: More than just a communication tool
Slack and Salesforce launched a new “persistent layer,” which allows users to capture and store information directly inside Slack channels and their individual workspaces!
Let's talk Slack! Not only has Slack’s usability increased, but their features have offered their customers more value than ever, especially when connected to Salesforce. The announcement of Slack Canvas is proof that the innovation between these two platforms is unstoppable.
Slack Canvas is a new surface that takes collaboration to the next level, allowing internal teams productivity to soar. It provides teams with a way to capture and store information directly inside their workspace, so there’s no need for toggling. Here at NeuraFlash, we are thrilled to start using this feature within our own teams - connecting our business no matter where our hybrid workforce is located.
As a leading slack partner, we are excited to see how these solutions will inspire better team collaboration!
4. Service Cloud Voice: The voice channel is more important than ever
Noted at Dreamforce, the voice channel continues to be one where personalized experiences matter and connecting your telephony platform is worth the investment.
Despite what you may have heard, the phone channel is not dead, it's just getting a makeover (and a well deserved one at that!)
Service Cloud Voice powered by Amazon Connect, launched back at Dreamforce 2020 and to date, has proven its value and is continuing to scale as a top solution for customers in any industry. Brands like Sonos, ONE, and businesses all over the world are finding incredible success with this solution. Because of this, it’s no wonder Service Cloud Voice was a hot topic at this year’s event. We had the opportunity to present this year alongside Cheech Moore on this topic. During the session, we provided a great demo including Voice Bots powered by AWS Lex. We also shared how to get started with Service Cloud Voice and some of the great business outcomes we’ve seen across NeuraFlash’s 100+ voice customers.
We would love to connect with anyone who wants to learn more about how you can see these same results.
5. Industry Clouds: Build on the features Salesforce already offers
Customers can use the power of Salesforce Customer 360 to power their business with the features specific to their industry demands.
Industry clouds are becoming more popular as they provide organizations with a more specific and tailored experience, building on the features Salesforce is already offering. Many commercial and enterprise companies want industry-specific services right now because these prebuilt features and services are better than anything most companies could build and maintain themselves. It was stated over and over at Dreamforce that businesses who utilize industry clouds will work faster and relegate the headaches of ever-changing and complex industry-specific services.
We’re a big fan of all industry-specific clouds, but the two that caught our attention at Dreamforce this year were Manufacturing Cloud and Consumer Goods Cloud.
Manufacturing Cloud for Sales & Service
Manufacturing Cloud is a modernized way for manufacturers to have a comprehensive view of all of their operations to either unite their sales processes or the service experiences. It provides a way for businesses to connect disparate departments together to gain insights that could be used to better understand, not only the company, but market changes and the ability to react quickly to them. A solution for both Sales and Service? We’re here for it.
Consumer Goods Cloud is known for fueling alignment and productivity! It enables sales teams to deep dive into the data servicing insights surrounding growth opportunities and has capabilities that help brands and retailers manage their operations and increase sales. The best part? Consumer Goods Cloud allows a customer to create a comprehensive consumer profile across all touch points with real-time insights that go beyond purchase history, including demographics, location, and more.
6. Gaming: A growing industry
Last but definitely not least, a lot of the talk at Dreamforce was about how the gaming industry is booming. With a market that is worth $300 billion and has a 10% growth rate - its tech savvy users have high service expectations. Our team hosted a great session at Dreamforce with Salesforce and Unity, showcasing the potential for service in the gaming industry and the benefits that AI can have on gamers and agents, leading to better experiences and quicker resolution times, so players can stay in the game.
Make sure to check out our session here on Salesforce+!
As we look back on the week, Dreamforce was truly an incredible event! We can’t wait to see how these products and trends continue to evolve and make an impact on customers using Salesforce, everywhere. See you at Dreamforce 2023!
