Salesforce Stock (NYSE:CRM)
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), a leading customer relationship management platform, has taken a significant stride forward. With the aim of empowering businesses with advanced AI capabilities, Salesforce has recently announced the expansion of its AI toolset and the doubling of its venture fund for AI startups. This strategic move reinforces Salesforce’s commitment to driving innovation and delivering cutting-edge solutions to its customers.
In the most recent of a series of announcements pertaining to artificial intelligence (AI), Salesforce on Monday announced AI Cloud, a customer relationship management software that combines data from multiple sources with artificial intelligence software “to provide trusted, open, real-time generative AI that is enterprise ready.” This announcement was the latest in a string of AI-related announcements.
Artificial intelligence is the impetus behind the rethinking of virtually every enterprise technology company. Only one week ago, for example, Intuit revealed its AI strategy, Adobe) announced plans for a new generative AI subscription plan, and Cisco Systems disclosed new AI tools for its WebEx video conferencing software. All of these events took place in the same week.
But no software company has been more proactive in embracing the trend of AI than Salesforce, which stands for customer relationship management.
AI Cloud, according to a statement released by Salesforce, “brings the power of generative AI to deliver trusted, AI-created content across every sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT interaction to boost productivity and efficiency.”
According to Salesforce, AI Cloud will provide sales representatives and service teams with the ability to auto-generate personalized agent chat replies and case summaries. Marketers, commerce teams, and developers will also have access to similar tools. According to Salesforce, AI Cloud comes with software known as the “Einstein Trust Layer,” which is intended to prevent large-language models from retaining sensitive customer data.
“AI is reshaping our world and transforming business in ways we never imagined,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement. “Every company needs to become AI-first,” Benioff added. “AI Cloud… is the quickest and easiest way for our customers to unleash the incredible power of AI. At the heart of it, all is trust, which is driven by our brand-new Einstein Trust Layer. Every business will be able to unlock incredible levels of innovation, productivity, and efficiency with the help of AI Cloud.
The pricing strategy that Salesforce will implement for AI services has not been disclosed. However, Adam Caplan, head of emerging technologies at Salesforce, stated in an interview that the company will transition from a seat-based business model to one that is blended with the kind of consumption-based models used by cloud computing companies such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Snowflake, and MongoDB. Caplan is responsible for overseeing Salesforce’s technological advancements.
The announcement was made by Salesforce in advance of Salesforce AI, which is a live-streamed event that will begin at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday and last for a total of 90 minutes.
Additionally, the company announced that its Salesforce Ventures division will increase the amount of money allocated to its Generative AI Fund from $250 million to $500 million, with the intention of investing in new AI-based businesses.
Salesforce has announced new investments in the companies Humane and Tribble, both of which are working on the automation of sales and marketing processes. Humane is developing a small, screenless AI-based wearable, and Tribble is working on automating sales and marketing tasks. You.com, an AI-based search engine; Hearth, a company that is creating AI-based relationship management tools; and Anthropic and Cohere, both of which generate large-language models and other types of artificial intelligence software. The fund also holds stakes in both of these companies.
During the most recent earnings call for the company, Benioff spent considerable time discussing AI.
According to him, “the coming wave of generative AI will be more revolutionary than any other technological innovation that has come before in our lifetime, or maybe in any lifetime.”
Through Friday’s trading, Salesforce stock had increased by 62% for the year.
Featured Image: Pixabay
