Highlights From Dreamforce 2022

During the height of the pandemic, a lot of our favorite things were put on hold. Vacations. Gatherings with family and friends. And our favorite in-person industry events like Dreamforce. 

Sure, Dreamforce, one of the largest (and arguably the best) tech conferences in the world never really went away. In the past couple of years, Salesforce innovated to deliver the goodness of Dreamforce – virtually. But this year, Salesforce announced that Dreamforce was returning to its hometown of San Francisco. After so much time apart, we were thrilled to hear it. 

This year marked the 20th year of Dreamforce, and I’m proud to say I’ve been to the past 15. Each year’s event provides so many opportunities for networking, catching up with long-time friends, and meeting new ones. I also enjoy meeting with both current and prospective customers to hear about their challenges – and exploring how 1440 can help them overcome them. 

In addition, the Dreamforce line-up can’t be beat. There was so much networking, learning, and fun to be had at Dreamforce 2022. But here are a few of the things I’m most jazzed about.

1. The Next Era of Slack: Driving Improved Collaboration in the New Era of Work

There’s no denying the pandemic had a massive impact on the way we work. More than two years later, that impact is lasting. We’ve entered an era of digital-first work in which digital infrastructure is often replacing a physical headquarters. 

During Dreamforce, Salesforce unveiled some really exciting additions to Slack (acquired by Salesforce last year) to help companies collaborate both internally and externally and thrive in this new era of digital-first work.

For starters, Slack unveiled clips, which are a new way to create and share audio, video and screen recordings within a Slack channel or DM. Users can record and share a clip, and their teams can watch and respond whenever it works for them. Clips support asynchronous work – and eliminate the need to juggle multiple calendars and schedule unnecessary meetings. And let’s be honest – who wants to sit in unnecessary meetings?

In addition, Enterprise Grid customers can now collaborate with anyone in Slack – regardless of whether they’re a Slack customer. For example, a sales rep can create a channel for each of their prospects – without those prospects needing to be on a paid Slack plan. There, the rep can collaborate with the prospect throughout the purchase journey. And both the rep and prospect can loop in other people when it makes sense to do so.  

The bottom line? Slack is poised to become the digital workplace where collaboration happens – both internally and externally. 

2. Salesforce Genie: Leveraging Data to Deliver Magical Experiences

Consumer expectations have never been higher, and one-size-fits all experiences will no longer cut it. Per Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer Fifth Edition, 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations. And 56% expect offers to always be personalized. 

Companies have a ton of customer data at their fingertips to fuel superior, personalized experiences. However, this data comes from myriad sources, and many businesses struggle to make sense of it – let alone leverage it. So while many brands understand the importance of personalized experiences, few have actually figured out how to consistently deliver them. 

But that’s all about to change.

During Dreamforce, Salesforce gave attendees a sneak peek of Salesforce Genie, which they describe as the “real-time platform for customer magic.” This is possibly one of the most important Dreamforce announcements. Salesforce Genie empowers businesses to make sense of all the data available to them by integrating every step of the customer journey into a unified customer profile record. Then, they can use that profile to deliver a level of personalization that feels nothing short of magic. 

3. Protecting Mother Earth 

There’s no denying we’re in the midst of a climate crisis. Temperatures are rising, which is leading to a whole host of problems including natural disasters, food and water shortages, and economic problems – among others. Businesses can no longer continue as usual and expect everything to be OK. Instead, we must all take action – and the time is now.

During Dreamforce, Marc Benioff was joined by Jane Goodall to explore how businesses can rethink their relationship with nature. They discussed important ways to take action, including going net zero and investing in our planet. 

While most understand the increasing importance of sustainability, tracking these efforts can be challenging. However, Salesforce’s Net Zero Cloud empowers businesses to integrate a complete sustainability management solution into their organization. 

4. Salesforce and WhatsApp: A Match Made in Heaven

According to Statista research, nearly all worldwide internet users use chat or messaging apps – including WhatsApp. Of course, they turn to these apps to stay in touch with family and friends. But they also want to use these apps to connect with brands. In fact, 66% of online adults globally prefer messaging as a way of communicating with a business.  

At Dreamforce, Salesforce and WhatsApp announced their partnership that’ll allow brands using Salesforce to connect with customers and deliver great messaging experiences on WhatsApp. With this partnership, brands will have a new way to sell, market, and provide support – right from a conversation. 

Here at 1440, we understand the importance of being able to interact with customers throughout the purchase journey via their preferred channels. We built Messaging Studio to empower brands to communicate with consumers via their preferred channels and languages all within Salesforce. 

5. Delivering Magical Customer Experiences with Salesforce 

According to Salesforce research, 88% of customers say that the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services. One of the best parts of Dreamforce was hearing how winning brands are leveraging Salesforce to deliver those great experiences that win and retain customers. 

We had the pleasure of attending a retail keynote, “Thrive in an Inflationary World,” led by our friend Rob Garf, VP and GM, Retail, at Salesforce. During the session, we heard how winning brands are delivering personalized, seamless experiences across the customer journey.

Art Sebastian, VP of Digital Experience at Casey’s, discussed retaining loyal shoppers with real-time segmentation and a unified profile. Casey’s launched Salesforce CDP to unify guest data. Doing so has allowed them to tap into data and technology to build the right experiences at the right time. As Art put it, Casey’s has been able to “personalize and create seamless experiences across our website, mobile app, and messaging touchpoints.”

Vasilis Dimitropoulos, VP, Global Client Services & Product Care at Gucci shared how the luxury brand is elevating service with automation and AI. With Salesforce, Gucci is able Tableau and customer service together to create a unified view of the customer. This allows agents to speak the voice of the Gucci brand – and deliver personalized experiences throughout the customer journey. 

Rob summed up the session by discussing how consumers are traversing so many different touch points throughout the customer journey. Brands must be equipped to deliver personalized, seamless experiences both in the digital and physical world. This requires brands to infuse digital into the physical world by optimizing associates and inventory with intelligence. 

Another great brand we heard from that’s delivering ultra personalized experiences – driven by Salesforce Customer 360 – is L’Oréal. L’Oréal has a gold mine of data about beauty, hair science, skin science, makeup, and consumer routines. As consumer preferences have evolved and more shoppers have started to purchase beauty products online, L’Oréal needed to start tapping into this data. With Salesforce, they’re able to make sense of this data and create personalized, seamless experiences for customers – whether they’re online or offline. 

Enhancing the Power of Salesforce with 1440 

There was one clear theme throughout Dreamforce: Salesforce is a seriously powerful platform. It’s powering outstanding, personalized experiences for brands across all industries – including retail.

Salesforce is an amazing platform out of the box. But one of the beauties of it is that it can be customized to fit the unique needs of just about any business. 

Here at 1440, we’re passionate about helping brands deliver great experiences – while allowing them to maximize every minute of the day. And each one of our studios is built for Salesforce.

Reputation Studio allows brands to manage, respond to, and analyze reviews and Q&A content from just about anywhere – all within Salesforce. Messaging Studio empowers brands to communicate with their shoppers via their preferred channels without leaving Salesforce. With Commerce Studio, brands can manage multi-channel support, orders, and logistics from one central location. And Translation Studio allows brands to do it all in any language.

Ready to see how 1440’s suite of products can enhance Salesforce and help fuel experiences that attract and retain customers? Contact us to see our solutions in action.