Salesforce’s Thierry Nicault on how Einstein GPT transforms customer experiences

How does Einstein GPT transform customer experiences with generative AI?

Einstein GPT revolutionises customer relationship management (CRM) by introducing the first generative AI solution that empowers customers to generate trustworthy content using their own data.

By seamlessly integrating Salesforce’s AI models with generative AI technology from a network of partners and real-time data from the Salesforce Data Cloud, Einstein GPT enables users to connect their data to OpenAI’s advanced AI models. This integration allows for the generation of adaptive content within the Salesforce CRM, tailored to evolving customer information and requirements.

Through Einstein GPT, users can leverage its capabilities to create various content types such as articles, emails and landing pages. For instance, salespeople can generate personalised emails that resonate with their customers, customer service professionals can quickly respond to queries with specific and relevant information, marketers can create targeted content to enhance campaign response rates, and developers can auto-generate code to streamline their workflows.

The primary objective of Einstein GPT is to unlock the full potential of user data automatically, enabling faster and more pertinent outcomes. The tool provides pre-built content suggestions that employees can review, validate and personalise as needed.

Rather than replacing people, Einstein GPT aims to enhance employee productivity by offering valuable assistance. Employees receive the suggested content, approve it or make slight modifications, and then send it to customers.

Is there a way it can be misused?

As the foundation of content generation in Einstein GPT relies on trusted and validated data from a company’s CRM system, the risk of misuse is minimal. Unlike ChatGPT, which can access data from various sources, Einstein GPT’s content generation is confined to the familiar and reliable data within the CRM, ensuring security and data integrity.

Can you share an example of how Einstein GPT can be used across different areas such as marketing and development?

Absolutely! Consider a scenario where a marketer wants to launch a new campaign. Traditionally, this process involved designing customer targets, creating landing pages, invitation forms, and email campaigns manually, which could take up to four months.

However, with the assistance of Einstein GPT, the marketer can leverage the CRM’s data and dashboard. They can easily design the customer targets and then request Einstein GPT to automatically generate the landing page, invitation form and email campaign tailored to those targets. What used to be a time-consuming and manual process spanning months can now be accomplished in just one day, thanks to the efficiency of Einstein GPT.

Where does the name Einstein come from?

Einstein GPT holds significant appeal as it builds upon the foundation established by Einstein, the AI component of our portfolio introduced seven years ago. While Einstein provided predictive insights and recommendations to employees, it did not generate content directly.

However, with Einstein GPT, we have taken a significant leap forward. Einstein GPT goes beyond recommendations and offers pre-built content suggestions, akin to having a data scientist within the organisation. This evolution marks the next phase in leveraging AI to propose valuable content for users.

Tell us about your partnership with PwC.

In collaboration with PwC’s Egypt Technology and Innovation Centre (ETIC), we launched a three-week Salesforce training programme. This initiative aims to provide participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue a career within the Salesforce ecosystem. The training programme focuses on enhancing technical skills for newcomers to Salesforce, offering them a platform to develop and refine their abilities.

Our objective is to facilitate and foster skills development on a regional scale. We recognise the abundance of talent in various regions; however, there is a prevailing gap in essential skill sets, a challenge that is not unique to a particular area but exists globally.

To address this, we actively collaborate with partners, such as PwC, who have established centres of excellence, like the one in Egypt, to provide comprehensive training and certification programmes.

We identify promising individuals, particularly recent graduates, and enroll them in these initiatives, offering a high probability of securing internships or permanent positions through an intensive three-week programme.

Additionally, we have formed partnerships with numerous universities across the region, including those in the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Through these collaborations, we aim to introduce Salesforce curriculum and nurture a talented and certified community of professionals.

How extensive is Salesforce’s partner ecosystem in the Middle East?

The Salesforce ecosystem of partners in the Middle East grew 46 per cent year-on-year by the end of Q1 of FY24 (January 31, 2023), while Salesforce certifications rose by 51.5 per cent in the same period. Furthermore, the company is expected to create 20,300 new jobs and $3.9bn in new business revenues by 2026. These partners, many of which attended the event, are helping organisations across all sectors to raise employee productivity and transform with real-time insights and new levels of customer experience.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

We are investing heavily in the Middle East: We will be opening a new office in Dubai Internet City by August or September, and we will be relocating key members of the team who already cover the Middle East to Dubai.

We will also launch a data center with AWS in the UAE later this year, and will bring Hyperforce to the region. This will mean our services will be available on public cloud, allowing customers to scale their infrastructure with more flexibility, protect sensitive data with built-in trust, and store data in line with the regulations of the countries in which they operate.

Read: Is ChatGPT worth the hype?