A Trillion-Dollar Boost: Salesforce Releases New Research on the Economic Impact of Artificial Intelligence on CRM

Singapore
June 16, 2017 — Salesforce [NYSE: CRM], the global leader in CRM, today announced
new research from IDC detailing the economic impact of artificial intelligence
(AI) on CRM. AI-powered CRM activities will drive new efficiencies in how
companies sell, service, and market, ultimately expected to create more than
$1.1 trillion in new GDP impact worldwide and 800,000 net-new jobs by 2021—surpassing
those lost to automation.

AI has impacted
nearly every aspect of our consumer lives, redefining how we engage with
technology and each other. With the convergence of increased computing power,
big data and breakthroughs in machine learning, AI is also poised to transform
how people work. While some researchers predict automation driven by AI could
impact 49 percent of job activities and eliminate around 5 percent of jobs,[1] new data from IDC suggests AI could also augment and increase the
productivity of employees, specifically in CRM-related fields. From predictive
sales lead scoring to service chatbots to personalized marketing campaigns, AI
could provide every employee with tools to be more productive and provide
smarter, more personalized customer experiences.

According to
the new IDC White Paper, commissioned by Salesforce,[2] 2018 will be a landmark year for AI adoption. More than 40 percent
of companies said they will adopt AI within the next two years. In fact, by
2018, IDC forecasts that 75 percent of enterprise and ISV development will
include AI or machine-learning functionality in at least one application.
AI-powered CRM activities will cover a large spectrum of use cases and touch
almost all facets of an enterprise, including accelerating sales cycles,
improving lead generation and qualification, personalizing marketing campaigns
and lowering costs of support calls.

“AI is
impacting all sectors of the economy and every business. For the CRM market—the
fastest-growing category in enterprise software—the impact of AI will be
profound, ushering in new levels of productivity for employees and empowering
companies to drive even better experiences for their customers,” said Keith
Block, vice chairman, president and COO, Salesforce. “For companies embracing
AI, it’s critical that they create new workforce development programs to ensure
employees are prepared for this next wave of innovation.”

Key findings
from the IDC White Paper on the economic impact of AI on CRM include:

With Einstein,
Salesforce is removing the complexity of AI and empowering every Salesforce
customer and business user with AI embedded across the company’s leading apps
for sales, service, marketing, commerce and more. Salesforce is leading the democratization
of AI for CRM, and its customers are among the early adopters who are driving
this economic impact. In fact, Salesforce customers are expected to account for
$293 billion of the $1.1 trillion GDP impact and more than 150,000 of those
direct jobs by the year 2021.

As with past
technology revolutions, the rise of AI will change the employment landscape as
more tasks are automated and new opportunities are created. AI for CRM will
soon become a global economic engine for new innovation, business models and
jobs. With more than 800,000 net-new jobs expected by 2021 as a result of new
global business revenues, it is imperative that job seekers skill-up on AI.
Trailhead is Salesforce’s free, interactive, guided and gamified learning
platform, where anyone can develop skills that empower them to land a job in
the workplace of the future. With the AI Basics trail, as well as Einstein trails, anyone can learn the AI and
advance their skillsets. Since launching in 2014, Trailblazers have earned 2.5
million badges, which directly relate to in-demand job skills.

Findings from
the report are based on IDC’s Economic Impact Model (EIM), which has been
maintained since 2002 and takes inputs from IDC’s market research on IT
spending, exchange rates, and vendor market share, along with public inputs
such as GDP, tax rates, and overall labor force from other sources. The output
of the EIM is IT company and employee counts by geographic region. In 2009, IDC
added inputs for spending on cloud computing, percentage of IT resources
available for innovation (the rest used on legacy system support and upgrades),
and business revenue as a multiplier of GDP per country.

To develop an
estimate of the economic impact AI will have on CRM activities, IDC analyzed
business revenues from 2016 forecasted to 2021, third-party GDP, gross outputs
and employment estimates from enterprises in 54 countries. IDC also surveyed
more than one thousand enterprises from Australia, Canada, France, Germany,
Japan, the United Kingdom and United States on how much AI could improve CRM
activities in the first year of AI implementation, the timeline for adoption
and what this improvement could mean in terms of efficiencies for a company in
cost savings and new potential revenues.

For more
information on the methodology of the study, please download the full study at: https://sfdc.co/AI_IDCReport

Salesforce, the
Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM, empowers companies to connect
with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce
(NYSE: CRM), visit:www.salesforce.com.

Any unreleased
services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public
statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at
all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase
decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has
headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on
the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information
please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call
1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

[1] Source: McKinsey, “A Future That
Works: Automation, Employment and Productivity,” January 2017

[2] Source: IDC White Paper, “A
Trillion-Dollar Boost: The Economic Impact of AI on Customer Relationship
Management,” commissioned by Salesforce, May 2017