Salesforce Research Reveals Customer Retention and Artificial Intelligence Dominate Priorities of Asian Companies

SINGAPORE – June 29, 2017 – Salesforce, the
global leader in CRM, todayunveiled findings from Innovation: All Eyes
on Asia, a research report on how businesses in Asia view innovation.
The study gathered responses from key business and IT decision makers across
eight countries in Asia.

·  70% said customer
retention is their key priority for the next 12 to 24 months and more than half
(53%) are likely to adopt new innovation to achieve this goal.

·  Asia (77%) is being
viewed as the region to lead innovation globally in the next five years, with
America at a close second (64%).

·  Japan, Korea and
China are the top three Asian countries seen to be driving the trajectory.

In Asia, innovation is seen as the
process of creating new and novel solutions to fulfil unmet customer needs.
Asian businesses prioritize innovation that empowers them to retain their
customers (70%) and more than half (53%) are likely to adopt innovation that
achieves this goal. Companies in India (93%), Singapore (88%), Philippines
(88%) and Malaysia (82%) are most likely to invest in technology to boost
customer retention. Technology is viewed as a valuable tool in accelerating
productivity (62%) and providing better customer support (38%).

These findings underscore a focus on
customer centricity that is driving the trajectory to innovation in Asia.

Enterprise Apps (83%), Cloud Computing
(82%) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are the top three strategic
investment priorities for Asian businesses. Additionally, when presented with
capabilities of a CRM platform powered by artificial intelligence (A.I.), 78%
say they are likely to adopt. Singapore businesses find the concept appealing
(84%) and relevant (76%) but only 68% are likely to adopt. India (90%),
Indonesia (83%), Vietnam (85%), Philippines (84%) and Thailand (84%) are most
likely to adopt while Hong Kong is least likely to (63%).

The positive impact of a culture that
empowers employees to be innovative is evident in the 77% who agree that
innovation has transformed their company operations favourably, with 80% of
this group prioritizing innovation within their organization in the next 12 to
24 months. This group of Asian companies are more likely to invest in
technology regardless of economic outlook and 79% said they will increase their
technology spend even in an underperforming economy where 84% of them view
technology as a long term revenue driver.

Costs, complexity of technology and
lack of talent are the three key hurdles that are holding Asian companies back
from adopting innovation. One in three Asian companies believe that future
innovation will be driven by public-private partnerships.

·  “This research shines
a spotlight on the innovation landscape in Asia and reaffirms our vision for
customer-centricity. The mobile-first culture of immediacy has its roots here
in Asia and shapes the new business imperative for Asian companies,” said
Robert Wickham, Regional Vice President, Innovation & Digital
Transformation, APAC, Salesforce. “The appetite for artificial intelligence by
Asian companies is continuing to grow. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon
us, and companies that harness the predictive prowess of A.I. are well-placed
to address challenges in this dynamic region.”

·  “This report is
insightful and we are encouraged by how aligned we are with our customers here
in Asia. Placing customers at the center of our business has been the
driving force at Fonterra and we are even more inspired now to continue our
journey with Salesforce in building a customer-first experience,” said Caitlin
Nguyen, Global Digital and CRM Lead, Fonterra.