Artificial Intelligence – what does it mean for your business?

How AI is changing the CRM game

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more than a buzzword and over the past couple of years, Salesforce, has been embarking on its next play in adding features to build a smarter, more intuitive solution.

After strategically acquiring Metamind, PredictionIO and RelateIQ, and hiring 175 scientists; Salesforce set up an umbrella brand “Salesforce Einstein”, for their AI products.

Notably one of the first truly in the cloud offering, Salesforce has often been the first player in the use of newer technologies. Recognising that devices and sensors would be giving signals that its users could collect to understand customers and markets more, Salesforce has set it’s sights on this niche.

With Salesforce Einstein, there will be more advanced machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, natural language processing and smart data discovery.

What this means for all businesses using Salesforce is that this tool will be come increasingly important to the point that its hundreds of thousands of users will not be able to look to other systems as they will be so tied to the platform and its stronghold on customer data. For Oracle users, don’t be dismayed. This announcement has come just before the Oracle Conference in the US, so it wasn’t by accident that Salesforce Einstein tried to steal the thunder. The big issue is who has the best AI outcomes for customer connections and data, and which platform is less likely to hold you over a barrel and raise their prices so that you can no longer afford the platform, but are forced to stay put because all your data is there and you cannot afford to lose it.

Marketing Eye uses Salesforce, however most CRM softwares do a good job and some are more affordable for SME’s than others. The trick is to find the right platform for your businesses needs.