Salesforce has announced plans to collaborate with Accenture to accelerate the deployment of generative AI for CRM. Together, the companies intend to establish an acceleration hub for generative AI that provides organizations with the technology and experience they need to scale Einstein GPT – Salesforce’s generative AI for CRM — helping to increase employee productivity and transform customer experiences.
Significance: When deployed effectively, generative AI has the power to transform how companies do business and free employees’ time to focus on more complex and creative work. In fact, most senior IT leaders (84%) say generative AI will help their organization better serve customers. And with 67% of these leaders prioritizing generative AI for their business within the next 18 months, there is an urgent need to ensure the new technology is deployed effectively.
Driving the news: The powerful combination of Salesforce and Accenture’s AI industry knowledge and connected customer experience aims to provide companies across every industry with strategies and technologies that harness generative AI effectively. By connecting to Accenture’s Generative AI and Large Language Model (LLM) Center of Excellence, the new acceleration hub will facilitate:
- Custom AI Strategies and Accelerators for Growth: Senior leaders from Salesforce and Accenture plan to work with customers to develop customized AI strategies using new accelerators for Einstein GPT, user interfaces, and process automation, which can help increase productivity and profit for their businesses.
- Innovative Use Cases for Sales and Service: These use cases will showcase generative AI’s benefits and potential return on investment, with an initial focus on sales and service. Examples of these use cases include:
- Sales: Generative AI can increase seller productivity with automated tasks to help drive ongoing engagement with customers and prospects.
- Service: Generative AI can also help improve customer experience and agent productivity for every customer service interaction with trusted CRM data, and automate knowledge management to help companies respond to the needs of their customers more effectively.
- Industry-Specific AI Models: Salesforce and Accenture intend to build industry-specific AI models for customers in the financial services, health, manufacturing, and public sector industries.
- Generative AI & Data Cloud: Using Data Cloud to connect and harmonize information, Salesforce and Accenture will explore how generative AI can learn from customer data to create more personalized experiences for customers faster.
- Upskilling for AI Success: Salesforce and Accenture plan to develop learning resources that help teams develop and enhance their generative AI skills, fostering the next generation of talent within the Salesforce ecosystem. Specific areas of focus include programming for Einstein GPT, AI literacy, data science and analytics, and ethics and responsible AI.
- The hub will also tap existing learning content on Trailhead, such as how to use AI to meet business needs, how to create ethical AI, and how Einstein GPT is transforming the future of work.
Generative AI for CRM: Einstein GPT has the power to transform customer experiences with generative AI. It enables companies to create personalized, AI-generated content across sales, service, marketing, IT, and more. For example, Einstein GPT can generate:
- Personalized emails for salespeople to send to customers
- Specific responses for customer service professionals to respond to customer questions more efficiently
- Targeted content for marketers to increase campaign response rates
- Code for developers
“Generative AI has enormous potential to transform the way companies interact with customers and drive business growth,” said Bill Patterson, EVP and General Manager, C360 Applications, Salesforce. “Accenture and Salesforce together have years of experience in AI and play a critical role in ensuring customers get the most value from this technology. We want to come together to bring the visionary and technical expertise needed to unlock new possibilities for AI- and data-powered CRM, driving a profound transformation in customer interactions.”
“Generative AI has the potential to transform work and reinvent business, with large language models impacting up to 40% of all working hours across industries, changing the way companies interact with their customers and ushering in a new era of generative AI for everyone. Companies need the infrastructure and knowledge to deploy this new technology to help address their unique business needs. By combining Accenture’s industry experience with Salesforce’s technology, we plan to be well positioned to help customers solve problems with generative AI faster and more effectively,” said Emma McGuigan, Senior Managing Director and Enterprise & Industry Technology lead, Accenture
