Customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Salesforce is partnering with various companies on a range of projects aimed at exploring and developing new applications related to generative AI, unified data, and AI-powered CX. Below are three recent initiatives pairing San Francisco-based Salesforce with its new partners, including US firms McKinsey & Company and Williams-Sonoma, Inc., and French IT firm Capgemini.
Salesforce and McKinsey Team Up on Generative AI Initiative
Salesforce and global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company are collaborating to accelerate the introduction of trusted generative AI for sales, marketing, commerce, and service. The collaboration, announced in early September, will bring together Salesforce CRM technologies, including Einstein and Data Cloud, with McKinsey’s proprietary AI and data models, assets, and capability-building power.
Together, McKinsey and Salesforce will help companies bring together relevant structured and unstructured data to improve customer buying experiences, increase sales productivity, personalize digital marketing campaigns, and reduce call-resolution time, the two companies indicated.
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Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey, says that while generative AI is a powerful catalyst for growth, the promise of AI must be backed by built-for-growth technology and the operational muscle to fully realize its potential. “Building on our strong alliance, we are collaborating with Salesforce on this critical front to bring our proprietary AI assets, data models, and tech build/design capabilities to help our clients turn innovation into impact—all delivered together in Salesforce workflows.”
Clara Shih, CEO at Salesforce AI, makes the observation that adopting an AI-first approach rooted in trust and transparency is a necessity to succeed in today’s business landscape. “Salesforce and McKinsey are coming together to empower every company with the strategies and technologies needed to fully leverage generative AI across their organizations to engage with customers in personalized ways, unlock new opportunities, and achieve growth.”
McKinsey and Salesforce share a history of collaboration in helping organizations accelerate digital transformation. The current team effort follows the 2022 acquisition by New York City-headquartered McKinsey of Salesforce platinum partner S4G Consulting, and McKinsey’s more recent acquisitions of AI and cloud providers QuantumBlack, Candid Partners, and Iguazio.
Salesforce to Help Williams-Sonoma, Inc., Secure Complete Customer Views
Salesforce is teaming up with Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM), to deliver highly targeted and more personalized CX for customers of the consumer retail brand.
The partnership, announced in mid-September during Dreamforce 2023, Salesforce’s annual flagship conference, will unite Salesforce products with the internally developed technology of WSM to help the retailer obtain 360-degree views of customers across its portfolio of brands. San Francisco-based WSM is home to the brands Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Rejuvenation, and Mark and Graham.
Laura Alber, WSM CEO, says the partnership will be productive. “We have always had a history of in-house innovation. However, bringing in Salesforce as a partner to help us augment that innovation and continually improve the connection to our customers made sense. They are not afraid to grow with us and help us scale our marketing email program, while sharing a core value of trust.”
A comprehensive view of its customer base will enable WSM to better anticipate customers’ needs and deliver personalized customer connections for every stage of their lives, from furnishing a first apartment to building a wedding registry, the retailer notes.
Brian Millham, president and COO of Salesforce, praises the initiative. “The Williams-Sonoma, Inc. team is at the forefront of the industry, using data in a way that builds trust, understanding, and elevates the entire customer experience.”
Leveraging Salesforce’s technology will also help the teams at WSM to scale and innovate quickly to deliver highly tailored and relevant connections to customers during their busiest seasons, including Black Friday, officials from both companies state.
Salesforce and Capgemini Collaborate on AI-Powered CX
French IT firm Capgemini recently unveiled Generative AI for CX Foundry for clients using Salesforce. Foundry is the newest addition to Capgemini’s portfolio of services leveraging generative AI to spur innovation and accelerate business growth and value, delivering personalized and data-driven CX by automating customized content creation.
Salesforce and Paris-based Capgemini have been partners for more than a decade, and the current collaboration seeks to provide tangible business value for clients of both companies and help accelerate their implementation of generative AI for CRM at scale. Specifically, Foundry will help clients using Salesforce Einstein to speed their generative AI investments by exploring CX use cases customized for industries.
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Jean-Marc Gaultier, head of group strategic initiatives and partnerships at Capgemini, says the partnership will combine Capgemini’s expertise in CX and AI implementations with Salesforce’s CRM platform, enabling clients to furnish solutions efficiently and at scale. “We are entering new frontiers of customer experience with generative AI, which will enable us to reimagine and offer hyper-personalized experiences for both customers and employees to deliver new services, personalized resolution to customer issues, tailored campaigns, and much more.”
Steve Corfield, executive vice president of alliances and channels at Salesforce, says AI has enormous potential to transform how companies interact with customers and drive business growth. “Together, Salesforce and Capgemini bring the strategy and technical expertise companies need to deploy AI for CRM in a trusted way, drive personalized customer experiences, and deliver actionable business outcomes.”
Generative AI for CX Foundry is the latest expansion of Capgemini’s Digital Customer Experience (DCX) Foundry, a set of methodologies, assets, and capabilities that enable clients to deliver CX engagements at scale. Generative AI for CX Foundry will facilitate more productive collaboration among teams, resulting in integrated generative AI solutions customized to the existing IT infrastructure, data models, and business processes of Capgemini clients, Capgemini officials state.
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Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
