Yesterday, we launched our premiere virtual experience – Salesforce Live: Asia. Featuring Trailblazers, industry experts, panel discussions, and live demonstrations, it was packed full of inspiration – and celebration!
Here are the highlights of the first episode:
Success from Anywhere is the New Normal
Our morning session kicked off with a keynote from Salesforce Senior Vice President and General Manager for ASEAN, Sujith Abraham. Sujith shared how Salesforce has successfully partnered with organisations across the region to encourage job creation, enable digital transformation, and drive economic growth.
Highlights include:
- Creating 147,000 new direct jobs by 2024
- Generating $10.5 billion in new business revenue in Asia by 2024
- Offering S$960,000 to 120 eligible small businesses alongside the Singapore Business Federation this year to overcome COVID-19 challenges
Sujith reinforced one of our core Salesforce values – innovation – and how this important principle can inspire and enable every organisation in Asia to “do well, and do good.”
Salesforce Area Senior Vice President and General Manager, Singapore, Cecily Ng, presented Salesforce technology innovations: Future Cloud 3.0, Customer 360, and Hyperforce. Cecily pointed out that the true measure of technology isn’t simply that it can automate and streamline processes. It’s about enabling businesses to be agile when the going gets tough.
Learn about the latest Salesforce technology in our keynote session.
The ASEAN businesses leading the way in innovation
At Salesforce, we’re always proud to see how our customers embrace change and thrive through innovation. None more so than two success stories from the region: Grab and NTUC FairPrice.
First, Cheryl Goh, Group VP of Marketing and Sustainability at Grab, shared how this regional powerhouse utilised machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase efficiency and create great customer experiences through mapping and routing. With the help of Salesforce AI, Grab is now able to predict the best delivery route for drivers, and batch orders together based on customer location. This isn’t just efficient. It maximises drivers’ time and brings them higher earnings. The use of this technology is just one of the reasons Grab has now expanded into eight ASEAN countries.
We also learnt how Grab has helped onboard small businesses and boost their online exposure through the $3.5M Homegrown program. Grab launched a social impact initiative – Grab For Good – that focuses on improving the lives of Grab partners, and a Grab For Good Fund. Amongst the many planned initiatives, including scholarships, training and insurance subsidies, $20M has been set aside to vaccinate Grab drivers not covered by national insurance programs. Well done Grab team!
Special guest, Joshua Tan, Head of CRM at NTUC FairPrice, shared FairPrice’s digital transformation process and how they are personalising customer communications through an omni-channel approach. With the help of Salesforce Customer 360, NTUC FairPrice sees their “customer as a compass”. This has enabled them to better predict customer behavior, respond faster to customer needs, and be more present in their customer’s journey with the brand.
Along with special community outreach programmes during the past year, It was also inspiring to hear how FairPrice has adopted a “test and learn mindset” to improve customer experience through tech innovations to drive business growth. Thank you Joshua and NTUC FairPrice for sharing such valuable insights.
Watch the full stories from Grab and NTUC FairPrice.
How an Inspired Trailblazer created opportunities for workers
Inspired Trailblazer, Joanna Teo, is the Founder and Managing Director of customer intelligence data agency, Attribute Data. She joined Salesforce Senior Director of Marketing Wendy Walker for an enlightening discussion. Joanna talked about her journey with Salesforce over the past 12 years and why she formed her own company to help organisations unlock the value of data and analytics.
One of Joanna’s greatest contributions was helping to upskill workers, especially those who were made redundant. She partnered with the Singapore government and Salesforce to train workers to learn tech-focused skills. This partnership led to employment for many participants and helped to build their confidence.
Learn more about Joanna’s career journey here.
How the crisis has created opportunities
We were honoured to have Kim Underhill, President of Singapore charity, Daughters of Tomorrow, and Shailey Hingorani, Head of Advocacy, Research, and Communications at AWARE. They talked to Wendy Walker about the increasing challenges many women have faced throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and what their organisations are doing to help.
Kim and Shailey shared candid insights into the factors leading to increased domestic violence cases. They also discussed the impact on women who needed to juggle the responsibilities of child and elderly care, homeschooling, and for some, employment. Despite all of this, however, Kim and Shailey also reflected on many positive initiatives. For example, creating child care communities for women in Singapore who are experiencing financial hardship, and an online collaboration with Twitter to help those in domestic violence situations. They also shared the good news story that donations to women’s causes in Singapore during 2020 were at a record high. Bravo, and heartfelt thanks to Kim and Shaile!
Watch the full discussion with Wendy here.
Wrap-up
That wasn’t all. We saw live demonstrations and interactive sessions that dived deep into Salesforce technology. We also heard from Trailblazers who shared their digital skills through Trailhead Network.
If you missed any of our sessions in episode one, you can still catch them on demand by registering here.
Tune in for more
This is just the first in a series of informative and engaging online episodes over the coming six weeks. From now until 1 July, you can tune into weekly episodes on Service, Sales, Small & Fast Growing Businesses, Marketing, and IT/Admins.
Heads up: In the Marketing episode we’ll be joined by Seth Godin, Bestselling Author, Entrepreneur and Teacher! He’ll share his vision on The Future of Marketing in a Digital-First World.
You’ll also hear from more of our Trailblazers, who will generously share their learnings and best practices for success.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn more!
