Editor’s Note: AI Cloud, Einstein GPT, and other cloud GPT products are now Einstein. For the latest on Salesforce Einstein, go here.

• Innovations will help improve agent productivity and performance, streamline contact center management, and enhance the customer experience 
• Integration with WhatsApp delivers personalized, real-time experiences for customers using the popular messaging app

New Salesforce innovations built for the communications industry feature analytics, AI, and prebuilt solutions that automate common processes, driving improved customer experiences and reducing operational costs. And, a new integration with WhatsApp will streamline and enrich customer engagement.

Significance: More than 50% of consumers already prefer to conduct business “only or mostly online,” and 72% have reported that they will remain loyal to companies that provide faster service, even as they reevaluate their spending. In addition, 91% of service provider employees report digital transformation would reduce bottlenecks and redundant processes that slow service, while saving their companies’ money.

Go deeper: 

• New Service Innovations for Communications Cloud extends the Salesforce Contact Center suite of capabilities with tailored solutions for service providers:
  • Einstein Conversation Insights uses AI to give service teams a complete view of what’s happening across their contact center and proactively notifies them of issues like outages or dissatisfied customers, so they can quickly rectify them.
  • Identity Verification lets agents quickly verify a customer’s identity when they reach out for support using automated workflows that can be easily configured to help service providers meet business requirements and comply with legal requirements in different regions.
  • Service Availability Check allows agents to see what services are available to customers interested in adding or changing a service with a quick and simple address search. 
  • Action Launcher gives administrators the ability to quickly create common workflows, like prepaid top-ups or address changes, which can be easily triggered by agents to serve customers faster.
• Also newly available, Order Fulfillment Date Predictions, a data-rich predictive model, uses AI-based predictions to recommend expected fulfillment dates that help set customer expectations before they place an order.
  • Order Delay Predictions will then leverage CRM Analytics to identify orders likely to be delayed due to issues like an incorrect address so managers can act quickly to correct it and propose a new fulfillment date using AI-powered insights.

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WhatsApp + Salesforce:

• Salesforce is building on its strategic partnership with WhatsApp with new integrations that help companies improve customer engagement and reduce churn.
  • WhatsApp for Service, a new integration that will be available in Salesforce’s Contact Center for Communications, enables providers to deliver consistent, personalized experiences in real time, automate routine requests with AI-powered chatbots, and engage in richer conversations using audio and video files, list messages, buttons, stickers, and emojis within the popular messaging app.
  • WhatsApp for Marketing integration allows marketers to connect with customers directly through WhatsApp to send rich promotional messages based on a customer’s unique interests and needs. New enhancements to the integration, including WhatsApp for Marketing Rich Media, will make it easier for customers to get in touch with service representatives in the same conversational thread, and add support for rich media capabilities. 

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Soundbite:

• “Service providers are under more pressure than ever to reduce operational costs — even as consumer expectations soar,” said David Fan, VP and General Manager of Communications, Salesforce. “Salesforce’s new solutions are tailored to help providers remove inefficiencies, deliver faster service, increase productivity with AI and automation, and deepen customer engagements to provide differentiated experiences with every interaction.” 

Salesforce Partner Ecosystem:

• Infosys, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, launched a new pre-built integration for customers using Communications Cloud, Infosys Live Operations (part of Infosys Cobalt), to help communications providers drive predictive insights for personalized, omnichannel customer journeys.
• TELMEX, a leading telecoms company in Mexico, is also now a Salesforce cloud reseller in this country, offering licensing and implementation services to help companies improve their sales, marketing, customer service and e-commerce capabilities.

Learn more:

• Learn more about Contact Center for Communications here.
• Learn more about Salesforce for Communications here. 
• Learn more about Salesforce Contact Center here.
• Read more about Salesforce’s partnership with WhatsApp here. 
• Get insights into how consumer expectations are evolving here. 
• Check out Salesforce’s 2022 Trends in the Communications Industry Report to learn how the industry is evolving and the key opportunities that lie ahead.  

Availability:

• The new Service Innovations for Communications Cloud is generally available (GA) as of February 14, 2023. 
• Order Delay Predictions will be GA in June 2023. 
• WhatsApp for Service Cloud will be GA March 16, 2023. 
• WhatsApp for Marketing Cloud is available now.
• WhatsApp for Marketing Cloud Rich Media support will be GA in the second half of 2023.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit https://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.