Earlier today, Salesforce executives Ebony Beckwith and Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh took to the stage at LA’s SoFi Stadium to share how Salesforce is transforming Service Cloud 360 for a world preparing to reopen after a year that has changed business, and in particular customer service, irrevocably. 

The coronavirus pandemic moved the vast majority of interactions between companies and customers online, and shifted the call centers from an office block to an agent’s living room. Customers have grown accustomed to digital conveniences and behaviors, and those expectations won’t be going away. Equally, reopening will introduce a slew of new questions – around updated policies, protocols and safety measures. All will add a new level of challenge for service agents.

As companies and service departments prepare for this great reopening, Beckwith and Taychackhoonadudh shared a vision of personalized service experiences for every individual customer, made possible by Salesforce technology, including: 

1. Service Cloud Voice bringing together phone, digital channels and CRM data in one central view for service agents
2. Service Cloud Workforce Engagement, a new workforce planning product that uses AI to help service leaders predict how many requests will come into the contact center, and on which channels
3. Pre-Built Einstein Bots, intelligent chatbots that simulate human conversation and can quickly resolve common customer issues
4. Visual Remote Assistant, which allows technicians and agents to see what the customer sees through video support, so they can resolve complex issues from anywhere

Key quotes from the full Salesforce Success Anywhere World Tour LA event are collected below:

New Service Cloud innovations to transform Customer Service from anywhere

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• “In times of change, you need a platform that grows with you. And what we’ve seen over the last year is that service has become one of the biggest opportunities for growth…so today we’re announcing the world premiere of the next generation of Service Cloud. The Service Cloud you know and love, but with relevant features and innovation to help us deliver service from anywhere, right now.” – Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, EVP, Global Customer Success & Strategy, Salesforce

“In times of change, you need a platform that grows with you. And what we’ve seen over the last year is that service has become one of the biggest opportunities for growth”

Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, EVP, Global Customer Success & Strategy, Salesforce

To learn more about the next generation of Service Cloud, read the press release here.

Taking action on equality and racial justice

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• “This past year, we’ve been focused on racial equality and justice, supporting the black community against racism, violence and hate. Over the past few weeks this has been especially top of mind, culminating in yesterday’s verdict. This was a defining moment, offering accountability for George Floyd’s family…We know this work continues on, and we’ve committed to a lot of bold actions across our four pillars of people, purchasing, policy and philanthropy.”  – Ebony Beckwith, EVP and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce
• “Building on the $30m we’ve already donated to organizations focused on racial equality, today we’re announcing $1.5m in donations to Camelback Ventures and Echoing Green, organizations who are focused on promoting social entrepreneurs and breaking down barriers for them. We’re also launching a new $2m initiative called the Catalyst Fund. That’s where we’re going to invest in organizations that get overlooked by traditional philanthropy.” – Ebony Beckwith, EVP and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce

Customer 360: A command center to transform your business

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• “To be successful in this new world, we [must] focus our time and attention on five pillars – working from anywhere, investing in digital transformation and trust, adopting new business models, and thinking about the needs of all stakeholders. That’s why we have the Customer 360.” – Ebony Beckwith, EVP and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce

“[The Customer 360] is how leaders everywhere are transforming their business and taking on this new Cloud 3.0 era with confidence”

Ebony Beckwith, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce

• “The Customer 360 is our command center. It’s how leaders everywhere are transforming their business and taking on this new Cloud 3.0 era with confidence” – Ebony Beckwith, EVP and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce

* Please note that Salesforce and Slack remain independent companies until the transaction closes, anticipated in the fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2021.

Sonos Transforms Its Commerce and Service Experience with Salesforce

• “[The pandemic meant that] overnight we lost 90% of our distribution last year, that was a harrowing moment. Thankfully, we’ve been working with Salesforce for a while, so we deployed marketing cloud to launch a program called “At Home with Sonos” to reach our customers; we used commerce cloud to quickly pivot our business to direct to consumer – and we even had 300% growth in that first quarter in direct to consumer. Commerce Cloud powered that, it stayed up, and it was reliable…Salesforce played a huge role in helping us pivot our business overnight.” – Patrick Spence, CEO, Sonos

“Salesforce played a huge role in helping us pivot our business overnight.”

Patrick Spence, CEO, Sonos

• “We used Service Cloud to continue to deliver that high level of service from all our agents working from home; with a spike in service calls…we employed chat bots for the first time to help address that spike; and we used Einstein AI to help our agents address all the calls that were coming in, and reduced service call times by about 10%. ” – Patrick Spence, CEO, Sonos

To learn more about how Sonos is working with Salesforce to transform its commerce and service experience, read the press release. 

To see more from the Salesforce Success Anywhere World Tour LA, watch a full recording of the event here.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication relates to a proposed business combination transaction between salesforce.com, inc. (“Salesforce”) and Slack Technologies, Inc. (“Slack”). This communication includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements relate to future events and anticipated results of operations, business strategies, the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction, the anticipated impact of the proposed transaction on the combined company’s business and future financial and operating results, the expected amount and timing of synergies from the proposed transaction, the anticipated closing date for the proposed transaction and other aspects of our operations or operating results. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “foresees,” “forecasts,” “estimates” or other words or phrases of similar import.  It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of Salesforce’s or Slack’s stock. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the parties’ control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the impact of public health crises, such as pandemics (including coronavirus (COVID-19)) and epidemics and any related company or government policies and actions to protect the health and safety of individuals or government policies or actions to maintain the functioning of national or global economies and markets; the effect of the announcement of the merger on the ability of Salesforce or Slack to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with customers, suppliers and others with whom Salesforce or Slack do business, or on Salesforce’s or Slack’s operating results and business generally; risks that the merger disrupts current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in employee retention as a result of the merger; the outcome of any legal proceedings related to the merger; the ability of the parties to consummate the proposed transaction on a timely basis or at all; the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to consummation of the proposed transaction, including the ability to secure regulatory approvals on the terms expected, at all or in a timely manner; the ability of Salesforce to successfully integrate Slack’s operations; the ability of Salesforce to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to Salesforce’s business after the completion of the transaction and realize expected synergies; and business disruption following the merger. These risks, as well as other risks related to the proposed transaction, are included in the registration statement on Form S-4 (as amended, the “Registration Statement”) that was filed by Salesforce with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and declared effective by the SEC on January 29, 2021, the prospectus that was filed by Salesforce with the SEC on January 29, 2021 (the “Prospectus”) and the definitive proxy statement that was filed by Slack with the SEC on January 29, 2021 (the “Proxy Statement”).  While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors presented in the Registration Statement, Prospectus or Proxy Statement are, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. For additional information about other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to Salesforce’s and Slack’s respective periodic reports and other filings with the SEC, including the risk factors identified in Salesforce’s and Slack’s most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports on Form 10-K. The forward-looking statements included in this communication are made only as of the date hereof. Neither Salesforce nor Slack undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.  No offering of securities shall be made, except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.  

Additional Information about the Merger and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed transaction, Salesforce filed with the SEC the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, and Slack filed with the SEC the Proxy Statement.  The Registration was declared effective on January 29, 2021 and the Prospectus and the Proxy Statement were first mailed to shareholders of Slack on or about January 29, 2021.  Each of Salesforce and Slack may also file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. The information in the Prospectus and Proxy Statement may be changed. This document is not a substitute for the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the Proxy Statement or any other document that Salesforce or Slack may file with the SEC.  INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, THE PROSPECTUS AND THE PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.  Investors and security holders are able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the Proxy Statement and all other documents containing important information about Salesforce, Slack and the proposed transaction, once such documents are filed with the SEC, through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.  Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Salesforce may be obtained free of charge on Salesforce’s website at http://www.salesforce.com/investor or by contacting Salesforce’s Investor Relations department at investor@salesforce.com.  Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Slack may be obtained free of charge on Slack’s website at investor.slackhq.com or by contacting Slack’s Investor Relations department at ir@slack.com.