Just like in life, the only constant in technology is change. In this article, you’ll hear predictions from leaders across Salesforce for how technology will shape the future, including:
- What we can expect in the UK and Ireland
- How AI will transform the future of work
- How generative AI will supercharge businesses
- The future of AI, data, and CRM
- How AI will impact society
What is Salesforce (and why are its executives predicting the future)?
What is Salesforce? Salesforce is the global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), helping companies connect with customers in a whole new way. Salesforce enables companies of every size and industry to digitally transform around their customers by harnessing the power of data, AI, CRM, and trust to make every customer experience more personal, valuable, and memorable.
Salesforce leaders are on the front lines of the latest trends, technologies, and challenges impacting businesses. They bring expertise and insight from market analysis, customer conversations, and more to help reveal what tomorrow might bring.
Six things we can expect in the UK and Ireland
1. Businesses and governments will need to step up to prevent a new digital divide.
“AI innovation is accelerating and unlocking new opportunities for customers and citizens. We need a skilled workforce with the right training and guardrails to ensure this technology is rolled out responsibly, and effectively.
Yet, we know there is a digital skills gap that needs to be closed. This is particularly acute in the UK where over a third (38%) of workers are already using or planning to use generative AI at work but most (62%) say they lack skills to do so effectively and safely.
This needs to change. It will take investment and close collaboration between all stakeholders. That’s why we’re urging the UK government to establish a national online digital skills platform.
In 2024, organisations all over the world need to commit to upskilling people in AI and digital skills to make sure we don’t create a new digital divide.” – Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO of Salesforce UKI
2. Irish Businesses set to seize to the power of AI.
“This incoming wave of AI innovation is generating huge anticipation around the role that generative AI will play in enhancing the way we live and work. 2024 will be the year where many businesses seize this potential and implement winning digital strategies. Already, 91% of IT leaders in Ireland expect AI to play a significant role in their business next year.
The AI revolution will empower companies to place the customer at the centre of personalised and integrated services boosted by AI insights and strategies. Businesses who fail to adapt, will struggle to make up for lost time in future.” – Carolan Lennon, Country Leader Salesforce Ireland
3. Technology will converge – Robotics (Drones) + AI + Automation + IOT (sensors) + A/VR + (even more) Data.
We’re going to see an increase of data demand to build new experiences. These experiences or business processes could be delivered through a multi-modal AI solution. For example, self checkout in retail stores could be completely replaced with an end to end automated solution, triggered by voice, this could be fulfilled through a completely autonomous solution. Scaling down warehouse operations to high street stores.
The lifecycle of the AI technological revolution could evolve with a multi-phased approach, characterised by explosive growth, fast innovation, and the establishment of a new constellation of supportive tools and services.
Fortune will favor the brave next year – those that push the boundaries of what is possible, breaking the norm, and continue to innovate will benefit greatly.” – Paul O’Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Engineering, Salesforce UKI
4. In retail, customer loyalty will continue to be emphasised as a key driver of growth.
“Already this year we’re witnessing AI starting to play a significant role in shaping the future of UK retail. Shoppers are turning to product recommendations driven by predictive AI, while some retailers are experimenting with generative AI to assist customer service agents, personalise marketing content and realise new operational efficiencies.
In 2024, customer loyalty will continue to be emphasised as a key driver of growth, as acquiring new customers becomes increasingly expensive. The success of this hinges on providing outstanding personalised customer services and building loyalty programs to identify and retain valuable customers.
In January, I expect a surge in shopping activity, driven by returns, new purchases, and gift card redemptions. Retailers are advised to scale their service by empowering customer service agents with data intelligence, ensuring efficient and personalised interactions at scale. Moreover, attention to store operations will be crucial, especially as physical stores experience increased traffic for returns, exchanges, and new purchases.” – Navkinder Sanghera, Head of UK Retail, Salesforce
5. In public sector, high profile services will begin to launch with AI augmented experiences.
“2024 is going to see a year of change in UK Government, with an election probably taking place in the second half of the year, there will be pressure to deliver projects that meet the Government’s legislative agenda, and the ensuing purdah during the election process.
UK Government Digital Strategy has been re-energised by the arrival of a new Government Digital team in late 2023, so we expect to see a renewed focus in Digitising key Government services, a focus on legacy migration, and trusted AI adoption. The Digital skills shortage which has impacted Government will drive a more balanced development approach with Government looking to accelerate delivery through the use of low code platforms.
Whilst AI adoption remains low within Government, we expect to see a number of high profile services begin to launch with AI augmented experiences as the Government looks to showcase the benefits of AI in a trusted environment.” – Simon Collinson – UK Government Lead
6. With the increasing importance of first party data, trust will be at the forefront of marketers’ minds.
“As AI innovation continues at pace, marketers are increasing in confidence of the opportunities that await them from what is the most important technological development of our lifetime.
2024 will see a new day for marketers as they continue to connect with audiences where they are, deliver personalised, relevant engagements and leverage a myriad of available data sources that provides the fuel for marketing.
Marketers would love more time and AI will help unlock their human potential. 71% of marketers told us that AI innovation will help them focus on more strategic work whilst 60% report that generative AI will transform their role.
From creative to campaigns, from analytics to content, successful marketers will embrace AI to:
- Turbocharge content planning and creative to help deliver faster campaign briefs, text and image creation
- Accelerate segment creation and personalised campaigns
- Tackle the challenges of unstructured data to create those all important relevant engagements
With the ever increasing importance of first party data, trust will be at the forefront of marketers’ minds as they navigate this new technology, continue to build trust with their customer whilst ensuring their hard earned Brand reputations are upheld at all times.” – Jo Pettifer, Vice President, Marketing, Salesforce UKI
Six predictions showing how AI will transform the future of work
Desk workers estimate generative AI will save them five hours per week. This presents an exciting new opportunity for companies; tapping into their teams’ creativity, strategic thinking, and innovation like never before. Here’s what Salesforce experts expect that will look like in the workplace.
1. AI will transform how we think about (and measure) human productivity.
“Sixty percent of executives say they are primarily measuring their team’s productivity by tracking activity metrics, like hours worked or emails sent. But this will change with widespread use of AI in the workplace, as we start to see AI replace much of the mundane, repetitive work that we have long measured as productivity inputs.
In the next year, businesses will transform the way they measure performance and productivity to focus on outcomes like products launched or leads generated, instead of inputs. To do this, leaders will need to shift their mindset from measuring activity to measuring impact. They’ll need to clearly define the results they want to see and support their teams in aligning individual efforts against these clear objectives.” – Christina Janzer, SVP of Research & Analytics, Slack
2. As AI grows more autonomous, it will free up time for more impactful work.
“A primary objective for AI over the next year is using the technology to achieve full autonomy within enterprises, where standard workflows can be entirely automated. There is massive potential for AI to automate every mundane task, from order processing to financial settlement and post-sales support.
By identifying repetitive tasks and leveraging data integrations to make informed predictions and generate automations, AI is well-poised to absorb today’s routine work patterns and free our time for more fulfilling, productive, and profitable work.” – Param Kahlon, EVP and GM, Automation & Integration, Salesforce
AI is well-poised to absorb today’s routine work patterns and free our time for more fulfilling, productive, and profitable work.
3. AI’s reach will offset something very human: Agent attrition.
“Historically low unemployment rates have exacerbated the problem of retaining customer service employees. Generative AI can lead to reduced recruitment costs as it drives up levels of self-service and improves agent productivity.” – Ed Thompson, Market Strategist, Salesforce
4. Companies will use their data plus AI to get faster and more productive.
“The average desk worker is struggling with information overload. In fact, data silos add up to over 11 hours wasted a week. In the next year, we’ll start to see the very real impact of generative AI on how we work, interact with that data, and think about productivity.
This will start with capabilities like AI-powered knowledge retrieval, which I believe best and most immediately capitalise on getting value from customer’s existing data. Longer term, the productivity outputs will really move with more advanced generative AI capabilities like task automation and the ability to proactively surface trends and insights.” – Jackie Rocca, VP of Product, AI & Expansion, Slack
5. AI will make the workplace smarter.
“Chatbots and virtual assistants will simplify the employee experience by automatically booking the right space for a team’s needs. AI will also provide quick responses to inquiries, guide employees to resources, and facilitate service requests. And, AI will drive proactive employee engagement and experience, predicting the spaces and services employees need to thrive before employees even know they need them.” – Relina Bulchandani, EVP, Real Estate and Workplace Services, Salesforce
6. Companies will adjust and adapt in an AI-driven workplace renaissance.
“Today’s top talent expects more from their company than just a paycheck. To adjust, companies will place a renewed focus on workplace culture and supporting employees both inside and outside of the workplace. These investments will lead to higher employee satisfaction, better retention, and overall business success. Companies that choose to focus on these areas will continue to lead.” – David Ard, Head of Employee Success, Slack and Salesforce
Five ways generative AI will change the future of business
There’s a reason that 77% of UK business leaders are worried their company is missing out on generative AI: the promise of not just what the technology can do, but its cumulative and expanding impact on business and industry. Here’s how Salesforce’s top minds see the next year of generative AI’s impact.
1. Generative AI will become fully operationalised for use across the enterprise.
“This starts with software development, customer service, sales, and marketing, but in reality, AI will ultimately touch every department and workstream. Another big step forward will come when large language models (LLMs) are tapped not just for content generation and analysis, but decision-making and workflow automation. As AI advances and features like AI Agents are deployed more widely, the efficiency will increase, creating a cycle of improvement.
And while foundational LLMs will be the backbone of generative AI, companies will also start using a combination of smaller, domain-specific language models for cost, performance, and latency reasons.” – Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI
2. AI will transform every industry.
“AI will be infused at every layer of product roadmaps and platforms to bring value to clients. This is as true for SaaS companies as it is for semiconductor and gaming companies. AI will also impact the very nature of development and how these products are built. Through augmentation of mundane coding tasks, developers can boost their productivity and ability to focus their skills on the gnarliest problems. And finally, AI will be felt through enhanced productivity within these ever-changing business models. In short, AI will touch every aspect of the tech industry and the markets they serve.” – Lauri Palmieri, VP, GTM & Strategy, Salesforce
3. Generative AI will hypercharge efficiency, and we will all get familiar with the term “semantic query.”
“Advancement in semantic query – essentially a question written in a ‘human’ language that then gets translated into machine language – will dramatically change customer service. Businesses can provide quick and meaningful, hyper-personalised service with AI using text, images, videos, and audio for search. This sets the stage for a more intuitive and responsive digital economy, benefitting both businesses and end users alike.
Throughout 2024, semantic query will become a cornerstone for AI. As AI grows more adept at gleaning insights from both structured and unstructured datasets, we can anticipate a surge in businesses adopting semantic query capabilities with the merging of structured data, such as sales figures and customer demographics, and unstructured data like blogs, customer reviews, and social media commentary.” – Rahul Auradkar, EVP & GM, Unified Data Services & Einstein, Salesforce
4. By 2025, companies will stop strategising about “cloud first” and “digital first” and focus on strategies that center around the customer.
“Whether engaging with a device or equipment, a chatbot, a mobile app, or a website, everything today is digital, including generative AI. The value to the customer is the health of the process that they want to carry out, or have carried out on their behalf. For the business, the goal is better business outcomes. The technology itself is, in the eyes of the customer or employee, the way the process is carried out, and not the end in itself.” – Michael Maoz, SVP of Innovation Strategy, Salesforce
5. Businesses who don’t embrace generative AI will be left in the dust.
“Gartner expects that, by 2026, more than 80% of enterprises will have used generative AI and/or deployed generative AI-enabled apps in production environments, up from less than 5% in 2023. AI platforms will propel the use of AI-driven digital assistants that will permeate every organisational layer, with executives leveraging AI insights for strategic decisions and frontline staff depending on AI for daily tasks. Business verticals, from sales forecasting market shifts to HR optimising talent acquisition, will experience a profound AI-driven metamorphosis.
Even small to medium enterprises will adopt intuitive AI platforms, igniting a burst of innovation and leveling the competitive landscape. By 2025, AI won’t be an auxiliary tool but the core around which successful businesses revolve, marking an era of unparalleled transformation.” – Alice Steinglass, EVP and GM, Salesforce Platform
Four predictions on the future of data, AI, customer experience, and security
Trusted data is the foundation of trusted AI. And as a result, 92% of analytics and IT leaders in the UK recently reported that the need for trusted data has never been higher. But data accuracy is only one component: The data needs to be secure, available, and reliable for AI to make the most of it. Salesforce leaders weigh in on how that could unfold.
1. The AI revolution will become a data revolution.
“Organisations can only harness the full power of AI when it is fueled by accurate, comprehensive data. We can expect a strong continued focus on data privacy and compliance, which includes implementing more robust data governance frameworks, establishing clear policies for data collection, storage, and usage, and continuous monitoring and auditing of training data.
Many organisations also face overwhelming and siloed data volumes that lack a single source of truth. Data harmonisation will be a key priority for business leaders in order to better extract value from their data sources and effectively leverage AI. Fostering a strong data-driven company requires a focus on driving confidence, and ultimately trust, to drive adoption.” – Wendy Batchelder, Chief Data Officer, Salesforce
2. Data will continue to get democratised … and smarter.
“While analytics and dashboards are used widely to meet performance management needs, getting personalised insights for knowledge workers remains a challenge. In 2024, the focus on democratising data and analytics will take a new turn. Data and analytics will become more proactive by automatically identifying anomalies in underlying business data, delivering insights in natural language, and providing users with the ability to ask questions and get answers quickly, without pulling in a data analyst.” – Southard Jones, Tableau Chief Product Officer, Salesforce
3. There will be a notable rise in the importance of design for enhancing customer experiences, product value, and market fit.
“There is a growing need to recognise the critical role of design in achieving goals and delivering products that customers not only find useful but enjoy using. The overall user experience will be paramount and teams will need to take customer feedback into account and instill a design process to include prototyping, a commitment to user experience, and continuous improvement.
This shift will reflect a deeper commitment to the craft and personality of software brands and build stronger connections with customers.” – Ethan Eisman, SVP of Design, Slack
4. A new era of cyber defense will take shape to address new threats.
“As AI advances, we will continue to see more AI-powered attempts to infiltrate and exploit systems across the entire digital ecosystem. Bad actors are using the technology for everything from code generation, password cracking, exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, and identifying misconfigurations, to social engineering and deepfakes.
On the other hand, AI can help companies automate tedious tasks like recognising anomalies, detecting fraud and phishing attempts, and predicting behaviors. This not only allows security teams to increase their efficiency, but to also identify threats quickly, on a large scale, and shorten response times.” – Kelly McCracken, SVP of Salesforce Detection and Response, Salesforce
Four ways AI will change the future of society
The uses of technology and AI for business are endless and fascinating, but when you zoom out, what are the real implications for society? Here’s how some of Salesforce’s top minds see 2024 playing out.
1. AI will be used as a force for good, but only with equitable access.
“AI presents a massive and exciting opportunity for purpose-driven organisations to better serve their communities – but adopting this technology will require funding and expertise that many resource-constrained organisations lack. This will be a critical new endeavor for the philanthropic community: ensuring equitable access to AI for the nonprofits that are tackling the world’s toughest social and environmental challenges.” – Becky Ferguson, CEO, Salesforce Foundation, and SVP of Philanthropy, Salesforce
2. Healthcare will begin a once-in-a-lifetime transformation thanks to generative AI.
“The U.S. alone spends $3.7 trillion on healthcare, which equates to $1 trillion in administrative waste. With this in mind, my prediction is that generative AI will transform healthcare, fundamentally changing the cost trajectory of the industry. The technology will be used to create efficiencies in claim management and summarisation, turn unstructured data into insights and spot patterns to predict at-risk patients, and create new diagnosis and prevention checkpoints.” – Amit Khanna, SVP & GM, Health & Life Sciences, Salesforce
My prediction is that generative AI will transform healthcare, fundamentally changing the cost trajectory of the industry.
Amit Khanna, SVP & GM, Health & Life Sciences, Salesforce
3. AI will help fight the climate crisis.
“2023 has been a frightening year for our planet. And yet, we have promising AI-powered solutions for both climate change mitigation and climate adaptation. WeaveGrid deploys machine learning to optimally orchestrate EV charging for utilities, automakers, and drivers, while Pano AI uses AI to detect wildfires earlier.” – Claudine Emeott, Partner, Salesforce Ventures
4. Sustainability reporting standards will grow up — and AI will be a key part of the process.
“Companies will increasingly face a global web of more rigorous standards due to new climate-related reporting requirements — from the recently passed SB 253 in California to the upcoming SEC climate disclosure rule to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. AI will be a crucial tool to help businesses meet these standards while reducing the burden of sustainability reporting.” – Suzanne DiBianca, EVP and Chief Impact Officer, Salesforce
More information:
- Find more Salesforce news and insights on artificial intelligence here
- Looking for data on generative AI? Check out our library of statistics
- Read Salesforce’s take on why collaboration is key to realising the opportunities of AI
