Salesforce showcases AI-powered digital labour as catalyst for transformation
Salesforce brought together more than 3,000 delegates for the event, including customers, partners, and associates, demonstrating the fast-growing interest and strong demand for digital labour solutions that can help drive efficiency and transformation for organisations across all sectors.
Keynote speakers included Salesforce's Marco Hernansanz, executive vice president & CEO Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa; Mohammed Alkhotani, senior vice president and general manager, Middle East; Maha Alaoui, head of solution engineering, MEA; Polly Summer, Chief Adoption Officer; and Olfa Kharrat, director of product management for AI and Agentforce. The speakers shared insights about the company's strategy and how its latest innovations in AI, data and CRM are helping customers transform.
Delegates gained insights into how organisations are transforming with Salesforce solutions including Agentforce, Data Cloud and Customer 360 to drive success on a unified, trusted platform. Keynotes and presentations, including by Salesforce's customers and partners, covered the role of AI in sectors such as retail, real estate, travel, automotive, and manufacturing. They also explored using Data Cloud to create a trusted foundation for Agentforce, how to make the leap from 'good to great' customer experience, and how organisations can grow their team's AI experience.
More than 15 customers from across the region participated in the event, demonstrating transformative use-cases that illustrate how they have transformed key aspects of their operations with Salesforce. National Bank of Kuwait revealed how it has leveraged data in Tableau to uncover insights, drive smarter decisions, and enhance business performance. In a session titled, 'Transforming Education with AI & Automation', Aldar Education, a leading education group in Abu Dhabi, discussed its partnership with Publicis Sapient to digitize student services, streamline admissions, and enhance parent engagement using AI-powered automation. Meanwhile, French energy group Engie, which has operations around the world including a regional HQ in Dubai, demonstrated how it used a tailored Salesforce Cloud solution to transform its renewable energy sales in Poland.
Other companies presenting at the event were: Al Tayer, MAF Retail LLC, Zulekha Hospital, Ducab, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Red Sea Global, and Marhaba.
The potential of Agentforce and digital labour to transform operations featured prominently with sessions focused on private and public sector transformation, particularly the delivery of citizen services, and real estate, where Salesforce is helping customers optimise sales processes and enhance productivity to deliver a better experience for buyers and sales teams.
Mohammed Alkhotani said that AI and digital labour will play an increasing role in enabling organisations to raise efficiency while innovating, improving customer service, and supporting national visions. 'Organisations in the Middle East are keen to leverage AI to transform their operations and thrive amid tough competition,' Alkhotani said. 'Customers want to tap growth opportunities and support national visions – yet many are understandably perplexed by AI and how to deploy it effectively. Today's event offered the ideal opportunity to showcase the power of Agentforce to transform organisations with autonomous AI agents that complement human employees, while delivering new levels of efficiency and customer experience.'
With AI skills vital to the success of digital transformation within organisations, Salesforce recently partnered with Chalhoub, the Dubai-based luxury goods retailer and distributor, to create a training program to empower women at the company. The Chalhoub x Salesforce Women in Tech Leadership & Innovation Program was themed "Women Driving Digital Innovation: AI, Data, and Cloud for the Future", and more than 60 participants graduated during Agentforce World Tour having completed a rigorous four-week course. The program focused on areas including technology and leadership; customer centricity; diversity, equity and inclusion; and future skills and career growth.
Representatives from Chalhoub and Salesforce delivered a keynote at Agentforce World Tour to spotlight the program's successes in empowering women to spearhead digital leadership.
Salesforce is well positioned to support transformation efforts in the UAE and the wider region after establishing a new office in the UAE in October 2024 and committing to invest $500m in Saudi Arabia earlier in the year.
Organisations are keen to deploy AI, but don't necessarily have all the know-how and tools to do so effectively. Nearly half of customer service teams, over two-fifths of salespeople, and a third of marketers say they've fully implemented AI to augment their work, yet 77% of business leaders cite nagging issues around trusted data and ethics that could grind their deployments to a halt, according to Salesforce's most recent Trends in AI for CRM report.
Meanwhile, organisations in the UAE increasingly recognise the need for AI-based solutions to liberate human employees from the repetitive, mundane tasks that often reduce productivity. With sales reps in the UAE spending an average of just 27% of the workweek connecting with customers, organisations see AI as a potential solution – 75% of sales teams in the UAE have either fully implemented AI or are experimenting with the technology, according to Salesforce's most recent State of Sales report. This indicates pent-up demand for solutions that offer to simplify effective AI deployments.
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