Latest news with #Salesforce
Time of India
an hour ago
- Business
- Time of India
"AI can never cause mass layoffs, it is here to augment workers" says Salesforce CEO: Here's what professionals need to learn to stay afloat
Ever since artificial intelligence has made a grand entry into the corporate world, it has met with applause and raised eyebrows. To some, it feels like a manifestation of science fiction; to others, it is a slow decaying of human purpose. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Its arrival has coincided with mass layoffs and job descriptions. Numerous job profiles are standing at the precipice of extinction. But is AI truly the lone culprit in the upheaval, or is there a deeper narrative that waits to be dug out? AI has religiously dominated the headlines, touted as a revolutionary force one moment, and condemned as a job killer the next. Love it or loathe it, the reality remains unchanged: AI is no longer on the horizon; it has already reserved its seats in corporates. And with it comes the inevitable question: What becomes of the human workforce? This question has sparked a relentless tug of war between dystopian fears and technological optimism. Into this arena steps Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, a figure renowned for both his trailblazing leadership and unfiltered candor. When asked by Fortune about AI's role in workforce disruption, Benioff offered a response that cut through the noise: 'I keep looking around, talking to CEOs, asking: what AI are they using for these big layoffs?' Benioff insisted that AI is not a destroyer, but a collaborator. He said, 'I think AI augments people, but I don't know if it necessarily replaces them.' In a world that has already bid adieu to traditional jobs, Benioff is putting weight on the need for 'human element.' "AI cannot replace humans": Why Benioff believes so Salesforce itself has automated up to 50% of its internal work using AI agents. Around 85% of the customer support tasks are being handled by intelligent systems. Nonetheless, AI is outpacing humans by about 40%. These numbers are staggering, but to Benioff, they're not about headcount reductions; they're about human-machine partnership. 'I keep looking around, talking to CEOs, asking: what AI are they using for these big layoffs?' he said. 'I think AI augments people, but I don't know if it necessarily replaces them.' The distinction is crucial and timely. AI is increasingly embedded in workflows, but full automation remains elusive. Why? Because accuracy isn't perfect, and context still matters. The demarcation is pivotal and timely. AI may be faster, but it lacks precision and critical thinking. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Robots don't come with judgment, and context continues to be the irreplaceable domain of human intelligence. The rise of the AI collaborator Rather than a tool of replacement, AI at Salesforce is treated as an intellectual partner. Benioff personally uses it to review business strategies, stress-test assumptions, and find gaps invisible to the naked eye. But even with that utility, there's a line AI can't cross. 'Every AI needs its own fact checker, and those fact checkers are humans, not AIs, because AIs can't fact-check because they don't have that level of accuracy.' This statement carries a message for the professional; it is high time to hone multiple skills to survive the job market. It highlights a workforce mandate that professionals are no longer just doers; they are validators, interpreters, and strategic decision-makers. The robots are taking over the routine and mundane tasks. While humans have to step up as the decision makers. Human judgment, especially in the age of AI, is not optional, but mandatory. Big layoffs or bigger opportunity? Like every other invention, artificial intelligence comes with its own share of apprehensions and awe. While the majority of the working professionals have a question etched in their minds: Can AI replace me? There are various speculations erupting on the forefront. Benioff's comments have led to a silver lining in the dark. 'There's going to potentially be a lot more employment because everybody is augmented and has the ability to do more. I think there's going to be an explosion of small and medium businesses because they can do more, it's easier to start one, and you can create value more easily.' This future isn't just for the tech elite. With AI tools lowering entry barriers, think automated marketing, no-code platforms, and generative design, anyone with an idea can now build at scale. That means more founders, more freelancers, more niche service providers, and a reshaped economy where value is generated not by bigness, but by boldness. Ironically, even as Salesforce freezes hiring in traditional roles like engineering and legal, it continues hiring customer success managers and salespeople, not to build AI, but to help clients adopt it. The message? Those who can teach others how to work with AI are perhaps the most valuable of all. So, what can professionals do now? If Benioff's AI optimism holds, the path forward isn't to fight the machines, it's to co-evolve with them. But that transition requires action. Here's how today's workers can begin: Master the tools, not just the tasks: Get comfortable with AI interfaces, experiment with tools relevant to your industry, and understand what they can and can't do. Develop prompt intelligence: Knowing how to ask the right questions of AI will soon be more valuable than knowing how to answer them. Shift from execution to evaluation: Become the human in the loop. Learn how to detect errors, question outputs, and apply judgment that AI lacks. Invest in soft skills: Empathy, storytelling, ethics, and creativity. These are the new power skills in an automated world.
Business Wire
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Genesys Announces $1.5 Billion Investment by Salesforce and ServiceNow
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Genesys ®, a global cloud leader in AI-Powered Experience Orchestration, today announced $1.5 billion in new investment commitments from Salesforce and ServiceNow, with each company agreeing to invest an equal amount. This milestone reinforces the strength of Genesys as the strategic customer experience (CX) orchestration platform for all enterprises and deepens its global partnerships with both Salesforce and ServiceNow. Proceeds from the investment will be used to repurchase shares from the company's existing equity holders. Hellman & Friedman and Permira remain the company's majority equity owners. The Genesys Cloud™ platform has continued to see accelerated growth as organizations look to transform their CX strategies with AI. The platform reached nearly $2.1 billion annual recurring revenue (ARR) i during the first quarter of the company's fiscal year 2026 (Feb. 1 – April 30, 2025), representing year-over-year growth over 35%, and average quarterly net revenue retention (NRR) ii exceeding 120% for the last four fiscal quarters. 'Genesys is delivering long-term value to enterprises through end-to-end customer experience orchestration that can drive loyalty, grow revenue and reduce operating costs,' said Tony Bates, chairman and CEO of Genesys. 'We're proud to have the support of industry leaders like Salesforce and ServiceNow, and we believe this reflects growing momentum around agentic AI and the importance of connected, autonomous customer experiences.' 'This investment deepens our partnership with Genesys to deliver AI-assisted and agentic AI-powered customer experiences across every channel, from voice to digital,' said David Schmaier, president and chief strategy officer, Salesforce. 'As leaders in our respective markets, we're excited to further integrate our products and help redefine what's possible in this new AI era, supporting our joint customers as they transform their contact centers and customer experiences.' 'Our investment in Genesys accelerates our vision for the agentic enterprise, where the ServiceNow AI Platform intelligently orchestrates end-to-end customer experiences,' said Amit Zavery, president, chief product officer, and chief operating officer at ServiceNow. 'Together, ServiceNow and Genesys are enabling businesses to deploy AI-based customer journeys that anticipate needs, personalize at scale and deliver measurable outcomes.' Genesys Cloud, the AI-Powered Experience Orchestration platform, enables companies to increase customer loyalty and employee productivity, drive revenue growth and reduce operating costs. Offering essential agentic, conversational, generative and predictive AI capabilities, Genesys Cloud helps organizations differentiate with smarter, more autonomous CX strategies that deliver efficient, effective and emotionally intelligent experiences. Both Salesforce and ServiceNow have global partnerships with Genesys that help organizations around the world orchestrate end-to-end customer journeys. This expanded investment builds on: CX Cloud from Genesys and Salesforce: a unified AI-powered customer experience and relationship management solution that integrates Genesys Cloud and Salesforce Service Cloud. The solution helps customers spanning global enterprises to midsize businesses to unify their data, agents and communication channels for smarter end-to-end customer and employee experiences. Unified Experience from Genesys and ServiceNow: an integrated solution that combines Genesys Cloud and the ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM) workflow. The turnkey, AI-powered solution unifies customer service teams through a single desktop, centralizes routing across departments and channels, and optimizes workforce engagement for more personalized customer experiences and simplified employee experiences. The investment is expected to close by the end of the Genesys fiscal year 2026, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Genesys was advised by Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as financial advisors and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as legal counsel. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not historical or current facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Unless required by law, Genesys undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events after the date of this press release. About Salesforce Salesforce helps organizations of any size reimagine their business with AI. Agentforce – the first digital labor solution for enterprises – seamlessly integrates with Customer 360 applications, Data Cloud, and Einstein AI to create a limitless workforce, bringing humans and agents together to deliver customer success on a single, trusted platform. Visit for more information. About ServiceNow ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is putting AI to work for people. We move with the pace of innovation to help customers transform organizations across every industry while upholding a trustworthy, human centered approach to deploying our products and services at scale. Our AI platform for business transformation connects people, processes, data, and devices to increase productivity and maximize business outcomes. For more information, visit: About Genesys Genesys empowers more than 8,000 organizations in over 100 countries to improve loyalty and business outcomes by creating the best experiences for their customers and employees. Through Genesys Cloud, the AI-Powered Experience Orchestration platform, Genesys delivers the future of CX to organizations of all sizes so they can provide empathetic, personalized experience at scale. As the trusted platform that is born in the cloud, Genesys Cloud helps organizations accelerate growth by enabling them to differentiate with the right customer experience at the right time, while driving stronger workforce engagement, efficiency and operational improvements. Visit © 2025 Genesys. All rights reserved. Genesys, the Genesys logo and Genesys Cloud are trademarks, service marks and/or registered trademarks of Genesys. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies. i Genesys Cloud Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is defined as Genesys Cloud fiscal quarterly revenue, including both committed contractual amounts and usage-based revenues, multiplied by four. ii Genesys Cloud Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is defined as the percentage of Genesys Cloud revenue retained in the applicable quarterly period for customers that generated revenue in the corresponding prior fiscal year period.
Bloomberg
11 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Salesforce, ServiceNow Are in Talks to Invest in Genesys
Salesforce Inc. and ServiceNow Inc. are each in advanced talks to invest about $750 million apiece in Genesys Cloud Services Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The separate investments — totaling roughly $1.5 billion — would be a rare instance of enterprise software rivals backing the same company. Genesys, which makes AI-powered software for customer contact centers, would be valued at roughly $15 billion, the people said.
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Marc Benioff education qualifications: How a USC degree and an Apple internship shaped the founder of Salesforce
Marc Benioff, founder and CEO, Salesforce. In the heart of Silicon Valley in the early 1980s, while most teenagers were hooked on arcade games, a young Marc Benioff was busy creating them. He wasn't just a consumer of technology, he was a maker. At 15, he built and sold a game called How to Juggle for $75. That small check didn't just mark his entry into programming. Instead, it was the first step on a path that would lead to the top floor of the Salesforce Tower. Today, Marc Benioff is a billionaire entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of Salesforce, and owner of Time magazine. But long before his name was synonymous with cloud computing and corporate philanthropy, he was a curious student balancing business school classes with coding gigs, and an internship that would change his life. From Burlingame High to USC Benioff graduated from Burlingame High School in 1982, already armed with skills most students wouldn't pick up until much later. He enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. While many chose traditional college routes, Benioff was quietly building the foundation of a tech empire. He didn't just study business, he lived it. At USC, he joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, but his real fraternity was technology. He spent as much time in front of a screen as he did in the lecture hall. The combination of formal business training and hands-on tech experience would become his career's secret sauce. An Apple internship that rewired his ambitions During his USC years, Benioff secured a programming internship at Apple , where he wrote assembly code for the early Macintosh. It wasn't glamorous work. The Mac was still under development, and code was written line by painstaking line. But for Benioff, it was a front-row seat to innovation. He didn't just learn to code better, he learned how great companies are built. Apple showed him what was possible when bold vision met flawless execution. He saw how culture could shape technology. It was no longer just about writing code. It was about rewriting the rules. Oracle's youngest VP: Success inside the system After graduating in 1986, Benioff joined Oracle Corporation, one of the biggest names in enterprise software. Most fresh graduates would be happy to land any tech job — Benioff was named Rookie of the Year in his first year. By age 23, he became Oracle's youngest-ever vice president, a title that most could only dream of. At Oracle, he learned how software was sold, scaled, and supported. He worked closely with Oracle founder Larry Ellison, soaking up both business tactics and leadership philosophy. But something inside him stirred — a sense that software could be easier, faster, more democratic. A better way was possible. A leap of faith, and the birth of Salesforce In 1999, Benioff walked away from corporate comfort and set up Salesforce in a San Francisco apartment. His vision? To let companies use powerful software through the internet, rather than buying expensive discs and hardware. It was a radical idea at the time. He called it 'The End of Software,' a slogan that made rivals scoff and users curious. Salesforce was among the first to embrace Software as a Service (SaaS), a model that now powers much of the modern digital world. With his business degree, tech grounding, and startup savvy, Benioff wasn't just launching a company — he was creating an industry. From college coder to tech crusader Marc Benioff's success wasn't just the result of bold bets or good luck. It was the product of a unique mix: academic grounding, real-world experience, and relentless curiosity. His USC education gave him the strategic thinking to scale ideas. His Apple internship exposed him to innovation at its rawest. And his early hustle of writing code and launching games, gave him confidence to dream bigger. Today, Salesforce is worth over $200 billion. Benioff has written bestselling books, reshaped corporate philanthropy, and backed dozens of future-focused startups through his Time Ventures fund. He even owns Time magazine, the very publication that once profiled leaders like the ones he looked up to. But behind all the headlines is a timeless story: a student who loved to learn, who wasn't afraid to experiment, and who knew that education doesn't end with a diploma, it begins there. Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
The Independent
16 hours ago
- The Independent
Google software engineer, 29, killed during a hike in Yosemite by falling sequoia branch
A 29-year-old Google software engineer was killed hiking in Yosemite National Park when a branch from a giant sequoia tree fell and hit her on the head. Angela Lin, an engineer at Salesforce and then Google, was hiking on July 19 with her boyfriend and two friends through Tuolumne Grove, a paved trail lined with massive sequoias. A loud cracking sound from above suddenly rang out, and branches from one of the giant trees began to fall, Lin's boyfriend, David Hua, told SFGate. 'Two to three seconds later, branches fell out of the sky,' Hua said. 'One big branch struck Angela, and then there were a bunch of smaller ones directly behind me.' As the branches tumbled down, Hua recalled closing his eyes. But when he opened them, he found Lin sprawled out on the ground, her face up, with a pool of blood around her head. The group immediately called 911 and performed CPR until a park ranger arrived. Soon after, an ambulance came, but Lin was never placed inside. Hua said emergency responders later told him the falling branch likely killed Lin instantly. 'It was just unimaginable that something like this could occur,' Hua said, adding, 'On such a popular trail, too.' Tuolumne Grove, where the group had been hiking, was closed to visitors for about a week after Lin's death. Yosemite Park officials told SFGate the incident remains under investigation. Park officials did not immediately return The Independent's request for comment. Hua said Lin's family had not been given much information from the park service, prompting them to reach out to the media. 'We are seeking more information from the park service regarding this incident, especially around trail safety, maintenance and awareness of problematic trees on popular trails, and future prevention of similar incidents,' Hua said. Traumatized bystanders have also been searching for information following the tragic incident, with some posting on Reddit in hopes of finding out what happened to Lin. 'I am a tourist, but was on the scene of an extremely tragic freak accident in the area trying to provide [aid], and it has been haunting me,' someone wrote in a post titled 'Tuolumne Grove Incident 7/19.' 'I can't stop thinking about it and can'[t find any news articles updating about the situation,' the person wrote. Later in their post, the Redditor commented, 'It hits so so hard because they were doing nothing wrong or careless…Life can be so cruel.' While being struck and killed by a tree branch at Yosemite is unlikely, it isn't unprecedented. Last year, an Australian hiker, Harry Partington, was crushed by a falling tree on the park's Four Mile Trail. In August 2015, two high school students sleeping in a tent were killed by a falling oak limb. A concessions worker was killed in 2012 when a tree fell on his tent cabin during a windstorm. Lin's death, however, occurred on a day with no wind. She also was not camped under a tree, but hiking, Hua said. 'The sad thing is that Angela is the most cautious person you can be,' Hua said. 'She is super careful. She stays on trails. She never goes off trails. So, usually when you hear about these incidents, someone is doing something dangerous, like playing in the water or near a cliff or something,' he said. Lin graduated with her master's degree from University of Texas at Austin before working in the Bay Area as a Google engineer. 'We lost a loved and respected member of our time. We're very saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts are with their family and loved ones,' a Google spokesperson said.
