The State of Salesforce

The State of Salesforce Annual Report 2017–2018 How the Best Companies The State of Salesforce Use Salesforce 1

TOPTRENDS INSIGHTS CREATING THE REPORT WITHAI AI Means BusinessNow Insights From C-Suite CX Goes Mainstream Insights From Sales Analytics ForEveryone Insights From Service Insights From Marketing Insights From IT Lighting Insights Global Insights The AppExchange

Also Featuring The Future Now Awards The Future Now Awards winners celebrates companies that are recognized as creative are leading the innovation leaders who go above and beyond of customer and employee their customers’ expectations. experiences with Salesforce. They are leading the future now Selected from hundreds of as inspirational examples of submissions, the three winners the success that’s possible for were chosen by a panel of companies of all sizes to achieve Salesforce innovation experts with Salesforce. based on their approach and associated business results. Sales of Service of Marketing of The Future Now The Future Now The Future Now Your sales goals go beyond hitting Your customer service is You’ve discovered the right quotas. You take the time to personalized and consistent channels to reach your understand prospects as people, across all channels–in a word, customers with the content and continuously work to improve customer-obsessed–making they want, and you’ve got the employees’ day-to-day workflows. more than just an impression, measurable KPIs to prove it. you’ve earned customers for life. Winner Winner Winner Verimatrix Nextep Warner Music Group B2B | 301–500 Employees B2B | 150–200 Employees B2C | 3,500–5,000 Employees U.S. U.S. 50+ Countries 2 The State of Salesforce

Exe e Su ry cut e Su y E t e mar Exec ive mm ry Execu e Summ Exe ve Su ry Executive Summary 4 Executive Summary The State of Salesforce

Herbie Hancock, the jazz great, once said, “Jazz is about being in the moment. It’s not exclusive, it’s inclusive.” Businesses today have to be the Despite the widespread The goal of every State of best listeners: How can they be enthusiasm and anticipation Salesforce report is to inspire in tune with every click, call, tap, surrounding AI, about half of all innovation with information. This and share? It’s a cacophony of businesses aren’t prepared to year’s report provides a deep look information that can overwhelm adopt it. The global strategic into how businesses are thinking companies of all sizes. As we partnership between Salesforce about, investing in, and using uncovered in this year’s report, and IBM is proof positive of how AI, analytics, and transformation finding and accessing customer AI is becoming more accessible initiatives on the Salesforce data from different sources is to everyone—and evidence that platform. Use these insights to the most common operational businesses need to seriously plan tune your Salesforce investment challenge across Sales, Service, for AI now. Salesforce built the to the soundtrack of your business. Marketing, and IT. But if you’re world’s #1 CRM and developed its I hope you enjoy Bluewolf’s sixth- able to listen closely, to pick up Einstein AI capabilities to facilitate annual State of Salesforce. on the tones and full range of more personalized, one-to-one both structured and unstructured relationships between businesses Eric Berridge data—good and bad—you can and their customers. IBM built CEO & Co-Founder hear the rhythm of your customers, the world’s most advanced Bluewolf, an IBM Company the sound of every note they machine learning system for better produce, and use that data to stay relationships between people agile and relevant. and technology. Together, the combined AI capabilities of IBM Augmented Intelligence (AI) is the Watson and Salesforce Einstein vehicle that can allow businesses can connect us more deeply to use data at scale to connect than ever before, leading to real more deeply than ever before. business outcomes. The State of Salesforce Executive Summary 5

To Tr s p T ds op en T p ends T Tre T p T e s Top Trends 6 Top Trends The State of Salesforce

1 AI Means Business Now Companies are realizing growth with AI for CRM as Salesforce Einstein presents unprecedented opportunities for customers. The anticipation for how AI can transform business processes is driving investment for early adopters and experimentation. 77% of Salesforce customers who already use AI expect to increase their investment in AI or platforms that have embedded AI capabilities within the next 12 months. 2 CX Goes Mainstream A strategic focus on customer experience (CX) is now table stakes. In the digital business era, IT and business stakeholders are equally responsible for delivering valuable customer experiences. With IT becoming customer obsessed alongside business stakeholders, the best companies are optimizing their CX strategy with IT as a strategic partner to not only manage customer-facing tech, but to transform it. 88% of IT professionals say the top two reasons their organization uses Salesforce is for customer acquisition and retention, above all other business goals. 3 Analytics for Everyone, If You Have the Data A data-first culture is driving superior employee experiences. Analysis of dark data, like customer sentiment or email correspondence, has become too important to ignore. Analytics is transforming how employees use technology, enhancing their capabilities, and boosting their performance by favoring insights over intuition. 71% of Salesforce customers are increasing their investment in actionable analytics. The State of Salesforce Top Trends 7

Of companies currently using AI Companies already using AI within Salesforce are sending a powerful signal to the marketplace that AI is living up to their expectations for measurable business impact. 77%plan to increase their investment in AI Of companies not currently using AI 20%plan to increase their investment in AI The State of Salesforce Top Trends 9

9 Top Trends Of companies currently using AI plan to increase their investment in AI 77 % plan to increase their investment in AI Of companies not currently using AI 20 % Companies already using AI within Salesforce are sending a powerful signal to the marketplace that AI is living up to their expectations for measurable business impact.

2 CX Goes Mainstream The role of IT has evolved beyond solely taking care of an organization’s technical infrastructure, to align with business stakeholders. Technology- driven changes in customer preferences for personalized, digital, anytime, and anywhere engagement has put pressure across the entire organization, including IT, to deliver customer experience. As the designated owner of the Salesforce Platform for over a third of Salesforce organizations, IT is now front and center to enable business transformations that enhance the customer experience. 10 Top Trends The State of Salesforce

IT is responsible for our In companies of all sizes, Salesforce instance. IT has become a critical component of delivering quality customer and employee experiences. % 36 25% % 46 25% 37% % 46 Number of Employees 10,000+ 501–3,500 5,001–10,000 101–500 3,501–5,000 1–100 The State of Salesforce Top Trends 11

3 Analytics for Everyone, If You Have the Data The flexibility of Salesforce allows in descriptive analytics as the for data-based decision-making entry point to more advanced to happen at any scale. Within capabilities. SMBs are expanding the next 12 months, 71% of their investments, just as mid- organizations will increase their level companies are increasing investment in making analytics investment in more sophisticated actionable. Analysis of dark data, capabilities. We expect that such as customer sentiment this trend will continue to move or email correspondence, has downstream to a broader spectrum become too important to ignore. of small- and medium-sized More companies are realizing the businesses as Salesforce Einstein need to meet customers where functionality continues to mature. they are, increasing investment 12 Top Trends The State of Salesforce

Contextual Prescriptive Discovery detects the impact uses optimization and simulation searches data for patterns to of environmental and algorithms to answer: reveal previously unknown circumstantial factors, “What should we do?” data relationships to answer: such as weather, to answer: “Could this happen?” “Does this affect what happens?” Predictive Descriptive Diagnostic applies statistical models aggregates and mines data examines data to identify and forecasting techniques to provide a summary of the likely cause to answer: to data to answer: historical data to answer: “Why did this happen?” “What is likely to happen?” “What has happened?” The demand for advanced analytics now spans the entire Percentage of investment in spectrum of company sizes. six categories of analytics % 28 25% 24% 24% 24% 24% 23% 23% % 22 % % % 21 % % 21 21 21 21 % 20 19% % 18 17% 17% 16% 16% % 12 % % 11 11 10% % 9 % % 8 8 % % 7 7 1–100 101–500 501–3,500 3,501–5,000 5,001–10,000 10,000+ Number of Employees The State of Salesforce Top Trends 13

Insi ts m e C ite I ights F Th C-S e I s Fro T Su e Insi ts Fr m he uite In ghts rom h C-S Insi ts Fr m he uite Insights From The C-Suite 14 The C-Suite The State of Salesforce `

CEOs Place % 2 % 2 % Big CX Bets 2 % 3 % 7 on AI % 10 The C-Suite recognizes AI as a leadership opportunity for differentiating the customer experience. In the next 12 months, 59% of C-level executives expect to purchase AI or platforms that have embedded AI capabilities, and have a keen eye % 11 for enhancing the central hub of direct customer interaction: customer service and support. Their vision of faster, smarter decision-making capabilities extends to self-service that empowers customers and employees equally. % 63 63% of C-level executives are counting on AI to improve the customer experience. Within your organization, where do you expect AI to have the greatest impact? Collaborating Performance in New Channels Cost & Safety Reputation Building Other Overall Effectiveness Opportunity Qualification Customer Care/Satisfaction The State of Salesforce The C-Suite 15 `

For 46% of the C-Suite, the most important factor when implementing a new Salesforce initiative is implementation time. % 5 29% 46% % 6 14% Implementation Time Impact on Employees Stay Within Budget Expected Business Value Confidence in Quality 1616 The C-Suite The State of Salesforce

Implementation Time Is Money 60% of C-level executives new initiatives based on both report that the top reason their impact and time-to-value. A cost- company uses Salesforce is to benefit analysis should make the grow revenue. However, just distinction between short-term and 36% measure the ROI of their long-term ROI—activities you can Salesforce investment. track on an ongoing basis—as well The leadership role of the as YoY performance. Quantifying C-Suite comes with an urgency the business impact of Salesforce to demonstrate ongoing progress within a set period of time can and continuous innovation. ensure that strategic initiatives Speed counts as a measure of align to business goals and value. The best companies are measurable ROI. aligning Salesforce to prioritize “With AI, our global distribution efforts are enhanced with precision around both who and how to engage to better serve our investors and prospects.” Kurt MacAlpine Executive Vice President Head of Global Distribution WisdomTree The State of Salesforce The C-Suite 17

Ins s Fr m Sa s I ts m Sa Ins F m es I hts om S es In hts F S e In ts Fro s Insights From Sales 18 Sales The State of Salesforce

Ins s Fr m Se e I ts m vice Ins F m Se ice I hts om Serv e In hts F S e In ts Fro rvic Insights From Service 26 Service The State of Salesforce

Companies with an incomplete customer view also have disparate systems No surprise, sales % organizations with a 38 360º customer view are 3x less likely to have disparate systems. The Path to a Single Customer View Is Paved With Data Sales Cloud adoption grew 13% over last year*, and adoption is expected to accelerate with Sales Cloud Einstein, which enables faster, smarter, data- based decision-making. However, organizations that have built their sales processes and tech stack on an ad hoc basis with technologies outside of Salesforce are now overwhelmed by dark data. To take full advantage of Sales Cloud Einstein, data needs to be unified across sources. The best companies are consolidating disparate systems and making data more readily accessible at every stage of the funnel, shortening sales cycles, and enabling sales teams to focus more time on selling. Companies with a complete customer view also have disparate systems % 12 *Salesforce Investor Relations report, 2017 20 Sales The State of Salesforce

The Search Is Over: Guided Selling Is on the Rise Sales teams are looking for signals and insights to augment their day-to-day selling activities. With data analytics, the search is over. 58% of sales organizations will increase their investment in actionable analytics, which reveal new opportunities to connect with customers and prospects, within the next 12 months. In which type of analytics is Sales investing? % % 53 Predictive 49 Descriptive applies statistical models and aggregates and mines data to provide forecasting techniques to data to a summary of historical data to answer: “What is likely to happen?” answer: “What has happened?” % % 48 Discovery 38 Diagnostic searches data for patterns to examines data to identify the reveal previously unknown data likely cause to answer: relationships to answer: “Why did this happen?” “Could this happen?” % % 32 Prescriptive 8 Contextual uses optimization and simulation detects the impact of environmental algorithms to answer: and circumstantial factors, such as “What should we do?” weather, to answer: “Does this affect what happens?” The State of Salesforce Sales 21

Nurture Data Like You Nurture Opportunities For smaller companies, more data means more problems. 72% of salespeople Number of Employees1–100101–500501–3,5003,501–5,0005,001–10,00010,000+from SMBs report data inconsistencies as %7 the No. 1 cause of their incomplete view of the customer. % 10 % % % 23 7 24 Throughout the sales funnel, from the initial awareness phase through to purchasing, sales teams of all sizes experience data inconsistencies. Salespeople have to look for information and data in places they haven’t had to look before in order to meet the needs of customers and prospects with relevant, high-touch interactions. Our research found % a 66% YoY increase in the number of salespeople 34 who report that accessing data is the most challenging task they face. To ensure consistent data, sales teams are prioritizing integration with back-office systems, allowing updates to be made quickly and often, and are also enriching account, contact, and lead data with automation. % % 72 15 Percentage Reporting Data Inconsistencies 22 Sales The State of Salesforce

% 35 of Sales organizations investing in AI within Supercharge Your the next 12 months expect it will have Sales Funnel the greatest impact on qualifying leads. For Sales, faster filtering means a 53% of salespeople already using faster funnel, and an easier time AI or platforms with embedded focusing only on the deals that AI capabilities in their business will count. The best companies expect to reinvest within 12 are reinforcing pipeline accuracy months. Simultaneously, the and enhanced forecasting by number of salespeople using AI augmenting the sales funnel with is expected to increase by 17% AI-powered apps like Einstein during that time. Opportunity Insights and Einstein Lead Scoring. The State of Salesforce Sales 23

“Salesforce removes friction in our business, and without it, we couldn’t sell new product lines on a global scale.” Brittany Tankhim Director Enterprise Applications Verimatrix 24 Sales The State of Salesforce

25 Sales Sales of The Future Now Already an innovator in its own right, Verimatrix is a California-based company that offers the only platform for securing and increasing revenue for multinetwork, multiscreen digital TV services around the globe. Its sales team had been using Excel spreadsheets to track quotes, orders, and revenue recognition, but was quick to notice how their manual sales process was prone to errors and inconsistencies. The transition to a new quote-to-cash system needed to happen at scale for Verimatrix’s network of resellers, and Sales and Service needed to be kept in the loop throughout the replacement process. A Configure Price Quote (CPQ) tool combined with Salesforce Community Cloud for Verimatrix’s sales partners created custom contracted pricing, so now resellers of its products receive a discount for selling particular product groupings. Overall, Verimatrix can bundle products and logic to make it easier for salespeople to quote commonly sold systems together with ease and speed. What used to take a week now takes only a few hours, and Verimatrix creates a price quote with assured accuracy and traceability. By shortening the time between quotes and order submissions, Verimatix’s internal sales team has the efficiency to sell its new product line on a global scale. INSIGHT Product bundling should benefit sellers and customers IDEA Automate and centralize Sales IMPACT Closing deals globally Saving a Bundle With Product Bundling Capabilities Salesforce Products Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Community Cloud, Einstein Analytics, CPQ

26 Service Ins s Fr m Se e I ts m vice Ins F m Se ice I hts om Serv e In hts F S e In ts Fro rvic Insights From Service

The demand for anytime, anywhere, personalized customer service is quickly giving rise to AI-enhanced self-service capabilities that take the form of real- time conversations facilitated by chatbots. As a type of conversational app, chatbots have Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities to respond to questions from customers, augment knowledge management for contact center agents, and automatically escalate cases to a live agent when necessary. 26% of Service professionals expect to invest in AI capabilities within 12 months to enhance their service and support centers with conversation capabilities that improve call deflection and increase first contact resolution without compromising quality of service. “To realize agents’ full value, look beyond immediate outcome measurements and invest in long-view initiatives by committing to predictive service.” Bob Furniss VP, Global Service Cloud Practice Bluewolf, an IBM Company International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) Lifetime Achievement Award recipient The State of Salesforce Service The State of Salesforce Service 2727

59% of Service professionals expect AI to have the greatest impact on customer experience. % 25 59% % 8 % Customer Experience 8 Overall Effectiveness Opportunity Qualification Reputation Building When it comes to customer service, a seamless Service Wants to experience means self-service. Technology-driven changes in customer preferences are demanding 24/7 Solve Problems, support that goes beyond Salesforce Community Cloud and customer portals. Real-time messaging is already a standard of digital engagement for customer service Not Search for agents using Service Cloud Einstein and Lightning Snap-ins to integrate in-app chats across mobile and web experiences. 15% of service organizations have Answers invested in AI self-service capabilities as they look to add a conversational interface that can automatically retrieve insights from Salesforce data; anticipate needs by customer history, context, preferences, and search history; and deliver proactive alerts and relevant offers, escalating issues to a live agent when necessary. For Service professionals, AI provides valuable context to delivering quality customer experiences across all channels. 28 Service The State of Salesforce

Field Service Gets Personal With IoT % 18 of organizations plan to invest in IoT Cloud in the next 12 months. Service technicians are an emerging trend in the early undergoing a retooling of their stages of mass adoption: 14% of capabilities with wearable devices service organizations have either and AI-powered field apps. transitioned to Field Service Field service professionals are Lightning or plan to in the next now able to further differentiate 12 months, as a requisite step the customer experience through for adopting IoT Cloud. The best connected data. Field service companies are combining their organizations on Field Service Salesforce data with IoT to increase Lightning can be proactive and the connectivity of their field predict a need for maintenance, service operations and deliver optimize scheduling of repairs, personalized service with precision. and detect a signal for help. IoT for Service and Support is The State of Salesforce Service 29

Employee Community Types of Communities Supports a 360º Employee Customer View Partner Customer % 82 % 29 % 55 We are investing in Customer Communities within 12 months. The best companies are looking to future investment in Customer Communities to expand the reach of their brand’s digital experience. Customer service communities fostering a data-driven culture, were the initial marquee use cases the best companies are looking for communities. However, this has to build on their investment in quickly expanded beyond Service employee communities to provide to other parts of the business, useful insight into member supporting employees, customers, behavior. Using analytics to and partners. Historically, examine community interactions employee communities were can reveal additional context that easier to own and manage, so it’s can be added to the profiles of no surprise that today, 59% of prospects and customers. Community Cloud deployments are focused on helping employees work more effectively. As part of 30 Service The State of Salesforce

Who is investing in predictive analytics? B2B Companies B2C Companies B2B2C Companies % % % 43 26 31 B2B companies Service investing in predictive analytics have greater accountability across Can’t Wait to the entire organization to track end-to-end Anticipate visibility of the customer lifecycle. Contact channels are expanding rapidly, producing more data—both structured and unstructured—than service organizations can put to use with actionable insights. Just 10% of Service professionals report that their company analyzes dark data, which includes unstructured data, such as text messages, documents, email, video, audio, and images. 53% of Service organizations are increasing their analytics investment within the next 12 months. However, the best companies are investing in more forward-looking Service Cloud Einstein Analytics capabilities, including contextual data, such as weather, which enables agents to anticipate customer needs before issues arise. The State of Salesforce Service 31

“We’ve seen an overwhelmingly positive response from clients. Some who have considered leaving have renewed their contracts based solely on their new access to our interactive dashboards and decision-making tools.” Adam Graham Chief of Sales & Marketing Nextep, Inc. 32 Service The State of Salesforce

Service of The Future Now Redesigning Human Resources With Data Salesforce Products Among the first Professional Employer Organization Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Community Cloud, (PEOs) certified by the IRS, Nextep has grown into a Marketing Cloud, Pardot, and Wave Analytics 100+ employee company that covers administrative for Community Cloud services, such as human resources, benefits, payroll, and risk & compliance, for small- to medium-sized businesses. Like many small businesses, Nextep’s customers struggled to access data about their workforce in a meaningful and simple way. As a service designed to simplify HR, Nextep worked quickly to address this need and to be first to market in its industry with a leading-edge analytics product. INSIGHT IDEA IMPACT No two reporting needs Customer care that comes Human Resources with are exactly alike with customization a human touch For Nextep customers to obtain By identifying its customers’ Nextep’s employee engagement basic but meaningful data, such primary pain points through dashboards enable customers as their total labor costs, they had continuous feedback, Nextep now to foster more meaningful to run multiple reports, download has three primary dashboards: relationships with their staff. those reports, and then combine Employee Engagement, Pay Customer retention is up, and them together inExcel—not Allocation, and Benefits Enrollment. the company’s Net Promoter an uncommon experience for Customers can quickly and easily Score (NPS) among client most small businesses. Overall, get meaningful insights from administrators and key decision- accessing data to surface insights the dashboard or slice and dice makers is at an all-time high required too much time and effort. data to create custom reports. of 89. With its new interactive By integrating Wave Analytics dashboards and data analytics, for Salesforce Community Cloud, Nextep is fulfilling its why: Nextep customers can access “Elevating the employment insights about their workforce, experience & enriching labor expenses, and benefits people’s lives.” participation, using data that had previously been dark. The State of Salesforce Service 33

In hts F m Mar i g I ts om Mar et g In gh Fr Ma et g In h s F Ma ing Ins hts Fr m Mar ting Ins ts m a e ing Insights From Marketing 34 Marketing The State of Salesforce

No longer just brand stewards, marketers now have the dual responsibility of proving ROI and designing multichannel campaigns that generate demand. The best companies realize that their unique data is their greatest competitive advantage in delivering the experiences customers expect in real time. Investing in collaborative initiatives with Sales and IT is now a part of a marketing strategy that focuses more tightly on customer experience and retention, extending the impact of marketing through the entire customer lifecycle. Because marketing complexity is at an all-time high with nearly 4,000 tools available, just 17% of marketers can measure Marketing influence and prove ROI. The necessity for simplifying tech stacks is now driving data-driven and technology-supported marketing strategies throughout the customer journey. “There is no excuse for not knowing your customer, and your customers know it. The opportunity to use insights to serve them is bigger than ever and unmissable.” Corinne Sklar Global Chief Marketing Officer Bluewolf, an IBM Company The State of Salesforce Marketing The State of Salesforce Marketing 3535

Know Your Data to Know Your Customer 56% of companies that are using 26% of companies not using Salesforce to manage campaigns Salesforce to manage campaigns have a complete customer view have a complete customer view Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Complete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Complete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Complete Complete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Incomplete Complete Incomplete Clean data is the key to systems comes nonreportable, Companies that use personalized customer nonactionable data siloed Salesforce to manage their engagement. Every customer between platforms. When campaign performance are touch point is a data point, and marketers have access to insights over 2x more likely to yet data inconsistencies pose the across the customer lifecycle, have a complete view of biggest challenge to Marketing they’re empowered to optimize organizations striving to measure campaigns and prove ROI. The their customer. their influence and prove ROI. With best marketing organizations so many ways to engage with a are beginning to bring Data brand, it’s become increasingly Management Platforms (DMP) difficult for marketers to in-house to separate signal understand who they are without a from noise, unify data within marketing strategy that prioritizes and outside of Salesforce, and data governance and Salesforce serve up relevant content at the integration. In fact, just 29% of right time to personalize the Marketers have a complete view customer experience. of their customers. Why? 48% say disparate systems are to blame—and with disparate 36 Marketing The State of Salesforce

% 33 of Marketing organizations that are increasing their investment in AI within the next 12 months expect AI to have the greatest impact on qualifying prospects. The New Marketing Power Couple ABM & AI The buying cycle is more complex Account-Based Marketing than ever before. Customers (ABM) with AI can serve as a are doing their own discovery recommendation engine to and search, making it harder for engage with the right person at marketers to distinguish between the right time throughout the intent to buy and general curiosity. buying cycle. To create a relevant More and more, marketers customer experience, rather are realizing the advantage than a path to purchase, 24% of of enhancing their marketing marketing organizations plan to technology stacks with AI. integrate AI capabilities within the next 12 months. “If you’re going to make an investment in Salesforce, you should use all that it brings to the table and take the opportunity to develop standards across your entire organization. You’re going to have to build a culture around it, which will take time, but it’s totally worth it.” Leslie Cocco Alore Director of Global Marketing Operations and Automation Iron Mountain The State of Salesforce Marketing 37

Lead With Better Leads With traditional rules-based combined the capability of one or lead-scoring approaches, more Salesforce Clouds, to draw MQL might as well stand for from a more robust data set. The “mysterious qualified leads.” best companies are optimizing Today, marketers have all the tools the Marketing-to-Sales lead they need at their fingertips to handoff by providing data-rich acquire new customers and use profiles that offer Sales more what they’ve learned to optimize than just a snapshot of a lead. By campaigns. And yet, just 16% of combining marketing data with marketers surveyed use Salesforce sales opportunity data, Marketing capabilities to manage the funnel, can improve its lead-scoring identify priority accounts, and model with full visibility into measure influence and prove engagements with prospects. ROI. To generate Sales-ready leads, 24% of marketers have Marketers who integrate marketing and transactional data are 40% more likely to have the ability to prove ROI. Marketing can prove ROI 23% % 14 Companies that have combined clouds Companies that have not combined clouds 38 Marketing The State of Salesforce

Every Marketing organization is increasing its analytics investment in predictive capabilities within the next 12 months. 75% Use Salesforce to predict and automate Use Salesforce % to anticipate 62 % Use Salesforce to provide 66 historical data Use Salesforce % to sync data 56 % Don’t use 38 Salesforce Percentage of marketers investing in predictive analytics based on how they use Salesforce Optimize the Moments That Matter The customer journey is an insights-driven customer fragmented. Customers expect engagement strategy and a seamless brand experience anticipate blind spots. as they move between physical Whether Marketing is and digital channels. The biggest merely syncing data with challenge of omnichannel Salesforce—31%—or using marketing is designing and Marketing Cloud with Einstein delivering 1:1 customer journeys capabilities to predict and while optimizing media spend— automate the next, best using the right insights at the action—4%—every Marketing right time. High-performing B2C organization is increasing companies recognize Salesforce its analytics investment in Marketing Cloud Journey Builder, predictive capabilities within coupled with Einstein Analytics, the next 12 months. as their best ally to execute The State of Salesforce Marketing 39

“Marketing Cloud made it possible to deliver on our value proposition to fans by effectively reaching many audiences in a personalized way with relevant information from their favorite artists” Itay Rahat Sr. Director, Fan Engagement & Consumer Marketing Platforms Warner Music Group 40 Marketing The State of Salesforce

Marketing of Setting the Stage The Future Now With Programmatic Campaigns Salesforce Products Marketing Cloud Warner Music Group (WMG) is the only American music conglomerate worldwide and the third-largest recording company in the global music industry. Its CRM team supports 40 offices and territories and oversees 12 marketing technology platforms among 1,000 business units and across over 1,000 brands. The WMG CRM team set out to increase engagement by making sure fans know whenever their favorite artists are in town. INSIGHT IDEA IMPACT When bands go on tour, their Make your fan base Open rates that feel like fans can be nurtured into fit to scale an opening night digital groupies In response to the disruption of To build a fully scalable automated WMG has rolled out its targeted streaming services and digital email program, WMG developed a fan emails for over 40 complete download, live-touring is now set of APIs to help route, cleanse, North American tours. Since the most significant source of and validate fans’ data, as well launching, WMG artist fans are revenue for artists and labels, as trigger and customize email engaging with their favorite bands happening with every new album campaigns. With its contextual and are tuned in to when artists cycle and averaging 30 live dates. marketing product partner, will be playing nearby. Email opens WMG’s email production team StoryPorts, WMG also overlaid the have doubled, and click-through handles hundreds of email builds Bandsintown event widget API rates have tripled. Hundreds of every month for WMG labels and onto its Salesforce Marketing Cloud production and QA hours are artists, who all have their own accounts. StoryPorts content radar saved, allowing the CRM team to branded templates. Producing and listens to the Bandsintown API for scale other programs even more. qualifying thousands of emails particular artists and initiates an WMG’s innovative email program that include specific details about email build. The emails include delivers a personalized experience upcoming shows in a fan’s area concert ticket links, venue names, that is authentic to the artists and required hundreds of production and show dates and locations, fosters fan loyalty. hours. The segmenting, approval which are pulled from the API. process, and sending needed to The system identifies the market be programmatic to be relevant. of the concert and subsequently creates a geo-targeted segment of the artist’s fan list, via a programmatically updated filter in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. The State of Salesforce Marketing 41

In hts F T I si s m T Ins t rom I nsi s om T I i ts Fr I Insigh F om I Insights From IT 42 IT The State of Salesforce

The growing significance of AI as a market differentiator means that a business transformation involves a data transformation too. For IT, creating a roadmap that prioritizes data governance and management is now a part of their role as a cross- functional innovation partner. While they own the technical aspects of their organization’s Salesforce Platform, they also serve as an internal catalyst for business transformation and strategy. Over a third of organizations report that IT is ultimately responsible for their Customer Success Platform. More tightly aligning its tech stacks to business goals, IT is integrating emerging technologies across business units that foster the competitive advantage of advanced analytics and AI capabilities. “An end-to-end business transformation begins with understanding how technology can support your people, not the other way around.” Cindy Breshears Chief Transformation Officer, SBU Bluewolf, an IBM Company The State of Salesforce IT The State of Salesforce IT 4343

When IT Leads, IT can more effectively foster a company culture that embraces AI’s emerging AI Thrives capabilities when it also has a greater share of platform responsibility. Who understands the benefits of AI? 39% 28% Companies where IT Companies where IT owns Salesforce does not own Salesforce A reactive approach to innovation is a losing strategy to keep pace with customers’ expectations in the digital business era. Today, IT is facilitating business transformation as an internal innovation partner to foster better customer experiences with data-driven insights. Business units are increasingly relying on IT to integrate speed, agility, and the competitive advantage of AI-powered capabilities into how they deliver customer experiences. 16% more employees understand the opportunity for AI to benefit their business if IT is at the helm of their Salesforce org. While much of IT’s work goes unseen, they’re now at the forefront of driving customer interaction through tech-based initiatives, such as improving data management capabilities for proactive customer engagement and leveraging Salesforce data through advanced analytics. 44 IT The State of Salesforce

If IT owns Salesforce, then an organization’s use of the platform is 3x more likely to be optimized for ongoing innovation. IT has a new responsibility to coordinated process improvement In IT We achieve outcomes based on and cost optimization, what Sales cares about with is associated with more platform Trust some degree of balance between responsibility in the hands of IT the two roles; otherwise, it’ll than Sales. An organization that revert back to business as can sustain a predictable use of usual. An equal percentage of Salesforce can further advance its organizations—33%—designate use of the platform by transferring the responsibility of Salesforce to a greater share of ownership to IT either Sales or IT. However, greater than to Sales. Salesforce platform maturity, in which there is continuous and The State of Salesforce IT 45

The sheer volume of data available Stop Saving Data for analysis has exploded, so it’s hardly surprising that many for a Rainy Day organizations are concerned about how dark data will affect their futures. The best companies are looking to shape customer and employee experiences with dark data analysis and a more complete Is your organization investing database for their advanced in Dark Data Analytics? analytics. However, only one-fifth of organizations are analyzing dark data, with an additional 27% looking to invest within five years. % It’s human nature to hold on to 21 things “just in case,” and data is no exception. Many organizations will store data just because they don’t know what else to do with it, but the best companies are taking care of their dark data as a necessary first step in their organization’s Yes, we are 13% journey to adopt and make the investing most of AI capabilities. in dark data analytics. No, but we % expect to 14 invest within the next 12 months. No, but we % expect to 52 invest in the next 1–5 years. While over half of companies are in the early stages of dark data analytics investment, many are unable to justify priority in dark data analysis—either because they lack the skills and maturity, or they are simply too busy No, we are keeping the lights on. not looking into it. 46 IT The State of Salesforce

Organizations investing in the Salesforce Platform are over 2x more likely to also be investing in AI. 25% of organizations not using % the Salesforce Platform 53 are investing in AI of organizations using the Salesforce Platform are investing in AI The Salesforce Platform Finds 35% of IT professionals expect to purchase AI or a Friend in AI platforms that have embedded AI capabilities within the next 12 months, with the biggest opportunity for multichannel innovation being AI. The best companies are enhancing both employee-facing and customer- facing applications with intelligence capabilities that can surface insights using Salesforce data to automate tasks, augment knowledge, and deliver more personalized experiences and timely, relevant offers to customers. Investment in the Salesforce Platform is increasing in step with AI. The State of Salesforce IT 47

a Lig ng Ins ts Li tning I si ts L nin In hts Li ing I gh s Li ni igh s htn ng I hts Lightning Insights 48 Lightning The State of Salesforce

92% of employees believe they can use Salesforce Salesforce to drive innovation in their business if their company has transitioned or plans to transition to Salesforce Lightning Lightning—compared with 76% in companies that have not or don’t plan to. The best companies are prioritizing the transition from Classic to Lightning, Breeds not only for the immediate benefit to the employee experience with an enhanced UI, but also to enable the business as a whole with capabilities that support Innovation ongoing innovation. 68% of respondents report that Confidence their company’s transition took less than 12 months. 67% of Lightning users experience greater ease and speed in updating and accessing information they need to complete % 12 their day-to-day tasks. % 1 % 7 With Salesforce Lightning, which % task is now 6 easiest for you? % 36 % 3 % 4 % 31 Finding Information Collaborating Accessing Information Sharing Information Managing Relationships Updating Information Creating Content Resolving Exceptions The State of Salesforce Lightning 49

Lightning Sparks AI Investment More than a refreshed UI, Lightning is the future of Salesforce and necessary for businesses to use Salesforce Einstein capabilities. 60% of organizations that have or expect to transition to Lightning within the next 12 months also plan to invest in Einstein Analytics. While moving to Lightning may not be an immediate transition for every organization, the best companies view Lightning as a long-term investment in accelerating the adoption of AI capabilities across their business. “Never underestimate the value of the employee experience. An internal transformation defines the quality of an external one.” Lou Fox Chief Technology Officer Bluewolf, an IBM Company 50 Lightning The State of Salesforce

Organizations with Salesforce Lightning are 3x more likely to be investing in AI within the next 12 months. % e I r 69 A d a n in g g ain n t i s n e t v h g in i e L % tI s ’ U n A e 60 r in d ag nin t g as ne iv nin t h g i e L s t u ’ n o D % t I ’ n A 28 e r in d ag n in t g as n e % e I i v r n in A t 22 d a h n in g g i g ain e L n t s i s U n e t v h g in i e L s t u ’ n o D The State of Salesforce Lightning 51

G al In hts G bal Ins ts G l Ins s Glo l Insi ts G al Ins ts Gl al In h s Global Insights 52 Global The State of Salesforce

Simplify Orgs to Jump-Start AI Either through growth, M&A, or the nature of the business, it is common for organizations to have multiple instances of Salesforce. Among organizations with a multi-org footprint, 60% plan to “rationalize” (consolidate) their current Salesforce orgs in the next 12 months. The rising importance of centralized data and the ability to cross sell and service customers across multiple channels is causing organizations to reconsider their Salesforce footprint. Specifically, AI is spurring a trend toward consolidation and recentralization of CRM data, enabling valuable intelligence to be extracted from a complete set of customer data. 64% of the companies % 64 consolidating their Salesforce orgs in the next 12 months are also planning to invest in AI capabilities. % 21 Not investing in AI 15% Investing in AI Don’t know yet The State of Salesforce Global 53

Compliance Without Borders As Salesforce customers expand with Salesforce or with their legal their investment across several teams. Salesforce is committed countries, it is important that they to helping customers comply— be aware of national or regional it was one of the first software rules restricting transfers of companies to offer a “binding personal data. 33% of respondents corporate rule” to enable in Europe reported they are already cross-border transfers, which is aware of these regulations and included in its standard contract. researching their approach, either “We are charged with providing depth and fidelity in solutions so our clients can grow. There are subtle decisions around data residency that can help us optimize the approach.” Glen Stoffel General Manager, Europe Bluewolf, an IBM Company 54 Global The State of Salesforce

All companies should be aware of, and have a strategy for addressing, international transfer rules. Data residency awareness and strategy for compliance. No Awareness 56% Aware and Researching Issues 20% 44% 64% % % 35 17 55% 27% 27% % 57 Aware and Aware and Seeking 15% Action Taken % Guidance 9 % % % % 15 15 7 4 % % 10 % 8 3 13% UK IND,SP,NZ,FR,GER AUS US CAN The State of Salesforce Global 55

T e App nge he A nge h AppEx ge T A ange e A Ex nge T e App nge The AppExchange 56 The AppExchange The State of Salesforce

Better Together The AppExchange More than just a place where apps can be bought and sold, the Salesforce AppExchange is at the center of an ecosystem built around the Salesforce Platform. The newly established Salesforce AppExchange Partner Program and Salesforce Platform Fund accelerate the virtuous cycle of best-in-breed app development. If you don’t already know what you’re looking for to suit your needs, you may be overwhelmed by the more than 3,000 apps available to choose from. Exploring the AppExchange is a part of your Salesforce journey, so here are some tips for how you can take advantage of it. Build better apps. Be mindful of platform compatibility. Developers can choose among hundreds Many of the products on the of free applications that are distributed AppExchange work out-of-the-box, as unmanaged packages. With full but know that setup isn’t always as access to source code, you can modify straightforward if you have a highly or extend apps as needed, instead of customized Salesforce org. Understand building them from scratch. You can also what you’re investing in, and be sure augment Salesforce or create new components are compatible with what applications with Lightning components, you already have. using the Lightning App Builder. Reinforce adoption. Know your requirements. Salesforce evangelists within a Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) company, such as administrators or and Salesforce have their own annual IT, can look to the AppExchange for release schedules that present new solutions that extend and reinforce possibilities and add new capabilities. company-wide platform adoption. See It’s helpful to have a trusted consulting what products are available to improve partner who can identify the best-in- employee experience and encourage class solutions that are the right fit for employees to stay in the platform. your company’s platform requirements The AppExchange is useful as a first and who knows which capabilities to stop to see what could help. seek out for specific use cases. The State of Salesforce The AppExchange 57

AppExchange Customer Choice Awards This year, we asked Salesforce customers to name their top AppExchange partners. The top two ranking solutions represent the speed and ease that comes with digital: progressing past paper-pushing and toward seamless, automated experiences for employees and customers alike. Conga made its AppExchange Salesforce-native Contract debut more than a decade ago Lifecycle Management (CLM) with its document-generation product that is designed to app, Conga Composer. Since then, work with Salesforce CPQ. Conga has become a Platinum With industry-recognized ISV Partner and added Conga products and support, Conga ActionGrid, Conga Novatus, and is extending the capabilities of Conga Contracts to its solutions. Salesforce for more than 615,000 The most recent addition, Conga users in 45+ countries. Contracts is an enterprise-grade, “We’re proud of the community we’ve been able to build within the Salesforce ecosystem.” Bob DeSantis COO Conga 58 The AppExchange The State of Salesforce

DocuSign debuted on the users in 188 countries to sign, AppExchange in 2010 and has send, and manage documents since become the most popular anytime, anywhere, on any device, eSignature app. With a native with confidence. Almost 65% of Salesforce1 app and a solution documents are completed within that’s suited for all Salesforce one hour, and over 80% within Clouds, DocuSign is changing one day, driving huge time and how business gets done by cost savings. empowering over 300,000 companies and 200 million We’re in the business of simplifying business for more than 300,000 companies around the world, and delivering targeted value for those who use Salesforce makes that feel exciting each and every time. Mark Register SVP Business Development & Channels DocuSign The State of Salesforce The AppExchange 59

How We Created This Report With IBM Watson and Salesforce Einstein With the announcement of the size, and industry, and to IBM-Salesforce landmark global quickly capture trends among strategic partnership comes Sales, Service, Marketing, and unprecedented CRM capabilities IT respondents. and a new frontier of innovation opportunities with Salesforce. Simultaneously, IBM Watson This year, Bluewolf combined the Discovery scanned news sources, intelligence of IBM Watson, attaching a sentiment rating to the the leading AI platform for top trends we identified by using business, with Salesforce Einstein, Einstein Data Discovery. AI that powers the world’s #1 CRM, These analytics enabled us to to develop insights for this report. validate insights from the data. For creating The State of Our sixth-annual State of Salesforce, we asked Einstein Salesforce report demonstrates a to analyze specific data sets: real-world use case for combining to discover patterns based the intelligence capabilities of on demographic information, Watson and Einstein for data- including region, role, company driven decision-making. “We’re at this inflection point, where AI is able to answer customers with solutions that directly impact business outcomes.” Adam Bataran Managing Director Global Platforms Bluewolf, an IBM Company 60 Watson The State of Salesforce

Insights From Watson Discovery Services Watson Discovery Services help tagged as positive, neutral, and gather insights from large amounts negative by sentiment analysis. of data, like our State of Salesforce In creating this year’s report, survey responses. Discovery also we used Watson Discovery to comes with a Watson News data validate top trends through the set, a public data set that is pre- sentiment insights associated enriched with insights, including with them. the percentage of documents Augmented Intelligence Innovation Actionable Insights Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Neutral Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Neutral Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Neutral Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Negative Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive Positive % Positive % Positive % Positive 90 74 89 % Negative % Negative % Negative 9 24 11 % Neutral % Neutral 1 2 The State of Salesforce Watson 61

The State of Salesforce by the Numbers Bluewolf’s sixth-annual report is its biggest ever, with over 140,000 data points and insights from more than 1,800 Salesforce customers. This survey was conducted May through July 2017. Function Role Industry Sales 22% C-Level 12% Financial Services 25% VP 10% IT 22% Director 16% Telco/Media 15% Manager 25% Business Services 12% Marketing 16% Manufacturing 6% Operations 11% Healthcare 6% Admin-Technology 14% Education 5% Other 9% Gov/Legal Services 3% Energy/Utilities 3% Admin-Business 7% Hospitality 2% Finance 7% Other 23% Account Exec 10% Service & Support 6% Engineering 5% Coordinator 5% HR 2% Other 1% 62 Watson The State of Salesforce

Company Size Location Business Model 1–3,500 69% United States 83% B2B 64% B2B2C 21% 3,5001–5,000 8% 5,001–10,000 9% World 17% B2C 15% 10,001+ 14% The State of Salesforce Watson 63

Bluewolf, an IBM Company, is the global Salesforce consulting agency committed to creating customer and employee experiences that drive a return on innovation. We enable companies of any size and industry to deliver deeper, personalized customer moments with Augmented Intelligence (AI) as a competitive advantage—now. Thank You Eric Berridge Adam Bataran Chief Executive Officer Managing Director & Co-Founder Global Platforms Corinne Sklar Bob Furniss Global Chief VP, Global Service Marketing Officer Cloud Practice Glen Stoffel David Pier General Manager, Europe VP, Salesforce GTM & Lou Fox Practice Lead Chief Technology Officer Liz Lewis Jolene Chan Salesforce GTM Lead, Chief of Staff Marketing Cloud Cindy Breshears The Bluewolf Chief Transformation Marketing Team Officer, SBU 64 Watson The State of Salesforce

Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Chatter, Community Cloud, Data.com, Desk.com, Force.com, Heroku, IoT Cloud, Journey Builder, Pardot, Salesforce CPQ, Salesforce Lightning, Wave Analytics, Salesforce Einstein, and Einstein Analytics are all registered trademarks of Salesforce.com. Survey powered by Clicktools. Watson is a registered trademark of IBM. All trademarks are held by their respective owners. The State of Salesforce Watson 65

It’s Always Now bluewolf.com/sosf 66 Watson The State of Salesforce