Dreamforce 2017 – Day 1 Highlights

Dreamforce 2017 has begun! Day 1 was extraordinary: full of energy, excitement and learning as the team from Changi has joined over 170,000 other sales experts at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce event taking place, from Monday till Thursday, in San Francisco to learn about how to drive sales productivity and increase win rates and customer satisfaction.

And what an event it is!

With streets closed off, bands playing in almost every corner (loved the one on Howard Street), and literally tens of thousands of people on the streets, Dreamforce is an event to see and be seen, it’s a fun way to learn all things Salesforce and technology, with hundreds of sessions available, we had to really be focused and follow the plan we had set out for ourselves.

There were three topics from Monday that we’ve been wanting to share with our followers, of-course, Marc Benioff’s Keynote on Trailblazers, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and strategic partnership between Salesforce and Google. After a traditional Hawaiian blessing and hula dance to open the show to open the event followed by the 4IR video below:

And then Marc took the stage to begin his much-anticipated keynote. Throughout his hour and a half up on stage, Marc kept coming back to one main theme that ‘Everyone has the power to be a Trailblazer and make the world a better place’. Follow is a short part of the keynote for our followers to get the taste of what was presented.

Marc’s keynote was as amazing as Salesforce itself and started a lot of discussions among the attendees. Few of our customers attending with us had a great time learning from the Salesforce CEO’s vision for the future, here is the summarized version for our followers:

The Trailblazers

Who are these Trailblazers, exactly? They’re developers, administrators, sales leaders, marketers, and CEOs. They’re customer innovators, technology disruptors, and global shapers.

Trailblazers are the people who plan to learn hands-on and lead the way to innovation and success. Every Trailblazer has a unique story, but they all share the same traits of striving to be their best selves and helping others along the way.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)

Another big theme of this year’s keynote was the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The world is in the midst of a wave of innovation and technology that is radically changing our economies, our societies, and our daily lives. Technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming the customer experience. That means that a lot of things are happening quickly:

• Customer expectations are changing.
• More products are being enhanced by data and intelligence.
• Companies must undergo a digital transformation to adapt to these shifts.

Behind the 4IR are savvy, connected, always-on customers, and they expect seamless experiences from every company they engage with. Marc related a sentiment that made an impression on him during his travels to meet with customers and rehearse this keynote: many people feel scared or uncertain about the changes the 4IR brings. Instead of feeling more connected with their customers, some businesses are feeling increasingly out of touch.

At the same time, every day he meets allies who are rising to 4IR challenges and connecting with customers in new ways, Trailblazers. It will be Trailblazers who drive customer success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and Salesforce aims to empower people with new skills and technologies needed to thrive in this new era.

Strategic Partnership between Salesforce and Google

In a final surprise announcement, Marc revealed a new global strategic partnership with Google to deliver smarter, more collaborative experiences for customers. This partnership will deliver new integrations that connect Salesforce with Google Analytics 360 and G Suite. Discover what’s new with the Salesforce and Google partnership in detail in this Salesforce article.

We’re there all this week, let’s connect and explore the interesting sessions together. Write to us at success@changiconsulting.com and get together at Dreamforce. And for those who couldn’t make it, stay tuned to to our blogs and follow up on our LinkedIn page to stay updated.