Does anyone remember when banks and insurance companies lamented the fact that customer information could not be leveraged effectively because it was locked up in silos? You’d need to have a long memory, as that was all of, oh, about 12 months ago. In fact, it is still a major issue facing large organisations that are still unable to integrate disparate divisions that deal with the same customers, but separately.
The solution lies in a phrase that, in the world of customer data, signifies the exact opposite of these silos: a “single source of truth”. The concept came into its own, especially in an African context, at the recent Dreamforce 2024 technology conference in San Francisco. Hosted by global customer relations management (CRM) software company Salesforce, it attracted over 44,000 attendees, including a contingent from South African enterprises.
During the event, Salesforce outlined a bold vision for Africa, focusing on AI-driven customer experience transformation. Central to this vision is a new suite of autonomous AI agents, designed to solve critical challenges and enhance customer engagement.
Robin Fisher, head of Salesforce growth markets for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Business Times during the event that there were two key takeaways from Dreamforce for this continent.
“The first focus is on the data cloud. In its simplest form, this allows businesses to create a 360-degree view of the single customer record. That’s the holy grail of CRM: consolidating internal and external data into a single source of truth.
“The beautiful thing about data cloud is that it’s zero copy. If you’ve made investments in legacy systems or hyperscalers, you don’t need to fully migrate the data. You simply harmonise both structured and unstructured data.”
The second focus, unsurprisingly, is AI. A cornerstone of Salesforce’s AI strategy for Africa is Agentforce, a new suite of AI agents that aims to streamline business processes. Unveiled ahead of Dreamforce 2024, it is particularly relevant to African organisations looking to increase operational efficiency.
“This is what AI should be,” said Fisher. “While we’ve seen previous generations of AI, this goes beyond them because it’s autonomous. That’s key, and it’s available today, in Africa.”
But will it kill off jobs? Not according to Fisher, who says that Salesforce’s AI solutions are designed to empower employees rather than render them obsolete.
“We’re not aiming to make people redundant. It’s about making workers more productive by automating mundane tasks like issuing credit notes or nurturing leads.”
Zuko Mdwaba, South African country MD and vice president for Africa at Salesforce, echoed this view, pointing out that Salesforce had been on its AI journey for over a decade.
“This is the third wave of AI, where we move beyond predictive and generative models to fully autonomous technology,” he said. “Africa needs technology to solve its challenges. Focusing only on selling Salesforce will happen naturally. What’s crucial is that we have an incredible opportunity to be part of the continent’s transformation.”
Salesforce’s AI innovations are in use at some of South Africa’s largest financial institutions, including Absa, Standard Bank, and Capitec. Mdwaba said it was already making a difference in their operations. However, it was a non-banking case study that showed how the customer experience could be transformed quickly and meaningfully.
“In Sandton City, AI cameras can identify customers and use that data to enhance their shopping experience, even offering free mall access.”
But it all comes down to the quality of data, and that single source of truth.
Said Fisher: “AI without meaningful data is nothing. It’s about harmonising data from multiple sources to derive actionable insights. There are many companies working with data—like DataBricks and Snowflake—but the key is turning that data into trends and characteristics that matter.”
* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on social media on @art2gee The interviews at Dreamforce 2024 were conducted by Jason Bannier, data analyst at World Wide Worx and writer for Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Threads at @jas2bann.