4 Highlights from Dreamforce '19

November 27, 2019 | Kendra Hollinger
Every year our team comes back from Dreamforce wondering how we could have possibly packed so much into one week! Dreamforce 2019 was, as expected, four days that changed the way we will think about every customer and every project in 2020. We were excited about the announcements we heard, the people we met and the conversations we had with prospective and current customers and partners. There were over 3,500 sessions across the four-day event that were broken down by industry, technology and job role. We picked just a few of the announcements and topics that we learned about during the conference to highlight.

Dreamforce Announcements and Highlights

1. Salesforce Customer 360

How could it be Dreamforce without a key theme around the Salesforce Customer 360? Salesforce Customer 360, the name given to the entire Salesforce portfolio of products, is how companies are creating one integrated CRM platform solution that powers the single view of the customer. Customer 360 was prominent everywhere from keynotes, to sessions, to live demos to the Dreamforce Campground.

2. Partnership Announcements

AWS partnership announcements took center stage as Salesforce made three announcements regarding the public cloud vendor. The first included introducing an AWS learning pathway on the Salesforce platform Trailhead. The second included the ability to ask questions of Salesforce data using Einstein Voice Skills and using an Amazon Alexa device via a new integration. And last, but not least of course, included a contact center solution linking Service Cloud and Amazon Connect. Amazon Connect is a suite of service center software that uses AWS AI services including translation and transcription to help customer service teams understand and respond to requests across multiple channels.
The Apple partnership is nothing new, as the original announcement was made at Dreamforce 2018. But this year the partnership took center stage once again with app announcements focused around the redesign of Salesforce Mobile and a new training app called Trailhead GO. An enhanced Salesforce Mobile SDK will help developers to build and deploy iOS apps on the Salesforce Platform.

3. Acquisition Spotlight

The acquisition of Tableau was also a key focus at Dreamforce ’19 as Salesforce officially welcomed the analytics vendor to its family. Analytics took center stage throughout Dreamforce as a key focus of overall digital transformation and how companies tap into data across their entire business. The ability to surface deeper insights, utilizing powerful data visualization capabilities and interact with data in new ways, will be key in helping companies make smarter decisions and create more connected customer experiences.

4. Artificial Intelligence

Great customer stories, sessions, and the Einstein Keynote focused around the use of AI and its role in digital transformation. Salesforce was open about the confusion companies seem to be faced with how to get started with AI. Artificial Intelligence is included within the Salesforce Customer 360 and the best place to start is identifying a question that you can help get answered for your employees that will make them more productive. Once implemented, AI can help to truly achieve that single view of the customer.

These favorites only include a small sampling of the new and exciting announcements, innovations and features discussed at Dreamforce ’19. We would love to talk to you about these and other areas that can help in your digital transformation. Contact us today for a free consultation!

Kendra Hollinger

Kendra Hollinger is the Vice President of Strategy & Partners at Trifecta Technologies.