Salesforce adds AI to its next-gen CRM service cloud Einstein

Customer relationship management software provider Salesforce on Thursday said it is releasing a new generation of its service cloud named Einstein.

The new generation will possess artificial intelligence as well as CRM Data to help service agents deliver automated intelligent recommendations and provide instant service to customers.

"Companies can now leverage Einstein Bots for Service to automate routine service requests and enable frictionless agent handoffs. Lightning Flow for Service empowers businesses with tools to quickly design and automate customer engagement processes. And Einstein Next Best Action empowers agents by delivering intelligent recommendations and offers for customers," the company said. 

For example, if a customer loses his/her credit card on vacation and goes to the company website for help, an Einstein Bot initiates a chat session. After gathering the initial details (who are you, what happened?), the bot passes the chat thread to a human agent to expedite the card-replacement process.

Lightning Flow takes the agent and customer through a step-by-step process to resolve the problem. The service cloud also comes with Einstein Next Best Action, which suggests the agent to inform the customer about the ongoing case.

The company also said that the service cloud suite will also be extended via the Salesforce AppExchange and its partner ecosystem. "With Salesforce AppExchange, companies can extend the power of Salesforce with more than 5,000 partner solutions, including Lightning apps, components, data, industry-specific solutions and more. Because it is powered by the Salesforce platform, partners can build Einstein Bots for Service training packages, as well as Lightning Flow for Service and Einstein Next Best Action strategies for the AppExchange that are customised for industries and specific use cases," it said.
 
Salesforce also said that the Einstein Bots for Service is now generally available and the Lightning Flow for Service is also now generally available and included with all Service Cloud editions including Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions. The Einstein Next Best Action is currently in the pilot stage.

In April, Salesforce founder Marc Benioff had said that the company was mulling products and services around blockchain. “I had been thinking a lot about what is Salesforce’s strategy around blockchain, and what is Salesforce’s strategies around cryptocurrencies and how will we relate to all of these things," Benioff was quoted as saying.

In February, IBM's consulting arm Bluewolf had started its Salesforce practice in India. As part of the new practice, customers could leverage Bluewolf’s expertise and delivery capabilities in Salesforce, augmented intelligence (AI), and innovation strategy, combined with IBM’s cognitive and design-thinking, the company had said.

Earlier in January, IBM and Salesforce had said that they were expanding their strategic partnership by bringing together their artificial intelligence and cloud computing platforms to help companies connect with customers and collaborate more effectively with deeper insights. Salesforce had then named IBM as a preferred cloud services provider and IBM had named Salesforce as its preferred customer engagement platform for sales and service.

“This expanded partnership builds on the combined power of Watson and Einstein to help enterprises make smarter business decisions,” Ginni Rometty, IBM’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, had said.