Salesforce launches ‘Genie’ to respond to customer needs in real-time

US-based customer relationship management (CRM) firm Salesforce has launched Salesforce Genie, a hyperscale data platform that can help companies offer real-time information to customers across their sales, service, marketing, e-commerce and other platforms.  

The solution which was in beta for nearly three years since 2019, “makes every part of the Customer 360 more automated, intelligent and real-time so that business can deliver magical customer experiences”, the company said in a statement. Salesforce Customer 360 is the company’s integrated CRM platform that connects every department and customer data within an organisation.   

“Every business leader wants to take advantage of real-time data to create compelling, personalised customer experiences — milliseconds matter in this new digital-first world,” said David Schmaier, President and Chief Product Officer, Salesforce, at a virtual press conference, prior to its annual flagship event Dreamforce 2022, which starts on September 21.   

Schmaier explained that, with the new solution, a sales representative need not to rely on in-person communication to close a large deal unlike in the past, as they get real-time insights about every customer, based on real-time and historical data, to act on the relevant information. Likewise, with real-time patient data, healthcare providers can deliver proactive guidance and care recommendations, and so on.   

With Genie, Einstein AI, Salesforce’s AI technology, and Flow automation services can harness the power of hyperscale real-time data to enable more dynamic and responsive actions and engagement. Einstein, for example, which generates over 175 billion predictions every day, can now deliver personalisation and predictions based on real-time data. Flow automation, which saves customers over 100 billion hours every month, can also use real-time data to trigger actions automatically, said Schmaier.  

The new solution runs on Hyperforce, Salesforce’s public cloud infrastructure and includes built-in connectors that bring in data from every channel including mobile, web, application programming interface (APIs), as well as legacy data through API specialist MuleSoft (acquired by Salesforce in 2018), and historical data from proprietary data lakes.  

The company has already roped in Ford, L’Oreal, Formula 1, and PGA Tour Superstore who are using Salesforce Genie to connect to their customers.  

In today’s digital-first world, consumers want personalised, connected, and trusted engagements. However, data remains siloed and duplicative across most companies, said Salesforce. As companies have thousands of applications to run their business, it often leads to disconnected digital experiences. As the amount of data created, captured and consumed each year is expected to more than double by 2026, as per analyst firm, International Data Corporation (IDC), it said more companies connecting digital and real-world customer interactions in order to provide the most relevant, personalised, and compelling experiences.