Amid global challenges, businesses need to gear up for cost efficiencies, increase productivity through automation and find the right solutions to accelerate growth while gaining customer insights through real-time data collection and analytics.
Salesforce, a global pioneer in customer relationship management (CRM), indicated these trends will be instrumental in delivering products that can serve customer demands and drive profits.
"Digital transformation is critical to navigating the growing economic turbulence we are experiencing today and at the heart of chief executive officers' agenda," Kittipong Asawapichayon, managing director for Salesforce Thailand, told the Bangkok Post in an exclusive interview.
Thailand's economy is on the rebound from the pandemic, but its outlook is clouded by risks of slowing global growth and high inflation, he said. A Salesforce report shows 6 in 10 Thai respondents say finding ways to automate their businesses will be a priority over the next two years.
To enhance cost efficiencies, companies need to look at tech vendor consolidation and reduce the complexity of their technology stack.
"Businesses are turning to Salesforce as their trusted advisor and to our Customer 360 digital platform by consolidating multiple touchpoints of customer data into a single source of truth for every customer profile," said Mr Kittipong.
"Their sales, marketing and customer service teams can have a single view and share customers' data and they have the ability to create personalised experiences for users and engage with their target customers and prospects in a whole new way."
STRENGTHENING PLATFORM
According to a survey conducted by Salesforce last year from June 8-21, 25% of the firm's customers have seen 25% savings on IT costs and a 26% increase in employee productivity. More than 3,500 customers were surveyed globally.
Salesforce helps businesses connect better with their customers through its Customer 360 digital platform, which includes a sales cloud, a service cloud, a marketing cloud and a commerce cloud.
The platform also offers MuleSoft, which makes it easy for organisations to integrate data from any technology systems; Tableau, which serves as an intuitive analytics platform; Slack, which can serve as a digital headquarters in a hybrid world; and Genie Customer Data Cloud, which is powered by Tableau.
Customers in Thailand are reaping the benefits of Customer 360. They include abrasives manufacturer SmartCost, which achieved a 50% increase in revenue gains and online car insurer Roojai, which observed a 25% reduction in cost per conversion.
Mr Kittipong said Slack, which was acquired by Salesforce, can enhance communication and collaboration in hybrid work in a similar manner to digital headquarters.
Businesses can have a history of sales conversations with customers in the system that will be available for others to follow.
Cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitkub and online food delivery operator Line Man Wongnai are enterprise-wide users of Slack.
"These digital transformation tools can help businesses increase their competitiveness and accordingly enhance the country's competitiveness as a whole," said Mr Kittipong.
REAL-TIME ANALYTICS
He said Genie Customer Data Cloud powered by Tableau can unlock customer data and help deliver actionable insights in real time and at scale, enabling organisations to analyse billions of data points stored and harmonised.
The CRM systems require up-to-date data which needs to be analysed. Real-time updates make it easier for businesses to deliver personalised services and products that are tailored to customers' preferences at the point of interaction.
Customers move from channel to channel, so they expect their experiences to be consistent, said Mr Kittipong.
"Most customer journeys involve three or more different channels, such as email, web and mobile apps. That's where a customer data platform comes in by combining all of that data in real-time for companies, allowing them to offer hyper-personalised experiences," he said.
"Our technology makes businesses achieve 'success now' with tools that are simple to use and ensure rapid deployment that leads to faster success and differentiation from rivals."
With Salesforce's technology, businesses can drive down data warehousing and extract, transform, load (ETL) costs, increase time to insight, and enable better decision-making by bringing all their data and analytics together in one place.
According to Salesforce's "2022 Cyber Week Figures" report, global online sales hit an all-time high of US$281 billion in 2022, up 2% compared to 2021, and $68 billion in the US, up 9% compared to 2021.
The report analyses shopping behaviour from more than 1.5 billion shoppers on Salesforce Customer 360 and activity across commerce, marketing and services.
"Online sales and digital traffic broke records despite economic uncertainty," said Mr Kittipong. "Retailers leveraged the power of automation, saving agents time on order servicing and driving customer loyalty."
NEW OPPORTUNITY
Salesforce highlighted "phygital", or the combination of the physical and digital worlds, as an area of opportunity.
"Whether it's physical or digital, the key to unlocking the value here and driving growth is understanding your customers and delivering personalised experiences," said Mr Kittipong.
The company is helping businesses connect better with their customers through Customer 360.
For example, the company assisted L'Oréal in building tailored consumer journeys through the marketing cloud and drives AI-powered recommendations via Salesforce's artificial intelligence (AI) platform Einstein and real-time Genie Customer Data Cloud powered by Tableau.
SUSTAINABILITY DRIVE
According to Mr Kittipong, Salesforce is committed to looking for ways to innovate its own carbon emissions process to deliver faster, better and more accurate data.
"That's why we built Salesforce Net Zero Cloud and were able to streamline a complex process that was tracked in spreadsheets," he said.
"Data can be used as a force for good to help create a sustainable future. Many of our customers and partners are already using analytics to find ways to drive meaningful change and provide trustable data for carbon credit."
MISSION FOR THAILAND
Mr Kittipong said Salesforce is committed to helping Thai businesses maintain a more durable and resilient business.
The firm is delivering "success now" for various companies across industries, and replicating the successes which have been realised by other customers such as SmartCost, Roojai, Grab, SCB and other leading Thai customers.
Salesforce and its ecosystem of partners in Thailand are expected to create 31,200 new jobs and 55.1 billion baht in new business revenue by 2026, according to a study by research firm IDC.
Customers can look for solutions and partners to solve business problems through the Salesforce AppExchange.
To build digital skills to drive Thailand's digital economy, Salesforce offers Trailhead, a free online learning platform, which can enable people to get the skills they need, as well as the "Salesforce Depa Career Kickstarter" programme for university graduates to develop essential CRM skill sets.
