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BIG DATA
Salesforce upgrades Einstein AI suite’s crystal ball and debuts $50M fund
Since introducing its Einstein suite of artificial intelligence features a year ago, Salesforce.com Inc. has been regularly making new additions to the lineup. Today the company unveiled one of the most significant updates yet.
The main highlight is Einstein Forecasting, a new product aimed at helping companies predict how well internal sales goals will be met. Salesforce said the service can be used to analyze customer records and factor historical trends such as seasonal demand changes into a projection. Then, to improve accuracy, the results are adjusted based on how optimistic or pessimistic the user’s past forecasts were relative to the final outcome.
Einstein Forecasting displays the finalized projection in a visual dashboard to allow for easy viewing. According to Salesforce, the service enables executives to catch potential weaknesses in the deal pipeline early so that they can take action in a timely manner.
Einstein Forecasting was unveiled alongside two tools for the salespeople who ultimately shape how many deals are closed. The first, Einstein Opportunity Scoring, complements the existing lead ranking features in Salesforce Cloud. It analyzes factors such potential deals’ value and the amount of executive buy-in they have to identify the ones that should receive the most attention.
Einstein Email Insights, the other tool, uses a similar prioritization approach to flag the most important messages in a salesperson’s inbox. It also provides recommendations on how to best respond to each prospect.
Salesforce announced the new products in conjunction with the inauguration of a $50 million fund dedicated to backing AI startups. The company has so far made three investments, two in the U.S. and another in Swiss analytics provider Squirro SA. Separately, Salesforce’s venture capital arm recently provided financing for an incubator called All Turtles that helps entrepreneurs build AI-powered products.
The new AI fund is one of no fewer than four that Salesforce has established since June 2016. The biggest, which launched in May with $100 million, aims to support developers building value-added services for the company’s cloud platform.
Image: Salesforce
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