The Future of AI in Salesforce Ecosystem: 5 Predictions
When something new emerges in the market, it often generates significant hype. However, the concept of AI has been a prominent topic for many years, and we have been envisioning its transformative potential for quite some time. The launch of ChatGPT indeed ignited a global frenzy, capturing the attention not only of the tech community but also of professionals across various industries. Many believed that this was a pivotal moment, where those who failed to embrace AI would risk falling behind.
Personally, I prefer to adopt a more balanced perspective. While it’s true that OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Generative AI have made remarkable contributions to our world, it’s important to recognize that we are still in the early stages of their development. The most exciting possibilities lie ahead, waiting to be unlocked.
Now, let’s dive into a few of my own predictions for the future of Generative AI within the Salesforce ecosystem.
1. AI Skills will become a Requirement for 100% of Roles
I know we started by explaining my more ‘balanced’ view, but this first prediction is a little over the top. Let me explain my logic…
ChatGPT is impressive; from a user’s point of view, but it’s just a search engine on steroids! Large language models (LLMs) are essentially trained using vast amounts of information from the internet. Although it’s not explicit, I think it’s safe to say that 100% of Salesforce roles require search engine skills, as quickly answering questions allows you to be more productive in your role.
AI is more than just a search engine
AI is a lot more expansive than search engine skills alone. We will be using AI tools to help us in our technical Salesforce roles, implementing AI functionality in the Salesforce ecosystem, and supporting users who will be utilizing Sales & Service GPT.
Amongst all of these different tools we will need to support and use ourselves, we also need to consider trust and privacy – a concern at the forefront of everyone’s minds. The Salesforce AI Cloud and Prompt Studio are two recent products all Salesforce professionals will need to get their heads around to meet these requirements.
But before launching into a full-blown panic about your lack of AI skills, remember how the ‘early days’ were. ChatGPT was only released at the end of November 2022, and Salesforce is just beginning to announce and release its AI features.
So, although AI is coming at us thick and fast, no one in the Salesforce ecosystem is truly an expert yet, and we all have time to level up our skills before this becomes a requirement.
2. AI Will Not Replace Experience
I use ChatGPT because I am impressed by how it surfaces complex customized information quickly. It is incredible, but I would never use any of its outputs without verifying them first, and, most likely, changing quite a few details.
I have used it to write many sales emails, ad copies, and social media captions, but I had to change everything every time. In my opinion, it helps speed up the process and generate good ideas. But it is not as good as me.
ChatGPT for Salesforce Professionals
In the Salesforce ecosystem, professionals can currently use ChatGPT to create validation rules, Apex Triggers, Lightning Components, and more. But would you ever use an output without validating it? Of course not, and to validate it requires experience.
This is why we may be entering a tricky time for entry-level professionals joining the world of Salesforce ecosystem, where ChatGPT is used for support. Too much reliance on generative AI at the early stages of your career may provide you with a disadvantage, as the ability to deeply understand the outputs may be lost.
3. Every Salesforce Professional Will Have an AI Assistant
Looking in the future, we can imagine our lives completely transformed. Every house will have some sort of artificial general intelligence (AGI), as our Amazon or Google smart speakers. Perhaps they will cook food for us, monitor our health, or even diagnose why the printer won’t connect!
But AI assistants designed for Salesforce professionals could become a reality soon. ChatGPT has shown us some of their potential, like generating Apex code and creating workflows. However, there are still some clear drawbacks to consider.
The Role of Einstein GPT in Developer Assistance
OpenAI recently introduced GPT-4, a versatile model with 170 trillion parameters. However, it’s a generic model and not specifically tailored for Salesforce-related queries. ChatGPT also lacks specialized prompts or hints for Salesforce.
As technology evolves, we’re witnessing the emergence of purpose-built tools for professionals, including those in the Salesforce domain. Tools like Github’s Copilot and upcoming ones like Einstein GPT for Flow and Einstein GPT for Developers are expected to boost productivity by offering AI-driven assistance, generating code, and handling questions in languages like Apex, using Salesforce’s proprietary model.
Productivity AI tools
Productivity AI tools could soon be available for every desk job on earth. When we start combining a highly trained LLM for a specific use case, mixed with a user interface that supports a specific role with common problems, magic really starts to happen.
4. Salesforce Users Will Be Happier
Getting excited about AI and its potential is easy, but caution’s also important. In the past, we’ve seen trends like the metaverse, NFTs, and crypto create a lot of buzz, only to leave some people feeling disappointed.
However, AI is not just another fleeting trend. ChatGPT has already demonstrated what’s possible with a powerful language model and an easy-to-use interface. Many people have been amazed by what it can do. But it’s essential to remember that we’re still in the early stages of what AI can achieve for us, and there’s a lot more to come.
The next version will involve existing platforms teaming up with big language models from companies like OpenAI. This will provide more insights, thanks to the additional context it brings.
What is Salesforce coming up with?
Salesforce has just announced 16 new products coming this “Summer of AI.” These include things like “Sales Email Generation,” “Reply Recommendations” in Service Cloud, and “Subject Line Generation” in Marketing Cloud. While Salesforce already has lots of productivity features, it can sometimes be challenging to convince people who are hesitant to update their CRM (Customer Relationship Management).
However, as AI enters the Salesforce ecosystem and new features make it easier to automate tasks, people should become happier and more productive because they’ll have to do less manual work in their daily routines.
According to a recent survey from Salesforce, business leaders see this having the following effects:
- 82% of business leaders say generative AI will lower overall business costs.
- 80% of business leaders say generative AI will increase revenue.
The compounding impact of AI and its potential to influence on a wide scale is pretty incredible. More productive users, lowering costs, increases in revenue… This could all usher in a new age of growth around the globe.
5. The Future of AI Will not be this Exciting.
Generative AI is an exciting technology, much like the internet was when it first came out. Remember the thrill of your first video call or watching a video on YouTube? Generative AI will become a regular tool for our daily tasks, just like email, CRM, Slack, and Zoom.
But don’t expect AI to take over our jobs and let us work only one day a week. Instead, consider Generative AI another helpful tool, not a job replacement. We should embrace it, learn how to use it effectively and support our users as they adopt this new technology. It’s not about downplaying the technology’s progress but finding a balanced view of its role in our lives.
Conclusion
AI is indeed here to stay and will become a part of both our work and personal lives. If you work with Salesforce, you’re in a unique position because you’ll use AI tools and help others utilize them effectively. However, AI’s full potential is yet to be fully realized. While we should prepare for this significant change, we also have the opportunity to learn about Generative AI properly and ensure its correct use. It’s like gearing up for a major transformation wave.
Our Salesforce experts are already delving into the world of AI, discovering how it can benefit your business. At CCi, our team has always been dedicated to meeting our clients’ needs, and this includes staying at the forefront of AI advancements.
