Salesforce launches Einstein Voice – the conversational CRM

Salesforce has announced Einstein Voice, a new platform service that brings the power of voice to millions of Salesforce users. With Einstein Voice, any user will be able to talk to Salesforce, opening up new possibilities for employees to work smarter and connect with their customers in engaging new ways.

The emergence of voice-enabled technologies illustrates the unprecedented pace of computing innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its widespread impact on the way we work and live. The convergence of connected devices and advancements in natural language processing is rapidly making voice-activated interfaces ubiquitous. One in five U.S. adults has smart speakers in their homes and Capgemini predicts that, by 2021, 40 per cent of consumers will use voice technology over apps and websites to do a wide range of activities – from search to shopping. For companies, this represents more than just a new way to interact with technology, but an entirely new way to engage with customers and re-imagine business models.

Einstein, the Salesforce AI platform, already delivers more than three billion predictions every day, helping customers make smarter, more impactful decisions by acting as a smart CRM assistant across sales, service, marketing, commerce and more. Now, the company is bringing the same voice technology that fuels convenient, efficient experiences in consumer lives to Salesforce with Einstein Voice. By arming users with the ability to talk to Salesforce on any device, Einstein Voice Assistant and Einstein Voice Bots will empower everyone to be more productive and work smarter – from anywhere.

With Einstein Voice Assistant, users can –

● Conversationally update Salesforce: Einstein Voice Assistant removes the friction of repetitive administrative tasks like data entry, giving users their time back by enabling them to simply dictate updates directly into the Salesforce Mobile App. Einstein Voice Assistant will automatically transform the unstructured voice data into action by updating Salesforce records, notifying team members and creating tasks. With Einstein Voice Assistant, users will be able to easily update Salesforce in real-time and run their business from anywhere.

● Get personalized Daily Briefings: Salesforce users will be able to start off every day with a tailored readout of key Salesforce metrics and priorities via their preferred voice assistant. Daily Briefings can be easily configured by admins to focus on what each business user cares about most – from the day’s schedule and key opportunity updates, to an overview of their team's pipeline.

● Explore Salesforce dashboards: Voice commands will allow business users to quickly and easily surface the critical information they need in Salesforce. Instead of manually opening and filtering dashboards, users can now pull up Einstein Analytics dashboards and drill into granular detail – all with the power of their voice.

Since Einstein is built on the Salesforce Platform, customers will also be able to build their own voice bots on the Einstein Bot Platform that are connected to Salesforce CRM data and integrated with smart speakers. Einstein Voice Bots will enable companies to create custom voice-enabled interactions for their own customers and employees.

● Build voice bots with clicks, not code: Admins will be able to quickly and easily build voice-powered bots that are connected to Salesforce in a matter of a few clicks and deploy them on the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

● Brand voice bots to your company: Einstein Voice Bots can be easily customized to match corporate branding to provide a seamless and consistent experience.

Parker Harris, Co-Founder and CTO, Salesforce, says, “We are in the midst of an incredible technological shift, where the power of voice is fundamentally changing the way we work. Einstein Voice will usher in a new era of conversational CRM, delivering new levels of productivity and redefining customer experiences with voice technology.”