Last week we saw one of the biggest technology events take place in San Francisco, as Dreamforce 2014 promised to top even its own past performances. With over 145,000 attendees, 5 million viewers online and over 400 companies showcasing products and services, this year was undoubtedly the biggest event yet.
Big hitters like Hillary Clinton were among the guest speakers and Tony Robbins managed to get ‘bums off seats’ with his exhilarating seminar. Plus with 1450 breakout sessions and case studies from the likes of product giant, Honeywell International, which played a key part in demonstrating how Salesforce1 is leading the way in connected devices, with their connected thermostat, there was most definitely something to suit all tastes
Marc Benioff’s keynote speech was packed with gimmicks and showmanship as the audience were treated to a full 14 and a half minutes of a Hawaiin dance, The Beach Boys. And that was before Benioff finally took to the stage, where he promptly ‘thanked’ us, the customer, as Salesforce.com celebrates their 15th anniversary and are named as the world’s number one CRM company.
His message was clear – we are living in the dawn of the technology era, where customer engagement will set to elevate customer service to a new level. We need to engage customers, partners and employees, by connecting with them in a whole new way. Benioff then proceeded to tell us about Salesforce.com’s philanthropic work, with schools in San Francisco, by providing them with access to innovate with technology.
Will-i-am also took to the stage to tell us about the launch of his wearable devices company, born out of his own humble beginnings and respect for his mother.
On a more serious note, although still still full of showmanship, we were treated to what this year’s Dreamforce is all about. Salesforce.com’s new Wave Analytic Cloud. Their cloud based data platform, which is designed to analyse both Salesforce and third party app, desktop and public data. With more than 100,000 Salesforce.com is well placed to offer business intelligence and analytical services.
Their Wave Analytic Cloud is more than a visualisation tool and offers data management, with the added benefit of their reporting and dashboard capabilities; plus mobile and smart device interaction. The downside is that it is costly, so at this stage is aimed about global organisations, with deep pockets.
Marc Benioff, was also keen to tell us about Salesforce.com’s aim to enable developers to deliver mobile apps at lightning speed. The future is about being able to run an entire business via a mobile or smart device and with Salesforce1 Lightning they make it possible for almost anyone to build apps across multiple mobile and smart device platforms.
So there you have it, Dreamforce was definitely a resounding success…but the only question left on anyone’s lips at the end of the event was ‘What shoes did Benioff wear?”