Dreamforce 2022: 3 Keynote Highlights

Authors: Drew Tramel, Jeremy Telycenas, and Matt McCallum

The first live version of the event in three years, Dreamforce 2022 continued the tradition of Salesforce announcing what’s to come in a big way, alongside a wide range of sessions and speakers. Held September 20-22 in San Francisco, CA, Dreamforce 2022 welcomed 40,000 in-person — and over 110,000 virtual — guests to mark its 20^th anniversary. If you weren’t able to attend the event, we published a blog recapping our own Bryan Burn’s session on mitigating risks and improving workplace with Salesforce; we’ll be reviewing 3 of the keynote highlights below, and offering our team’s top takeaways in our next blog. You can also watch some of what you missed online, including the entire keynote speech, at Salesforce+

Keynote Highlights

Taking a look at the major announcements included in the keynote speech this year, quite a few will impact or be of interest to most Salesforce users.

• General Availability of Salesforce Genie
  • Think of this as the next generation of the Salesforce CDP; it is an update, not a separate product.
    • There’s a very extensive breakdown here.

• • What it will do: allow for better, faster, hyper-personalized interaction on a bigger scale; it can extend further than the current CDP to consolidate and update real-time data across applications because it is doing it in a new way.
    • It works side-by-side with Einstein AI and Flow automation, meaning predictions and recommended Next Best Actions will be improved as well.

• • Why we think it’s important: it furthers a customer’s investment by ensuring every app and platform extension will work even more cohesively towards improving operations and the customer experience — regardless of the organization or industry.

• Salesforce’s Success and Core Improvements
  • Salesforce delivers 3 major releases a year, 300+ core improvements, and has been named #1 in Forbe’s ranking of the world’s most innovative companies; it’s projected to reach 31 billion in revenue this year.

• • Why we think it’s important: their success speaks of long-term stability, continued product improvements, and continued access to leading-edge technology for users.
    • It also means continued investment into partner and 3^rd-party products available on the AppExchange, to enhance and customize platform functionality.

• Hyperforce / The External Encryption Ecosystem
  • Salesforce data is hosted in different ways, depending on where you are in the world; Hyperforce and the new External Encryption Ecosystem help extend where Salesforce can be used securely.

• • What it will do: Hyperforce is a version of Salesforce’s data architecture that allows secure data hosting on public clouds (e.g., AWS, Google), and allows Salesforce use in more areas.
    • The External Encryption Ecosystem extends Hyperforce’s coverage, allowing Salesforce use in even more regions.

• • Why we think it’s important: if you operate globally or in any area that’s been waiting for Salesforce’s secure data hosting, this is extremely helpful.

Looking Ahead

Based on what we saw at Dreamforce this year, aside from the complete game changer that is Salesforce Genie, we were impressed with the distinct focus on industry-specific solutions (which we’ll discuss in more detail in our next blog), and a shift towards a stress-free experience for every end-user — both customers and employees.

Looking ahead, we expect to see Salesforce continue with improvements and value adds for users, with further development into industry-specific platforms and cloud enhancements. Logically it’s a way for them to further grow their client base, and it’s on trend with what we’ve seen from them both over the past several years from them and at this year’s event.

If your organization is also looking ahead, and interested in learning more about Salesforce solutions, contact us.