ICYMI: Dreamforce 2020 goes digital, but still packs it’s usual punch

I’ve just spent the afternoon tuned into the Salesforce Dreamforce 2020 online event. That in itself is just plain weird: the yearly spectacle in downtown San Francisco has become just as famous for its live-action as it has the content. I’m lucky enough to have visited for the last four Dreamforce events, and each time was blown away by the scale, the crowds, the entertainment, and general hype. It’s huge.

So to be sitting in my office quietly attending Dreamforce via live streaming was a first -- but then again, this has been a year full of firsts. From James Corden hosting to the outdoor stage (Dreamforce? Outdoors? Weird!) the whole event took on an exciting new energy, and I liked it. They did a fantastic job at adapting their unmissable event under our strange new circumstances. One thing that hasn’t changed is Marc Benioff’s incredible energy, which came charging through the computer screen. He is a true force of nature, and I take my hat off to his ability to connect and engage us all even in such challenging conditions.

For those who were unable to catch the event online this afternoon, I’ve put together a short wrap up of my key takeaways from the event. Feel free to share and tag.

#1: Go digital, or get left behind

Dramatic? Sure. But this year has demanded more of us than ever before -- and we’ve all had to move ourselves into a fully digital environment with gusto. Every business has had to find a way to connect and interact with their customers in a different and new way. The silver lining has certainly been the digital innovation and originality that has been born from the global lockdown.

#2: Salesforce continues its world domination

Salesforce will be the fastest enterprise company ever to reach $25 billion in revenue. Phwoar. And that kind of success is creating a whole ecosystem of jobs: in fact, the Salesforce economy will add 4.2 million new jobs across the globe by 2025. All of this, driven by 1300 trailblazer Community Groups across 90 countries. This is one mighty machine we are lucky enough to be a part of.

#3: Goss of the week - Slack acquisition!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard that this week, Salesforce bought out Slack. It’s the biggest acquisition for Salesforce to date, costing them a staggering $27.7 billion dollars. Totally worth it, though: Salesforce foresees this product as a trailblazer in how users interact with the platform, especially as we move forward into a fully digital world.

#4: The new kid on the block is ‘Hyperforce’

We have a new platform! It’s called Hyperforce, and it will let every customer around the globe choose the public cloud of their choice to house their data. According to TechCrunch, “The idea behind Hyperforce is to enable customers to take all of the data in what Salesforce calls Customer 360 — that’s the company’s detailed view of the customer across channels, Salesforce products and even other systems outside the Salesforce family — and be able to store that in whichever public cloud you want in whatever region you happen to operate.” Very cool.

#5: Business is the greatest platform for change

A major focus point of Marc Benioff’s keynote speech was the amount of work that’s gone into sustainability, and what we as businesses and individuals are doing to be a more sustainable company. It was inspiring to see how Salesforce walks the walk by being a net zero company. 

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From the opening monologue and introduction from James Corden -- very funny -- to the usual product content from Marc and the team, to our Salesforce bands in Metallica, and Lenny Kravitz, it was everything we love in a Dreamforce condensed into an hour and a half. It had all the glitz and glamour of previous years, and whilst nothing can top the feeling of moving in crowds of the hundreds of thousands, I still felt the same chill I always do: that we are part of something big. 

Still. I love and miss is the interaction, collaboration and networking available at an event like Dreamforce. So for me, there is still something missing from an event like this -- something you can’t replace. We are, after all, in the people business. So while I had a fun afternoon sitting in on Dreamforce 2020, I sure can’t wait to be back in San Fransisco for Dreamforce 2021. Germs and all.

You can watch the keynote on Twitter here. 

Information on recent Salesforce acquisitions are available here and here. 

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