September 7, 2023 – McKinsey & Company and Salesforce announced a new partnership to accelerate the adoption of generative AI for sales, marketing, commerce, and service. The collaboration combines Salesforce’s customer relationship management (CRM) technologies, including Einstein and Data Cloud, with McKinsey’s proprietary AI and data models, assets, and capability-building power.
“In today’s business landscape, adopting an AI-first approach rooted in trust and transparency isn’t a choice, but a necessity to succeed. Salesforce and McKinsey are coming together to empower every company with the strategies and technologies needed to fully leverage generative AI across their organization to engage with customers in personalized ways, unlock new opportunities and achieve growth”, said Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce.
“Generative AI is a powerful catalyst for growth. But the promise of AI needs to be backed by built-for-growth technology and the operational muscle to fully realize the potential. Building on our strong alliance, we are collaborating with Salesforce on this critical front to bring our proprietary AI assets, data models and tech build/design capabilities to help our clients turn innovation into impact– all delivered together in Salesforce workflows,” said Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey & Company.
The collaboration will be led by McKinsey’s QuantumBlack, a team of AI experts who have helped companies like Google, Goldman Sachs, and Unilever use AI to solve their most complex problems. Salesforce will provide its Einstein and Data Cloud technologies, which are used by over 150,000 customers to manage customer data and build intelligent applications.
The collaboration will focus on four areas: sales, marketing, commerce, and service. In sales, generative AI can be used to generate personalized sales pitches, qualify leads, and close deals. In marketing, it can be used to create personalized marketing content, automate marketing tasks, and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. In commerce, it can be used to personalize product recommendations, optimize pricing, and improve customer service. In service, it can be used to automate tasks, resolve customer issues more quickly, and improve customer satisfaction.
The collaboration will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase launching in early 2024.
This collaboration is a significant development in the martech space. It shows that businesses are increasingly recognizing the potential of generative AI and are taking steps to adopt it. The collaboration is also a testament to the power of collaboration between different industries. By working together, McKinsey and Salesforce can bring their expertise and resources to bear to help companies use generative AI to achieve their goals.
Here are some of the benefits that businesses can expect from this collaboration:
- Increased personalization: Generative AI can be used to create personalized customer experiences across all channels, from sales to marketing to service. This can help businesses to improve customer engagement and loyalty.
- Improved efficiency: Generative AI can be used to automate tasks, such as lead qualification and customer service, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic work.
- Increased insights: Generative AI can be used to analyze data and identify patterns that would be difficult to see with human eyes. This can help businesses to make better decisions about their marketing and sales strategies.
- Reduced costs: Generative AI can help businesses to reduce costs by automating tasks and improving efficiency.
This collaboration is a major milestone in the development of generative AI and is a significant development in the martech space. Businesses that are looking to adopt generative AI should be sure to keep an eye on this collaboration.
