Salesforce and Workday Join Forces to Revolutionize Employee Services with AI

Salesforce and Workday CEOs explain their new joint AI venture

Both CEOs said the strength of this venture stems from the confluence of their large data sets. In an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, the CEOs of Salesforce and Workday, Marc Benioff and Carl Eschenbach, discussed the their companies' new partnership. They announced Wednesday they would be teaming up to create artificial intelligence that can be used to help with onboarding and human resources, among other tasks. Both CEOs said the strength of this new venture stems from the confluence of their large data sets. "AI is all about data, and if you have access to the data, then you can have phenomenal AI," Benioff said. "This is an example of two companies coming together to make sure our customers have the data they need to deliver this incredible vision of artificial intelligence." Both Salesforce and Workday are cloud-based software companies. Salesforce is known for its Slack application, as well as programs centered around sales, customer service and marketing. Workday's services focus on human resources, recruiting and workforce management. Eschenbach said that Salesforce and Workday have the three most important data sets in the enterprise -- employee data, customer data and financial data. He also said the new program benefits customers because they don't have to move between platforms to access services. "Through this new partnership and the data sharing we can do together, whether you're in Slack, whether you're in Workday, or whether you're actually in Salesforce, you can actually stay in those platforms and get access to each of the data sets that we have," Eschenbach said.

Salesforce and Workday Team to Develop AI Employee Service Agent

Salesforce has launched an AI-focused partnership with enterprise software firm Workday. The collaboration, announced in a news release Wednesday (July 24), will see the two companies develop an artificial intelligence (AI) employee service agent that will automate time-consuming tasks, offer personalized support, and provide "surface data-driven insights that help employees work smarter and faster." According to the release, the partnership will combine the two companies' AI platforms and data offerings to create an agent that can communicate with workers in natural language and human-like comprehension, making it easier to do things like onboarding, health benefit changes and career development. "Employees, customers and financials are the three most fundamental elements of any business," said Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach. "By integrating our platforms, datasets, and powerful AI capabilities, Salesforce and Workday are empowering our customers to deliver unmatched AI-powered employee experiences that ultimately lead to happier customers and drive unprecedented business value," he added. PYMNTS examined the role of AI in the business world earlier this month, noting that companies across various industries are seeing the technology's usefulness in things such as lead generation and automated sales. AI, that report said, offers tools for analyzing data, predicting trends and automating tasks, streamlining operations and providing deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences, allowing businesses to develop more sophisticated and personalized marketing strategies. "Within the confines of an uncertain macro backdrop, remaining ahead of the competition for B2B businesses requires embracing technology, and with a generational shift in B2B with younger buyers and Generation Z decision-makers, providing the frictionless and personalized digital experiences they've come to expect is crucial," PYMNTS wrote. Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that 96% of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have tried AI tools see them as an effective way to streamline tasks. "In fact, data shows that businesses that are most at risk and have already employed cost-cutting strategies are also the ones that may benefit most by deploying AI to automate even mundane tasks," PYMNTS wrote in June. The data shows a clear division in how SMBs use the technology, with those with increasing revenues and those generating more than $1 million annually are twice as likely as those with stable or falling revenue to use AI. Among those with increasing revenues, 51% now use AI, but only 19% of SMBs that are looking to lower costs said they're using AI.

The future of work: How Salesforce and Workday's AI alliance will transform your office

This article is part of a VB special issue. Read the full series: Automation and jobs in the new normal. Salesforce and Workday have announced a strategic partnership that aims to reimagine enterprise software with advanced AI capabilities and unified data integration. This collaboration brings together two cloud computing giants, combining Salesforce's customer relationship management (CRM) expertise with Workday's human resources and finance prowess. The partnership centers on three key components: a new AI-driven employee service agent, a unified data foundation, and seamless integration with Slack. These innovations promise to transform how businesses manage their workforce, customer relationships, and financial planning. "We're creating the industry's first common data foundation, combining HR and financial data from Workday with CRM data from Salesforce," said David Somers, Chief Product Officer at Workday, on a call with VentureBeat. "Together, we have the most powerful datasets in business. And this partnership is really about bringing them together to deliver unparalleled value for our joint customers." AI-powered employee agents: The future of workplace assistance The cornerstone of this partnership is an AI employee service agent built on Salesforce's AgentForce platform. This virtual assistant will leverage data from both companies to automate a wide array of tasks, from onboarding and benefits management to career development. "Unlike other agents in the marketplace that require escalating to a human, this agent will do a handoff and do knowledge transfer back and forth with the human so that there's an integrated experience between humans that are powered by the AI and the agent and the agents themselves," said David Schmaier, president and chief product officer at Salesforce, during a call with VentureBeat. Unified data foundation: Bridging the gap between CRM and HR The partnership also introduces a unified data foundation, with Workday joining Salesforce's "zero-copy" partner network. This integration allows seamless data access between the two platforms without the need for data duplication. Workday becomes the first application software company to join this network, which already includes data lake providers like Snowflake, Databricks, Amazon, and Google. "Data is the foundation for every customer and employee experience, because data powers the AI and then AI powers the customer and employee experience of the future," Schmaier said. For businesses, the partnership promises to deliver tangible benefits across various domains. Somers provided a vivid example of how the integrated system could benefit sales managers: "If I'm a sales manager, for example, the ability to go in and ask questions like, 'Who are my top three performing sales reps? What training have they taken? Compare that to my lower performing sales reps.'," Somers explained. "Then actually taking action and potentially do something about that, like put them in a learning path for the lower performing reps. You can do all of that through a conversational interface, whether I'm in Workday, Salesforce, or in Slack, where I would normally be doing something like that." Transforming enterprise software: A new era of AI-driven business solutions This collaboration represents a significant shift in the enterprise software market. By combining their strengths, Salesforce and Workday position themselves to compete more effectively against tech giants like Microsoft and Oracle, which have been aggressively expanding their AI capabilities across their business software suites. The partnership addresses several key trends in the enterprise software market. First, it recognizes the growing demand for seamless integration between different business functions, particularly CRM, HR, and finance. By combining Salesforce's customer data with Workday's employee and financial data, the partnership creates a more holistic view of business operations, potentially leading to more informed decision-making and improved operational efficiency. Secondly, the focus on AI-driven solutions, particularly the AI employee service agent, aligns with the broader industry move towards automation and intelligent assistants. This could potentially reduce operational costs and improve employee productivity by automating routine tasks and providing more intuitive interfaces for complex processes. The unified data foundation is perhaps the most strategically significant aspect of this partnership. By joining Salesforce's "zero-copy" partner network, Workday is positioning itself at the forefront of data integration in the cloud era. This move could set a new standard for data sharing and integration in enterprise software, potentially forcing other players in the market to reconsider their data strategies. However, this partnership also raises questions about market consolidation and data privacy. As more data becomes centralized and shared between major platforms, concerns about data security and potential monopolistic practices may arise. The new AI-powered services are expected to be available to customers later this year, with showcases planned for upcoming Dreamforce and Workday Rising conferences. "We think it really is a groundbreaking announcement, two of the leaders in our respective spaces partnering together to allow AI to bring humans and AI together to make employee and customer and financial data that much more available, and to allow us to make companies more productive and more effective," Schmaier told VentureBeat. The Salesforce-Workday partnership marks a watershed moment in enterprise software, heralding a future where AI-driven solutions and seamless data integration become the norm rather than the exception. As businesses grapple with the complexities of digital transformation, this alliance offers a glimpse into a world where the boundaries between CRM, HR, and finance blur, giving rise to more holistic, intelligent business operations. The success of this venture could spark a domino effect, pushing other tech giants to forge similar alliances and accelerating the AI arms race in enterprise software. However, as these powerful platforms converge, questions of data privacy, market competition, and the changing nature of work will inevitably come to the fore. In this new era, the office of tomorrow won't just be smarter - it will be fundamentally reimagined. The challenge ahead isn't just about boosting productivity, but redefining what productivity means in an AI-powered workplace.

Workday and Salesforce partner on AI, Data Cloud and Slack to automate cross-platform processes

Enterprise cloud application giants Workday and Salesforce teamed up today to launch a new AI-powered employee service agent and a series of cross-platform use cases. The partnership is built on a common data foundation created through a zero-copy connection between Workday data and Salesforce Data Cloud, coupled with integration of the two vendors' AI platforms, and enhancements to Workday's existing Slack integration. Introducing the new partnership, David Schmaier, President and Chief Product Officer at Salesforce, says: We think it really is a ground-breaking announcement. Two of the leaders in our respective spaces, partnering together to bring humans and AI together to make employee and customer and financial data that much more available, and to allow us to make companies more productive and more effective. We think it's a big deal. The announcement also marks the first official outing of Agentforce, a new Salesforce platform that powers intelligent, autonomous agents that are able to perform tasks on behalf of and in co-operation with humans. Expected to be fully unveiled at this year's annual Dreamforce event in September, the name was first teased earlier this month alongside the launch of Einstein Service Agent, the first agent to be built on the platform. A sales agent is also in the pipeline, but today sees the launch of an employee service agent, notable for combining AI capabilities from both Salesforce and Workday and therefore able to operate cross-platform. Schmaier says: Now there'll be a service agent in customer service, there'll be a sales agent that does completely autonomous sales activities. And now there's a brand new employee service agent that benefits both Salesforce and Workday customers, that's powered by Salesforce and Workday harmonized data to automate time consuming tasks, like personalized support, and onboarding and [other] use cases. ... Unlike other agents in the marketplace, that requires escalating to a human, this agent will be able to do a handoff and do knowledge transfer back and forth with the human, so that there's an integrated experience between humans that are powered and augmented by the AI, and the AI agents themselves. The underlying data foundation sees Workday becoming the first application vendor to establish a zero-copy connection to the Salesforce Data Cloud, joining a partner network that has previously been restricted to data lake providers such as Snowflake, Databricks, AWS and Google Cloud. Schmaier explains: Workday was the first application software and cloud SaaS provider that we worked with. Part of it is, we use each other's software. So we were doing some of this ourselves. And we realized, as we started talking, that other companies would want to take advantage of this data integration, and leverage the respective AI capabilities that the two companies are putting into our software. So we think it's a great opportunity for us to bring this to all of our joint customers... Salesforce has the master of all that activity across all touchpoints for the customer, and Workday has the financial and HR data. And now we can blend that together ... so companies don't have to copy data back and forth, they can just access this data in a distributed way across Workday and Salesforce. This blending of data and AI capabilities across CRM, HR and finance enables cross-platform operation, as David Somers, Chief Product Officer at Workday, explains: You can build and leverage agents within Workday, you can build and leverage agents within Salesforce as well. I think that the key here is, in the past, the road for one of those agents became unpaved when it tried to jump to the platform. That's really what we're solving here, is the ability for those agents to really work across both platforms... The underlying power of this is the ability to access this capability, these agents, no matter where you happen to be, what application you happen to be in, or, once again, if you're in a conversational interface, like Slack. That's really I think the beauty of this. And I think what one of the things that makes it super unique in the market. Although some of the use cases for the new cross-platform agents are classic HR examples such as onboarding and HR self-service, several show off the advantages of combining HR, finance and CRM data. For example, skills development can now take into account data about the individual that sits in Salesforce. Somers outlines a potential scenario: If I'm a sales manager in Workday, as an example, managing my team, the ability to go in and even ask questions like, 'Who are my top three performing sales reps? What training have they taken?' Compare that to my lower performing sales reps, and then actually action and potentially do something about that, like put them in a learning path for the lower performing reps. You can do all of that through a conversational interface, whether I'm in Workday, Salesforce, or probably in Slack is where I would normally be doing something like that. Sales coaching is another example. Schmaier goes on: Let's say I'm selling into an account where a competitor is involved. Team members will be able to utilize an AI-driven agent to act as a sales coach. So now I have a virtual sales coach, they're helping me throughout the process. And this agent can automatically enroll me or other members of my sales team into pertinent training sessions to elevate our knowledge and our performance. Companies have hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of different products. Now, by offering targeted training and learning suggestions, the digital coach aims to enhance sales efficiency. It accelerates the sales cycle, and can boost sales productivity. The employee service agent will also be able to operate autonomously across all hours and timezones, and can adapt to use the communication channels that employees prefer, whether that be lack, email, web chat, SMS, WhatsApp or others. Other use cases are at the planning level, for example correlating workforce skills development with the demand signals coming from Salesforce for forward capacity planning. The urgency of harmonizing data and joining up processes across every organization continues to build as the inexorable trend towards frictionless enterprise continues. The upshot is that vendors are increasingly having to work more closely together. This striking partnership between two giants of enterprise applications is perhaps an easier combination than others we might imagine, and sets an intriguing precedent.

Salesforce and Workday team up for AI employee services By Investing.com

SAN FRANCISCO & PLEASANTON, Calif. - Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:WDAY) have announced a partnership to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) employee service agent designed to improve the employee experience by automating tasks and providing personalized support. The collaboration will integrate Salesforce's Agentforce Platform and Einstein AI with Workday's platform and Workday AI to create AI agents that can assist with various employee service use cases, such as onboarding, health benefits, and career development. The AI service agents will be able to comprehend and respond in natural language, drawing on a shared data foundation that combines HR and financial data from Workday with customer relationship management (CRM) data from Salesforce. The partnership aims to enhance productivity and efficiency by allowing the AI agent to recommend and act across both platforms on behalf of the employee. For more complex issues that require human intervention, the AI agent will be able to transfer cases to the appropriate individual while preserving the context of the previous interactions. Additionally, the companies will establish a shared data foundation, leveraging Salesforce's Data Cloud and Workday's financial and HR data, which will be accessible through Salesforce's Zero Copy Partner Network (LON:NETW). This integration is expected to eliminate the need for duplicating data or creating custom integrations, while maintaining data security. Workday will also enhance its existing integration with Slack, providing users with an elevated conversational interface to interact with Workday's financial and HR records directly within Slack. This strategic partnership is set to transform workplace experiences by leveraging generative AI to offer seamless services across Salesforce and Workday platforms. The initiative is expected to benefit both employees and employers by providing instant support, facilitating seamless onboarding, enabling self-service HR, and curating personalized learning paths. The information for this article is based on a press release statement. The release also notes that the services and features mentioned are not currently available and may not be delivered as planned. Customers are advised to base their decisions on currently available features. In other recent news, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM). reported an 11% year-over-year growth in its fiscal 2025 first-quarter earnings, with revenue reaching $9.13 billion. BMO Capital Markets maintained an Outperform rating on Salesforce's stock, expressing confidence in the company's fiscal year 2025 revenue forecast of $37.7 billion. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) also reiterated a Buy rating on Salesforce, focusing on the company's advancements in artificial intelligence and its introduction of a new large language model benchmarking tool. In corporate developments, Salesforce shareholders voted against a proposed executive compensation plan, while approving an expansion of the company's 2013 Equity Incentive Plan. The company's commitment to its product offerings and client relations was highlighted by BMO Capital Markets, citing stable client engagement with a large North American bank. These are recent developments in Salesforce's ongoing operations and strategic initiatives. Analysts from BMO Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs, and Oppenheimer have maintained positive ratings for Salesforce, underscoring confidence in the company's growth trajectory and market strategy. As Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) embarks on its strategic partnership with Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) to revolutionize the employee experience with AI, the company's financial health and market performance provide a backdrop for understanding its capacity to invest in and support such innovative initiatives. According to real-time data from InvestingPro, Salesforce boasts a robust market capitalization of $248.12 billion, underscoring its significant presence in the software industry. With a high gross profit margin of 76.0% over the last twelve months as of Q1 2023, Salesforce demonstrates its ability to efficiently manage its cost of goods sold, which is an essential factor for sustaining investment in research and development for AI technologies. This is further supported by an impressive operating income margin of 18.45%, indicating that the company maintains healthy earnings before interest and taxes relative to its revenue. Investors and analysts have taken note of Salesforce's financial performance, as evidenced by its P/E ratio of 45.55, which, while indicating a high earnings multiple, reflects the market's expectation of continued growth and profitability. In fact, Salesforce has been profitable over the last twelve months and analysts predict it will remain so this year. Additionally, the company has a perfect Piotroski Score of 9, suggesting strong financial health. For those looking to delve deeper into Salesforce's financial metrics and gain more insights, InvestingPro offers additional tips on the company's performance and valuation. With a total of 11 InvestingPro Tips available, including information on Salesforce's moderate level of debt and its high EBIT and EBITDA valuation multiples, subscribers can make more informed decisions. To access these insights, use the coupon code PRONEWS24 to get up to 10% off a yearly Pro and a yearly or biyearly Pro+ subscription at InvestingPro.