Best of DF'19: Eight Highlights that we loved most

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Written By Abhinav Gupta

A phenomenal event that takes place once in a year! Dreamforce is a truly global event, with attendees from various countries around the world flocking to San Francisco to experience four high-energy days of innovation, education, fun and giving back. The excitement was palpable. It is said that this year DF was memorable of all but the question is what was so unique about DF'19?So, Here We are going to explain 8  Highlights you need to know aboutDreamforce 2019.

1) Stories of Trailblazers

Never has there been more Trailblazershared their success stories at this platform. It was a heartwarming experience for all. To share their (salesforce) happiness and huge success in the salesforce economy. Credit goes to all the people who contributed directly or indirectly in this adventure of tech. Trailhead is playing a key role in growing the Salesforce community and empowering developers to extend their abilities. Kris Muller Vice President of Product Marketing at Salesforce talked about the importance of Trailhead as a tool to reskill the workforce. Chris Duarte, map of Trailhead Content showcased new upgraded Trailhead features to advance learning. They welcomed admins, developers, architects, business leaders, brands, and so many people to highlight the voices and stories that make this diverse community of Trailblazers. Along with that trailblazers shared their approach of how they are advancing and innovating around the client and changing their own careers by learning popular skills with Trailhead. After all, Motivating & Making this world a better place is all about being a trailblazer.Here are some of the stories, which I resonated with most:

2) Customer 360:

Ask any Salesforce representative and they’ll say Customer 360 is the huge announcement of 2019. Salesforce's big idea is one that you've heard of before from other enterprise software vendors: a 360 degree view of the client but with a different lens. It is that one particular view where you can see all and know the total information of the customer in just one place. In other words, it is one integrated CRM to assist the business to gain a single view of their clients. In the Dreamforce Campground, participants took an interest in live demos and got the chance to build personalized Customer 360 by role, industry, and goal.Although it was introduced at Dreamforce 2018, In the DF'19 salesforce expanded Customer 360 with new features that made it easier to bridge fragmented customer data across an entire organization and enable companies to deliver integrated customer engagement at scale. Customer 360 goes beyond the traditional customer data platform (CDP) capabilities and extends the practices of CRM with consumer-scale data management and activation.While this Platform seems like a challenge, but all it needs some practice and after that, it can create some great opportunities. As the digital footprint of customers expands, those with the ability to track and collect this data will gain access to a wealth of invaluable information about customers and their interactions. This data can provide companies with deeper insights into their customer base, enabling them to not only understand their customers better, but also improve the overall customer experience. To achieve long-term success and growth, businesses can leverage a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the customer.

3) Importance of Health & Wellness

Thrive Global Founder and CEO Arianna Huffington and Salesforce Chairman and Co-CEO Marc Benioff joined together for a talk on the significance of wellbeing and health in accomplishing goals. Arianna discussed the mission of Thrive Global, which aims to combat the widespread issues of stress and burnout. She also shared her insights on utilizing practices such as meditation, breathwork, and spirituality as tools to overcome these challenges. In addition, she bravely shared personal anecdotes of her own experiences, including a traumatic incident where she collapsed, suffered injuries, and navigated being a single mother to two teenage daughters. Despite these struggles, Arianna emerged as a resilient and empowered woman, exemplifying a story of rising after a fall. Her inspiring journey serves as a testament to her strength and resilience, and she recounted this touching story during the discussion.

4) Salesforce Data Mask

Salesforce has presented Salesforce Data Mask that will help businesses customize, fabricate, and test on Salesforce while securing and verifying sensitive data. This tool anonymizes and erases shielded data from sandbox environments so that you can test with high fidelity substitute data and ensure that your client’s data is kept private and confidential. This new tool was introduced GDPR & other data guidelines passing all over the world ensuring data is secure in every environment. It is also known as data anonymization or pseudonymization, takes care of this issue. To ensure safety in non-production environments, live data undergoes anonymization, protecting privacy by removing personally identifiable information.

Anonymization is a technique used to safeguard sensitive data, such as credit card numbers and client addresses, by adding fictitious details to the information. This helps protect against potential security breaches in non-production environments. Data masking is one method of anonymization that can limit the risk of exposing confidential data if non-production data is compromised. There are various ways to mask live data, including adding prefixes and suffixes, rearranging content, replacing with random values, or using user-specified data. These methods ensure that production data remains protected while retaining its usefulness.

Salesforce Data Mask is a tool that promotes the best practice of masking sensitive live data for use outside of the production environment, helping to secure critical data assets. Data masking and encryption are effective ways to improve trust in data operations. In the accompanying video, you will learn about Mix & Mask, and how data anonymization and encryption can enhance data security.

5) Einstein Voice:

Let's be honest- We've all always adored the idea of Einstein Voice because virtual assistants are extremely popular nowadays. Now we can make our very own Einstein voice commands – no code required. For instance, make a custom voice command for salespeople that will let them know whether they're on track to hit their quota. While accepting that it will take a couple of years before Einstein Voice is very much adopted (just like in our own lives), technology like this makes me wonder how other organizations can even think of competing with Salesforce!This Voice Assistant is something beyond a glorified transcriber. Users can update Salesforce records and make tasks using natural language requests, or tap Einstein Voice Assistant to explore through Einstein Analytics dashboards and surface metrics like open service cases and performance direction. In addition, thanks to native joining with mainstream voice assistants like Google Assistant and Alexa, Einstein Voice Assistant can deliver a daily brief of “key priorities” like upcoming calendar schedule & appointments and team pipeline updates.For those in need more greater customization, there’s Einstein Voice Skills (previously Einstein Voice Builder), a toolbox that supports the creation of voice-powered corporate apps. Developers and administrators can choose various client relationship management actions, such as updating fields, creating tasks, or retrieving predictions, along with the fields or objects that provide information about these activities. Using this setup page, applications can be customized to suit the specific needs of employee roles or teams. The Einstein Voice Skills feature allows for control over the data, including the ability to have information about next steps and follow-up tasks read back, and the channels and devices on which the apps are accessible can also be managed.

6. Inspirational Speakers 

Tim Cook about Apple and Steve's Values and 'Think Different' philosophy

At its core, Dreamforce is about business, technology, and the future. Who better to talk about these things than the man behind the company with the world’s largest market capitalization? Tim Cook is an industrial engineer and the Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. He is a massively influential player in the tech scene. Whether it’s design, entertainment, publishing, or innovation, Cook has his hands in the cookie jar. As of 2018, Apple Inc. hit a market capitalization of almost $1 trillion. No doubt business leaders were waiting eagerly for Cooks talk. He shared how his company embeds values like uniformity, supportability, and security into the early stages of product development.

Marco Bizzarri Thoughts on Business and Values

A frequent theme of the Dreamforce talks revolved around businesses guided by a core set of values, aligned around making a difference in the world. Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri talked about how he transformed his company culture by bringing in new voices, including diversity, and putting an emphasis on self-articulation. Despite the fact that criticized at first, the company eventually achieved an increase in revenue. “If you don’t do the right things in terms of values, you don’t attain financial results,” he explained. Starting off as a financial consultant for Accenture to President and CEO of the flagship luxury brand Gucci. When it comes to unifying fashion and business, Marco excels with flying colors.He is credited for the near-light speed turnaround of Gucci’s profitability which seems to be ballooning every year. In 2016, Gucci sales rose 13% (€4.38 billion), the next year, 45% (€6.21 billion). Marco has acquired several accolades including International Business Leader at Fashion Awards, Knight of the Legion of Honour in France, Humanitarian of the Year Award by the UNA among others.

Bret Taylor’s "True to the Core" customer forum

After an action-packed first day of Dreamforce 2019, the expectation was at the peak for day two event; and as always this event never fails to deliver. It was an awesome day & some of the top personalities were featured including Bret Taylor. His “True to the Core” customer forum returned at Dreamforce’19. Taylor gave a preview of the product roadmap and answered questions from attendees. Taylor explained that, to him, "True to the Core" represents ensuring that the vision of software as a service is realized. This means continually improving products and features year after year without sacrificing the core essence of the product for the sake of flashy new additions.

Barack Obama about Leadership

Dreamforce had some extra star power as Barack Obama was there. The highlight of that event was a long-awaited message of 44th U.S. President. The audience greatly appreciated his insights on values, leadership, and diversity. During his presentation, he imparted two impactful lessons, which were to prioritize kindness and usefulness.

Emilia Clarke about bouncing back in life

Among other leading figures at the prestigious Dreamfroce 2019, Game of Thrones- Emilia Clarke was also there and she spoke her heart out. She talked about her Brain Injuries. Millions like Emilia Clarke experience the ill effects of the consequences of trauma or stroke. Just like PTSD, this mental condition requires constant care (most importantly from people around).This undetectable disease makes the individual invisible. Dreamforce 2019 saw her talk about subarachnoid hemorrhage, life-threatening neurological disorders, that almost killed Emilia Clarke. Subarachnoid hemorrhage is the result of a stroke that causes bleeding inside the brain.In addition, the actress also previously mentioned in the New Yorker article how she forgot her very own name and couldn’t even speak after surgery. Emilia Clarke panicked and wanted to die because as an actress the most important ability was to remember and communicate. Emilia Came Out the Other Side, Stronger and More Inspirational than Ever.

Analysing Metahuman with Deepak Chopra:

New York Times bestselling author Deepak Chopra unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to get to a field of vast and infinite possibilities. How does one do this? By becoming metahuman. At Dreamforce too Deepak Chopra discussed the ideas and concepts of his latest book Metahuman. To be a metahuman isn't science fiction and is certainly not about being a superhuman. It's possible to venture beyond daily living and experience increased states of awareness. He unfolds a way to higher consciousness up that enables all to understand our infinite potential.

7) Equal Opportunities:

In one of the most intriguing discussions of the day, Dreamforce had a board of business pioneers conversing about the significance of equality and the power of welcoming somebody to promote representation. The group of the specialist was Deloitte Principal Tonie Leatherberry, Chairman and CEO of Adtalem Global Education Lisa Wardell, and CEO of United Airlines Oscar Munoz. The specialists shared their stories of how they got their opportunity, how someone gave them a chance to help break the glass ceiling. The impact of mentorship and sponsorship was reinforced through their personal experiences, highlighting the significant influence these relationships can have.

8) Fleetwood Mac at Dreamforce:

Music that resonates with all ages. Fleetwood Mac is most loved among millennials and older generations alike. Their music strikes just the right notes of human emotion and does a spectacular job at it. Hit melodies, for example, “Songbird” and “Secondhand News” are ideal for when you are feeling offbeat or when you need that extra push to just move forward. People often credit Fleetwood Mac for making music that tells the most powerful stories. Dreamfest is essentially a benefit that Salesforce holds every Dreamforce with the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Every donation that people make when they come to watch Fleetwood Mac at Dreamforce is used to provide world-class care to young children and make an impact. Attendees were blessed to receive a night of music, dancing, and ballpark fare — in addition to an unforgettable, 5-minute drum solo by the energetic Mick Fleetwood.

Winding Up!

Dreamforce 2019 was a dead-on success! The talks of top CEOs on the Future of Retail, Healthcare and financial services, and the discussions on Customer 360 and "Einstein Voice" were the highlights that inspired techies world-wide. The Outfierce Party and the performances of Fleetwood mac delivered some kickass moments.DF'19 had proved that it’s not all about education and fun alone but is essentially about making the world a better place for everyone. And now brace yourselves, for Dreamforce 2020 is about to prove it once again with an extra punch!

Abhinav Gupta

First Indian Salesforce MVP, rewarded Eight times in a row, has been blogging about Salesforce, Cloud, AI, & Web3 since 2011. Founded 1st Salesforce Dreamin event in India, called “Jaipur Dev Fest”. A seasoned speaker at Dreamforce, Dreamin events, & local meets. Author of many popular GitHub repos featured in official Salesforce blogs, newsletters, and books.

https://abhinav.fyi
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