Video | Salesforce and AI: Driving Smarter Business Decisions

As businesses evolve in a digital-first world, leaders are increasingly challenged to integrate emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations. The question isn't merely about adopting AI-it's about strategically leveraging AI within platforms like Salesforce to drive smarter, more informed business decisions. Doug Sellers, a managing director in business-platform transformation at Protiviti, identifies three critical areas that executives must prioritize when thinking about AI implementation.

• When and how to deploy AI: Sellers stresses the importance of clarity around AI's role within a business strategy. It's easy to be swept up in the excitement of new technology, but successful AI deployment hinges on a clear understanding of when and how to use it effectively. Sellers highlights that AI's true potential lies in its strategic application. Rather than being a catch-all solution, AI should be targeted toward areas where it can create real, measurable value. Whether it's improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer interactions or optimizing sales forecasting, the key is to deploy AI where it aligns with the company's broader goals. Furthermore, leaders must ensure that robust data protection protocols are in place to safeguard sensitive information while navigating the ethical considerations that come with AI.
• Deepening customer insights: AI's most transformative impact often lies in its ability to refine and deepen customer insights. Sellers warns that businesses may overestimate how well they understand their customers by relying too heavily on static reports and dashboards as data points change, trends evolve and customer behaviors can shift unexpectedly. This constant state of flux requires businesses to use AI not as a tool for capturing a momentary snapshot of customer behavior but as a dynamic mechanism for ongoing, real-time insights.
• AI, integrated within Salesforce, can continually analyze customer interactions, identifying patterns, preferences and changes in behavior and allowing businesses to respond with greater agility. Sellers advises that organizations must ask themselves regularly, "Do we truly have a current, deep understanding of our customers?" AI can enable companies to stay one step ahead of shifting customer needs by facilitating more accurate predictions and hyper-personalized engagement strategies.
• Ensuring organizational capacity to execute: While strategic planning is crucial, Sellers underscores a commonly overlooked element in the success of AI initiatives: organizational capacity. Successful AI implementation requires not only technological readiness but also sufficient human and operational resources to support and sustain it. Many organizations invest heavily in AI without fully considering the additional demand it places on their teams. To fully capitalize on AI-driven innovation, companies need to assess their capacity-ensuring they have the right mix of talent, processes and infrastructure to manage and optimize AI tools over time. Sellers urges business leaders to consider whether their workforce and operations are equipped to absorb the increased complexity AI often introduces.