How Companies Can Work Smarter: An Interview with Erik Pavlovič from Salesforce

How would you describe Salesforce Innovation Day in Budapest and the event's main purpose? Why is it worth it for companies to join?

Salesforce Innovation Day is the leading event in the CEE region, showcasing how businesses can succeed in a rapidly evolving digital world. It's a platform for exploring innovation, connecting with industry leaders, and diving into the transformative potential of Salesforce tools.

A key highlight of 2024 in Budapest was the introduction of Agentforce, our groundbreaking Autonomous AI solution. Designed for service and sales teams, Agentforce is a virtual colleague that manages high-volume and repetitive tasks so human employees can focus on strategic, complex challenges. At the event, attendees could build their own AI agents and experience the power of this tool firsthand.

Beyond Agentforce, the day features inspiring customer success stories, live demos, and hands-on labs, helping businesses unlock greater efficiency and achieve sustainable growth.

The final number of participants at Salesforce Innovation Day in Budapest exceeded 700 visitors this year. A week later, Salesforce & FLO teams organised an event focused on a much smaller, hand-picked audience. What was the main difference in the content and vibes of those two events?

Innovation Day is a large-scale event designed to inspire a broad audience, from executives to marketers. It's the perfect place to explore cutting-edge innovations, revolutionising how businesses approach customer success and operational efficiency.

Smaller events, on the other hand, are tailored to specific industries or markets. They're more intimate, offering actionable insights and practical solutions, often shaped by the expertise of local partners like FLO. While Innovation Day inspires at scale, focused events deliver personalised value to niche audiences.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most significant influence shifting how businesses operate and people work. As a technological leader, how is Salesforce navigating innovations in this area?

Salesforce has been a pioneer in AI since 2016, evolving through three waves:

1. Predictive AI (Einstein): Delivers data-driven insights directly into the CRM for personalised decision-making and driving personalisation at scale.

2. Generative AI (Copilots): Automates workflows and improves creativity, enabling faster content generation and customer engagement. Salesforce integrated Gen AI capabilities directly into the platform, allowing users to generate elements for marketing or sales, customer responses, and even predictive analytics.

3. Autonomous AI (Agentforce): Introduces virtual AI agents that handle repetitive tasks, allowing human teams to focus on complex challenges, boosting efficiency and customer success.

By consistently evolving the AI offerings, we ensure that businesses stay ahead of the curve, leveraging AI not only as a tool but also as a strategic advantage to drive innovation and customer success. 

Now, we are entering the era of Autonomous AI or Agentforce, where Salesforce is pioneering solutions that not only assist but autonomously operate in certain areas, significantly reducing manual intervention. Think about those AI Agents as your new Virtual colleagues in your service team. 

As you are in charge of mid-sized businesses in Slovakia, how do you see the local market adapting to AI influences?

The Slovak market tends to be more conservative when it comes to adopting new technologies like AI. This cautious approach often results in slower changes compared to more dynamic or digitally mature markets.

So, my key observations regarding AI as Salesforce AE from this year are the following:

1. Many companies prefer to observe proven success stories or wait for clear market trends before committing to significant investments in AI. This leads to a step-by-step approach, PoCs and pilots, rather than a bold, immediate transformation.

2. Slovak businesses often stick to traditional methods and solutions they know well, making the shift to AI-driven processes a slower but deliberate journey.

And, of course, there's often a natural hesitation to change well-established processes, even if AI offers efficiency and scalability. Conservative markets like Slovakia tend to be cautious about investing in AI without straightforward short-term returns. However, early adopters are demonstrating how AI, particularly tools like Salesforce's suite of solutions, can transform efficiency and scalability. 

And that's why I firmly believe this is a genuine opportunity for how companies can work smarter. With ongoing education and support from Salesforce and partners like FLO, businesses are able to gradually embrace AI's potential to drive innovation and success.