It’s no secret that Dreamforce is one of the most anticipated biz-tech conferences of the year. As a repeat attendant, Seismic was well-prepared and well-equipped to rock Dreamforce, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t learn anything. Through numerous interactions with other attendees at the Seismic booth and at informational sessions, we discovered just how integral sales solutions are to companies in many ways, and there are no signs of slowing down. Here are four themes present at Dreamforce that shed light on the future of sales technology and sales enablement.
1) Salesforce truly is the center of the universe when it comes to sales operations. With nearly 150,000 people congregating for Dreamforce, it was very clear how much of a necessity Salesforce has become for so many organizations. Celebrating 15 years of success, Salesforce didn’t upset in terms of speakers, sessions, live entertainment, or product announcements.
2) …But Salesforce is not the single source of truth. While it is undoubtedly important to so many companies, there are a slew of Salesforce plugins, add-ons and partners that help to make Salesforce better. These can sometimes be more of a burden than a benefit, because they require you to close out of what you’re doing and open another window or app to access the information you need. Having all content accessible from one place, with all data sources automatically integrated, will make sales and marketing teams more effective and efficient from the get-go.
3) Analytics are about as necessary to companies as closed-won opportunities. There is no longer such thing as “a shot in the dark.” Almost all decisions made by organizations are calculated and backed by data. When it comes to sales content and reports, this is no exception. Analytics are the cornerstone of most business operations, and being able to integrate these analytics with content and presentations that marketing is creating and reps are using is as important as ever. Salesforce proved this to be true at Dreamforce, with its announcement of Wave, a new mobile-first analytics platform.
4) Sales Enablement is an arms race. The number of attendees that came to the Seismic booth and specifically described the pains that plague sales organizations was staggering. Companies are finally beginning to understand the importance of making sales reps more effective and marketing teams more efficient, and are actively seeking the solutions that help them do this. There will soon be a fine line between the “haves” and “have nots” of enterprise companies with sales enablement solutions, and the differences will be noticeable.
Still unsure of what Dreamforce is all about? Check out Seismic’s firsthand account of the event, shot by Tucker Cohen on our trusty GoPro!
