Dreamforce has always highlighted pop culture — featuring concerts from the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and will.i.am — and the 2013 event was no different. We got to see Green Day perform and heard discussions on new topics that surfaced online over the last few months. This year, the internet buzzed with talk of 3D printers, drones delivering packages and the internet of things. While Dreamforce was a bit light on 3D printing and drone deliveries, it certainly had more than enough to say about the internet of things to make up for it.
These days, it seems no one wants to buy a product that isn’t connected to the internet. This shirt doesn’t monitor my heart rate and send it to my phone? This fork doesn’t track what I eat and send it to my dietician? No thanks, I’ll pass.
It might seem a bit far-fetched, but with the path we’re on it won’t be long before all products we buy connect to the internet. For proof, look no further than what happened at Dreamforce this year.
I’ve had more conversations at #DF13 w customers about internet enabling consumer products than all of this year. #itseemstobehappening
— Adam Honig (@adamhonig) November 20, 2013
For example, one person with whom I spoke at Dreamforce works for a company that makes small household appliances. He told me his company is looking to produce a new line of internet-enabled kitchen appliances. Why, you might ask, would anyone need to connect their kitchen appliances to the internet? Well, how convenient would it be if you could just pick up your phone in the middle of the day and turn on an appliance so that dinner is ready when you get home from work?
When you break it down like that, suddenly a previously illogical idea begins to make sense.
@Benioff: Internet of things is really internet of customers & businesses need to reassess how they connect to customers #salesforce1 #df13
— Cloud Sherpas (@cloudsherpas) November 19, 2013
During his keynote address, Benioff introduced to us the idea of the “internet of customers.” He reasoned: the idea behind the internet of things is that all of these “things” want to be connected to the internet. But these “things” don’t care if they’re connected to the internet. Rather, it’s the customers who buy the things that care about their connection to the internet.
With that simple statement, Benioff and salesforce.com took a major pivot. After all, what really matters to businesses is their customers — if you can’t deliver what your customers want, you won’t last very long in the market.
Today’s consumers want products that are connected to the internet. We’re hearing from more and more Salesforce customers who want to connect their products — which span everything from the small appliances mentioned above to medical and manufacturing devices and everything in between — to the internet. And with its introduction of Salesforce1, salesforce.com is helping its customers make that happen.
@salesforce is bringing the future to the present with the new #salesforce1 platform #df13
— Cloud Sherpas (@cloudsherpas) November 19, 2013
Salesforce1 not only makes sense of the increasingly popular “internet of things,” but it is also a truly innovative platform, and that is exactly why everyone is so excited about it. After Benioff’s keynote, Dreamforce was abuzz with talk of the new platform and people inside — and outside — of the Salesforce ecosystem are still talking about it constantly.
At the end of the day, the internet of customers — not the internet of things — and Salesforce1 are game changers because they unlock the next wave of value that’s being created through CRM: every one of those “things” that Salesforce1 helps connect to the internet is connected to a person — a customer — and that connection to customers is where the real value lies.
What Salesforce1 means for you #df13 http://t.co/k9WbFMc7n1
— Adam Honig (@adamhonig) November 19, 2013
