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TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 2
Contents
Introduction T ea ean oe ane Me eect rer ea a eas eee a ere eee ete oe rere 03 01 | Employees Are Stretched as Customer Expectations Rise..................-.--.-5- 04 02 | Automation Becomes an IT Imperative’. er ee 07 03 | Customer Service Processes Evolve as Demand Surges.. .---- aneneen all 0472| Sales Automation Goes Mainstream are er ee oe cei ee 16
Data Sources and Research Methodology................... cece eee eee 20
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION
Introduction
In a rapidly changing world, customer expectations for innovation and connected engagement continue to rise, increasing pressure on employees who were already stretched thin. To meet the needs of all stakeholders, many businesses are kicking off workflow automation initiatives or accelerating those that were already in process.
This report covers the impact of workflow automation on various aspects of employee and customer engagement, including:
- How automation impacts one of the hottest topics in business and IT strategy - employee experience (EX) - How IT and customer-facing teams are partnering to bring their processes into a new era
- The impact of automation on sales and customer service teams
SEE PAGE 20 FOR DATA SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY.
0 Employees Are
Stretched as Customer Expectations Rise
The year 2020 rapidly sped up digital transformation.
Digitization had already been on the roadmap for many businesses. However, the pandemic and its aftereffects created new urgency to adapt - nearly overnight — to a new set of customer needs and habits, accelerating what may have otherwise been a more incremental process.
With restrictions on physical interaction and sudden upheaval to customers’ lifestyles and businesses, the call for digital change has been loud. Business executives have taken note.
Braten say COVID-19
made them fundamentally rethink the customer experience (CX).1
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 4
Customer Demand for Digital Experiences Increases Amid Pandemic
Consumers and Business Buyers Who Say the Following?
I expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives due to COVID-19
COVID-19 has elevated my expectations of companies’ digital capabilities
The way I engage with companies has transformed since the beginning of 2020
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 5
0 Employees Are
Stretched as Customer Employees Are Stretched and Under-Resourced Expectations Rise IT Leaders Who Say Their Technology Maximizes the Following*
Rising customer demands have reached employees already contending with new work environments and personal stressors. For many, work days are longer than they
used to be. 25: 21- 35% of employees working Employee Employee
remotely since the pandemic report productivity engagement
working later than usual.?
Many IT leaders suggest that employees “Ny
have not been fully equipped for the challenges ahead. Even with EX among IT’s top priorities, most IT leaders agree that their technology does not maximize
Re IT Leaders’ Top 5 Priorities* employee productivity or engagement.
1 Customer experience
2 Security and trust
3 A Employee experience 5 Mobile technology
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 6
Spotlight: The Relationship Between EX, CX, and Revenue
Research suggests prioritizing EX may yield revenue benefits. There is a direction to the relationship between EX and CX. We have long known about the link between CX and revenue. According to executives, improved EX leads to improved
However, according to business executives, EX may also be CX. However, there is no “virtuous” cycle: Most executives a revenue multiplier by raising revenue both indirectly (by do not think investing in CX inherently improves EX. This improving CX) and directly. supports the idea that a happy employee base leads to
greater customer Satisfaction.
Prioritizing EX Correlates with Revenue Growth The Path from EX to CX to Revenue Is One Way
Executives Who Say EX Is a Top 5 Objective over the Executives Who Agree with the Following! Next Three Years, by YoY Revenue Growth?
Execs reporting 10%+
revenue growth EX drives CX
Execs reporting 5-9.9%
CX drives revenue revenue growth
Execs reporting 0-4.9%
revenue growth EX drives revenue
CX drives EX
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 7
02 Automation Becomes
an IT Imperative Automation Cuts Costs and Time IT and Engineering Leaders Who Report Savings from Process Automation?
With employees across the business
asked to do more with less, technical
leadership has set its sights on 1% ý 2% process automation. F ee
95% of IT and engineering
leaders say their organizations are
26% 41%
prioritizing workflow automation.”
Cost Savings
Time Savings Technical leaders who have implemented automation report strong ROI. In fact, nearly 75% see time savings equivalent to at least four hours per 40-hour week. As manual tasks shift from human to machine, employees have more time for
. Savings Reported strategic work.
HE >70% 31-50% W 11-30% <10%
Assessment is of departments that have prioritized automating manual processes.
Spotlight: Automation and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a building block for many of the more sophisticated automation technologies, but can pose challenges to IT teams looking to implement it. While less than a third of IT teams have incorporated AI into their automation initiatives so far, many teams plan to.
IT Plans to Nearly Triple the Use of AI in Workflow Automation Initiatives
22% 93%0
78:
of organizations currently use or plan to use Al as part of their workflow automation initiatives.°
Currently use AI
l Plan to use AI
H no plans to use Al
25%
Base: IT and engineering leaders.
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 8
ea Rules-based processes are still of paramount
importance in the new world of automation. However, Al augments workflows with the ability to understand language, predict behavior, or make recommendations.”
- MARCO CASALAINA SVP PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, EINSTEIN SALESFORCE
IT Leaders’ Top Challenges for AI Implementation‘
Insufficient technical skills
Competing priorities
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 9
02 Automation Becomes
an IT Imperative IT Workloads Are on the Rise in an Increasingly Digital World
; Customers’ Estimated Split of Online and Offline Interactions with Companies? IT has no lack of projects to work on
these days. Like their peers in other business units, they’ve been hit hard by
a growing base of remote employees, customers are spending more time l i . 2020 60% 40% online than before - increasing the importance of digital. Across the globe,
es 2 c C 202
and many IT teams are overwhelmed.
Online interactions Offline interactions
37% of line of business (LOB)
- Reported Percentage Increase in IT’s Digital Projects Due to COVID-19° Slelelle LIE are fully confident IT
has the skills and technology to
keep up with demands."
| 11% 15% 15% 278 18% 21% 21% 22% 23% Japan France Netherlands Australia Germany United Hong United Singapore
Kingdom Kong States
Base: Line of business employees.
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 10
02 Automation Becomes an IT Imperative
, i Lines of Business Seek IT Project Acceleration LOB employees have noticed that IT is
swamped: A majority say leaders are too focused on day-to-day work to attend to forward-thinking projects.
LOB Employees Who Agree with the Following®
Reflecting their eagerness to accelerate I want access to data and IT progress, over two-thirds of LOB capabilities to be productive
i E j l as digital projects increase employees are interested in partnering with IT on digital innovation. This group of
may find promise in low-
emp oyee: ay find promise in lo SE fr andlobemplayeds application platforms (LCAPs) - a quickly should jointly drive avancing set of tools for that job. digital innovation
LCAPs are a tool that less technical teams
can use to build apps without much Pee ae > : preoccupied with
coding. According to Gartner: “By 2023, keeping the lights on
over 50% of medium to large enterprises
will have adopted an LCAP as one of their
strategic application platforms.””
03 Customer Service
Processes Evolve as Demand Surges
As companies reinvent how they engage customers, service agents — at the forefront of customer relationships — are particularly under mounting pressure. Cases are more numerous and challenging than ever, yet only a minority of
service teams have received budget or headcount increases in the wake of the dueling health and economic crises.
STEC RR Onea say COVID-19
has raised their standards for
customer service.?
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 11
Agent Workloads Increase While Resources Remain Stagnant
Service Professionals Who Agree with the Following?
Managing case volume has become more challenging
Customers have more complex questions or issues
Customers are harder to satisfy
Changes to the Following at Service Organizations During 2020°
73%
Case volume 52% 33% 14% Budgets 31% 41% 28% Headcount 19% 50% 31%
E increased HB No change HB Decreased
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 12
03 Customer Service
Processes Evolve as Demand Surges High Performers Turn to Process Automation
Service Professionals Who Say the Following Are Mostly Automated at Their Company®
Customer service teams are looking Total j i j 74% to automation for relief from G Sae = © INTOFMATION 0 H o, escalating workloads. 65 A gathating =
Time-consuming manual processes, like 74%
Soliciting collecting background information and 64: customer 63% conducting after case work, can frustrate 7 edaer 41% both the customer and the employee. Case 73%
eer, S ; ó classification 60% Today, a majority of service professionals 62.. and routing Te say repetitive tasks like these are mostly automated at their organizations, 70% with high-performing service teams - 57: Recommend 55%
: Z o next best actions those reporting the highest customer 34%
satisfaction — leading the charge.
56: After case =e T: % k (A s 71% of service decision makers N nono Er
say they’re accelerating automation
69%
initiatives.® Transcription 67% 56., of customer 53% interactions 36%
WB High performers B Moderate performers J Underperformers
Answers include “mostly” or “completely” automated (versus mostly or “completely” manual). High performers rate their customer satisfaction as “excellent,” moderate performers as “good,” and underperformers as “fair” or “poor.”
03 Customer Service
Processes Evolve as Demand Surges
One well-known example of automation in customer service — chatbots — has seen notably quick adoption in recent years.
@] Chatbots can field repetitive
tasks, like routing cases to the
right agent and answering simple questions. Done right, they free employees to focus on more creative, valuable work, while giving customers fast responses even when case volumes are high.”
- BRIAN SOLIS GLOBAL INNOVATION EVANGELIST SALESFORCE
83% of customers expect to
engage with someone immediately when contacting a company - up from 78% in 2019.?
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION
Service Organizations Increasingly Turn to Chatbots
Service Decision Makers Who Say Their Organization Uses Chatbots®
72%
increase
2018 2020
Year-over-year growth rate is calculated with the formula (new value - old value)/old value.
Chatbot Adoption by Service Organization Performance Level?
High Moderate Underperformers
Base: Service decision makers. High performers rate their customer satisfaction as “excellent,” moderate performers as “good,” and underperformers as “fair” or “poor.”
13
03 Customer Service
Processes Evolve as Demand Surges
Not all service automation is based on AI, but more sophisticated technologies - such as some chatbots - rely on it.
Al has become a powerful aid in customer service, working behind
the scenes to raise insights and recommendations, populate data, and trigger processes.
While fewer than half of service teams currently use it, AI use is growing. A majority of service decision makers say they have a fully defined AI plan.
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 14
AI Takes Off in Service
Service Decision Makers Who Say Their Organizations Use Al
% O Increase
Year-over-year growth rate is calculated with the formula (new value - old value)/old value.
76;
of service agents say automating routine tasks allows them to focus on more complex work.8
80;
of service decision makers say Al is most effective when deployed with - rather than in place of - humans."
7%
of service agents view Al as helpful to their job.?
Service Decision Makers Who Say They Have a Fully Defined AI Strategy?
High performers 73%
Moderate performers
Underperformers
High performers rate their customer satisfaction as “excellent,” moderate performers as “good,” and underperformers as “fair” or “poor.”
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 15
Industry Lens: Service Automation Trends
Most industries feel a push to automate their customer Planning for artificial intelligence, however, lags slightly service processes, but some are moving faster than others. behind, with smaller numbers saying their Al strategy is
fully defined. For instance, a whopping eight in 10 service decision makers in consumer goods Say they’re accelerating Government agencies — often subject to strict budgets and automation initiatives. regulatory controls — are moving slower on Al and automation
than many industries.
Consumer Goods Is at the Forefront of Service Automation and AI While Government Lags
Service Decision Makers Who Say They’re Service Decision Makers Who Say Their Organization Accelerating Automation Initiatives? Has a Completely Defined AI Strategy®
Consumer goods
Financial services
Energy and utilities
Communications, media, and entertainment
Retail Healthcare
Government
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 16
04 Sales Automation
Goes Mainstream
Sales Reps Struggle with Increasing Customer Demands The value of a good salesperson, as a
knowledgeable and empathetic advisor, only grows during times of ambiguity and change. Personalization is paramount
as customers spurn generic pitches and instead award business to those who understand their unique needs and provide value.
85-
of business buyers are more likely to buy from companies that
understand their business goals.?
52-
of customers expect offers from companies to always be personalized.?
However, developing the background to customize a pitch takes time, and many sales reps say they’re too bogged down with other responsibilities to gather the insights they need.
The Sales Insight Gap
Q- of sales reps say current of sales reps say it’s challenging Qo 77: fo)
economic conditions make finding time to get the customer insights they need."
it important to anticipate customers’ needs.?°
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 17
04 Sales Automation
Goes Mainstream AI Use Grows in Sales Sales Leaders Reporting AI Use According to sales leaders, AI — an important building block for many automation technologies — helps reps better address customer needs.
49%
increase
AI has been rapidly growing its sales footprint. While the technology has other use cases in sales, like improving forecast accuracy, leaders say Al’s most significant 2018" 2020*° impact ties directly back to the customer relationship, where it helps sales reps spend more time with the customer and better understand their needs.
Pe] We already have great
Year-over-year growth rate is calculated with the formula (new value - old value)/old value.
Top 3 Impacts of AI on Sales Teams?’
relationships with our customers, 1 Understanding of customer needs and Al became the catalyst for ae $ : 2 2 Use of sales reps’ time deeper connections with them. j Erg PALAGI 3 Understanding of competition E INTERNET CREATIONS
Base: Sales leaders at organizations using AI. Ranked by percentage who say improvements have been “major.”
EAD
04 Sales Automation
Goes Mainstream
When customers feel understood and personally attended to, they’re more likely to buy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, data shows top sales organizations
are more likely to automate repetitive manual tasks, freeing up reps’ time for meaningful customer interaction.
Transcription of sales data and notes
is the most common way sales
teams automate. However, high sales performers are particularly differentiated by automating recommendations for actions to take on accounts.
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION
High Performers Turn to Process Automation
Sales Professionals Who Say the Following Is Mostly Automated at Their Company®
Total een 60:. data and customer notes oe 56- administrative tasks Generating 54, quotes/ proposal Prioritizing 52. Be opportunities Determining 48. what action to take on accounts
B High performers B Moderate performers S Underperformers
High performers are “completely” confident in their organization’s ability to close deals. Moderate performers are “mostly” or “moderately” confident. Underperformers are “slightly” confident or “not confident.”
18
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 19
Industry Lens: Sales Automation Trends
Industries vary in terms of which aspects of the sales process energy/utilities and retail sectors take the lead, even the less they seek to automate. However, logging sales data and automated industries — like communications, media, and customer notes is a leading target for automation. entertainment — show strong numbers. This suggests sales automation is not a niche consideration for specific industries Unsurprisingly, some industries show higher adoption so much as a general trend taking place across sales overall.
numbers for sales automation than others. While the
Sales Professionals Who Say the Following Is Mostly Automated at Their Company”°
Logging sales data Generating Managing Prioritizing leads/ Determining what action and customer notes quotes/proposals administrative costs opportunities to take on accounts Retail Communications, media, l 54% 49% 44% 50% and entertainment
Not all industries included in the survey are shown here.
a Data Sources and Research Methodology
All data is based on double-blind surveys of third-party panel respondents.
All data cited in this report includes global respondents, except for The Experience Equation, which is U.S. only.
Detailed respondent demographics, segmentation definitions, and methodology information can be found in the sources listed below.
Data from a survey may not have been published in the report cited.
We standardized countries across the most recent State of Sales, State of the Connected Customer, and State of Service surveys. As a result, numbers published here may differ from those in the original reports.
Sources
aa FB WN =
10 11
The Experience Equation survey, Salesforce & Forbes Insights, November 2020. State of the Connected Customer survey, Salesforce, July-August 2020. Snapshot Research Series, Salesforce, May 2020.
Enterprise Technology Trends, Salesforce, May 2019.
Workflow Process Automation survey, Salesforce, March 2021.
The State of Business and IT Innovation, MuleSoft, December 2020.
Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, Paul Vincent et al., 30 September 2020.
State of Service survey, Salesforce, August-September 2020.
State of Service, Salesforce, March 2019.
State of Sales survey, Salesforce, May-June 2020.
State of Sales, Salesforce, May 2018.
TRENDS IN WORKFLOW AUTOMATION 20
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