Salesforce Aims to Put IoT Data to Work

The Internet of Things generates a massive amount of data, and much of it never makes its way into the sales and marketing process. To address that, Salesforce has announced Salesforce IoT Explorer Edition, an add-on to the company’s various cloud products that is designed to let customers automate reactions to IoT data and better gauge how their users are using products in the field and get insights on new revenue opportunities.

“The idea behind IoT Explorer Edition is similar to a lot of other Salesforce products and services, in that it looks to give non-techies a way to surface and analyze relevant data without having to do a ton of coding, said said Woodson Martin, executive vice president and general manager of Salesforce IoT. “In this case, it allows them to ingest data from connected devices across the smart home or industrial internet and link that directly to customer profiles within Salesforce.”

[ Related: Salesforce: AI Could Boost CRM By $1 Billion ]

According to a blog post on the company’s website, this is how IoT Explorer works:

• Low-code orchestration. Not many can afford hiring a team of developers to build proactive IoT business processes. That’s why Salesforce IoT Explorer ships with an easy to use, low-code interface.  Business users can click their way to create rules-based automation for any connected device. For example, admins at a solar supply company can build automated workflows that trigger service calls whenever a wind turbine generates energy below certain levels (let’s say, 80 percent).
• Customer Context. IoT data is meaningless without context. If you’re sending service agents to repair a wind turbine, wouldn’t it help to know if this is the customer’s second failure in a week? Or, to know if this is a proactive sales opportunity because the equipment is approaching end-of-life? By connecting device, sensor and application data to the Salesforce Platform, IoT Explorer Edition puts all that customer context in the palm of your hand (or both hands; some field agents use tablets now).
• Proactive Engagement. This is the key value of IoT Explorer Edition: to sell, service, and market in a way that sees around corners. For example, a local car dealership can trigger proactive sales campaigns when connected cars reach a certain mileage threshold, or proactive service when vehicle diagnostics report failures drivers are unaware of (or ignoring, which happens).

[Related: Industrial IoT at Scale: What’s Really Needed ]

Salesforce said they plan to demo IoT Explorer Edition at its upcoming Dreamforce extravaganza in San Francisco in early November.