McKinsey at Dreamforce: delivering on the promise of AI and tech

October 16, 2024This year, Salesforce's annual conference, Dreamforce, drew innovators, leaders, and experts from more than 100 countries to San Francisco to experience firsthand the newest advances in AI. "Get over 40,000 people together who love technology and that's an amazing vibe," described Steve Reis, a McKinsey senior partner.

"Together, we're helping companies pivot from expectations to execution. We are partnering with Salesforce in many ways from our value assurance work on CRM implementations, to standing up AI sales rep solutions, to developing AI agent blueprints," said Lareina Yee, a McKinsey senior partner and global alliance leader.

Whether it's in marketing, sales, pricing, or customer experience, technology can drive company growth. To help companies deliver on the promise of tech and AI, we showcased our newest capabilities that integrate AI into Salesforce technology: solutions that enhanced lead development, higher-quality service informed by real-time information, and fine-tuned pricing. Below are some highlights from the event.

Technology and AI are top of mind for CEOs

McKinsey, in collaboration with Salesforce, brought together more than 30 CEOs for insightful discussions around the most pressing tech and AI challenges and opportunities. The dynamic dialogue, led by McKinsey's Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels and senior partners Eric Kutcher, Greg Kelly, and Lareina, explored strategies to capitalize on the moment and empower talent. "One of the things CEOs are really struggling with is that they're not sure how the pace of change in technology doubles their market cap or makes a material difference to their overall performance," noted Bob. "I think one of the most exciting things I'm seeing is how we can help answer that particular question-how do you take technology and combine that with organizational change to have real material enterprise-wide level impact."

AI delivers results for Holcim

Juan Beltrán, digital manager of sales excellence at Holcim, a sustainable cement manufacturer, presented to a packed auditorium, detailing a transformation project they recently completed with McKinsey and other partners. Using the latest in AI co-pilot capabilities, they reinvented a manual, computer-based ordering process into a mobile WhatsApp solution. Now, their customers can order a cement truck delivery from anywhere, anytime. The AI co-pilot proposes, negotiates, and completes up to eight orders a minute, freeing up staff to focus on service. "Holcim is a terrific example of how industry leaders are boosting their productivity through injecting AI into their sales operations," says Jan-Christoph Köstring, a McKinsey partner.

AI: what to expect next

In a keynote speech and interviews, Steve, who specializes in AI-led growth transformations, reflected on the advances in the technology.

"The first phase was the efficiency play making it easier for humans to do tasks, but AI has evolved so now there are opportunities where the human doesn't even need to be involved," he said. For example, online customers looking for a particular product can text with a bot that's so effective, it's hard to tell whether you're talking to an AI agent or a human.

"Imagine you're on a manufacturing floor and realize you need to replace a part. In the past, you would have to get somebody there on site, tap into their personal expertise, maybe consult their network, simply to identify the product part," says Steve. Now with AI, you can use the camera lens on your phone to take a picture, and it will be accurately identified and ordered in seconds, to arrive when needed. "This doesn't require a human but, more importantly, it's a better customer experience because it's faster," he says.

In the next phase, businesses will start to see separate channels come together-marketing, sales, pricing, service-with AI capabilities that can fluidly orchestrate them, making those discrete activities more integrated and efficient. Humans will have the opportunity to create a much more personalized and valuable experience for the customer.

Women in the Workplace 2024: The 10th-anniversary report

If the possibilities created by AI seemed limitless, the keynote feature on our Women in the Workplace research brought things down to earth. Lareina shared the results of our tenth-anniversary report, along with Sheryl Sandberg, founder of Lean In, a co-sponsor, and Eric. "It will take 48 years until we reach gender parity, meaning sharing 50-50 with men in positions of power," Lareina said.

The disparity begins at the start of women's careers: they are less likely to be hired into entry roles and then less likely to be promoted into the first managerial position. This early "broken rung" sets the stage for an ever-widening gap in gender equality throughout careers. The exception is the C-suite level, which has seen the greatest gain in ten years, with women in positions of leadership growing from 17 to 29 percent.

One of the positive notes is "ambition": 69 percent of women said they want to be promoted; 77 percent of women of color said they did. "Ambition gives us hope," said Lareina. "Progress has been fragile; it's a tough year, and not a great report card."

There has been some progress. Companies have established stronger programs for parental leave, fertility benefits, and flexible work arrangements. A critical opportunity is in encouraging more girls to choose careers in STEM. In a few years, they can be stepping into high-demand tech leadership roles-a worthy aspiration for an event designed to encourage big dreams.

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