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In today’s hyperconnected, digital world, there’s never been a more exciting time for UK businesses to grow and succeed. Britain is seen as a tech powerhouse around the globe thanks to our thriving fintech industry and significant investment in new technologies like artificial intelligence. It’s clear the UK is in the middle of a powerful change and it’s these rapid tech developments that are helping businesses deliver innovative solutions to customers.

British businesses have much to be proud of and we’re glad to be riding the wave with them. 

On the day of Salesforce World Tour London, we’re seeing all of this come together. The event, which is one of the largest business computing gatherings in Europe, is a great example of how the wider ecosystem works together and helps British business prosper. Businesses attending the event, like growing UK start-ups Perkbox and Funding Options, are using Salesforce to rapidly grow their business whilst almost two thirds of the FTSE 100, many of whom are also coming to World Tour London, now run on our platform. This is testament to how we can help both small and large companies innovate to address the challenges they face and ensure the customer remains at the centre of their innovation. 

World Tour London is also a day where customers (including The Challenge, Centrica Connected Home, Shell, KONE, Ashfield Healthcare and Perkbox), partners and Salesforce executives come together to share best practice and find out how the world’s smartest CRM can make them even more successful.

Oliver Lee, Chief Executive of The Challenge says, “In 2009, approximately 160 young people participated in The Challenge’s programmes; in 2016 we reached around 45,000 participants. We knew we needed outstanding systems to manage our programmes and give each young person on them the support they need. That's just what Salesforce has consistently given us and we simply wouldn’t be where we are without it." 

Customer centricity must be the top priority for UK business leaders today

These days, success is all about delivering an outstanding customer experience – one that is personal and timely, that demonstrates how much you understand your customers. There’s still great opportunity for UK companies looking to keep their customers happy. In fact, earlier this week we released new research into the Connected UK Customer Experience. Key findings include:

  • Customer service is the most important factor when it comes to putting consumers off a particular company. Survey respondents overwhelming chose poor customer service (73%) as a reason for not purchasing from a company.
  • More than one in three (36%) said that an inconsistent experience across mobile, online and in-store put them off a brand and a further third (36%) said offers that weren’t relevant to them put them off purchasing.
  • And larger companies need to take note from smaller, independent shops because eight in ten (80%) shoppers think retailers in their local area offer good customer service.

For UK businesses and retailers, the results demonstrate the need for companies to put the customer experience at the forefront of their operations. It’s the biggest opportunity for brands to get ahead of the competition but it will only be successful if the experience is consistent and personalised across different channels, including web, mobile, social and instore.

Salesforce continues to be a trusted partner for British businesses, helping them achieve this customer centricity

Thanks to our ongoing commitment to our customers, here in the UK Salesforce is seeing continued growth and we’re continuing to invest in the market. Recently Great Place to Work awarded us second place in the UK Best Places to Work category and in the year ahead, Salesforce plans to open a world-class executive briefing centre in Salesforce Tower as our UK team continues to grow. In fact, by 2020, the Salesforce ecosystem will drive more than £35.8 billion of impact to the GDP and 149,000 new jobs. 

We are also continuing to deliver innovative products and solutions to our customers. Yesterday we announced new Commerce Cloud Einstein, further proof of our promise to deliver artificial intelligence across our platform to bring the power of AI to everyone. Salesforce is committed to making life easier for businesses, putting the power of a data scientist in their pocket. With Commerce Cloud Einstein, retailers can use machine learning to gather information and use it to help them better understand the needs of the customer they’re dealing with.

We’re also focused on our communities 

Our growth isn’t just about driving business success. We’re also continuing our commitment to give back to our communities. Salesforce has a long history of supporting the third sector through Salesforce.org’s Power of Us product donation programme, strategic grants initiatives and employee volunteering programme. In keeping with this, Salesforce.org is working with The Challenge and RSBC to offer an onsite coding event, London Codes, at World Tour London as part of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The event will show how technology skills development can help improve accessibility to rewarding career opportunities for visually impaired youth, and encourage them to apply for apprenticeships.  

London World Tour is a symbol of our commitment to the UK – to our British customers, partners, employees and our communities. It also signifies our ambition for this market. London World Tour 2017 is expected to be one of the largest cloud computing events in Europe this year and we hope you can join us online to take part.