{"id":724,"date":"2023-06-12T15:56:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T15:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2023\/06\/12\/ai-data-crm-chief-engineering-officers-innovative-insights-for-a-competitive-edge\/"},"modified":"2023-06-12T15:56:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T15:56:13","slug":"ai-data-crm-chief-engineering-officers-innovative-insights-for-a-competitive-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2023\/06\/12\/ai-data-crm-chief-engineering-officers-innovative-insights-for-a-competitive-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"AI + Data + CRM: Chief Engineering Officer\u2019s Innovative Insights for a Competitive Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Srini Tallapragada and Dylan DeSimone<\/em><\/p>\n

In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we examine the professional life experiences that have shaped Salesforce Engineering leaders. In this special edition, we meet Srini Tallapragada, President and Chief Engineering Officer for Salesforce. In his role, Srini leads the global engineering team to drive innovation at Salesforce.<\/p>\n

Read on to learn about Srini\u2019s career journey, his approach to leadership, and how Salesforce is uniquely positioned in the market with its AI + Data + CRM advantage.<\/p>\n

What motivated you to pursue a career in engineering, and how did you get started in the tech industry?<\/h4>\n

Growing up in India, it seemed to me like if you were good in math or science, you either got into engineering or medicine. I went into engineering and picked computer science. The college I studied at had an old Russian IBM mainframe, which was a copy of the IBM 370. I got into punch card programming and assembly. By the time I finished my formal education, there was a boom in the IT industry. I came to the Bay Area in February of \u201897 and joined Oracle as an Engineer in their Server technologies division, and the rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

How do you see the future of engineering evolving, and what excites you most about the possibilities of new technology like AI?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The great thing about my job, engineering, and the tech industry is that they are constantly changing. You have to be agile. My job and the job of the engineering org is to ensure Salesforce is leading in innovation \u2014 taking all the different technologies coming in and translating them into the customer experience as we bring them along.<\/p>\n

As things keep changing, we\u2019ll bring our customers along in the future, in the mobile way, the social way, the cloud way, or now in the data and AI way. The most interesting part is leveraging those technologies to help our customers connect to their customers in new ways and bring them along so that they don\u2019t need to worry about them \u2014 we worry about them.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on your experience as a leader in the tech industry, what was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many people think technology is the biggest challenge, but it\u2019s about the people and aligning everyone on a common goal. I always have confidence that my engineering teams will solve the technical challenges. But making the mind shift and aligning everybody has been one of my toughest challenges. The trick is to have great engineers and provide a vision big enough for them to bring all their creativity. Sometimes this means saying \u201cno\u201d to 100 or 99 things, so you can protect the one thing you\u2019re focused on creating. That\u2019s the challenge.<\/p>\n

There are also points where you\u2019ve got to make a leap of faith. The hardest for me was <\/a>Hyperforce<\/a>: this was less about the technology and more about it being hard for people to see what was around the bend. My learning as a leader is that you\u2019ve got to explain the why, and it\u2019s not enough to do it once. Everyone needs to understand the why and you need to have the patience to keep explaining it. For example, we couldn\u2019t have done our fastest-growing organic innovation in Salesforce history \u2014 Data Cloud \u2014 without Hyperforce.<\/p>\n

Can you share a personal anecdote about a time you had to take a risk to achieve a goal or make an impact in your career?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The risk is in the execution and direction. Both are equally important. The risk of direction is that it may be the wrong hill to take. It requires a lot of knowledge, a lot of scanning the environment, and a lot of learning. And of course, we still have to execute on that, and we also have to manage the execution risk.<\/p>\n

We are now doing generative AI<\/a>,<\/a> and we\u2019ve been working on it for some time. We\u2019ve been building large language models (LLMs)<\/a> and have been using them internally. From the industry, it looks big, but we are ready to make the leap of faith as we are excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us. A key part of my job is to always understand what\u2019s happening \u2014 I ask and learn from others: other countries, other places, and other companies. So I\u2019m always trying to scan the environment.<\/p>\n

What is it about the combination of AI, data, and CRM that can be so powerful for businesses that Salesforce made such an investment in that technology?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve been in the CRM industry for over 25 years chasing this. I call it the holy grail. The holy grail was for our Customer 360 to have personalized one-to-one experiences because everybody wants to be treated as an individual, not like a pixel or a cookie.<\/p>\n

At Salesforce, we have all of the layers. We have the bottom infrastructure layer, <\/a>Hyperforce<\/a>, and we provide a data layer with Data Cloud<\/a>. Then, you need applications and we have the best with our Customer 360. Add AI \u2014 both predictive AI, which is what Einstein is, and Einstein GPT, which is the generative AI \u2014 and suddenly, we have all the pieces that we alone can solve. Only we have that combination, which is why with AI + Data + CRM, we are uniquely positioned as a company in terms of our ability to execute. I\u2019m very excited and you see that energy in our customers.<\/p>\n

What feedback have you received from customers regarding Data Cloud and the fusion of AI + Data + CRM?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Almost every customer I\u2019m meeting with nowadays wants to know about generative AI. AI was always happening and the new language models were there, but ChatGPT has shown what\u2019s possible and sparked the imagination and creativity of everybody. It\u2019s a foundational moment. Everybody wants to know how it will impact their business and how Salesforce can help bring them into the future.<\/p>\n

Every customer has data silos, and that\u2019s why they\u2019re wanting to understand all of this AI, but you need data for it, which is why they want to really understand Data Cloud. But, these two by themselves won\u2019t be complete without our applications \u2014 Customer 360 and Slack. Customers assume we will give all the power of this technology with all the right guardrails<\/a> \u2014 that\u2019s the big problem that we have to solve in an ethical, proper way.<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Hungry for more AI stories? Check out this blog<\/a> to explore the newest AI projects at Salesforce.<\/p>\n

Stay connected \u2014 join our <\/a>Talent Community<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Check out our Technology and Product teams<\/a> to learn how you can get involved.<\/p>\n

The post AI + Data + CRM: Chief Engineering Officer\u2019s Innovative Insights for a Competitive Edge<\/a> appeared first on Salesforce Engineering Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Srini Tallapragada and Dylan DeSimone In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we examine the professional life experiences that have shaped Salesforce Engineering leaders. In this special edition, we meet Srini Tallapragada, President and Chief Engineering Officer for Salesforce. In his role, Srini leads the global engineering team to drive innovation at Salesforce. Read… Continue reading AI + Data + CRM: Chief Engineering Officer\u2019s Innovative Insights for a Competitive Edge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":534,"url":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2022\/01\/19\/engineering-leadership-work-life-awareness\/","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":0},"title":"Engineering Leadership & Work-Life Awareness","date":"January 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Dylan is a Senior Director of Engineering Enablement & Engagement at Salesforce and was recently interviewed on the Level Up Engineering Podcast hosted by Coding Sans. This is his\u00a0story. When not spending his days working at Salesforce, you\u2019d probably find Dylan in the gym, out for a bike ride, or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":696,"url":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2023\/04\/04\/video-meet-5-salesforce-engineers-who-are-innovating-the-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":1},"title":"[video] Meet 5 Salesforce Engineers Who Are Innovating the Future","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we examine the life experiences and career paths that have shaped Salesforce engineering leaders. This special edition connects five of the best and brightest minds within Salesforce Engineering and across the world including India, Argentina, and the U.S., chronicling their quest to innovate the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":692,"url":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2023\/03\/22\/how-is-indias-brilliant-big-data-processing-team-engineering-salesforce-data-cloud\/","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":2},"title":"How is India\u2019s Brilliant Big Data Processing Team Engineering Salesforce Data Cloud?","date":"March 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we examine the life experiences and career paths that have shaped Salesforce engineering leaders. Meet Archana Kumari, one of Salesforce\u2019s first India-based woman engineering leaders. In her role, Archana leads Salesforce India\u2019s Data Cloud big data processing compute layer team \u2014 charged with providing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":834,"url":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2024\/03\/06\/how-the-new-einstein-1-platform-manages-massive-data-and-ai-workloads-at-scale\/","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":3},"title":"How the New Einstein 1 Platform Manages Massive Data and AI Workloads at Scale","date":"March 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we feature Leo Tran, Chief Architect of Platform Engineering at Salesforce. With over 15 years of engineering leadership experience, Leo is instrumental in developing the Einstein 1 Platform. This platform integrates generative AI, data management, CRM capabilities, and trusted systems to provide businesses with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":676,"url":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2023\/02\/07\/how-is-salesforce-driving-a-culture-of-collaboration-in-engineering\/","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":4},"title":"How is Salesforce Driving a Culture of Collaboration in Engineering?","date":"February 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we examine the life experiences and career paths that have shaped Salesforce engineering leaders. Meet Kwesi Ames, our vice president of software engineering, who leads the Hyperforce Solutions Engineering team (HSE). Kwesi and his globally distributed team (hailing from the U.S., Ireland, and India)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/2023\/04\/11\/3-ways-salesforce-takes-ai-research-to-the-next-level\/","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":5},"title":"3 Ways Salesforce Takes AI Research to the Next Level","date":"April 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In our \u201cEngineering Energizers\u201d Q&A series, we examine the life experiences and career paths that have shaped Salesforce engineering leaders. Meet Shelby Heinecke, a research manager for the Salesforce AI team. Shelby leads her diverse team on a variety of projects, ranging from identity resolution to recommendation systems to conversational\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fde.cat\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}