‘Generative AI promises a new frontier for Indian companies’: Deepak Pargaonkar from Salesforce

In an interview with indianexpress.com, Deepak Pargaonkar, Vice President, Solution Engineering, Salesforce India, touched upon various aspects of AI and its impact on businesses in India. Edited excerpts:

How can generative AI revolutionise business operations by automating tasks, optimising processes, and driving efficiency?

There’s a lot of conversation happening around generative AI because people have experienced the power of ChatGPT, etc. Clearly, AI capabilities are going to add a lot of value to businesses. A lot of these AI developments are working towards enhancing productivity, efficiency and experience. Firstly, when it comes to the end customer, organisations are working towards providing them a great experience. Secondly, empowering internal employees and enhancing productivity, which we can call “supercharging” productivity and increasing efficiency. For instance, if I’m a salesperson and I’m preparing for a customer meeting where I want to create a briefing, what generative AI essentially does is allow me to quickly request assistance.

At Salesforce, we have Einstein GPT, which is our generative AI model. It helps people in sales by creating a quick briefing around the customer and generating relevant documents. Similarly, if I’m a service person and I want to engage with a customer, based on their information and the topic of conversation, it quickly creates a personalised summary or information deck for me. This enables me to communicate with the customer efficiently and effectively. It is personalised communication that is relevant to the customer because it is based on their data, making it super efficient and productive. These are some simple examples of how generative AI can be beneficial.

How can generative AI fuel innovation and creativity within organisations? 

When we talk about the setup within the organisation, let me draw your attention to the tech function. The tech function builds certain apps using a specific development language. For example, an organisation using Salesforce as a solution, has a team of developers. Einstein GPT helps these developers write code quickly by generating a significant amount of code automatically. Once this happens, they can generate the technical innovation they want within the organisation. Customer-facing applications or internal applications, generative AI enables one to create them quickly.

This means your go-to-market time is reduced, and you have an efficient and bug-free code. These are some examples within the technology function. We are also talking about marketing, as digital marketing is on the rise. If you want to create landing pages for your website or product launches, your marketing team can create them quickly when needed. These are some examples that drive efficiency, productivity, and innovation within organisations.

In the context of India, what are some specific challenges and opportunities for leveraging generative AI in businesses?

We have been in talks with numerous businesses, and it’s safe to say that every single one of them has expressed interest in generative AI. They have specific use cases in mind. For example, I recently spoke with a leading organisation that inquired about leveraging generative AI in their customer service function. They wanted to explore the possibility of creating automated responses for customer complaints, ensuring efficient and timely communication.

When it comes to challenges, one key aspect is the required skills. Every organisation needs to consider the skills necessary to establish the entire generative AI capability within their operations. On one hand, there are technical skills needed to build and implement the technology. On the other hand, stakeholders, like the customer service example mentioned earlier, need to adapt to the new era of generative AI and adjust their working methods accordingly. Businesses must identify and prioritise use cases, determine the skills required, and address the upskilling needs of their workforce. These considerations are crucial for Indian businesses and organisations seeking to embrace generative AI.

How do you see generative AI impacting jobs and employment trends in India?

We are entering a world where AI and automation will become increasingly important. This will inevitably impact the nature of jobs. Tasks that are repetitive, manual, and time-consuming will be delegated to AI, whether it’s predictive or generative AI.

The human value will lie in performing high-value or high-end jobs, such as engaging with customers and building relationships. Individuals can then focus on these tasks rather than spending time on operational tasks surrounding them. However, this shift also means that organisations will be able to harness the power of automation to create new value-added roles that require human intelligence. This may lead to the emergence of new job categories such as automation engineers and AI writers. Existing jobs will undergo transformation in the way they are executed, while new types of jobs have the potential to arise.

How are Indian businesses using generative AI to drive innovation?

There is a significant amount of data indicating that a large number of organisations are considering the adoption of generative AI. According to global research, approximately 61% of employees believe that generative AI will enhance their productivity. Additionally, at least 90% of CIOs are contemplating how to leverage generative AI within their organisations. They are actively exploring use cases, assessing the value it can bring, and addressing the “how” aspect of implementation. They are also considering the challenges associated with upskilling team members and making organisational changes.

It can be observed that a majority of technical and technology leaders already have generative AI on their radar and are actively thinking about it. Furthermore, from an employee’s perspective, many believe that utilising AI or generative AI will increase their productivity and improve efficiency. These are some top-level observations from the perspective of Salesforce based on what we have observed. India is a nation where a significant amount of technology is developed. Therefore, we can honestly say that we have a high level of technology awareness.

What is Salesforce’s future roadmap for developing generative AI, and what are the company’s goals in this area?

We have been working on GPT with a specific vision and purpose in mind. Back in 2016, we launched Einstein AI, focusing on overall AI capabilities, not just the generative part. We have been dedicated to AI for a considerable amount of time. Our aim was to create AI capabilities for all business stakeholders.

Now, in 2023, as the world moves towards a data-driven environment, we positioned ourselves as leaders in this space. We realised that organisations leverage our infrastructure and solutions to work with their extensive customer data. So, we asked ourselves, “Can GPT utilise this customer data?” The answer is yes. Hence, Salesforce’s GPT was built with that question in mind, enabling us to leverage customer data within organisations. This authentic first-party data ensures reliable responses from the GPT solution – the Einstein GPT.

Salesforce provides flexibility to organisations to bring in their own models and deploy them alongside our offerings. Another crucial aspect we focus on is human intervention. For instance, when an automated response is generated by GPT and intended to be sent to the customer, we propose having a human validate that response before sending it across. Our approach revolves around the philosophy of working with your customer data, offering flexibility for model usage, and incorporating human intervention where necessary. These are some of the broad areas in which we are building and developing our GPT capabilities.

Can you elaborate on Salesforce and is perspective on privacy and data security?

I emphasise that our models work with your data while ensuring necessary privacy. It’s a fundamental aspect of Salesforce. Yes, we have guardrails in place. The data utilised by the models resides within your Salesforce CRM infrastructure. Additionally, from a development perspective, we have an Office of Ethics in AI, which focuses on training models in a responsible manner. We maintain a sense of responsibility throughout the process. These measures ensure that the data backed by Salesforce is safeguarded with privacy and security, while the Office of Ethics oversees the responsible training of models.

How does Salesforce tailor its generative AI offerings and initiatives to cater to the unique needs and requirements of Indian businesses?

We’re fortunate in a way that we already have a huge customer base in the country across various verticals, geographies, and organisation sizes. We serve customers in financial services, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, including large enterprises as well as small and medium organisations.

The capability we are building in the cloud allows us to democratise access. By democratising the capability, we make it available not only to the largest customers but also to the smallest ones. This is particularly important in India, as well as globally, where a large pool of small organisations has the potential to become significant players with the right technological support.

By democratising AI, we help these small companies stay at the cutting edge of innovation. Additionally, since we already have a substantial customer base in the country, we understand how they operate, their customer interactions, and the scale at which they work. Scale is always a consideration, but by working closely with our customers, we can extend the capabilities they currently use with the help of our generative AI.

Related Stories

IndiGo employee alleges caste-based abuse by senior officials; airline ‘strongly refutes’ claims

Test Priyanshu Haldar

‘Attack on Constitution’: After BJP MPs’ comments on judiciary, Congress senses opportunity, plans to corner government

Why so many Indian students — especially from Kashmir — go to Iran for higher education