Salesforce India new biz proportion up in H1 – Times of India

BENGALURU: Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO and chairperson of Salesforce India, said 50% of the company’s new business from India in the first half of this year came from new business, compared to 38% in the same period last year.
In an interaction with TOI on Wednesday, she said companies are fast-tracking their digital plans, having seen the necessity for it during the pandemic. “What they planned to do in three-four years, they now want to do in six months. So, despite the business challenges, opportunities have increased for us,” she said.
Demand for marketing and commerce solutions, she said, are fast getting added to the traditional demand for CRM (customer relationship management). The $17-billion Salesforce’s flagship product is its cloud CRM. But it now has a variety of other cloud products that help clients get a complete view of their customers.
Salesforce India on Wednesday announced $240,000 in grants to six NGOs in India focused on bridging inequalities in society and making education and nutrition accessible. The NGOs are The Akshaya Patra Foundation, United Way of Hyderabad, Anthill Creations Foundation, Goonj, SOS Children’s Villages of India, and Protsahan India Foundation. The money is expected to help benefit the lives of over 15,000 people.
Bhattacharya said a recent survey commissioned by Salesforce of 20,000 people globally, including 2,000 in India, found 65% of survey participants from India saying that closing global inequalities should be a high priority for businesses. About 61% of respondents said it’s critical their employer gives back to their community.
The grants are partly in response to this sentiment. But Bhattacharya noted that Salesforce has long had a philanthropic model that they call 1-1-1 – giving away 1% of your time, 1% of your products and 1% of your profit or equity to philanthropic initiatives.