Benioff: Salesforce-Slack merger supports hybrid workforce

Only about 1,000 fully vaccinated Salesforce users were invited to attend Dreamforce 2021 in person, with thousands of other users attending virtually -- a microcosm of the hybrid reality Salesforce aims to support with its latest technologies.

The Dreamforce keynotes from Salesforce CEO and co-founder Marc Benioff -- along with president and COO Bret Taylor and CMO Sarah Franklin -- were long on vision and short on technology reveals, focusing on changes that COVID-19 forced upon the workforce and how the company's platforms accommodate this new era of hybrid virtual/in-person offices.

Benioff, Taylor and Franklin talked about how the pandemic made work a remote affair for Salesforce users. They said Salesforce-Slack integrations will create a "digital headquarters," enabling those users to meet and collaborate online as remote work -- or hybrid home-office splits -- likely remain the norm even after the pandemic finally subsides.

More time, however, was dedicated to speaking about social and climate issues. That, and how a workforce buffeted by the pandemic and a socially turbulent 2020 created a labor crisis, part of which involves millions of employees quitting their jobs, dubbed the "Great Resignation."

"Some [employees] have quit; there's a Great Resignation going on," Benioff said. "What else happened? Well, some of them moved. There's a Great Relocation going on. Wow, it's amazing. It's kind of astonishing. Actually, we have never had a workforce crisis quite like this."

Business, as Benioff has suggested many times over the years, can be a platform for change to address these issues. He exhorted Salesforce users to lead the change.

The small but enthusiastic crowd was enough to give Benioff and his lieutenants enough spark to deliver their usual lively presentations and keynotes, compared with last year's Dreamforce. There, Benioff was mostly alone in Salesforce Park, a rooftop recreational area atop a San Francisco transit center. He said then, with more than a hint of disappointment, "This isn't the Dreamforce we wanted, but it's the Dreamforce we've got."

This year, the thousand Salesforce users -- whom they call Trailblazers -- was a far cry from the almost 180,000 who attended prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the group was enough to re-energize Benioff.

"The whole company feeds off the joy of that community, I think it's part of their culture," said Liz Miller, an analyst at Constellation Research. "They feed off the excitement of the people who use Salesforce and love them the most, and there's nothing wrong with that. Feeding off the joy of the community is why you invest in the community to begin with."