Salesforce, the cloud-based CRM software giant, is breaking into Web3 to help future-proof its clients and connect with a new generation of customers.
“It’s a new kind of relationship with a new generation of customers, with–at its heart–a new set of data,” the co-founder of Salesforce's Web3 studio Marc Mathieu said in an interview with Decrypt at NFT Paris on Friday.
With industry hype and inflated digital asset valuations currently on “pause,” the company sees now as a great time for customers to start experimenting with decentralized tech, including crypto wallets and NFTs.
“We think the wallet is the new cookie,” said Mathieu. “It’s gonna be embedded in all the brand’s websites, connecting your wallet. That’s a new data layer.”
Salesforce builds software to help automate the customer service process for their business clients, using the cloud platform Hyperforce. Mathieu is part of the firm's Web3 studio team, comprised of over 100 ambassadors spanning various industries and geographies across the globe.
The company launched the pilot for an NFT minting and sales platform last June, designed to help engage online communities and collect valuable data.
At the time, a spokesperson for Salesforce told Bloomberg that brands could likely use NFTs for creating loyalty initiatives and accessing private web communities.
As a company that isn’t natively crypto, the firm’s entry into the industry caught many by surprise – including its own employees. In fact, over 400 workers signed a letter protesting the launch of Salesforce’s NFT marketplace months in advance of the rollout, citing NFTs’ speculative and potential environmental harm.
According to Mathieu, its NFT rollout has taken efforts to address those criticisms – including waiting on Ethereum’s transition from ‘proof of work' to the more efficient "proof of stake" consensus mechanism.
“If you used the Salesforce solutions in Web3, you bring in our values of trust, of sustainability, and equality to the party,” he said.