Salesforce Forecasts Upbeat Quarterly Revenue on Cloud Boost

The cloud software company projects upbeat quarterly revenue due to a cloud boost. Shares of the company surged nearly 10% in extended trading on Wednesday after Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff increased its profit outlook.

Salesforce projects adjusted earnings of $4.74 to $4.76 a share, up from their March guidance range of $4.62 to $4.64, on revenue between $31.7 billion and $31.8 billion.

Revenue Growth

On Wednesday, Salesforce (ticker: CRM) forecast first-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations as pandemic-induced migration to hybrid work models drives demand. Shares of the cloud software vendor rose 10% after-hours trading on this news; additionally, management raised their full year profit guidance to $1.37 per share from $1.33 a share and increased their share repurchase program to $20 billion.

Investors had anticipated that the company would benefit from its long-standing sales lead tracking business and that a shift towards hybrid work models will generate additional revenue. However, its bookings for remaining performance obligations (CRPO bookings) rose 11% to $20.9 billion versus analysts' average estimate of $21 billion.

Salesforce faces several obstacles to future growth. One is the slowdown in enterprise software growth, which has put pressure on its stock, and another potential proxy fight. Activist investors Elliott Management and Starboard Value, along with hedge fund Third Point, ValueAct Capital and Inclusive Capital, are targeting Salesforce's stock.

Salesforce recently purchased data analytics firm Tableau in a $15.7 billion all-stock deal to address these issues. The software giant plans to incorporate Tableau's tools into its Einstein AI platform, which enables customers to forecast customer sales based on historical data.

Forecasting deals at the right stage and time has been shown to increase sales performance and help Finance/FP&A plan for various scenarios, which is especially crucial when dealing with sudden market shifts.

Sales teams often rely on spreadsheets for forecasting purposes. But these inefficient, error-prone methods are only so reliable. Salesforce provides a more robust solution in this regard.

Salesforce makes it simpler for Sales, Finance/FP&A teams to stay in sync and monitor changes in bookings and account run rates. Doing so helps avoid planning errors or reporting gaps that are hard to rectify.

Furthermore, it enables flexible and granular forecasting. This enables finance and operations departments to easily manipulate data, leading to more precise predictions with increased realistic outcomes.

Expansion of the Customer Base

Businesses must prioritize having a large customer base to increase sales of goods and services. Businesses can expand their customer base by appealing to repeat buyers and offering special deals or discounts to them.

A large customer base can help companies cultivate a positive brand image and boost profits. Furthermore, having such an audience serves as free marketing for the business, since customers are likely to refer the brand to friends and family.

Cloud services are a popular solution for many companies due to their accessibility of applications and services from anywhere. This enables employees to work remotely and share data with business partners more easily. Furthermore, cloud solutions tend to be more cost-effective than on-premises alternatives.

Cloud services are becoming more and more popular as more customers embrace them. According to Gartner, 85% of businesses will have adopted cloud technology by 2025.

Cloud technologies enable businesses to reduce costs and boost efficiency while still enjoying enhanced security and dependability. Furthermore, they can enhance customer experiences by making it simple for people to connect with the right people at the right time.

Cloud technologies can also boost employee productivity. A service management software company like ServiceMax relies on cloud solutions to guarantee its field technicians have access to customer information and manage their jobs from any location.

Furthermore, cloud-based systems offer businesses more flexibility and control over their IT infrastructure. Businesses can easily expand by adding additional users and servers as needed, giving them complete flexibility to scale up or down as necessary.

Another advantage of cloud-based systems is their real-time updates. This makes it simpler to adjust customer needs and preferences, which is critical for businesses striving to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.

Cloud-based solutions can save a business money by cutting costs and eliminating the need to purchase costly on-site equipment. Furthermore, these types of solutions typically have subscription-based models with lower upfront expenses and minimal capital investment requirements. This makes them especially appealing to businesses that need to upgrade their IT infrastructure without investing in hardware or software upgrades.

Expansion of the Sales Cloud

The Sales Cloud is the ideal platform for Sales teams, providing them with a 360-degree view of their customers and creating an efficient process that aligns with their growth strategy. Furthermore, it helps them manage business relationships more effectively and efficiently by keeping track of all consumer conversations centrally.

This tool also makes it simple for the sales team to access customer and prospect information anytime, anywhere - on any device. With real-time updates, they can stay informed and make decisions quickly.

Sales Cloud allows employees to be more productive and efficient at work, ultimately leading to increased revenues for the company. As a result, Sales Cloud has become so popular among businesses.

Salesforce recently unveiled three innovations designed to help sales teams sell smarter and faster to exceed customer expectations. These include AI-powered insights on the entire sales pipeline, enablement resources and self-service options that give them additional power in their digital-first selling journey.

These solutions can be integrated with other cloud systems to deliver a unified customer experience that's personalized, consistent, and on-brand. Furthermore, they give sales pros tools for managing their pipelines and improving forecast accuracy.

Another significant advantage of the Sales Cloud is its capacity for connecting users with clients and prospects via various channels, including email, mobile, social media, and phone. This enhances client engagement while improving the company's reputation.

Sales managers can benefit from the customizable workflows and point-and-click capabilities of the system. This saves them time in creating records, as well as helps them visualize the steps their reps need to take in order to move a prospect through the sales cycle.

Finally, the sales cloud also offers a sandbox feature to test any changes you want to implement before they go live on an actual system. This ensures your sales processes and company's systems won't be disrupted while also giving you a chance to experiment with different scenarios and see how they affect productivity levels.

Expansion of the Service Cloud

Salesforce is forecasting upbeat quarterly revenue despite potential economic slowdown, thanks to its newly launched products and Customer 360 platform. Furthermore, the company hopes to quell activist investor ire by cutting costs and winning over more customers.

The company recently unveiled a product that will enable sales leaders to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for faster deals closure. This technology is built upon Einstein AI, an cloud-based tool which analyzes account history data in order to anticipate which leads should be pursued by salesperson.

It will be accessible in the Service Cloud, the company's customer support platform. Organizations can track agent performance and optimize operational processes to enhance services while improving service quality.

Another new feature in the service cloud is Workforce Engagement, a workforce planning tool that helps companies forecast demand for their service representatives. This tool also guarantees companies have qualified agents available to answer customer requests when required.

Salesforce has several tools in the pipeline for their Service Cloud platform over the next couple of years, such as a telephony tool to allow agents to contact customers by phone and a service request forecasting and management tool.

Salesforce is looking to extend its leadership position in cloud-based customer service software with this new service. According to IDC, Salesforce currently holds a market share of 32% within this segment.

Salesforce is also striving to enhance its service offerings by integrating more data sources into its cloud applications. Recently, it announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) which will allow it to embed AWS voice, video, and other services within its platform.

Salesforce customers now have the advantage of using AWS' services for developing apps that integrate their business information in Salesforce without needing to code. AWS will provide all necessary infrastructure, while Salesforce provides a guiding setup experience.

Salesforce Cloud Connect makes it simpler for companies to utilize AWS services from within Salesforce, allowing them to activate virtual call centers through Amazon Connect and have that service integrated into all sales and service apps.