Salesforce to invest US$1 billion in Singapore, partner SIA to develop AI airline solutions
It says the Republic is an ‘important growth market’ that plays a ‘crucial role’ in driving innovation for its products
[SINGAPORE] US-listed software company Salesforce on Wednesday (Mar 12) announced plans to invest US$1 billion in Singapore over five years to advance innovation through its Singapore research hub.
The San Francisco-based company also said it would collaborate with Singapore Airlines (SIA) to co-develop artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for airlines.
The investment aims to support Salesforce’s expanding customer base in the region and drive innovation of its digital labour product Agentforce through the company’s research hub located in Singapore – its first overseas AI research hub set up in 2019. Agentforce deploys autonomous AI agents to perform tasks such as customer service.
Salesforce said Singapore is an “important growth market” that plays a “crucial role” in driving innovation for Agentforce.
The company will expand the services of its platform architecture Hyperforce in Singapore to bring local data residency for Agentforce to the country. It will also upgrade its Singapore office with a new space for that can be used to host Agentforce activations and for upskilling initiatives.
Jermaine Loy, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, said this investment will “boost our ongoing efforts” to build a hub for AI innovation and adoption.
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Meanwhile, Salesforce will partner SIA to develop solutions for the airlines industry at its AI research hub in Singapore.
SIA said it will adopt Agentforce to help streamline its customer service operations and free up customer service representatives to focus on providing enhanced and personalised attention to them.
Agentforce’s capabilities will be boosted by Data Cloud, a hyperscale data engine built within Salesforce that combines relevant data together to bolster the functioning of the platform’s AI agents.
The national carrier will also use Einstein, a generative AI tool within its Service Cloud unit, to summarise customers’ previous interactions and to help customer service representatives assist them.
SIA will also incorporate more of Salesforce’s tools into its customer case management system to allow customer service representatives to deliver more consistent and personalised services.
Salesforce has been investing in Singapore for nearly two decades. Its customers include Grab, M1, FairPrice Group and home appliance brand Prism.
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