Salesforce adds more intelligence, data science to Service Cloud

Salesforce on Monday launched what it calls an "intelligence engine" for its Service Cloud that aims to meld data science, customer service and more connected devices.

The argument from Salesforce is that data science and smart customer service will matter more as more devices are connected to the Internet. As the Internet of things snowballs, the expectations for rapid fire customer service will increase.

The key parts of the Service Cloud Intelligence engine include:

• Workflow automation via what Salesforce dubs intelligent business processes. The idea is that the new engine will assign cases to the right agent based on skills, history, workload and communication channel.
• Workload management that manages agent spikes in support. Cases will be distributed based on expertise and caseload. One example would be Service Cloud suspending cases for an agent that's on a video chat.
• Omnichannel views so customers can start a conversation in one channel and then move to another. The idea here is that customers won't have to repeat themselves when they go to another support channel.

What Salesforce is trying to do is prepare for more channels and devices being used for customer support and experiences. "I see these devices being customer support points," said Sarah Patterson, vice president of Service Cloud product marketing. Some of these tickets could start as automated cases from a connected point such as a car and then switch to another channel such as email, live chat or voice.

The engine is built on Salesforce algorithms with custom rules available for enterprises. Salesforce said it has "a number of customers" in pilots.

Here's a look at a few screen shots.

The Service Cloud Intelligence Engine will be available later in 2015 with pricing to be announced then. The intelligence engine will be an add-on to the Service Cloud, which starts at $135 per user per month.