It’s now been over two years since the last “traditional” Dreamforce, but the inspiration and motivation are stronger than ever. Since the 2019 Dreamforce season, the world has gone through several crises, some of which are still ongoing and threatening our livelihoods: the pandemic, a workplace crisis of resignation and relocation, climate change, and inequality. 

—The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on with polarizing vaccine hesitancy, mutant variations, and unequal distribution of doses slowing the immunization effort. 

—Resignation and relocation wildfires are threatening countless companies unprepared to pivot to new workplace norms. Only 15 percent of people plan on returning to the office, and the need for reskilling is greater than ever.

—The global climate is in danger. Between the industrial revolution and deforestation, over 700 gigatons of carbon have been released. 

—Inequality also continues to hold back too many people of different races, incomes, sexual orientations, genders, or education levels. In the pandemic alone, we’ve seen women be 1.8x more vulnerable to job loss than men. 

The world is in desperate need of kinder and more reliable organizations to change the course of the future. That’s why Marc Benioff kicked off Dreamforce 2021 by showcasing how each of us can take the current trust crisis and instead usher in a wave of trusted enterprises.

In his keynote address, Welcome to the Trusted Enterprise, Marc Benioff inspired a hybrid crowd of millions to be Trustblazers, an evolution of Trailblazers that sees all of those crises facing the world and works to address each one. The world is already in the middle of a fundamental change, as Marc noted, and that change is pushing organizations all over the world to become trustworthy enterprises. Since business is the greatest platform for real societal change, Marc shared his five-step playbook for the trusted enterprise in his keynote, and we wanted to share the highlights with you: 

 

Trust

Today’s organizations have to stay focused on their core values to earn that foundational layer of trust with today’s customers. Businesses have the highest level of institutional trust of all organizations, sitting at 61 percent. But can’t that number be higher? Companies that put innovation, equality, and customer success as top priorities will come out on top with more trust and potential for good. 

 

Customer-first

Another tenet of the trusted enterprise is customer-first experiences. This means direct, trusted relationships with every single customer at every touchpoint. Whenever these can be personalized, they should be. There’s an 84 percent increase in direct to consumer revenue waiting for those companies that adopt a customer-first approach. 

 

Digital HQ

If the past year and a half has taught businesses anything, it’s that your company’s digital gathering is far more important than its physical address. The premise of the digital HQ is having that central, virtual gathering place for your company. As Marc noted, it’s a fundamental key to starting to build that trusted enterprise in today’s world. 

 

Health and Safety

The health and safety of employees and customers must always be a top priority for trusted enterprises. Just take a look at Dreamforce 2021 alone: Salesforce has been collecting q-tip samples from its prospective attendees for days leading up to the event, collecting that data in its Health Cloud platform, and confirming ongoing healthy registrants with daily check-ins before any large gathering. The data collection effort that comes with maintaining health and safety protocols is herculean, and it’s vital to making future in-person events possible for all enterprises. 

 

Sustainability 

Finally, a trusted enterprise is not entirely trustworthy if it isn’t doing its part to build a more sustainable planet for future generations. Salesforce announced during the keynote that as of this year it is both carbon net-zero and renewable, and it’s eager to be the example that shows every other company how to achieve the same. More sustainable business practices are crucial to earning the loyalty of future, younger customers.

 

Thank you, Marc Benioff, for encouraging us and showing us how we can each do something to repair the world, transcend the trust crisis, and put good back into our communities through the trusted enterprise.