Salesforce’s deal with AT&T is one of the ‘largest transactions we’ve ever done,’ Marc Benioff says
Salesforce has inked a deal with AT&T that will go down as the biggest partnership the cloud customer relationship company has made in its history, CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday.
“This is a transformational opportunity for AT&T wireless,” he said in a “Mad Money” interview. “It’s one of the most significant and it’ll be one of the largest transactions we’ve ever done.”
Benioff, an internet entrepreneur who founded Salesforce in the midst of the technology boom of the late 1990s, heaped praise on Jeff McElfresh, his counterpart at AT&T, for buying into his company’s Customer 360 platform. AT&T will use the service, called Salesforce Customer 360 Truth, to build a customer identity to facilitate contact with its clients with consistent information across various access points.
“He’s an incredible visionary,” Benioff said of McElfresh. “AT&T has many customer touchpoints” and “when you go to any one of these customer touchpoints, they’re going to know who you are through our single source of truth.”
Salesforce’s “single source of truth,” a customer information file, compiles customer data in one place that can be accessed on multiple apps and fronts, Benioff said. Those touchpoints include the home, call center, retail store, messaging and phone.
“We’re focused on making sure that our customers can connect with their customers in a whole new way across every critical customer touchpoint,” Benioff said.
Benioff, however, did not disclose the dollar value or length of the deal.
“AT&T is in the business of connecting customers to the world around them and to the premium content they love,” McElfresh said in a press release. “Salesforce 360 will help us amplify the benefits of connectivity services for our customers and deliver the most highly-tailored and best cross-channel experience ever.”
Salesforce reported earning 70 cents per share on $4.87 billion Thursday afternoon, topping analyst estimates on both measures, in its fiscal 2021 first quarter ended April 30. The software company posted year-over-year revenue growth of 30% in a quarter plagued by the coronavirus pandemic as it continued to take market share in the space.
The stock, however, sold off as much as 4% after the close after the company offered guidance that was below expectations.
“This has been such a challenging quarter,” Benioff said without providing more context when asked about the light forecast.
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