Salesforce Named One of the Best Places to Work in the Greater Washington Area for Second Time

I'm excited to announce that Salesforce has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the Greater Washington Area by the Washington Business Journal.

In 2013, I joined Salesforce to lead the North American Public Sector team. Over the last six years, our teams have not only expanded in Herndon and Reston, but we've also expanded our sales and marketing efforts globally. Throughout our growth, our culture has remained consistent and strong.

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to work with amazing teams who are not only dedicated in the office, but who are equally as passionate about improving the local communities in which we do business. Last year, our team completed over 16,000 hours of volunteering throughout the D.C. area. Through Salesforce's 1-1-1 Philanthropic Model, we've raised money for Loudoun County School System, packed thousands of meals for the Backpack Food Program, and partnered with customers to clean up the Potomac River.

As members of the Greater Washington D.C. business community, we realized that we could make a significant difference in our communities, especially in the lives of children, with the resources and skills we have at Salesforce. We've adopted several local schools apart of Salesforce's Future Ready initiative. Local program highlights include:

• Our work with students at Sugarland Elementary, helping them earn 2nd place in a county-wide robotics competition.
• Our team hosted a K-8 Junior-Achievement-in-a-day at Clearview Elementary during which we took over the school and mentored kids in the “I Can” curriculum.
• We provided backpacks for students at Herndon Elementary to be sure kids had what they needed to start the school year right.

I didn't think anything would be able to top our celebration of the Washington Capital's Stanley Cup victory, but I was wrong. Thus far, participating in “Bring Your Kids to Work Day” was a shining highlight for our hub. We hosted 50 children for a full day of activities. Watching employees speak with passion about why they love about their jobs with these future Trailblazers was an incredible moment. We told them about different career paths, how our team and software helps the government, and how much we value workforce diversity. I loved when the kids were asked, “what do you think your parents do at work?” One replied, “they build apps,” another said, “they sell software.” Of course, there's always one who's brutally honest: “they talk on the phone.”

Looking ahead, we're going to keep doing what has made us so successful; working together as one Ohana (the Hawaiian word for family) focused on our helping our customers and partners succeed, and in our communities to help make the world a better place. I'm proud we've been recognized by the Washington Business Journal as one of the area's best places to work, and I'm even prouder of the contributions our employees make every day

Blancheporte Selects Salesforce to Support its Digital Strategy

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, announced that Blancheporte—the sixth largest French e-merchant in the fashion sector and the leading company for the over-50 market—has partnered with Salesforce to build the brand's new ecommerce site, providing its customers with seamless, personalized and omnichannel shopping experiences. Two projects initiated include Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Einstein for Commerce, adding artificial intelligence for greater customization along the customer journey, and improved time-to-market to ensure Blancheporte’s collections are always up-to-date.

Putting artificial intelligence to work for an ultra-personal shopping experience

With a background in distance selling, Blancheporte has become a pioneer in data analysis and use, learning how to know and recognize every one of its two million customers. The brand has created robust omnichannel customer journeys, meeting shoppers at intervals on its social networks, website, blog and through the pages of its catalogue. Einstein for Commerce will allow Blancheporte to take personalization even further by using artificial intelligence to decode its data, wherever it comes from, and create highly engaging customer experiences.

Synchronizing and speeding up time to market

Since the launch of its retail website in 2005, Blancheporte has relied on a more frequent renewal of its collections, styled by its in-house design office. The brand now offers 1,600 new models every year, many of which are only available on its website. With Commerce Cloud, Blancheporte will now be able to analyze the reception of its innovations in real-time, both online and in-store, and adjust its ranges accordingly.

“Coming from a distance selling background, a pioneer in data analysis and use, Blancheporte has learned how to know and recognize every one of its two million customers. By linking our historic experience to the powerful Salesforce platform, we will be able to adapt our collections further to the wishes of the fifty-somethings, present our range in more flexible ways and further improve our plans for retention and increasing customers. This collaborative partnership will also enable us to improve our own skills so that we can further decode and respond to our customers’ expectations,” said Salvatore Spatafora, associate marketing, multi-channel and customer director for Blancheporte.

“We are proud to support Blancheporte, a two-hundred-year-old company that has become the sixth largest e-merchant in the French fashion sector, as it moves into the next stage of its development. With Commerce Cloud, we are going to bring data collected on all of Blancheporte’s channels together so they can interact with each other. Gathered on the Salesforce platform, they will become smarter and more efficient, working for a redesigned customer experience. Using the full power of artificial intelligence is an important way of gaining competitive advantage. Blancheporte has understood this perfectly,” added Olivier Derrien, Salesforce Managing Director in France.

About Blancheporte

Founded in Tourcoing (59) in 1806, Blancheporte is today the 6th largest fashion & home e-retailer, the leading fashion site for the 50-somethings market and 3rd in the plus-size segment. Blancheporte’s in-house design office creates its own accessible fashion & home collections, to suit women's preferences for colours and sizes.

Through effective use of the paper/digital combination, Blancheporte maintains the joy of receiving a catalogue, while strengthening its unique position online. Its website gets 2 million unique visitors a month, with 35% of searches also on mobile. In addition, Blancheporte sends out 70 million catalogues a year to its communities, each an inspiring encounter for the customer.