Accuracy in forecasting has spurred 75 per cent of sales teams in the UAE to fully implement or experiment with artificial intelligence (AI), with an additional 22 per cent of teams evaluating the technology, a report showed.
Salesforce’s new State of Sales report highlights how sales teams are balancing technological advancements and building trusted customer relationships as they seek growth in a crowded marketplace. Top obstacle sales teams in the UAE encounter while implementing AI is insufficient human oversight, the report added.
The research showed that sales representatives were struggling to find time to meet customer expectations. Changing customer expectations is the top sales challenge worldwide, but it’s hard finding the time to connect.
Sales representatives in the UAE spend an average of just 27 per cent of the workweek connecting with customers, the report showed. Fifty four per cent of sales professionals in the UAE say changing customer expectations are more of a challenge than last year; only 13 per cent say it’s less of a challenge.
Globally sales adoption of AI is climbing as teams push for productivity and personalization, but concern regarding integration, security, and customer distrust mean the technology’s full potential for the profession has yet to be seen.
As labour markets tighten, sales employees are largely staying put. Globally, teams report 18 per cent average staff turnover over the last 12 months — down from 25 per cent in 2022. However, employee retention trends vary by region.
The average estimated staff turnover rate in the UAE over the past year stood at around 23 per cent, the report showed, and 4 per cent of sales professionals in the UAE are currently looking to change jobs.
Thierry Nicault, area vice-president and general manager, Middle East, Salesforce, said: “The UAE is surging ahead in its deployment of AI solutions, with the majority of sales teams now deploying innovative applications to enhance forecasting accuracy and deliver other benefits. The longer-term challenge will be successfully using AI to free up sales teams’ time and use the spare capacity to build stronger relationships with customers.”
Overall, today’s workers already trust AI to do almost half of their work tasks, according to new Salesforce research. While workers feel most comfortable when AI and humans work together, they are also beginning to trust AI to complete time-saving tasks autonomously, like writing code, uncovering data insights, and drafting written communications.
However, workers aren’t delegating everything to AI just yet. The research shows that today’s workers prefer tasks like onboarding, training, and keeping data safe to be overseen by humans. But this likely won’t last for long. The data also suggests that investing in knowledge and education builds trust in an autonomous AI future.
As technology advances, people are getting a glimpse into a future in which AI can operate entirely on its own. The Salesforce research, which surveyed nearly 6,000 people around the world, revealed that workers are excited about an AI-powered future. Workers also stressed the importance of a human touch as they build trust, knowledge, and experience with AI tools.
Workers today already trust AI to do roughly 43% of their work tasks, indicating a shift among workers to offload tasks to AI. 77% of global workers will eventually trust AI to operate autonomously.
While workers prefer AI-human collaboration, they’re starting to trust AI to handle certain tasks alone. Today, 54% of global workers trust humans and AI to do most work tasks together.
Concerns about AI may come from a lack of understanding. Fifty-four percent of global workers say they do not know how AI is implemented or governed in their workplace.
Workers who are knowledgeable about how AI is implemented and governed in their workplace are 5x more likely to say they will trust AI to operate autonomously within the next two years than those who are not knowledgeable. 62% of workers say more skill-building and training opportunities would build their trust in AI.
“Workers are excited about an AI-powered future and the research shows us that human engagement can help us get there. By empowering humans at the helm of today’s AI systems, we can build trust and drive adoption – enabling workers to unlock all that AI has to offer,” said Paula Goldman, chief ethical and humane use officer at Salesforce