Over the last decade, I’ve been deeply entrenched in the Salesforce ecosystem and have witnessed its evolution firsthand. Listening to Salesforce’s quarterly earnings calls has been a staple in my routine, offering insights that helped shape our business strategy.
However, the latest earnings call left me surprised. We’re currently seeing a significant shift in focus – and no, it’s not AI. It’s metadata.
Marc Benioff’s “Metadata” Earnings Call
While deep-diving into past earnings call transcripts, I found that the term “metadata” had only been mentioned five times since 2018. But in this year’s call, it was mentioned a staggering 26 times. Conversely, AI has been mentioned by Marc in every call over the same period and is growing in frequency.
What could have sparked this sudden fixation on metadata? Is it indicative of a strategic shift within Salesforce’s vision or an emergent trend we should be focusing on?
Before I dive into this shift in interest, it might be worth defining what metadata actually is…
What is Metadata?
Metadata, often described as “data about data”, is the cornerstone of many technological advancements, including AI, machine learning, and data analytics. It plays a crucial role in platform performance, security and compliance, data governance, scalability, and more.
With the exponential growth of data and the need for organizations to harness its full potential, metadata has emerged as a critical component for success. It empowers data-driven decision-making and helps unlock new avenues for growth and innovation.
Marc Benioff’s Shift in Focus: Why the New Interest in Metadata?
Benioff’s newfound focus on metadata carries significant implications, not only for Salesforce but for the broader tech ecosystem. As the leader of the world’s largest CRM platform, when his attention shifts, businesses across the world follow suit.
So why the sudden shift? A few factors come to mind:
- Cyber security and compliance landscape: As data privacy regulations become more stringent, businesses must ensure they have a comprehensive understanding of their data assets, including metadata, to meet compliance requirements and mitigate risks.
- AI and machine learning: The rise of AI has highlighted the significance of metadata in training and validating models. Metadata provides essential context and insights into the data used to build AI models, enabling organizations to understand the limitations, biases, and quality of their algorithms.
- An aging Salesforce ecosystem: The Salesforce platform has been around for 20+ years and organizations worldwide are grappling with aging, complex, tech-debt-riddled orgs. Now more than ever, businesses need agile and adaptable systems to meet constantly evolving business requirements. Metadata management is the key to ensuring platforms remain aligned with businesses’ evolving strategies and needs.
Metadata vs. AI: A Symbiotic Relationship
AI has undoubtedly been instrumental in Salesforce’s continued success, with the growth of Einstein and the recent launch of Einstein 1. However, the recent earnings call suggests that Benioff recognizes the critical role metadata plays in training and deploying trusted AI solutions.
Metadata and AI are not mutually exclusive; they are symbiotic. Metadata provides the foundation for AI, ensuring both data quality and transparency. In contrast, AI relies on accurate metadata to avoid the pitfalls of bad data.
However, AI is the one getting all the hype. Looking at the Google Trends results for the search term “metadata” shows not much has changed over the last 20 years. However, there is a noticeable rising trend from 2020 to the present day. When you compare AI as a search term to metadata, it dwarfs metadata, especially given the general publics current interest in generative AI.
The stark contrast between the Google Trends plots, with explosive growth in AI search vs. Marc Benioff’s recent interest in metadata signals that we may be hearing a lot more about metadata in the near future.
Why Metadata Is Important in 2024
As we venture further into 2024, understanding and leveraging metadata will be essential for staying ahead of the curve. Whether it’s optimizing system performance, enabling data-driven decision-making, or ensuring regulatory compliance, metadata holds the key.
Marc Benioff’s endorsement of metadata makes one thing clear: metadata is no longer just a footnote, but a fundamental pillar of success.
