Latest news with #Salesforce
Techday NZ
an hour ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
How private LLMs are delivering real business benefits
While many organisations remain focused on experimenting with public AI platforms, a growing number are discovering that the real value of AI doesn't always require starting from scratch. Instead, they're finding success by putting to use capabilities that already exist within widely adopted platforms. From Microsoft 365 to Adobe's creative suite and cloud-based ecosystems like Salesforce, AI features are now embedded across enterprise applications. These out-of-the-box tools can streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance productivity without the need for costly overhauls. However, a true AI-related game changer - particularly for organisations concerned about data sovereignty and privacy - lies in private Large Language Models (LLMs). The rise of private LLMs A private LLM is an AI system that operates entirely within the boundaries of an organisation's secure digital environment. Unlike public LLMs, which rely on broad web-based datasets and internet connectivity, private models are trained exclusively on internal data and do not share information externally. These models can be deployed on-premises or via secure cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). The advantage is that they bring the power of generative AI directly to the fingertips of employees, without compromising sensitive information. Consider the example of uploading internal policy documents, technical manuals, or sales resources into a private LLM. Rather than spending hours combing through shared drives or intranet pages, staff can pose a simple natural language question and receive an accurate, context-aware answer in seconds. Transforming the way knowledge is accessed This transformation is already taking shape across a range of sectors. In law firms for example, where navigating vast collections of case law and legal precedents is a daily necessity, private LLMs allow legal professionals to locate relevant rulings or procedural guidance with remarkable speed. By reducing research time, firms can improve both client responsiveness and billable efficiency. Similarly, contact centres are embracing private LLMs to enhance customer service. Agents can submit real-time queries on behalf of clients and receive detailed, relevant answers almost instantly. Some AI systems can even listen in on conversations and proactively surface documents or information that might help resolve a query, eliminating the need for manual lookups altogether. Fine-tuning for precision and context While the promise of private LLMs is significant, getting the most out of them may require a degree of preparation as organisations may need to "tidy up" their data inputs. This might mean updating documents and titles to better reflect the content's purpose and intent. These changes will help the LLM to quickly and correctly identify and contextualise materials. Also, models may need to be trained on company-specific jargon, abbreviations, or industry terminology to reduce ambiguity and ensure accurate outputs. While not as intensive as training a model from scratch, these adjustments are crucial for maximising performance. A security-first approach For many senior executives, particularly in regulated industries, concerns about data security have been a roadblock to broader AI adoption. Public AI tools like ChatGPT raise the risk of confidential information leaking into external systems, either inadvertently or through user error. Private LLMs, by design, mitigate this risk. Because the model operates within an organisation's controlled infrastructure, data remains protected. Nothing is shared with third parties, and compliance with data governance policies can be maintained. This secure-by-design feature makes private LLMs not just a convenience, but a strategic imperative for companies handling sensitive information, be it legal, financial, or personal. Education is key to adoption As with any transformative technology, successful implementation doesn't end with the technical rollout. Employee education plays a critical role in ensuring that AI-enhanced applications are used safely and effectively. Staff need to understand not only how to use these tools but also the boundaries. They need to know what information can be entered, how data is stored, and why private models are different from their public counterparts. Importantly, organisations must emphasise the dangers of uploading proprietary data into public AI systems, which may retain or reuse that information in unintended ways. A single lapse in judgment can have serious consequences. As generative AI continues to mature, organisations face a crucial decision: chase the hype or focus on meaningful, secure, and sustainable value. Private LLMs may lack the flashiness of public AI demos, but they are quietly becoming indispensable tools for knowledge-intensive businesses. By leveraging internal data, respecting privacy boundaries, and empowering staff through intelligent interfaces, companies are turning their own information into a competitive asset.
Fast Company
2 hours ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Will your next CEO be AI?
It's 3:16 a.m., in a Mumbai hotel room and I'm wide awake. Not because of jet lag, but because somewhere, an AI CEO is making a better decision than I ever could. No fear. No bias. No sleep. It's processing board directives, analyzing global market shifts, cross-referencing geopolitical tensions with local weather patterns, all while monitoring the emotional health of 1,200 digital employees. It's not just leading; it's governing. And it doesn't blink. We've entered the Minority Report era of work: The AI CEO is preemptive, perceptive, predictive, agentic, proactively precise, and will one day exist. The idea of a non-human CEO, an AI entity driven by a large language model, and company board, trained not just on data, but culture, markets, emotion, is no longer the stuff of Philip K. Dick fever dreams. It's now a legitimate (and controversial) proposition in the future of organizational design in business. But it's not without precedent. Remember Zordon from Power Rangers? The disembodied digital mentor who never stepped into the battlefield yet orchestrated everything with absolute authority. Or Charlie from Charlie's Angels, a faceless voice commanding loyalty and precision. Even Severance, Ben Stiller's surreal corporate dystopia, presents a board that may or may not be human. We've been preparing for this idea in fiction for decades. The CEO as unseen oracle, algorithmic overlord, benevolent ghost in the machine. Imagine this: an AI CEO governed by a human board and flanked by a COO, CMO, and other operational figureheads. These aren't just advisors. They're reality-checkers, ethical anchors, and co-pilots. But the CEO? It's software. An algorithmic commander-in-chief without ego, distraction, or self-preservation instincts. No bodyguards. No bunkers. No scandals. Or privacy and security concerns. This idea isn't just about efficiency. It's about reimagining community and collaboration in the workplace. The rise of digital employees Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, recently predicted this is the last era we'll see non-digital employees. Whether that's hyperbole or not, the trajectory is clear: AI agents are becoming teammates. They write, design, code, analyze, and eventually they will lead. With that shift comes a complete rewrite of what HR even means. When your workforce is 50% digital and 50% human, talent development, conflict resolution, and wellness programs take on a very different shape. In this new model, IT doesn't just manage servers and software. It becomes the central nervous system of the organization, merging with HR to manage identities, behavior, motivation, and even morale. Digital employees don't take PTO, but they still need calibration. They can burn out metaphorically, if not literally, when their learning models are misaligned with real-world goals. The CEO as a construct This isn't the first time we've seen leadership abstracted into symbol. In the Wachowskis' V for Vendetta, the Chancellor is a towering face on a screen, more ideology than individual. In the real world, scroll social media and see Palantir Technologies' Chief Alex Karp escorted by security, living with the knowledge that decisions made behind closed doors can have deadly consequences. What happens when we replace that human target with an incorruptible, untouchable AI? Leadership becomes omnipresent. Less person, more presence. A voice that responds immediately to shareholder concerns at 2 a.m. A strategist that never forgets a data point, a promise, or a line in the P&L. This is not about replacing humans. It's about reassigning them to more human roles: building culture, challenging assumptions, storytelling, crafting the emotional resonance of a brand. The AI CEO doesn't take over your company. It frees your people to think bigger. From chaos to clarity The strongest leaders today aren't just operators. They're futurists. The best CEOs I've met are visionaries. But they're also exhausted. Because the world moves too fast for any one brain to keep up. Climate. Conflict. Culture wars. Every decision is a minefield. An AI CEO doesn't suffer decision fatigue. It consumes millions of inputs, identifies second- and third-order consequences, predicts crisis, and proposes action before it occurs. It took Pfizer and BioNTech 100 days to create the COVID vaccine, imagine if we were able to predict the pandemic six to eight month before is began, perhaps there'd be no pandemic. That's where the Minority Report reference hits hardest. It's pre-crime, but for business breakdowns: predicting talent turnover, spotting toxic cultural shifts, identifying PR flare-ups before they happen. It doesn't eliminate risk. It manages it with superhuman clarity. Possible pitfalls Could this become dystopian? Of course. An AI CEO without ethical oversight could drift into utilitarianism. Could it be manipulated by biased training data or malicious prompts? Potentially. Could it alienate human workers who feel surveilled or second-guessed by code? Definitely. Worse yet, we risk slipping into digital feudalism, a future where the owners of algorithmic leadership rule over knowledge workers and digital laborers alike, where the true decision makers aren't in the building and never were. But here's the thing: every breakthrough starts with discomfort. The printing press threatened religious institutions. The internet threatened gatekeepers. Self-driving vehicles threaten auto and manufacturing industry. AI leadership will threaten legacy ego and hierarchy. But it could also unlock a future where empathy, transparency, and scale coexist. Leading Without a Pulse I'm not saying we launch an AI CEO tomorrow. But I am saying the prototype already exists. In every company leaning into data-driven decision-making, in every organizational chart that gives AI its own department, in every executive who uses ChatGPT to write strategy decks, we're already testing it. What I am calling for is an open imagination. The willingness to explore a future where leadership is not determined by charisma or pedigree, but by precision and perspective.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Freshworks CEO talks Q2 earnings, AI, and taking on the software giants
Freshworks (FRSH) stock is in focus after the business software company reported better-than-expected second quarter results. CEO Dennis Woodside joins Asking for a Trend to discuss the earnings print, competing with software giants like ServiceNow (NOW) and Salesforce (CRM), and how the company provides enterprise customers with AI solutions. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. Enterprise software company Freshworks reporting second quarter earnings just moments ago and here to help us break down the report. We got Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside. Dennis, great to see you to have you on the show. So you just report results, Dennis. The stock, it's popping about 2% here in the after hours. Walk us through the results, Dennis. What what are you seeing in the business? Yeah, so Q2 was an outstanding quarter for us. And really the big story for us was AI. We exceeded our expectations on growth and profitability, grew revenue 18% year of a year, cash flow 29%. So really good quarter for us. I was talking to an analyst today, Dennis, who covers your company. He was saying, you know what I want to know? I want to know how does Dennis kind of sustain momentum in that division, the EX division where he finds himself competing with the likes of of a service now. What's your answer to that? Well, we've been competing with Service Now, Atlassian, uh, Salesforce for years. We're continuing to win business from them. Customers are looking for software that's enterprise grade, AI enabled, scalable, and, uh, doesn't cost as much, lower total cost of ownership, easier to manage. That's what we we offer. Where we're seeing real momentum, though, is in AI. Uh, we have two AI products that we're monetizing. We exceeded $20 million in recurring revenue for those products in the quarter. That's more than doubled year over year. We have 5,000 paying customers for those products. So AI really is the motivator for a lot of sales discussions against those bigger players. Speaking of AI, Dennis, help me think through this. Is it the other division for you all, the CX division? I know there are some questions folks have about whether how potentially disruptive AI could be there. Help me understand that, walk me through it. Well, we're seeing, uh, customers on the C, the customer support side of the business using AI to be more efficient in their operations. A good example there is Honda Motors in Europe. They do business in over 30 countries. They can't have a support team that speaks every language. It can't be 24/7. You have to use AI to to manage their interactions with their distributors and their dealers. And they've come to us, they're using our AI to power those interactions. So we view AI on the CX side as a tailwind. Our our AI revenue is roughly equally distributed between EX and CX today. You mentioned some big names you compete with, you know, including service now, Dennis. Are you taking share? So every quarter we're winning business from the likes of Service Now and Atlassian and these bigger players. You know, we have big companies that have come to us, uh, like Seagate, uh, universities. We have over a thousand universities, over a thousand public entities in the US alone. So we continue to take share because customers are looking for a product in particular in that mid-market. Think of a company like New Balance. It has about 5,000 employees. It needs a flexible enterprise grade solution for their IT department, uh, but they don't want the complexity that comes with some of those older legacy solutions, and that's why we're winning. I have to ask, Dennis, the stock is in the green here in the after hours, but heading into the report, it is down about 15%, uh, year to date. Do you think, Dennis, there are there are parts of your story that are underappreciated by investors, by the street right here? Well, I think the strength of the AI story, the strength of the EX story is a bit underappreciated. You know, we've been racking up quarter over quarter growth for both our AI customer base and our EX business. Over time, you know, the market will recognize that. I'm just thrilled with what we delivered this past quarter where we were able to blow through, you know, the the analyst expectations on both top and bottom line. Always interested, Dennis, here to get lines of sight into the economy based on your business, Dennis, what you see in the business, what you hear from your customers. How would you characterize the US economy right now? You know, the data points we get would seem to suggest a an economy that's that's hanging in there, healthy, resilient, but I'm curious to get your take. I, well, look, the demand for what we're seeing is pretty solid. Now, we offer products for both IT and customer support that are must-have products. You got to automate those departments. You got to bring AI into those departments to become more effective and grow faster or reduce costs. So, you know, having a must-have product is a good place to be. Uh, but we saw really steady demand in Q2, very similar to Q1. Uh, second half of the year looks really good. Final question, Dennis. Your tariff, that dynamic, um, in terms of downstream effects, Dennis, you seeing anything there in terms of, you know, smaller deals or taking time to get deals done? I mean, virtually none to be honest. You know, our business is pretty diversified. 45% of our revenue is from the US, 55% international. There's no one single industry that dominates our our portfolio. Um, and we saw just continued steady growth, really didn't see any blips from any kind of policy decisions out there. Dennis, great to have you on the show. Thanks for your time. Thank you.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Using Too Much Debt?
Legendary fund manager Li Lu (who Charlie Munger backed) once said, 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. Importantly, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) does carry debt. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating? Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. When Is Debt A Problem? Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together. How Much Debt Does Salesforce Carry? You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Salesforce had US$8.44b of debt in April 2025, down from US$9.43b, one year before. However, its balance sheet shows it holds US$17.4b in cash, so it actually has US$8.97b net cash. How Healthy Is Salesforce's Balance Sheet? We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Salesforce had liabilities of US$24.2b falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$13.7b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had US$17.4b in cash and US$4.35b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling US$16.2b more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined. Shop Top Mortgage Rates Personalized rates in minutes A quicker path to financial freedom Your Path to Homeownership Given Salesforce has a humongous market capitalization of US$257.3b, it's hard to believe these liabilities pose much threat. Having said that, it's clear that we should continue to monitor its balance sheet, lest it change for the worse. Despite its noteworthy liabilities, Salesforce boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load! See our latest analysis for Salesforce Also positive, Salesforce grew its EBIT by 20% in the last year, and that should make it easier to pay down debt, going forward. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Salesforce's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting. Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. Salesforce may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. Over the last three years, Salesforce actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. There's nothing better than incoming cash when it comes to staying in your lenders' good graces. Summing Up We could understand if investors are concerned about Salesforce's liabilities, but we can be reassured by the fact it has has net cash of US$8.97b. The cherry on top was that in converted 178% of that EBIT to free cash flow, bringing in US$13b. So we don't think Salesforce's use of debt is risky. Another factor that would give us confidence in Salesforce would be if insiders have been buying shares: if you're conscious of that signal too, you can find out instantly by clicking this link. Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Lenskart's Rs 8,000 crore IPO; Layoff clouds over IT
Next Lenskart's Rs 8,000 crore IPO; Layoff clouds over IT Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter: Lenskart files for Rs 8,000 crore IPO; founder Peyush Bansal boosts stake IPO snapshot: Fresh issue: Rs 2,150 crore. Rs 2,150 crore. Offer for sale: 132.2 million shares from existing investors, including SoftBank, Temasek, Kedaara Capital and Alpha Wave Global. 132.2 million shares from existing investors, including SoftBank, Temasek, Kedaara Capital and Alpha Wave Global. Cofounders Peyush Bansal, Neha Bansal, Amit Chaudhary and Sumeet Kapahi are together selling 31.8 million shares. Founder move: Founder move: He will also offload 20.5 million shares in the IPO, potentially netting Rs 700–750 crore. Founder stake top-ups ahead of IPOs have become a familiar trend in India's startup ecosystem, from Zomato to Swiggy and Freshworks. By the numbers: FY25 revenue: Rs 6,625 crore, up 22% year-on-year Net profit: Rs 297 crore vs. Rs 10 crore loss in FY24 International revenue: Rs 2,638 crore, over 40% of total Store footprint: 2,700+ globally Between the lines: Its omnichannel model now spans Asia and the Middle East, with the 2022 acquisition of Japan's OwnDays powering its international surge. FY25 was the first year the deal's full impact reflected in the books. The company is also expanding in Europe, with its Singapore arm set to acquire 80% of Spanish brand Meller for Rs 407 crore, a move aimed at Gen Z consumers. What to watch: Also Read: Nasscom flags deeper churn in IT; upskilling won't prevent more layoffs The context: Artificial intelligence is not the only culprit, but it is speeding the shake-up. Clients now demand agility and value, not bloated benches or traditional waterfall teams. Over 1.5 million professionals have been trained in AI and GenAI as of Q4 FY25. Around 95,000 employees in large IT firms now hold certifications in applied AI, embedded intelligence, and AI-native cloud. What's next: Also Read: TCS layoffs trigger flood of resumes; hiring remains sluggish Who's on the move: Veterans with 15–20 years in digital transformation, Salesforce, Java, AI/ML and cloud. Candidates eyeing global capability centres, IT product firms and tech startups. Compensation bands running from Rs 60 lakh to over Rs 1 crore, recruiters said. But the market's not ready: BluSmart heads into insolvency after creditor default Driving the news: The backstory: BluSmart had raised Rs 15 crore in 2023 via non-convertible debentures (NCDs), but missed repayments due in March and April this year. Catalyst, which sold the bonds to retail investors, approached NCLT after repeated payment notices went unanswered. Also Read: What's next: Why it matters: NBFC Elcid picks up tiny stake in Zepto amid fundraising What it signals: Why it matters: Zepto wants to boost Indian ownership ahead of its IPO plans. Cofounders Aadit Palicha, Kaivalya Vohra and the employee stock ownership (Esop) pool together hold about 28%, sources told us. The company is targeting an additional 8-10% local shareholding before filing. Also Read: For India's AI startups, it's pivot or perish The speed paradox: Startups are burning out faster than ever. Unlike older tech cycles, there's little room to iterate toward product-market fit slowly. Execution is the edge: Tell me more: Lenskart has filed its draft papers for an Rs 8,000 crore public offering. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ BluSmart bankruptcy■ Zepto's equity fundraise■ AI startups' dilemmaEyewear retailer Lenskart has kicked off one of the year's most anticipated new-age listings, filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offering (IPO) of up to Rs 8,000 Bansal recently bought a 2.5% stake in the company for Rs 222 crore from early investors at a $1 billion valuation, even as Lenskart now eyes a listing at Rs 70,000–75,000 ($8–9 billion) is pitching as more than just a homegrown retail eyes will now be on how public markets price a profitable, global-facing Indian startup betting on vision, both literally and IT sector is bracing for a fresh wave of job cuts. Nasscom, the industry's apex body, warns that the shift towards product-led delivery, cloud-native models, and automation is triggering a structural overhaul in how services are built and who builds has already fired the starting gun, announcing plans to shed 12,000 mid- and senior-level roles in FY26, roughly 2% of its may soften the blow, but it won't stop it. Nasscom says:Yet legacy roles are still on the chopping block as firms relocate talent and trim middle management. The message is blunt: workforce strategy will follow business needs, not HR cuts have unleashed a flood of resumés. Recruiters at CIEL HR, Transearch, and Michael Page say inboxes are overflowing as mid- and senior-level staff make a dash for the exits . Some executives started networking before the news broke, sensing the axe was market is tight, and senior roles are scarce. New-age skills are in demand, but lateral positions at similar pay grades are few and far between. Recruitment experts report a 25% spike in TCS-linked profiles, and the full ripple effect is yet to Mobility, once pitched as India's homegrown answer to Uber, has slipped into insolvency after defaulting on payments to Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted a petition by Catalyst Trusteeship, which said the EV ride-hailing startup failed to repay Rs 1.28 Insolvency Professionals will now manage BluSmart's assets as the interim resolution professional. The company had already suspended operations, while its electric fleet, owned by promoter Gensol Engineering, had been leased in Delhi-NCR and collapse highlights the perils of debt-fuelled, capex-heavy mobility ventures. With Gensol also facing insolvency, retail bondholders and fintech platforms that pushed these bonds are staring at potential Palicha, CEO, ZeptoMumbai-based non-banking financial company Elcid Investments has bought Rs 7.5 crore worth of shares in Zepto, the 10-minute delivery unicorn, according to a stock exchange filing. The purchase values Zepto at $5 billion, matching its November 2024 round The stake is minuscule at 0.039%, but the timing matters. Zepto is in the final stages of a larger $500 million fundraise combining primary and secondary deals led by General Catalyst and Avenir get there, Zepto is lining up a $250 million secondary share sale through Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and its founders are negotiating Rs 1,500 crore in structured debt to provide Indian investors with a larger share, as we reported on April AI startup scene is facing a brutal shakeout . In recent weeks, at least four ventures—YC-backed Wuri and CodeParrot, along with and shut down. Their exits highlight the harsh reality for founders: raising capital, scaling fast, and staying relevant in a market moving at breakneck pace of AI innovation is unforgiving. Investors call it a 'speed paradox':'Founders now realise it's better to shut down and restart rather than bleed cash,' said a Bengaluru-based investor. Tune AI cofounder Naman Maheshwari put it simply: 'AI makes it easy to build but hard to win.''Speed is the moat,' said Blume Ventures' Sanjay Nath, warning that slower, polished products often lose to faster-moving, nimble India's Preeti Lobana adds that true winners will solve big problems – in healthcare, climate and sustainability – not just wrap AI around someone else's model. To quote another investor, 'If your idea doesn't stand without AI, it won't last with it either.'
