One of the biggest
tasks facing most
organizations in
the agentic era is
modernizing legacy
systems and preparing
the workforce for
an AI-powered,
mission-ready future.
So how can AgentForce
and the Salesforce
military platform
help? Who better
than the 78th U.S.
Secretary of the
Navy to tell us? I'm
Kerry Chow, joined by
Dr. Michael Parker,
Salesforce VP of
Strategy and Business
Development and former
Secretary of the
U.S. Navy and CEO
of Del Toro Global
Associates, the Honorable
Carlos del Toro.
Gentlemen, thank
you both for
joining us here.
Thank you, Kerry.
Thank you for
having us. Yeah.
Secretary, you've led
the Navy. You're a
leader in the corporate
space. Based off of
your experiences, why
is it so important
to modernize legacy
systems with AI and
modern technology?
Absolutely. Thanks for the
question, Kerry. Thanks
for having me. It
was a great honor, and
I thank the American
people for allowing
me to serve as the
78th Secretary of the
Navy. But one of my
charges actually was
to modernize the Navy.
And, you know, I had
17 years in the private
sector as well, too.
And I always say
that the company that's
constantly modernizing
and restructuring
itself is dying on
the grapevine. And
it's no different than
the Navy, with one
exception. It's the
American taxpayer
dollars. And we actually
are very thankful to
the American taxpayer
for the investments
that they make in our
Navy and Marine Corps
so that we have the
resources and we can
actually provide these
courageous sailors
and Marines with the
best technology using
AI that can transform
how they actually
accomplish their
missions in time of
peace and in time of war.
listen, your
impact in the
military space is
unquantifiable.
We at Salesforce,
though, we love
numbers, and with
our Salesforce
military program,
we've helped over
80,000 trailblazers
since 2014.
tell us, though, what
is the Salesforce
military platform, and
what makes it so impactful
for military families?
Absolutely. As the
Secretary mentioned,
the experience is
extremely important for
the service member, the
veteran, and their
family. There's several
million individuals
that we support that are
on active reserve
guard duty, as well as
civilians, and providing
them the best service
we can is our mission.
And that's part of
what we consider a family
360 approach, which
is delivering improved,
modernized experiences
for the member and
their family. And
the work that we're
doing across the entire
department supporting
those individuals has
really been a game changer
for the organizations
that deliver the service
and the individual
service member.
And then everything
that happens during
your career, the entire
life cycle from recruitment
to separation or
retirement, there's
friction points. There's
moments that matter
in your career. And
we're transforming
those with these better
delivered digital
experiences. And then our
Salesforce military
program, specifically, that
has upskilled this
talent, the veterans and
spouses, has then been
brought into really
key positions across
the Egenic ecosystem.
I love you, Dr. Parker.
You mentioned, like,
how our programs try
to eliminate that
friction, right, that
fragmented experience
for so many military
families. That is part
of also the mission
of Blue Star Families,
Secretary, where you
serve on the board.
What kind of impact
do you envision Agent
Force public sector
can have on Blue Star
families and other
agencies to truly maximize
support across all
services, like from
recruitment all the way
to retirement? Well,
that's right. And we're
grateful to Salesforce,
actually, for the
continuum of services
that Salesforce provides
from the time that
a young man or woman
actually comes into
military service, the
training that it helps
them with, the human
capital support that
it gives them throughout
their entire military
services, and then
their families as
well, too, through the
support that Salesforce
gives Blue Star families
to make sure that
the families are also
being taken care of
by this extraordinary
501c3 organization
that provides so much
to military families
across the spectrum,
across the country,
across the globe,
actually. So we're very
thankful for that continuum
of service and support
to our military service
members and their
families provided by
Salesforce. force.
Dr. Parker, I'd love
to kind of double down
over on this agent
force impact because we
can hear all the
stats and data, but is
there like an anecdote
or a story which truly
indicates like
the power of what
we're doing that
comes to mind?
Absolutely. So
statistically,
case deflection is a
huge benefit for us.
It's a performance
improvement measure that
many of our services
track and manage to, and
it's that service that
they're providing.
But But anecdotally,
if you think about that
whole lived experience
and reducing friction
in the home for the
family, reducing
friction in the experience
that the service
member has, ultimately
increases morality,
increases retention,
resiliency, but more
important, the lethality
of the military force.
Yeah, you know, it's
fascinating to me. You
talk about this friction
and the military
experience, right? Because
when service members
get a PCS, permanent
change of station,
they're hit with so much
of that administrative
friction and burden,
for lack of a
better term, we're
talking about housing
issues, healthcare
issues, the list goes on.
AI, specifically Asian
force, can be a game
changer, but Secretary,
I'm also curious
about how are you
already leveraging AI or
AI initiatives to remove
your own administrative
tax? Absolutely
so. Look, I'm very
proud of the work that
our Navy and Marine
Corps is doing in the
Middle East today, for
example, and that's the
Navy and Marine Corps
that we trained over
the four years that
I was secretary to be
able to do that job.
We had over 1,000 AI
projects in place that
we were funding already
and working with
Salesforce on many,
many initiatives to help
improve the effectiveness
of our service
members to be able to
perform their mission,
both from a warfighting
perspective as well
as the administrative
perspective, reducing
the bureaucratic
burdens that are placed
on our system to be
able to to get them
the things that they
need logistically, for
example, to perform
their mission overseas.
So these things
make a difference.
Sometimes they take time
to make a difference,
but they eventually
do make a stark
difference in how they
perform our mission.
I think that's a
great point, because
sometimes it does
take time. It does.
we try to upscale
vets, spouses,
land a tech
career at no cost,
especially at a time
when unemployment
is huge. This is
truly impactful.
Excuse me, Secretary.
here. How do
you see partnerships
with Salesforce,
nonprofits like
Blue Star Families?
How is that all going
to impact talent
and retention? Well,
I think what's most
important is the
teamwork that exists
actually between our
military services,
the private sector
in the way of
Salesforce, and our
501c3 programs and NGOs
out there around
the globe, actually.
Experience matters,
right? You can't
be a good secretary
without the experience
to be able to
perform the mission.
Working in the private
sector matters, and
the experience that
Salesforce brings to
the table makes a
difference. And experience
in the 501c3 community
matters as well
in order to be able
to help the military
families, children, and
other things. So this
community of
stakeholders all working
together as one makes
a huge difference in
how we perform our
mission. Secretary, one
last question here,
because I'm curious.
We talked about the
importance of this, but
the importance of the
digital transformation.
But what would you
say is at at risk
if agencies don't
modernize their systems?
Sure, well we'll continue
to do business as
we do today while our
adversaries do make
that investment,
right? So let's not kid
ourselves that our
adversaries around the globe
are investing in AI.
They are investing in
space. They're investing
in cybersecurity.
And we here in the
United States are the
leaders in all those
technologies. We have
to have a commitment
to continue to invest
in those new technologies
that take us to
the day after so that
we can actually stay
ahead of our adversaries
around the globe.
Secretary, Dr. Parker,
thank you all so
much for joining us
here on Salesforce
Plus, and thank you
for your insights.
Excellent. Thank you
very much. But I'm very
sad to get asked
who's going to win the
next Army-Navy game.
I know. If we only
had more time. There's
only one answer.
Maybe. Our next
conversation to
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