Salesforce launches new Web3 platform to help brands offer NFTs

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(Kitco News) – Salesforce, the largest software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider in the United States, has announced its entry into the Web3 arena with the launch of Salesforce Web3, a platform that enables companies to produce, manage and sell non-fungible tokens (NFT) in a sustainable manner.

“As businesses and brands explore new Web3 technologies, including NFTs, it’s important that everyone does so in a responsible, ethical manner,” the firm wrote in its announcement. “Salesforce is no exception, which is why the company has centered its values ​​while developing, piloting and launching this new product.”

Salesforce partnered with Polygon Labs to launch its new platform on the Polygon network, a popular layer-two scaling protocol for the Ethereum network.

Polygon Labs president Ryan Wyatt posted a chirping on Thursday confirmed the partnership, saying that “Salesforce will help its customers onboard Polygon with its management platform to help customers create token-based loyalty programs.”

According to Salesforce, there has been growing customer demand for NFTs as a way to build brand loyalty and customer engagement, and the firm believes that NFTs “present an opportunity for businesses to find new audiences and source data from zero parties, and to lock up co-creation and co-ownership, token-gated communities and personal engagement using wallet data.”

The risks posed by the nascent digital asset space to security, privacy and trust pushed Salesforce to develop its Salesforce Web3 platform to provide customers with “a reliable, sustainable platform to run NFT campaigns and programs.”

With the limited release of the platform, “businesses can connect with their customers in a whole new way by connecting their Customer 360 with Web3 data for a holistic view of how customers interact with their brand across traditional and new digital environments,” a separate announcement from Salesforce said.

A survey cited by the firm indicates that 45% of customers would be more interested in buying an NFT if it came from their favorite brand, and three out of four customers who have purchased an NFT in the past say that buying a brand’s NFT makes them more loyal to that brand.

Additionally, 67% of respondents said values ​​are important to them when considering purchasing an NFT from a brand, and 65% said a brand’s environmental and sustainability practices are important when considering purchasing an NFT.

“Salesforce Web3 enhances our NFT collections to help us connect with customers and bring our Web2 and Web3 systems together,” said Sven Gerjets, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Mattel. “Web3 Connect provides invaluable insight into our audience and seamlessly bridges Web3 channels with the rest of our customer experience. We know we have a trusted partner with Salesforce and are now able to provide an exciting user experience and gateway to Mattel’s iconic IP in a new way.”

Salesforce used the expertise of the Office of Ethical and Humane Use, Technology (Product and Engineering), Sustainability and Equality to develop Salesforce Web3 with a focus on five key principles: trust and security, sustainability, equality, accountability, and integrity and transparency.

To ensure these principles were met, Salesforce conducted a customer pilot that included more than 275,000 transactions on Polygon and Flow and found no fraudulent activity of any issue.

The key findings from the pilot were that “customers see NFTs as a way to modernize loyalty programs and connect with consumers in the Web3; The product’s built-in security and trust functions work as intended; and Web3 has a steep learning curve,” meaning that “Brands must commit to educating their marketing teams and consumers about the technology, its associated risks, and how to safely engage.”

“These are still early days in a rapidly evolving technology landscape — and Salesforce will continue to evolve and innovate along with it,” the announcement concluded.