Einstein, Simply Put

Einstein’s influence within Salesforce is growing rapidly and Salesforce are dying to tell you all about what it can do. These days, it honestly seems like a never-ending rapid-fire of new smart Einstein features being unveiled with every Salesforce release-cycle.

This is making it a challenge for people to set individual Einstein features apart and understand what it can do for them within the cloud they work in. How do these features work? Where do they start and where do they end? How do they even exist on the platform?

If you don’t know it already, Einstein is Salesforce’s Artificial Intelligence engine. It’s not really just a friendly little white-haired guy as Salesforce marketing may lead you to believe. Moreover, it is a clever selection of data processing technologies that Salesforce has developed and distilled in an easily digestible format. My blog series (starting from this episode) is key for anyone wanting to understand how Einstein can help you grow your data science practice.

Here’s your first task, stop thinking about Artificial Intelligence or Einstein as a single bit of technology. Instead, regard it as chunks of technology that can make your work-life easier by providing recommendations, predictions. Think of Einstein as a suite of technologies that can help you understand your data and point you to where you need to focus your effort - and I’m going to tell you all about it.

Me, Data Science and Einstein

From the moment I got interested in Salesforce I always considered Einstein the most exciting area of the platform. Possibly even the reason I decided to go so hard to get a job within the Salesforce ecosystem. Here, a year and half and 6 certificates later I can tell it was the right decision. I studied Big Data Management during my masters, so naturally because of this I was drawn to Einstein. Back then I used to think that in order to practice data science in organizations, a specialized team of experts were required, which is not something that many orgs can afford. However, in that frame of being I had yet to have the pleasure of being introduced to data science packaged in a user friendly and agile format.

Accessibility Above All Things

Salesforce knows most organizations cannot employ a team of data scientists and at the same time it wants to help customers be more data driven. Their answer was to deliver a user experience which serves the power of a data science team via features that are easily consumed, yet still sophisticated enough to carry full BI suite-type functionalities if required.

Salesforce’s approach to the packaging of these features and how it enables any Salesforce-enabled organization to get started on their journey to becoming data driven is really what sets Einstein apart. And now I’m not even talking about how data with Einstein becomes directly actionable right in the system where you need it (more on that in a later episode).

To me, however, the 5-odd clicks to a fully functional Machine Learning model without ever having to touch the R-Code running in the background easily manifests this user-friendliness and approachability to a tee.

The Mission: Simplifying Einstein

From Einstein Analytics to Discovery to Prediction Builder to Language and Vision (to name a few) the number of features that can be leveraged is really quite astounding. This blog series will take a more thorough look at Einstein technologies and move to understand their importance and interplay, as well as how they can be leveraged to improve your working activities. I will explain the features and contextualize them, while also attempting to combat the use of fuzzy terms like Artificial Intelligence in order to not make the already fuzzy concept of “Einstein” any more of a black box that it already is.

Interested in learning more about Einstein and what it can do for you? Make sure to press follow and tag along for the journey. I will inspire you with some of the wildly helpful (and sometimes lesser known) functionalities that Einstein has to offer, as well as how it could help improve your day-to-day workflow.