Despite a series of executive departures at Slack, Harris hopes his presence will encourage employees to stay. He has moved his desk to the Slack floor in Salesforce Tower and is actively involved in reviewing Slack metrics and working on Slack and Salesforce integrations. Harris' focus is on understanding how Slack has become successful and applying those lessons to Salesforce's operations. He is also working to redirect Salesforce and its 73,000 employees towards generative AI, a technology that is rapidly gaining traction across various industries.
Key takeaways:
- Parker Harris, co-founder of Salesforce, has been instrumental in guiding the company's shift towards generative artificial intelligence, after the company was caught off-guard by the viral success of ChatGPT.
- Harris is now the technology chief of Slack, which Salesforce acquired in 2021, and he has been actively involved in integrating AI into the company's sales, customer service, marketing and commerce applications.
- Despite some initial resistance, Harris led the push for Salesforce to move much of its IT infrastructure to the public cloud, a decision he describes as "lonely" but necessary for the company's survival and growth.
- Harris has recently taken on a more active role at Slack, following a series of executive departures, and is working to convince employees to stay with the company.