Will Salespeople Be Replaced by Robots?

As the CEO of one of the companies at the forefront of sales technology, I often get asked this time of year to predict what the future holds for the sales industry. Usually the person asking me is seemingly looking for some new angle or revolutionary technology utilization that will transform the industry. Sadly revolutions, even in technology, tend not to happen from one year to the next. Although I have seen a lot of bold predictions made about 2017, I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that artificial intelligence (AI) is not likely to transform CRM over the next 12 months, and certainly salespeople won't be replaced by robots. Nevertheless, if you dare to open the aperture to the next decade, the question becomes a lot more intriguing.