According to Salesforce, there are three main adoption hurdles for AI in business: identifying a viable use case and having data to support it; addressing change within employee workflows and embracing new technology; and trusting whether the AI is correct and aligns with company values. To address those issues, Salesforce recently launched Einstein's Guide to AI Use Cases, an interactive website aimed at helping organizations interested in Salesforce AI identify the use case that best fits a user's specific industry. Users are asked what group best represents their departments, which key performance indicators (KPIs) matter most to their businesses, which use cases positively affect those KPIs and what other companies have been successful with that use case. Once a user has chosen a use case, the site provides a description and a "What You'll Need" section, which advertises the best Salesforce AI product for that use case. Users can also see an example of a customer using that technology.

Less clear was how a new IBM partnership will change Salesforce AI plans. What's the state of Salesforce Einstein, the portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities announced last fall? Salesforce generated plenty of media coverage this week with two big announcements. Here's my take on the realities of a partnership with IBM and what we have yet to understand about the packaging and pricing of Einstein. The first announcement from Salesforce this week was the unexpected bombshell on a new partnership with IBM that headlines simplified as "Watson meets Einstein."