Einstein, Salesforce’s AI-powered CRM product, is adding three new low-code features to its existing Einstein Automate software portfolio. Salesforce describes the three new features as designed “to help every Salesforce customer, regardless of technical background, use low-code tools to automate time-consuming, manual processes and integrate data across systems.”

The existing Einstein Automate tools, which include MuleSoft Composer for Salesforce, Salesforce Flow and Flow Orchestrator, are being joined by MuleSoft Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which lets users build bots to handle simple, repetitive tasks; Einstein Document reader, which uses AI to scan documents and take action on data found within them; and Digital Process Automation, which lets brands build branded digital experiences without writing any code.

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“A recent MuleSoft survey found 77% of IT and business decision makers are already using or plan to use automation solutions to increase productivity. Salesforce customers are no exception to this, with an average of 38.2 billion processes automated and 116 billion Einstein predictions completed daily as of July 2021,” Salesforce said in a blog post. “As organizations shift to digital-first customer experiences, they need automated workflows to handle time-consuming tasks, such as verifying user account information,” Salesforce said. 

Salesforce acquired additional RPA capabilities through its recent purchase of RPA provider Servicetrace, which was made a subsidiary of MuleSoft, also owned by Salesforce. Brent Hayward, MuleSoft CEO, said that the remote work post-COVID landscape means that RPA is increasingly critical. 

“Our platform makes it easy to unlock and integrate data from anywhere — wherever it resides — and manage, monitor, secure, and govern that data at scale. MuleSoft will now also make it easy for line of business and knowledge workers to automate business processes and dramatically increase efficiency and speed,” Hayward said. 

RPA deals mainly with automating repetitive human tasks, like data entry and data extraction, using simple bots that step through workflows like a human performing the same task. Digital process automation, on the other hand, can be thought of as the next step of complexity up from RPA bots. Rather than replacing human action by automating tasks, DPA automates (or at least simplifies) entire business processes. DPA accomplishes this by managing processes from end to end, often using a combination of human action and RPA bots to do so. 

Salesforce didn’t provide pricing data for the new features, but said that Digital Process Automation is available now, Einstein Document Reader is currently in pilot and that MuleSoft RPA is expected to be generally available in 2022. Salesforce said that those interested in learning more about process automation in Salesforce should tune in to Dreamforce 2021, scheduled for Sept. 21-23.

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