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A two-track approach: core business and social contribution

Wakamatsu: Salesforce was established in San Francisco in 1999, and the Japanese subsidiary was founded in 2000. Salesforce is still eighteen years old and relatively young. We offer a cloud-based CRM services that leverage social, mobile, and AI technologies, enabling personalized engagement and communication to help companies effectively connected with their customers.

Endo: We launched Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, in 1999 and have been taking a two-track approach with the goal of growing and enhancing both our business and our contribution to society. It was important to us to provide support as a member of the community from the beginning, rather than starting these activities after the company had grown or waiting until the business had become profitable. Based on our "1-1-1 model” (to improve communities around the world through our people, technology, and resources), our employees contribute 1% of their working hours to social contribution activities. Such activities include the volunteer activities and the provision of our technology and strategic financial investment to other NPOs. We support a wide range of organizations, with approximately 31,000 NPOs and educational institutions currently using our products. Our activities vary from organization to organization, including educational support, support for the elderly, and provision of solutions to address environmental problems.

Ueda: To be more specific, we mainly provide CRM tools to NPOs, public interest incorporated associations, public interest incorporated foundations, social welfare corporations, religious institutions, and institutions for rehabilitation of offenders. The use of the tools varies depending on each organization, from event and accounting management to form control. Usually, Salesforce services are used to manage donations, contributors, and membership.

Endo: We foster equality by, for example, helping eliminate educational inequities through educational support as well as by providing career guidance/education for young people. We believe that it is our responsibility as a company to make a meaningful contribution to society, and that it is a great honor that our technology can help address social problems.

Growing through pro bono work

Endo: For someone whose job is to promote pro bono works, it is a great pleasure to hear employees talk about their positive experiences working pro bono, as well as what they have gained through their engagement. It is clear that these works make a positive impact on the company. For example, our pro bono works give us opportunities to see and think about our products from a more intimate customer perspective. This helps us continuously improve our services and communicate more effectively with our business partners. Pro bono works may seem like something only people with very advanced experience and skills can perform, but it also has a positive impact on those in junior positions. For example, junior colleagues can improve their skills by working with senior colleagues on pro bono projects to gain experiences in project management and leadership. So rather than being arrogant, thinking that we are only doing good for others, we have to be thankful to have this great opportunities to grow through these activities.

Ueda: I am in charge of sales, and I learn a great deal every day from many NPOs. Since each organization works on different issues and tasks, when I have appointments with, say, three organizations in a day, I find it challenging as the services to be offered to each of them are quite varied. At the same time, I am reminded of the breadth and depth of social problems in the world. It is also very rewarding in the sense that we can make use of what we learn from an NPO to provide better proposals and feedback to our customers in other organizations and business situations. For example, discussions with GHIT on what kinds of system our products could offer made us realize that our products are capable of covering a wider range of services than we had thought, and that they could contribute greatly to the operational improvement of NPOs as a result. I am sure that other employees are also learning a lot from NPOs through their pro bono activities.

Watanabe: Private sector enterprises must make profits. We develop strategies to improve customer satisfaction and experience in order to increase profits, as well as sales, over the long term. I respect and understand the bottom-line focus, and I appreciate the opportunity to also help GHIT improve global health (their bottom line) through my pro bono works.

Ishijima: Many of our customers are large corporations. Their contributions to society as tax payers and employers are critically important; these contributions vary according to the respective social and corporate values of each company. These are indirect contributions, though. By contrast, NPOs often make a more direct impact on society; through our works with them, we can also make a direct contribution—with our technology and our experience. The opportunity to get involved in these works makes Salesforce as a stand-out employer. In my previous jobs, I was never able to become deeply engaged in the activities so concretely linked to social good.

Ueda: Some of our products have specific benefits and price structures for NPOs, such as our Lightning Enterprise Edition and Community Cloud. However, our greatest contribution to NPOs is that our highly skilled, experienced, and motivated employees are involved in pro bono activities. In the case of the GHIT, Wakamatsu provides product development expertise, and Ishijima and Watanabe have helped GHIT conduct a major core system analysis to increase operational efficiency and lay the groundwork for institutional expansion.