Marc Benioff

“Businesses cannot be extricated or disintermediated from the communities they serve. Businesses who do that will do that at their own peril. They will draw fire. And companies who are integrated will be lauded by their communities and not draw fire.”

“The only constant in the technology industry is change.”

“I think everybody understands mobility because everybody's got a cellphone and lots of apps and seen how they've moved off of PCs and onto mobility.”

“What part of media doesn't need to connect with their customers more smartly?”

“We need a new generation of executives who understand how to manage and lead through data. And we also need a new generation of employees who are able to help us organize and structure our businesses around that data.”

“You look to Google, you see this incredible world of information, you see the advertising, but you also get Google Analytics. And Google Analytics coupled with Salesforce's sales and service and marketing means that both of our customers are going to have customer insights that they've never had before. That is really exciting.”

“You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.”

“I want to remind everyone that we have a no alcohol policy at Salesforce. Alcohol is a drug, and having alcohol on a Salesforce premise is simply unfair to the Ohana who either do not want it or are intolerant of it.”

“Nothing is more important, certainly during these times of artificial intelligence, than our public education. And as it continues to grow and evolve, I think you and I know this is going to be critical that we are constantly training and retraining and creating these next-generation jobs.”

“When I look at the next set of technologies that we have to build in Salesforce, it's all data-science-based technology. We don't need more cloud. We don't need more mobile. We don't need more social. We need more data science.”

“I couldn't imagine a more incompetent politician than myself.”

“A lot was happening in A.I. But I also realized it wasn't clear what Salesforce's role in A.I. was. That's when we started acquiring quite a few artificial intelligence companies, maybe a dozen.”

“In school all I wanted to do was build technology. That's what I loved.”

“The future of communicating with customers rests in engaging with them through every possible channel: phone, e-mail, chat, Web, and social networks. Customers are discussing a company's products and brand in real time. Companies need to join the conversation.”

“Although I loved working on technology - I've always been a computer geek at heart - my professors encouraged me to get a real-world job working with customers.”

“Technology is a continuum. It's constantly getting lower-cost and easier to use, and you see that, and that's true with our company.”

“I love software and I love technology.”

“I mentor a lot of CEOs and entrepreneurs, and when I see that product is the number-one thing, the only thing that matters, that's a real red flag.”

“Journalists immediately think of me as a resource for a quote or comment because they know that I will be available to offer fresh insight and meet their deadlines.”

“The world is being re-shaped by the convergence of social, mobile, cloud, big data, community and other powerful forces. The combination of these technologies unlocks an incredible opportunity to connect everything together in a new way and is dramatically transforming the way we live and work.”