Salesforce launches ‘Missonforce,’ a national security-focused business unit

Salesforce is taking significant strides in the realm of national security with the introduction of its new business unit, Missionforce. Announced on Tuesday, this initiative aims to integrate artificial intelligence into defense operations, focusing on three critical areas: personnel management, logistics, and decision-making processes. Kendall Collins, who joined Salesforce in 2023 and currently serves as the chief business officer and chief of staff to CEO Marc Benioff, will lead Missionforce. Collins emphasized the unit's mission, stating, "With Missionforce, we’ll now bring the best of AI, cloud, and platform technology from the private sector to modernize critical areas including personnel, logistics, and analytics. Our objective is straightforward: to empower our warfighters and their supporting organizations to operate more intelligently, swiftly, and efficiently. The urgency to serve those who serve has never been greater." Salesforce has maintained contracts with various branches of the U.S. military and federal agencies for several years, although the company has not disclosed specifics about the number of contracts or the revenue generated from them. This development is part of a larger trend among technology firms to provide tailored services for U.S. government needs. In recent months, several tech companies have ramped up their efforts in this area. For instance, OpenAI launched a government-specific version of ChatGPT in January and secured a deal to grant federal agencies access to its enterprise tier for a nominal fee of $1 annually. Shortly thereafter, Anthropic followed suit with its Claude chatbot, also offering government access at the same price. Additionally, Google introduced its “Gemini for Government” platform, providing AI services to federal agencies at an introductory rate of 47 cents for the first year.