Saudi Arabia’s Balady Platform Shares its Experience at SDG Digital Event

Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA
Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA
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Saudi Arabia’s Balady Platform Shares its Experience at SDG Digital Event

Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA
Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA

Saudi Arabia’s Balady digital city platform shared its pioneering experience in digital municipal operations services at the high-level SDG Digital event in New York.

The event was convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The Saudi platform presented its experience in providing innovative services aiming to enrich the future of dwellers of Saudi cities and improve their quality of life and prosperity through its digital municipal service system.

Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience about challenges facing the achievement of sustainable development.

The platform showcased its pioneering efforts in leading urban development and providing innovative municipal services globally to exchange global expertise with other participating parties at the event.



Salesforce Gains as Software Firm Bets on AI Tools to Power Growth

The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Salesforce Gains as Software Firm Bets on AI Tools to Power Growth

The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Shares of Salesforce gained more than 5% on Thursday as investors cheered the customer relationship management software maker's upbeat quarterly results and its artificial intelligence push to drive growth.

The company has been heavily investing to integrate its AI technologies into existing products, such as its messaging platform Slack, to enhance their capabilities and attract more customers.

"We continue to see Salesforce as an under-appreciated AI winner as its differentiated data and early success in creating/deploying GenAI agents," Reuters quoted Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan as saying.

Wall Street was concerned that tempered cloud spending would affect Salesforce in a tough economy, but the software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm reported better-than-expected revenue, profit and margins in the second quarter.

Salesforce also raised its profit forecast for the year ending January 2025, as margins continue to expand, thanks to its restructuring efforts last year.

The stock is trading at 24.49 times that of Wall Street's profit expectations, compared with 52.11 for SaaS peer ServiceNow and cloud contact center firm Five9's 13.30.

Salesforce is set to add $14 billion to its market capitalization if premarket gains hold. The company's valuation stood at $248 billion as of Wednesday's close.

"We think these results alone are not good enough to drive a sustainable rally from here. For that, we need more catalysts, which could come with the new AI solutions," which are set to be showcased at its event Dreamforce and launched in October, Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow said.

Some analysts believe that sustained growth in the coming quarters can come through customer support platform Agentforce, which is not yet commercially available.