Why Salesforce’s Acquisitions and Partnerships Since Dreamforce ’17 Matter

After the 2016 buying spree, Salesforce slowed down and acquired just one company in 2017. But with four acquisitions already under its belt in the first quarter of 2018, it now seems that the slowing down of last year was actually the preparation for something grander.

Eight months into 2018, Salesforce has purchased Attic Labs, CloudCraze, Datorama, and MuleSoft (for a whopping $6.5 billion) and combined forces with Google and Dropbox.  Why is Marc Benioff expanding so quickly, and why should that matter to you? Let’s find out.

Strategic Partnerships

Let’s start with the partnerships first.

Salesforce-Google Strategic Partnership

Salesforce rules the CRM landscape and Google’s dominance in search is undisputed. It was only a matter of time before the two organizations announced a strategic partnership. It has happened, and you can expect many changes coming your way.

What to Expect?

• Seamless transfer of sales, marketing, and advertising data among Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Google Analytics 360.
• Ability to push Analytics 360 audiences into Marketing Cloud where direct marketing channels, such as email and mobile, can be used to reach out to them.
• Availability of sales data from Sales Cloud in Analytics 360.
• Salesforce Lightning for Google Sheets. Users will be able to easily push data from Salesforce Records or Reports into a new Google Sheet.
• Integration between Salesforce Lightning and Gmail.

Salesforce-Dropbox Strategic Partnership

Much to the pleasure of heavy-Dropbox users, Salesforce announced a strategic partnership with Dropbox earlier this year. Many changes are expected.

What to Expect?

• Dropbox to be linked with Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and other Salesforce clouds with the goal of boosting productivity and improving brand engagement.  
• A new digital asset engagement solution will allow internal and external teams to access folders and stay up-to-date with workflows.
• Quip with Dropbox integration. Dropbox to provide additional support to Quip documents, giving users the ability to work on Quip files in real time in Dropbox.
• Salesforce to utilize Dropbox Enterprise to extend the use of its other Salesforce products, including Service Cloud, CRM, and Marketing Cloud.

Acquisitions

Salesforce is back in the acquisitions game. It has already acquired four companies and is poised to increase its repertoire of skills with new purchases.

Attic Labs

Attic Labs is the mind behind Noms, an open-source distributed database. Salesforce plans to make Noms a part of Quip, a collaboration platform for documents.

What to Expect?

• Quip will be able to connect with live data sources.
• Salesforce Ventures users will be able to edit documents offline.
• Replicating live databases for individuals will be easier.

CloudCraze

CloudCraze is a leading B2B commerce platform created natively on Salesforce. The likes of Cummins, Coca-Cola, Land O’ Lakes, Ecolab, and WABCO rely on CloudCraze to power their B2B customer experiences. The company was the recipient of $30.6M in funding in 2017.

What to Expect?

• A digital commerce shift for B2B commerce.
• Seamless exploration and purchase experiences.

MuleSoft

The MuleSoft’s acquisition of 2018 was carried out with the goal of empowering an industry-wide digital transformation.

What to Expect?

• Better access to legacy systems and cloud apps, leading to better decisions.
• MuleSoft to run Salesforce Integration Cloud.
• MuleSoft to network with Anypoint Platform.
• Data extraction irrespective of your location.

Datorama

Datorama is an Israeli start-up specializing in breaking data silos through AI. The company has more than 3,000 customers, including PepsiCo, Unilever, and Trivago.

What to Expect?

• Enhanced analytical capabilities.
• Easier integration of data assets.

What Does the Future Hold?

Salesforce might acquire as many as five more companies this year.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products are becoming extremely popular and are driving the CRM market growth. At the current pace, the deployment rate for SaaS CRM solutions across all businesses is expected to reach 80-85%.

Besides acquisitions and partnerships, Salesforce plans to introduce data science capabilities into their Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud and launch a 100% Lightning Experience release.

Attending Dreamforce ’18? Schedule a meet now.