Salesforce announces acquisition of Tableau, a leading global analytics company, to diversify beyond CRM software and dive deep into the layers of analytics.

San Francisco: Salesforce, a dominant player in the customer relationship management (CRM), announced plans to acquire Tableau, an analytics platform and data visualization specialist. The buyout is expected to close during Salesforce’s fiscal 3rd quarter. Salesforce offers cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform to manage customer data and information and help companies to serve their customers in a better way by offering services from sales and marketing to customer service so as to enhance client relationship and increase sales. Tableau has a clientele of more than 86,000 inclusive of global brands like Verizon and Netflix. Salesforce has been active in acquisitions for a long time. In 2018, the company acquired MuleSoft, a software provider company that offers integration software for connecting applications, data and devices.  

Chairman and Co-CEO of Salesforce stated that, “Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers. Tableau's software is designed to help companies visualize data across their business. The company will integrate Tableau with Salesforce's AI engine, Einstein, to drive "intelligent and intuitive analytics" and a visualization platform. Tableau will enhance Salesforce's Customer 360 platform and Salesforce's analytics capabilities.”

CEO of Tableau further said that, “the capabilities, both the product side and sales and marketing, that Tableau can bring to market as part of Salesforce are really exciting. The ability to have the enterprise presence, the ability to have a broad array of technologies to look at and figure out which ones might work and be effective for customers inside the product. Those are absolutely going to strengthen the company competitively.”

According to TechSci Research, acquisitions have always been Salesforce’s key growth strategies. The buyout of MuleSoft has been a key catalyst. The acquisition contributed $170 million to revenues in the first quarter. Salesforce’s sustained focus on expanding its business through strategic acquisitions and investments will drive growth over the long run. Further, the Tableau buyout will help salesforce fortify its competitive edge against rivals like Microsoft MSFT and Oracle ORCL. Salesforce is benefiting from a robust demand environment as customers are undergoing a major digital transformation. With the buyout, the company is likely to drive digital transformation by providing organizational access to data and deeper insights that will help them make intelligent choices, enhance connected customer relations and ramp up innovation. By joining forces with Tableau, salesforce’s Customer 360 initiative is also likely to get a major push.

According to a published report by TechSci Research, “United States CX Analytics Market By Touchpoint (Call Center, Branch, Web and Mobile Website, Email & Others), By Vertical (BFSI, IT & Telecom, Retail, Healthcare & Others), Competition, Forecast and Opportunities, 2013 – 2023”, the United States CX analytics market is projected to grow from $ 1.6 billion in 2017 to $ 3.4 billion by 2023, exhibiting a CAGR of over 13% during 2018 - 2023. Anticipated growth in the market can be attributed to increasing focus on customer retention in business entities and rising penetration of smartphones. Moreover, increasing inclination towards artificial intelligence along with growing competition among companies is further anticipated to fuel growth in the market over the coming years.

According to another TechSci Research report, “Saudi Arabia CRM Software Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020”, Saudi Arabia CRM software market is exhibiting significant growth. CRM software is used for various applications like customer service, marketing, and sales, to help businesses manage customer data. To enhance customer experience, enterprises are coming up with solutions such as middleware and management solutions. Organizations are also migrating towards the use of CRM for marketing, and over the next five years, more companies are expected to realize the potential of social marketing. With increasing investment in SMEs, the demand for enterprise software in the country is expected to grow. Other drivers for the market include increasing need for real-time customer engagement and rising use of social media platforms. CRM software is being deployed across various sectors such as government, banking, and IT & telecom, among others. CRM software market in Saudi Arabia is projected to surpass USD146 million by 2020. CRM offers advantages such as providing the best customer experience, along with convenience in accessing information and documents as and when required.