Microsoft & Salesforce Rumored to be in Partnership Talks
Reports indicate Microsoft and Salesforce have been in talks about joining forces so that Microsoft Azure users can enjoy Salesforce customer relationship software in the Azure cloud. Microsoft and Salesforce have been competitive with each other ever since Salesforce went public about 10 years ago.
Salesforce jumped ahead of Microsoft in the SaaS market while Microsoft is slowly catching up with its public cloud plays. With Azure becoming more robust each day, it only makes sense that Microsoft would want to partner with existing solutions rather than locking down cloud users into certain types of CRMs.
Bloomberg is reporting on the deal. Bloomberg’s report goes on to mention that sources are asking “not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.” Details surrounding the potential deal between Microsoft and Salesforce also include a potential integration of Microsoft Office and Salesforce products. There aren’t any specific details listed on this possible implementation but we imagine Office 365 and Salesforce’s CRM will be able to work in sync.
These rumors may have some credence considering Microsoft just bought out Capptain within the past few days. Capptain is a cloud tool that allows decision makers the ability to see in depth mobile analytics surrounding app usage. The tool also allows businesses to create marketing strategies surrounding customer retention using the data points that it has collected.
Microsoft is making a big push in the customer relationship cloud market. With these recent partnerships and acquisitions, Microsoft positions itself to become the premier public cloud offering for businesses of all sizes. Microsoft’s Cloud First, Mobile First initiative looks to be picking up steam in lieu of all of these acquisitions and partnerships. If these rumors are true and the Salesforce and Microsoft partnership come to fruition, you can expect the other public cloud players to respond with a solution or partnership of their own.
