Longtime tech stalwart Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) has been working feverishly to become a significant player in the cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) markets. salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), on the other hand, was one of the first to shift to the cloud, where it has lately been working to make its user experience more intuitive.
On Thursday, the two tech giants announced they are forming a strategic partnership to “jointly develop and market solutions that join Cisco’s collaboration, IoT and contact center platforms with Salesforce Sales Cloud, IoT Cloud and Service Cloud.”
The alliance includes three components. Cisco’s Spark and WebEx solutions — key features of its collaboration division — will integrate with Salesforce’s sales and service clouds. The result will be seamless communication with customers via video, chat, and audio in real-time through Salesforce’s industry-leading CRM. The upgraded features will be available to users in the second half of 2017.
To enhance business productivity, Cisco’s Jasper technology will meld with Salesforce’s IoT cloud to give users the ability to “take the right action, for the right customer, at the right time.” The IoT aspect of the alliance dovetails with Salesforce’s newly released Einstein artificial intelligence solution, which utilizes predictive analytics to provide CRM users with actionable customer data. The joint IoT solution is also scheduled for release in the middle of 2017.
For customer-service call centers, the alliance will offer “intelligent contact routing, call treatment, network-to-desktop computer telephony integration and multichannel contact management.” This collaborative offering is available to Salesforce AppExchange users today. Pricing information will be made available as the joint solutions are released.
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Tim Brugger has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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