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Is Agentforce Different?

Is Agentforce Different?

The Salesforce hype machine is in full swing, with product announcements like Chatter, Einstein GPT, and Data Cloud, all positioned as revolutionary tools that promise to transform how we work. Is Agentforce Different? However, it’s often difficult to separate fact from fiction in the world of Salesforce. The cloud giant thrives on staying ahead of technological advancements, which means reinventing itself every year with new releases and updates. You could even say three times per year with the major releases. Why Enterprises Need Multiple Salesforce Orgs Over the past decade, Salesforce product launches have been hit or miss—primarily miss. Offerings like IoT Cloud, Work.com, and NFT Cloud have faded into obscurity. This contrasts sharply with Salesforce’s earlier successes, such as Service Cloud, the AppExchange, Force.com, Salesforce Lightning, and Chatter, which defined its first decade in business. One notable exception is Data Cloud. This product has seen significant success and now serves as the cornerstone of Salesforce’s future AI and data strategy. With Salesforce’s growth slowing quarter over quarter, the company must find new avenues to generate substantial revenue. Artificial Intelligence seems to be their best shot at reclaiming a leadership position in the next technological wave. Is Agentforce Different? While Salesforce has been an AI leader for over a decade, the hype surrounding last year’s Dreamforce announcements didn’t deliver the growth the company was hoping for. The Einstein Copilot Studio—comprising Copilot, Prompt Builder, and Model Builder—hasn’t fully lived up to expectations. This can be attributed to a lack of AI readiness among enterprises, the relatively basic capabilities of large language models (LLMs), and the absence of fully developed use cases. In Salesforce’s keynote, it was revealed that over 82 billion flows are launched weekly, compared to just 122,000 prompts executed. While Flow has been around for years, this stat highlights that the use of AI-powered prompts is still far from mainstream—less than one prompt per Salesforce customer per week, on average. When ChatGPT launched at the end of 2022, many predicted the dawn of a new AI era, expecting a swift and dramatic transformation of the workplace. Two years later, it’s clear that AI’s impact has yet to fully materialize, especially when it comes to influencing global productivity and GDP. However, Salesforce’s latest release feels different. While AI Agents may seem new to many, this concept has been discussed in AI circles for decades. Marc Benioff’s recent statements during Dreamforce reflect a shift in strategy, including a direct critique of Microsoft’s Copilot product, signaling the intensifying AI competition. This year’s marketing strategy around Agentforce feels like it could be the transformative shift we’ve been waiting for. While tools like Salesforce Copilot will continue to evolve, agents capable of handling service cases, answering customer questions, and booking sales meetings instantly promise immediate ROI for organizations. Is the Future of Salesforce in the Hands of Agents? Despite the excitement, many questions remain. Are Salesforce customers ready for agents? Can organizations implement this technology effectively? Is Agentforce a real breakthrough or just another overhyped concept? Agentforce may not be vaporware. Reports suggest that its development was influenced by Salesforce’s acquisition of Airkit.AI, a platform that claims to resolve 90% of customer queries. Salesforce has even set up dedicated launchpads at Dreamforce to help customers start building their own agents. Yet concerns remain, especially regarding Salesforce’s complexity, technical debt, and platform sprawl. These issues, highlighted in this year’s Salesforce developer report, cannot be overlooked. Still, it’s hard to ignore Salesforce’s strategic genius. The platform has matured to the point where it offers nearly every functionality an organization could need, though at times the components feel a bit disconnected. For instance: Salesforce is even hinting at usage-based pricing, with a potential $2 charge per conversation—an innovation that could reshape their pricing model. Will Agents Be Salesforce’s Key to Future Growth? With so many unknowns, only time will tell if agents will be the breakthrough Salesforce needs to regain the momentum of its first two decades. Regardless, agents appear to be central to the future of AI. Leading organizations like Copado are also launching their own agents, signaling that this trend will define the next phase of AI innovation. In today’s macroeconomic environment, where companies are overstretched and workforce demands are high, AI’s ability to streamline operations and improve customer service has never been more critical. Whoever cracks customer service AI first could lead the charge in the inevitable AI spending boom. We’re all waiting to see if Salesforce has truly cracked the AI code. But one thing is certain: the race to dominate AI in customer service has begun. And Salsesforce may be at the forefront. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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The Growing Role of AI in Cloud Management

The Growing Role of AI in Cloud Management

AI technologies are redefining cloud management by automating IT systems, improving security, optimizing cloud costs, enhancing data management, and streamlining the provisioning of AI services across complex cloud ecosystems. With the surging demand for AI, its ability to address technological complexities makes a unified cloud management strategy indispensable for IT teams. Cloud and security platforms have steadily integrated AI and machine learning to support increasingly autonomous IT operations. The rapid rise of generative AI (GenAI) has further spotlighted these AI capabilities, prompting vendors to prioritize their development and implementation. Adnan Masood, Chief AI Architect at UST, highlights the transformative potential of AI-driven cloud management, emphasizing its ability to oversee vast data centers hosting millions of applications and services with minimal human input. “AI automates tasks such as provisioning, scaling, cost management, monitoring, and data migration,” Masood explains, showcasing its wide-ranging impact. From Reactive to Proactive Cloud Management Traditionally, CloudOps relied heavily on manual intervention and expertise. AI has shifted this paradigm, introducing automation, predictive analytics, and intelligent decision-making. This evolution enables enterprises to transition from reactive, manual management to proactive, self-optimizing cloud environments. Masood underscores that this shift allows cloud systems to self-manage and optimize with minimal human oversight. However, organizations must navigate challenges, including complex data integration, real-time processing limitations, and model accuracy concerns. Business hurdles like implementation costs, uncertain ROI, and maintaining the right balance between AI automation and human oversight also require careful evaluation. AI’s Transformation of Cloud Computing AI has reshaped cloud management into a more proactive and efficient process. Key applications include: “AI enhances efficiency, scalability, and flexibility for IT teams,” says Agustín Huerta, SVP of Digital Innovation at Globant. He views AI as a pivotal enabler of automation and optimization, helping businesses adapt to rapidly changing environments. AI also automates repetitive tasks such as provisioning, performance monitoring, and cost management. More importantly, it strengthens security across cloud infrastructure by detecting misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and malicious activities. Nick Kramer of SSA & Company highlights how AI-powered natural language interfaces simplify cloud management, transforming it from a technical challenge to a logical one. With conversational AI, business users can manage cloud operations more efficiently, accelerating problem resolution. AI-Enabled Cloud Management Tools Ryan Mallory, COO at Flexential, categorizes AI-powered cloud tools into: The Rise of Self-Healing Cloud Systems AI enables cloud systems to detect, resolve, and optimize issues with minimal human intervention. For instance, AI can identify system failures and trigger automatic remediation, such as restarting services or reallocating resources. Over time, machine learning enhances these systems’ accuracy and reliability. Key Applications of AI in Cloud Management AI’s widespread applications in cloud computing include: Benefits of AI in Cloud Management AI transforms cloud management by enabling autonomous systems capable of 24/7 monitoring, self-healing, and optimization. This boosts system reliability, reduces downtime, and provides businesses with deeper analytical insights. Chris Vogel from S-RM emphasizes that AI’s analytical capabilities go beyond automation, driving strategic business decisions and delivering measurable value. Challenges of AI in Cloud Management Despite its advantages, AI adoption in cloud management presents challenges, including: AI’s Impact on IT Departments AI’s growing influence on cloud management introduces new responsibilities for IT teams, including managing unauthorized AI systems, ensuring data security, and maintaining high-quality data for AI applications. IT departments must provide enterprise-grade AI solutions that are private, governed, and efficient while balancing the costs and benefits of AI integration. Future Trends in AI-Driven Cloud Management Experts anticipate that AI will revolutionize cloud management, much like cloud computing reshaped IT a decade ago. Prasad Sankaran from Cognizant predicts that organizations investing in AI for cloud management will unlock opportunities for faster innovation, streamlined operations, and reduced technical debt. As AI continues to evolve, cloud environments will become increasingly autonomous, driving efficiency, scalability, and innovation across industries. Businesses embracing AI-driven cloud management will be well-positioned to adapt to the complexities of tomorrow’s IT landscape. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Technical Debt

Technical Debt

In the software industry, “Technical Debt” is perhaps the most frustrating term. This may be controversial, and clean architecture enthusiasts might disagree, but let’s dip into this topic. Defining Technical Debt During interviews, candidates are often asked to define “tech debt,” and surprisingly, each one provides a different answer. The industry seems to lack a consensus. These responses can generally be classified into a few categories: Common Issues with Definitions: The Ubiquity of Tech Debt Regardless of the definition, every company has tech debt. There’s always some code that is difficult to modify, not optimized, or based on an outdated framework. For instance, in 2014, parts of Amazon’s retail website were written in Perl, even though Java had become the standard. Despite its age and the lack of Perl expertise, this code was crucial and used daily by millions. Consensus on Tech Debt Despite varied definitions, one thing is consistent: tech debt is viewed negatively. Candidates often express concern when a company admits to having tech debt. Some even state they would not want to work for a company with tech debt. The Cost of Tech Debt The primary argument against tech debt is its cost. However, unlike financial loans with clear interest rates, tech debt is difficult to quantify. Observations of team velocity, for example, showed slower progress with monolithic architectures compared to microservices initially. Yet, as the number of microservices grew, maintenance burden increased, slowing progress despite cleaner architecture. Similarly, velocity comparisons between Android and iOS teams revealed that clean architecture principles did not always correlate with faster development or fewer bugs. Respecting Legacy Code The conversation about tech debt often implies that past decisions were mistakes. This presumption overlooks the context in which those decisions were made. For example, at Amazon, the use of an internal key-value storage system (Beaver) instead of DynamoDB was criticized, until it was pointed out that DynamoDB did not exist when the project started. Assuming good intentions and understanding the original constraints can provide valuable insights into past choices. Reevaluating Technical Debt Technical debt, like financial debt, can accumulate interest over time, making it more challenging to address the longer it is ignored. However, debt itself is not inherently bad. Just as financial debt can enable significant investments like buying a house or starting a company, technical debt can facilitate rapid development and market entry. For example, a startup’s initial mobile app, built quickly using React Native by a single front-end engineer, enabled the company to acquire thousands of clients and secure funding, ultimately allowing for the development of a native app by a dedicated team. Technical debt should be viewed as a tool rather than a liability. It can be beneficial if managed properly, enabling projects and growth. It is crucial to respect the decisions made by predecessors, recognizing the context and constraints they faced. Properly leveraging technical debt can provide time, attract clients, and unblock projects, turning it into a strategic advantage rather than a hindrance. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce Implementation Solutions

Salesforce Implementation Solutions Are Here!

Tectonic is Pleased to Announce Salesforce Implementation Solutions! The world’s #1 CRM platform has just received a new function in deliverability. Salesforce Implementation Solutions from Tectonic are pre-planned, flxed rate priced, low technical debt solution to Salesforce implementations. Designed with the SMB in mind, Tectonic’s Salesforce Implementation Solutions get you up and running quickly on the Salesforce solutions you need. Finding the right mix of Salesforce products can be as challenging as finding the right Salesforce partner. Tectonic has custom designed Salesforce Implementation Solutions to help ease the integration to the Salesforce platform. Sometimes called quickstarts, jumpstarts, or even accelorators, Salesforce Implementation Solutions are designed to get you set up right and fast, to see the value from your Salesforce investment. Tectonic has tailored our packages to address specific business needs. Pre-defined Salesforce Deliverables at a Fixed Price The Salesforce Implementation Solutions experts at Tectonic will enable you to deploy Salesforce in weeks not months to maximize efficiency. Whether you are seeking a marketing platform solution, a healthcare CRM, personalization, feedback management, or core Salesforce platform capabilities we have you covered. Tectonic gets you started on Salesforce quickly and affordably, without compromising on quality. These fast implementation solutions help you hit the ground running. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never used Salesforce, never purchased a Salesforce license, or have been using the simple, out-of-the-box version. Our team of Salesforce experts will identify and implement what is critical for your business’s immediate success. Thereby giving you the functionality that can develop and grow along with your business at minimal cost, and lightning speed. Why Salesforce Implementation Solutions? From kick off call and discovery to UAT and launch, these packages are here for quick and easy implementation service. With a flat fee, you know your project will be completed on time and budget. When you are seeking a basic platform stand-up, you don’t need to be bombarded with endless choices and decisions. With the help of our certified Salesforce professionals, you will receive expert guidance and support as we implement your new system with a focus on maximizing functionality. You want an implementation with a proven roadmap. Implementation solutions include a range of tools and resources, such as a personalized onboarding plan, training resources, and pre-built solutions, that can help reduce the time it takes to implement Salesforce. This can be especially helpful if you are new to Salesforce or if you need to get your implementation completed in a short time frame. Efficiency, speed, and success are the promises of Tectonic Salesforce Implementation Solutions. Salesforce is your customer success platform, designed to help you sell, service, market, analyze, and connect with your customers. Interested in making the most of Salesforce? Tectonic’s implementation solutions get your business or nonprofit up and running in weeks. Automation is one of the big keys to managing tons of data. Our implementations get you where you need to be in no time flat. Salesforce CRM isn’t just a solution to automate processes, manage workflows, and corral data. Salesforce can jumpstart your digital transformation. Tectonic’s Salesforce implementations avoid the unexpected costs of an implementation. Fixed price packages prevent surprises. Tectonic provides niche, high quality, service-oriented Salesforce implementation, customization, and managed services. The best time to embark on your transformation was 5 years ago. The second best time is right now.  Tectonic Salesforce implementation solutions, or quickstarts, are limited engagement implementations. They zero in on key planning and decision making, standard and custom configurations, and essential training to get up and running lightning fast. Therefore our solutions provide immediate benefits and ROI. Tectonic even offers implementations for upgrading versions and clouds within Salesforce. These all-in-one solutions take the guesswork out of implementing Salesforce with a proven partner to guide you every step of the way. Learn about all Tectonic’s Salesforce Implementation Solutions here. If you have other needs you’d like to address in a flat bundled project, contact us today. Like2 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Digital Transformation for Life Sciences

Digital Transformation for Life Sciences

In hindsight, one remarkable aspect of the COVID crisis was the speed with which vaccines passed through regulatory approval processes to address the pandemic emergency. Approvals that would typically take years were expedited to mere months, a pace not usually seen in the life sciences industry. It was an extraordinary situation, as Paul Shawah, Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy at Veeva Systems, notes: “There were things that were unnaturally fast during COVID. There was a shifting of priorities, a shifting of focus. In some cases, you had the emergency approvals or the expedited approvals of the vaccines that you saw in the early days, so there was faster growth. Everything was kind of different in the COVID environment.” Today, the industry is not operating at that same rapid pace, but the impact of this acceleration remains significant: “What it did do is it challenged companies to think about why can’t we operate faster at a steady state? There was an old steady state, then there was COVID speed. The industry is trying to get to a new steady state. It won’t be as fast as during COVID because of unique circumstances, but expectations are now much higher. This drives a need to modernize systems, embrace the cloud, become more digital, and improve efficiency.” Companies like Veeva, alongside enterprise giants such as Salesforce, SAP, and Oracle, specialize in this market and play crucial roles in life sciences digitization. According to a McKinsey study, about 45% of tech spending in life sciences goes to three key technologies: applied Artificial Intelligence, industrialized Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing. Over 80% of the top 20 global pharma and medtech companies are operating in the cloud to some extent. However, a study by Accenture found that life sciences firms are among the lowest in achieving benefits from cloud investments, with only 43% satisfied with their results and less than a quarter confident that cloud migration initiatives will deliver the promised value within expected time frames. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Frank Defesche, SVP & GM of Life Sciences at Salesforce, sees it as the latter, stating: “The life sciences industry faces increased competition, evolving patient expectations, and ongoing pressure to bring devices and drugs to market faster. With rising drug costs, frustrated doctors, and varying regulatory scrutiny, life sciences organizations must find ways to do more with less.” The industry also contends with an unprecedented influx of data and disparate systems, making it difficult to move quickly. Addressing changes one by one is too slow and costly. Defesche believes that a systemic solution, fueled by connected data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), is key to overcoming these challenges. Paul Shawah of Veeva emphasizes the unique challenges of the life sciences sector: “Life sciences firms primarily do two things: discover and develop medicines, and commercialize them by educating doctors and getting the right drugs to patients. The drug development cycle includes clinical trials, managing everything related to drug safety, the manufacturing process, and ensuring quality. They also manage regulatory registrations. On the commercial side, it’s about reaching out to doctors and healthcare professionals.” Veeva’s Vault platform is designed for life sciences, with customers like Merck, Eli Lilly, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Shawah acknowledges it’s “still relatively early days” for cloud computing adoption but notes successes in areas like CRM, where Veeva achieved over 80% market share by standardizing processes and reducing technical debt. Other areas, like parts of the clinical trials process, remain largely untapped by cloud computing. Shawah sees opportunities to improve patient experiences and make the process more efficient. AI represents a significant area of opportunity. Shawah explains Veeva’s approach: “I’ll break AI into two categories: traditional AI, Machine Learning, and data science, which we’ve been doing for a long time, and generative AI, which is new. We’re focusing on finding use cases that create sustainable, repeatable value. We’re building capabilities into our Vault platform to support AI.” Joe Ferraro, VP of Product, Life Sciences at Salesforce, emphasizes AI’s critical role: “We are born out of the data and AI era, and we’re taking that philosophy into everything we do from a product standpoint. We aim to move from creating a system of record to a system of insight, using data and AI to transform how users interact with software.” Ferraro highlights the need for change: “Organizations told us, ‘Please don’t build the same thing we have now. We are mired in fragmented experiences. Our sales and marketing teams aren’t talking, and our medical and commercial teams don’t understand each other.’ Life Sciences Cloud aims to move the industry from these fragmented experiences to an end-to-end, AI-powered experience engine.” The COVID crisis highlighted the critical role of the life sciences industry. There’s a massive opportunity for digital transformation, whether through specialists like Veeva or enterprise players like Salesforce, Oracle, and SAP. Data must be the foundation of any solution, especially amidst the current AI hype cycle. Ensuring this data is well-managed is a crucial starting point for industry-wide change. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce for Government and Public Sector Solutions

Enhance your digital service capabilities by leveraging a flexible and scalable cloud platform designed to engage employees and enhance operational efficiency. Streamline workflows for swift time-to-value today, all while strategizing for the future. Prioritize your constituents by placing them at the core of your operations. Deliver customer-centric experiences, from service interactions to outreach efforts, ensuring they not only meet but exceed expectations. Access purpose-built apps and digital tools tailored for the public sector. Salesforce Government and Public Sector solutions are the key. Reimagine the employee experience across the entire lifecycle, from recruitment and collaboration to personnel action requests. Empower your workforce with accessible resources and digital-first tools, enabling success from any location. Develop, integrate, and deploy government apps aligned with mission objectives. Connect legacy systems securely on a cloud platform, empowering IT teams, system integrators, partners, and program leads to transform technical debt into innovation opportunities. Transformation Transform your system of record into a system of engagement to manage mission-critical programs effectively. Achieve superior long-term outcomes by incorporating apps that seamlessly connect EHR data, treatment plans, and patient preferences. Utilize top-tier commercial CRM capabilities while adhering to compliance standards such as FedRAMP, DoD IL2/4, SOC, and more. Ensure stakeholders have secure access to critical information on any device, allowing IT to focus on innovation and employees to engage with collaborative tools. Empower public sector employees and government agents to address inquiries and provide enhanced services. A comprehensive customer view enables employees to deliver impactful and immediate services. Quickly build desktop and mobile applications with innovative solutions ready to deploy. Empower IT teams, SI partners, and business leaders to create and share custom apps for crisis management and collaboration. Salesforce Government and Public Sector solutions for mission-critical relationships Manage mission-critical relationships with employees, customers, and partners. Develop a 360-degree view of constituent interactions to deliver relevant communications and exceptional service. Meet constituent expectations for easy-to-use, self-service experiences through Salesforce community portals. Prepare for the future with tools to report, track, and coordinate emergency communications. Reimagine emergency response with an agile platform for improved response and recovery. Expedite every step in the license and permit approval lifecycle through a digital approach, fostering effective collaboration and eliminating bottlenecks. Reinforce your mission with timely and personalized messages, leveraging a multichannel marketing platform to engage constituents and customize their experiences. Capture additional revenue with unified digital commerce channels, providing a consistent ecommerce experience across web, store, mobile, and social transactions. Customer Centric Interactions Ensure every interaction is customer-centric by leveraging data and analytics to improve experiences for both employees and the citizens you serve. With enhanced resolution and service levels, caseworkers and employees can dedicate time to other essential programs. Contact Tectonic today to discuss Salesforce Public Sector, Government, and Tribal Government solutions. Like2 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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