Dropbox CEO Drew Houston sees a big change coming to business software

A huge shift is taking place in the business software market, and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston knows it: Software needs to be smarter and more predictive. According to a report in The Information, Houston reiterated this notion at the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference this week, saying machine learning capabilities that enable more sophisticated data analysis and automated predictive behavior is "something you sprinkle on products to make them better as opposed to a new platform or product." He pointed out that hiring machine learning experts has become "more important" as a result, and they'll play bigger roles as software like Dropbox seeks ways to automate a lot of functionalities such as notifications and messages in the future, the report said. Houston's comment is in line with the trend in the broader business software landscape. Salesforce, for example, has been doubling down on its machine learning capabilities by acquiring a bunch of artificial-intelligence startups lately.