How Salesforce Intends to Make Its Software Smarter

Almost two years ago (to the day), Salesforce plunked down 392 million for RelateIQ, a specialist in software that automates sales tasks--like picking the best time to call a sales prospect or filling out call reports--using artificial intelligence. Since that time, the business software giant has snapped up at least a half-dozen other startups specializing in machine learning, predictive analytics, and other AI technologies. The latest one was just one week ago: BeyondCore, a specialist in statistical analysis. It turns out that Salesforce crm is cobbling all of these technologies together as part of project dubbed Salesforce Einstein, which will be detailed during the company's upcoming Dreamforce conference in late September, according to an article published this week by Forbes. The grand scheme is to endow Salesforce's core applications for sales management, marketing automation, and commerce with AI software that "learns" from the data it is collecting to spot trends or identify areas that might require attention from managers.