IBM and Salesforce name each other preferred vendor
IBM and Salesforce announced they are building on their partnership by combining IBM Cloud and Watson services with Salesforce Quip and Salesforce Service Cloud Einstein.
As part of the collaboration, IBM will build IBM Watson Quip Live Apps, merging the power of Watson and Quip. Using these apps, customers will be able to leverage Watson’s cognitive computing abilities when using Quip’s document creation and editing platform. According to the companies, the combination of the platforms will provide new AI-driven recommendations for next best actions.
IBM and Salesforce originally announced they were joining forces in March 2017. The companies said they planned on combining artificial intelligence platforms as well as some software and services. IBM and Salesforce continued to expand on their partnership in August 2017 by giving Salesforce customers access to IBM Weather Insights and IBM Cloud Integration. IBM and Salesforce said the collaboration between the two companies servers over 4,000 shared customers, such as Autodesk.
“The success of our customers drives everything we do at Salesforce, including our strategic partnership with IBM,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO at Salesforce. “The combination of IBM Cloud and Watson services with Salesforce Einstein and Quip will deliver even more innovation to empower companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way, leveraging the power of the cloud and AI.”
Beyond combining each other A.I. platforms, the companies said they will share preferred vendor status for each other in particular areas. Salesforce has named IBM as its preferred cloud services provider. By the same token, IBM has named Salesforce as its preferred customer engagement platform for sales and service.
“Naming IBM as a Salesforce preferred cloud services provider demonstrates the power of the IBM Cloud to help companies fundamentally change the way they do business,” said Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO at IBM. “This expanded partnership builds on the combined power of Watson and Einstein to help enterprises make smarter business decisions.”
