Google and Salesforce are about to dominate business analytics
What happens when the two biggest platforms join forces?
Last week, Google released a statement on their blog about pairing up with Salesforce to provide users a best-of-both-worlds business analytics experience. The partnership will allow users to take data collected by Google and implement some of Salesforce’s tools. This cross-functionality will give users increased creativity with data collection and marketing, or at least give them the tools to skip enduring processes.
Want to target your Google ads to users who opened your email campaigns? An arduous process before, easy now.
The combination of the two services has been a long-running request for customers, who have had to use workarounds or suffer limited capabilities. Salesforce’s integration into Google services will add a level of personalization to the marketing arsenal, funnelling Google’s data into Salesforce’s consumer profiles in real-time.
G-Suite Integration
The G-Suite is Google’s collection of essential services, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc. This collection of tools will be heavily integrated with Salesforce tools. Salesforce Lightning (their cloud-based app platform) will integrate straight into Gmail, drawing relevant data out of email campaigns and even making recommendations on next steps.
Google Drive and Calendar will be integrated with Quip Live Apps, which gives users access to pre-made interactive cards that make collaborating a dream. To name a few features, you can input progress bars, polls, and Kanban boards straight into your shared files.
Google Analytics 360 Integration
The combination of each company’s most versatile services — Salesforce Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Google Analytics 360 — will deliver (according to a Salesforce press release) “insights marketers need to drive smarter engagement — from awareness all the way through conversion and retention”.
Google Hasn’t Been a Major Player
Last year, Salesforce signed a $400 million deal with Amazon Web Services for their cloud services. Amazon and Microsoft Azure are the big dogs in the cloud service industry, with 47% and 10% market share, respectively (SkyHigh). With under 4% market share, Google was picking up scraps where they could…
…Until Now
Salesforce, now pleasantly entangled in Google’s web of services, has agreed to use Google Cloud Platform as their international cloud infrastructure. As Salesforce attempts to compete in other markets, this could prove great for Google, as they look to further diversify their portfolio. This move has been praised by Mad Money host, Jim Cramer, who said:
You don’t pay your opponent when you’re fighting them tooth and nail, not if you can avoid it. The problem has been that Amazon Web Services, with its amazing analytics that works seamlessly with Salesforce, really does give you an edge you couldn’t find anywhere else, at least not until this Salesforce-Google team-up.
What are We Waiting For?
The integration of the two platforms has actually begun. G-Suite, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive have already received the Salesforce treatment. Quip Live Apps ($25/user/month) and Analytics 360 integration will be rolled out in early 2018. Salesforce’s qualified customers will get 1 year of G-Suite for free.