IBM and Salesforce have formed a global strategic partnership which they say is designed to deliver joint solutions to leverage artificial intelligence and enable companies to make “smarter decisions, faster than ever before”.
The two companies say that under the partnership, IBM Watson’s AI platform for business, and Salesforce’s Einstein CRM, will seamlessly connect to enable an “entirely new level” of intelligent customer engagement across sales, service, marketing and commerce.
Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer, says IBM is also strategically investing in its Global Business Services capabilities for Salesforce with a new practice to help clients rapidly deploy the combined IBM Watson and Salesforce Einstein capabilities.
"Within a few years, every major decision—personal or business—will be made with the help of AI and cognitive technologies," Rometty said.
{loadposition peter}"This year we expect Watson will touch one billion people—through everything from oncology and retail to tax preparation and cars. Now, with today's announcement, the power of Watson will serve the millions of Salesforce and Einstein customers and developers to provide an unprecedented understanding of customers."
"The combination of Einstein and Watson will make businesses smarter and our customers more successful," said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce.
"I'm thrilled to form an alliance with IBM—no company's core values are as close to Salesforce's as IBM's. It's the best of both worlds."
Under the alliance, Salesforce and IBM will initially deliver IBM Watson and Salesforce Einstein integration, IBM weather insights for Salesforce, IBM application integration suite for Salesforce and Bluewolf dedicated consulting services and expertise for cognitive solutions - adding to IBM strategic services for Salesforce.