Leading Customer Relationship Management software vendor Salesforce.com recently announced the addition of data science capabilities to its Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud. In the Service Cloud, the power of data science will be harnessed for automation of certain customer service tasks. In the Marketing Cloud, marketers will be able to use data science for predictive and targeted marketing. The latest product releases follow Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s recent claim that the revolution in data science will fundamentally change how businesses are run.

Salesforce had so far lagged behind competitors like Oracle Corp. and SAP SEin predictive analytics. Oracle already utilizes data science for predictive analytics in its Business Intelligence suite. SAP also recently released a contextual marketing platform for telecommunication companies, which utilizes data science for targeted marketing. Now, Salesforce has also jumped on the data science bandwagon with its new Service Cloud Intelligence Engine and Marketing Cloud Predictive Decisions.

We have a price estimate of $60 for Salesforce.com, which is about 10% lower than its current market price.

See our complete analysis of Salesforce.com here

Service Cloud Intelligence Engine: Intelligent Resource Allocation in Customer Service

Salesforce’s new Service Cloud Intelligence Engine is aimed at efficient and automated allocation of customer service requests and customer service agents’ workloads. That is, cases get assigned to agents based on skill set, case history and other specified factors, thereby optimizing resolution of customer service requests. Further, the Intelligence Engine automates the distribution and management of workloads based on expertise and case load, thus maximizing productivity. It also includes intelligent automation of business processes, like escalation of cases to other departments and distribution of potential sales leads to sales teams.

Salesforce will release the Service Cloud Intelligence Engine for general availability later this year. The company has not announced the pricing yet, which suggests that the Intelligence Engine may not be a free add-on product like most of Salesforce’s recent offerings (Read: It’s Products Galore From Enterprise Software Vendors).

Marketing Cloud Predictive Decisions: Efficient Targeted Advertising