By
Chimamanda U. Martha
February 13th, 2024
Salesforce cloud firm has just announced an agreement with ClickSoftware to purchase the latter for $1.35 billion. This acquisition is expected to improve its Field Service Lightning offering which has already earned the firm more than $1 billion.
San-Francisco based cloud computing software firm, Salesforce, has just announced its acquisition of cloud field service management and workforce software firm, ClickSoftware in a $1.35 billion deal. This is the second acquisition by Salesforce in a short time as recently, the company closed a $15.7 billion acquisition deal of Tableau Software, the data intelligence firm. The Tableau acquisition is Salesforce’s biggest purchase ever.
With this new move, Salesforce will be strengthening its Field Service Lightning offering which according to the firm’s report for June, pulled in total revenue of $1 billion. This was corroborated by the EVP and GM of Salesforce, Bill Patterson. According to Patterson, the acquisition will also help Salesforce with the creation and advancement of more services.
“Our acquisition of ClickSoftware will not only accelerate the growth of Service Cloud, but drive further innovation with Field Service Lightning to better meet the needs of our customers.”
Salesforce and ClickSoftware
Founded in 1999, Salesforce is about two years younger than ClickSoftware. The former kicked of its Field Service Lightning back in 2016 and had already struck a relationship with ClickSoftware at the time and with Field Service Lightning, mobile workers part of the Salesforce, have full access to the customer.
The product will now ensure a smoother operation such that re-routing of workers to customers is easy and seamless, in the event that the former employee faces an impediment. All the data regarding reroutes and communication between the mobile employee and the customer, are immediately updated to the Salesforce network, ensuring complete transparency and visibility between customers and the company.
With this, Salesforce is taking advantage of improved technology and connectivity. The official statement announcing the acquisition touches on this.
“As connected devices become smarter and more predictive, customers’ expectations are evolving to expect faster, more tailored engagement based on their unique needs. Companies must transform their customer service to stay competitive. This creates huge opportunities to further advance the on-site customer service experience.”
More from Salesforce
Recently, the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger – a multi-venture project for open-source blockchains, announced that Salesforce had become a new member. Hyperledger makes it easy for members to produce and deploy applications and platforms very specific to their industry and core business.
Also, Salesforce revealed its local blockchain solution which was created on Hyperledger’s Sawtooth platform. The company announced at the time that the blockchain solution was to improve on its Clients Relations Management (CRM). The platform allows easy transfer of funds, transparent and secure storage of medical records, as well as supply chain management.
According to Ramaya Subramani, Salesforce’s Senior Director for Engineering:
“We needed a technology that could be deeply customized with our Lightning Platform and Hyperledger Sawtooth provided us with the robust flexibility to implement our customization.”