How the Microsoft – Salesforce Relationship Has Evolved

Excerpt from JMP Securities:

In June 2013, Salesforce acquired ExactTarget for $2.5B. ExactTarget runs on the Microsoft database, SQL Server. The ExactTarget SQL Server infrastructure is highly optimized for messaging. In addition, Microsoft was a large ExactTarget customer, and – through the acquisition – became a Salesforce customer.

In May 2014, Microsoft and Salesforce announced a strategic partnership and followed that by announcing new joint solutions at Dreamforce 2014. The announcement included Salesforce1 for Windows 8.1 mobile devices, Salesforce for Office, and Power BI for Office 365. Salesforce for Office gave customers access to content through integrations with Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and OneDrive for Business on iOS devices and Android phones. Power BI for Office 365 enabled customers to bi-directionally load data to Salesforce and Excel to build reports and visualize information.

The partnership was positioned as a “reflection of both companies’ commitments to putting the customer first.”