According to a recent release, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, and Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and CRM company, have expanded their global strategic alliance.
The companies announced they will deliver five service integrations designed to simplify and expand how customers capture, analyze and take action on their data. Additionally, the companies announced that Canada will be the first new AWS Region supported in Salesforce's planned international infrastructure expansion on AWS. Salesforce customers will be able to use the company's core services delivered on AWS cloud infrastructure in Canada, with general availability expected in mid-2017. The companies will deliver integrations that will connect the Salesforce Platform with Amazon AppStream 2.0, AWS IoT, Amazon Redshift, Alexa and Amazon Virtual.
“We are excited to expand our strategic relationship with Salesforce,” said Andy Jassy, CEO, AWS. “These new integrations across business intelligence, IoT, and developer tools will make it easier for our joint customers to analyze data and build new applications.”
The integrations include:
Desktop Apps within Salesforce Lightning through Amazon AppStream 2.0: Amazon AppStream 2.0 is a fully managed, secure application streaming service that allows customers to stream desktop applications from AWS to any device running a Web browser, without rewriting them. It provides users instant-on access to the applications they need, and a responsive, fluid experience on the device of their choice. Amazon AppStream 2.0 is expected to be made available in the Salesforce AppExchange as a Lightning Component in the first half of 2017, enabling customers to easily and seamlessly integrate streaming applications from the AWS Cloud directly within Salesforce.
An End-to-End IoT Solution with Salesforce IoT Cloud and AWS IoT: AWS and Salesforce are building a new native integration to help businesses generate value from the trillions of events generated by connected devices. AWS IoT is a managed cloud platform that lets connected devices easily and securely interact with cloud applications and other devices. Salesforce IoT Cloud connects with AWS IoT to combine device data with customer data in Salesforce, allowing businesses to create meaningful customer experiences based on real-time activity across all their connected devices. For example, an energy company that maintains millions of IoT enabled thermostats across the globe can use AWS IoT to ingest and manage the data generated by those thermostats. The data collected can then seamlessly pass into Salesforce IoT Cloud, where it is combined with customer data in Salesforce. By combining AWS IoT thermostat data with Salesforce IoT customer data, the energy company is able to automatically create service cases if device faults are detected or create a new sales opportunity based on product usage.
A Connected Analytics Solution with Salesforce Wave Analytics and Amazon Redshift: AWS and Salesforce are building a new connector that links data from Amazon Redshift, a fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service, to Salesforce Wave Analytics, a flexible analytics solution and suite of apps for sales, service, marketing and IT. By combining the powerful, actionable intelligence and rapid responsiveness of Wave Analytics with the scalability and fast-query performance of Amazon Redshift, customers will be able to seamlessly analyze large datasets. This will enable businesses to instantly explore information, find insights, and take actions from a greater variety and volume of data—all without investing the significant time and resources required to administer a self-managed on-premises data warehouse.
Smart Voice Apps with the Salesforce Platform and Alexa Toolkit: Alexa, the brain behind Amazon Echo, provides capabilities that enable customers to interact with devices in a more intuitive way using voice input. The Alexa Toolkit for Salesforce is a collection of technical resources from both Alexa and Salesforce that will allow developers to easily harness the power of Alexa and Salesforce together to build compelling voice-enabled experiences. Developers will be able to learn how to build Alexa Skills for Salesforce through Trailhead, the fun and easy Salesforce learning platform. For example, developers can build an integration through the Alexa Toolkit for Salesforce that enables Alexa to tell sales reps the current status of top deals or brief them on their next meetings.
Simple, Secure Connections Between Salesforce Heroku Applications and Amazon VPCs: Customers of both Salesforce Heroku and AWS have long wanted to enable their Heroku applications and their resources running in Amazon VPCs (Virtual Private Clouds) to work together without using a public network connection. With the addition of Amazon VPC Peering for Salesforce Heroku Private Spaces, businesses can now establish network connections between their Heroku applications and Amazon VPCs with all the security and compliance benefits of a private network. The integration makes the process as simple as connecting two Amazon VPCs, and provides the same security characteristics as well.
Salesforce will leverage AWS cloud infrastructure as an option to support its growing customer base in Canada. Generally available in mid-2017, this will be Salesforce's first international infrastructure expansion supported with AWS cloud services, with others expected to follow.
“We're thrilled to extend our great partnership with AWS,” said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, Salesforce. “Integrating AWS' industry-leading infrastructure services and technologies with Salesforce will bring even more exceptional solutions to our customers.”
Edited by
Alicia Young
