Global CRM (customer relationship management) revenue grew 12.5 percent last year to US$18 billion, a rate three times that of all enterprise software segments on average, as companies look to acquire more business and serve existing customers better, according to a new Gartner report.
Salesforce.com is taking steps to combine its acquisitions in social media monitoring and social advertising with its core CRM (customer relationship management) software through a new product called Social.com.
Oracle has agreed to acquire Eloqua for about US$871 million, in a bid to build out a set of marketing automation software.
Salesforce.com said Friday that it has significantly expanded the social analytics options available to customers who use its Marketing Cloud, in its latest move in an ongoing arms race with Oracle to offer businesses the best tools for mining the social Web.
Cloud-based marketing automation vendor Marketo's plans to raise up to $75 million in an initial public offering, which were revealed this week, could influence larger companies to acquire the company, including Salesforce.com and SAP.