Recently, Salesforce has hosted its 13^th annual user conference, Dreamforce, in San Francisco. In congruence with the more than 160,000 individuals in attendance, there were also a series of special guests including musician Stevie Wonder, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Lightning Man. Salesforce announced that in 2016, it will become the world’s fourth largest software company, behind only Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP.

This news joins the announcement of the plethora of new cloud based services. Lightning Man, also known as Salesforce co-founder Parker Harris, announced the new Internet of Things, or IoT, Cloud that is powered by thunder. The IoT will connect events from devices on the IoT platform to Salesforce and Thunder will be the real time event processing engine that powers the platform. Through the IoT Cloud, businesses may use the point and click tools that are available to outline, alter, and set rules for events that may trigger a reaction throughout the Salesforce platform. Events may be triggered by things such as clickstreams, log entries, sensors, and other devices. Device support will be determined through customer feedback during the pilot tests, a method that is part of the idea of allowing third parties to construct appropriate support.  IoT Cloud will be piloted in the beginning of 2016. In addition, Microsoft was announced as the launch partner.

“IoT deployments only bring value when organizations are able to act on the information that their IoT networks generate,” said Gary Barnett, chief analyst at Ovum. “The ability to make sense of that data by connecting it with existing customer information will be a key factor in turning data into action.”

SalesforceIQ, the result of the attainment last year of RelateIQ, was also announced. The product is available in two different versions in order to best fit the needs of customers. The product is being offered for Small Business and for Sales Cloud. Each of these products is specialized for their different settings, but both monitor the user’s email, calendar, and other information in addition to recommending actions that catalyze the sales process. Relevant information is automatically sent to Salesforce. The SalesforceIQ for Sales Cloud consists of iOS, Android, and Chrome apps while Salesforce IQ for Small business is available now in a 14 day free trial.

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According to recent reports, Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment and M&A organization, has invested roughly $67 million throughout eight Chinese technology companies. These companies represent a number of industries, including robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics and cloud technology.

The companies sharing the $67million dollar investment are Bluebank, Hampoo, Ninebot, Nuovo Film, PraFly, 99cloud Inc., and AWcloud Technology CO.Ltd, and Telink. 99cloud is based in Shanghai and provides OpenStack based solution as well as operational support. Some of these solutions include front-end optimization, core framework optimization, backend optimization and hyper-converged all-in-one solutions. AWcloud is based in Beijing and offers large scale OpenStack Cloud solutions for a multitude of industries such as oil, power, healthcare, and education. AWcloud has aided in he ransition from traditional IT services to contemporary cloud solutions through a hyper-converged “Cloud-in-a-Box” solution based on OpenStack and Intel technology. In addition, the company provides a private cloud that may be scaled out by adding more systems.

There are many obstacles for international cloud companies, such as Microsoft and IBM, which make it difficult for them to enter the cloud sector in China. For example, such companies are required to pursue partnerships with local Chinese cloud companies. Because Chinese based companies benefit from the expanding market and methods that safeguard them from international competition, they are made to be an attractive investment.

“Intel has a well-established track record working with China on the development of its technology industry over the past 30 years, during which time the country has transformed itself into a leader of global technology innovation,” Intel China president Ian Yang said in a statement. “Our investments, new products and collaborations in China support the government’s national initiative to uplift its innovation economy and continue Intel’s long-term commitment to accelerating CTE development in China and driving global innovation and entrepreneurship.”s

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A study commissioned by cloud services marketplaces provider BCSG has implied that telecoms operators could benefit greatly from differentiating into cloud provisioning for both small and medium-sized enterprises; the size of such opportunity is quantified at about $22 billion for operators in the United Kingdom and the United States. The SME sector is generally underserved and therefore has much room for expansion under telecom.

While BT Global Services have already carved out a lucrative cloud business among enterprise customers, and many other telecoms also offer assistance in the areas of hosting and business applications for SMEs, the potential for telecoms operators to become the suppliers of cloud computing services to small businesses has generally not been taken advantage of, according to BCSG.

These comments originate from a study conducted by BCSG of SME’s in both the United Kingdom and the United States. During the study, it was discovered that there were high levels of confusion pertaining to cloud services and technologies that were appropriate for the businesses.  Just under half of those surveyed claimed they would be willing to purchase cloud services from their telecoms supplier, while only 40% said they were willing to buy software and other tools from operators to help grow their business.

With only 31% of SMEs surveyed saying they had a cloud migration strategy in place, BCSG predicted that the firm intent from SMEs  could be worth upwards of $22 billion .

“Not only is the SME market a potential goldmine for operators looking to add greater value to customers through service diversification, they also present a captive and willing audience,” said BCSG commercial director Tom Platt. “It is vital that operators seize the initiative by helping their SME customers realize the value of cloud services and business applications.”

More than half claimed they would contemplate switching operators in two years, and 58% said that they would switch operators if a broader range of technology and services was offered. “Long tenure from SME customers does not imply loyalty – and operators can’t afford to be complacent. These results demonstrate the value of operators broadening their service offering to SMEs,” said Platt.

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Salesforce has announced the development of the Salesforce Internet of Things Cloud. This was announced at its large customer conference, Dreamforce, in San Francisco. To accommodate this new IoT cloud, an all-new thunder platform was developed. This platform joins the ranks of Lightning, Salesforce 1, and Wave.

Salesforce has seen a connection between its customers and the data that is generated from various sources. As a result, the company wishes to help edify customers of the many functions of this increasing amount of information that is accumulating. Dylan Steele, senior director of product marketing for the App Cloud at Salesforce, has told tech website TechCrunch, “We are watching the increasing volume of data coming off of connected devices, and we are thinking about how we can help customers deal with those massive amounts of data.” However, salesforce wishes to utilize this tool to help companies further their customers understanding of this massive amount of data that is coming from a multitude of sources: apps, web data, etc.

“When you look behind all of this, there is a customer generating all of this data,” he said. In theory, the more data you have about a customer, the more you can pinpoint their requirements and react to their needs. In practice, however processing all of this data is massively complex and many companies struggle with it today. Essentially, the latest Salesforce product provides what Salesforce has always done from its earliest days when it put CRM in the cloud. It’s doing the heavy lifting and saving customer from setting up and maintaining their own hardware, while giving them a set of tools to do the job in the cloud. Processing big data, however, is a bit more complex than dealing with customer and marketing data. Salesforce has its work cut out for it, but it believes it can help simplify a complex set of big data processing tasks related to the Internet of Things. You can buy this as a service, and you don’t have to worry about the different types of technology to manage the complex processes.”

In addition, the IoT cloud also brings a more industrial purpose; the IoT cloud will absorb more data from the Industrial IoT, which is being sent information sources such as factories, warehouses, and wind turbines.

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IBM has announced a five year agreement with Finland’s largest airline, Finnair, which will channel both IBM Cloud as well as Watson services that will provide certain services such as mobile on flight services to its users. This agreement will also change Finnair’s technology infrastructure into a contemporary hybrid cloud platform. Financial aspects of the agreement were not disclosed. Under terms of this agreement, IBM will serve as Finnair’s IT service integrator by providing support that can enable multiple technology vendors serving the airline in order to operate in a more consistent manner. IBM will oversee vendor performance, drive service-quality improvements and promote airline industry best practices.

Kari Saarikoski, CIO at Finnair, has said in a statement, “”For a network airline, operational excellence is a key success factor, and efficient IT services are a key enabler in this. IBM understands us, and has the airline industry expertise to help us achieve our goals. This services agreement and powerful new cloud infrastructure are at the heart of our plans to improve our operational efficiency and provide the foundation for new digital services to deliver a better experience to our customers.”

In order to grow in a sophisticated and efficient manner, Finnair has turned to the cloud to both reduce IT complexity and gain more flexibility to support dynamic business changes. The company also aims to lower its costs by consolidating applications. IBM will establish the Finnair Cloud Platform to provide a foundation for the growth that the airline aspires to achieve. Digitalization is the core of Finnair’s growth strategy.

The Finnair Cloud Platform aims to integrate both a multitude of operational and commercial services in a hybrid cloud environment in order to support Finnair’s business aspirations. In addition, Finnair will also have access to the capabilities to improve employee productivity by enabling agents to quickly find responses to customer needs and intelligent, online self-help tools for employees to locate information.

Tuomo Haukkovaara, managing executive of IBM Finland, has said in a statement, “This partnership represents a significant opportunity for Finnair to restructure its IT capabilities and reduce the complexities associated with operating a large airline. IBM Cloud serves as the foundation for compelling new services for customers and will help Finnair accelerate revenue growth while lowering IT costs.”

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