Salesforce is doubling down on financial services firms

Salesforce is previewing a cloud platform tailored specifically to the needs of financial services professionals. The move comes the same week research reveals the average financial services firm uses over 1,000 cloud-based applications.

The cloud platform adapts Salesforce’s popular CRM platform to the financial services sector, and includes tools that enable financial services advisors to collaborate and communicate directly with their colleagues and clients.

Salesforce also said the platform, which was designed with the help of AIG Advisor Group, Northern Trust and United Capital, will integrate with tools created by other ISVs including companies that cater to financial services specifically (Advisor Software, Informatica and Yodlee for instance).

“Today’s investors want a much different relationship with their advisors than their parents had,” said Simon Mulcahy, senior vice president and general manager of financial services, Salesforce. “They want someone who understands them and engages them on their terms. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud sets advisors free from administrative tasks and gives them the modern tools they need to supercharge their relationships.”

The platform is in preview currently, with an initial release scheduled for February 2016.

The move comes the same week research from Skyhigh Networks shows cloud services uptake in financial services firms is at an all-time high.

According to the firm, which aggregated data of 3.7m employees at banks, insurance companies, credit card companies and investment funds worldwide, the average financial services firm uses 1,004 cloud services, with cloud-based collaboration platforms looking to be the most popular type of app deployed; the average financial services employees uses 31 distinct cloud applications.