Some enterprise software vendor partnerships seem more like window dressing than something truly substantive, but at this stage it's hard to lump the alliance between Salesforce and Microsoft into that camp. The latest fruit of the companies' coopetition was announced this week in the form of Salesforce Lightning for Outlook, which ties Salesforce's CRM software to Microsoft's dominant email client through Salesforce's Lightning app-dev framework. Here's how Salesforce and Microsoft describe the offering's value proposition:
Today, sales and service reps rely on two apps above all others—CRM and email. CRM helps them structure their day, get a 360-degree view of their customers and know when to engage, while email is how reps communicate. In fact, the average sales rep spends more than 70 percent of their time sending and responding to email every week. Traditionally, CRM and email have been disconnected, and reps have had to spend their day toggling between the apps and updating data manually.
The new Lightning for Outlook add-in seamlessly combines Salesforce and Outlook into one powerful solution. Now, mutual customers have an integrated way to work across both Salesforce and Outlook so they can be more productive than ever before.
Users will be able to "snap" new Lightning-based functionality into Outlook:
For example, sales reps will be able to update a price quote with Salesforce SteelBrick CPQ right from within Outlook or even leverage a partner component like Altify, that allows them to accelerate sales performance, increasing their productivity and helping them sell the way they want.
Other features include Lightning Sync, which can align Salesforce and Outlook contacts and calendar events. Lightning for Outlook is initially supported on Windows, Mac OS and web, with Outlook Mobile support to come.
The companies' joint press release notes a list of previous integrations:
Salesforce Files Connect integration with SharePoint and OneDrive for Business
Skype for Business Integration
SalesforceIQ Inbox
Salesforce Wave Connector for Excel
Salesforce integration with Power Query for Excel
Salesforce Mobile SDK for Windows
Salesforce and Windows integration
Power BI for Office 365 integration with Salesforce
Single sign on integration between Salesforce, Office 365 and Azure AD
Analysis: Closer Ties, But Muddier Waters?
Lightning for Outlook "should allow users of both Outlook and Salesforce to maintain the context of the conversations and customer records that they are working with," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Alan Lepofsky. "I also think this is a good indication of Salesforce and Microsoft delivering on the promise of integration that they introduced at Dreamforce last year."
The new offering supercedes previous efforts by Salesforce to tie into Outlook, which include a plug-in application dating back several years, and the Salesforce App for Outlook, which was announced in early 2015.
Meanwhile, Salesforce also offers SalesforceIQ Inbox, a product related to its acquisition of RelateIQ. Saleforce IQ Inbox is already integrated with Outlook and other email clients. It analyzes email content and responds by surfacing relevant data from Salesforce CRM, while helping salespeople work more efficiently.
"I think Salesforce needs to be clearer with their roadmap, between building more integration with Outlook versus SalesforceIQ," Lepofsky says.
To that end, the release of Lightning for Outlook seems like a win for joint customers, but may also present a more complicated decision for those same customers looking to add CRM licenses, given that Microsoft has done plenty of work to integrate Office with Dynamics CRM.