I’ve been watching customer relationship management (CRM) and customer data platforms converge for some time, but this week’s developments show how differently providers are pursuing that goal.
CRM vendors want to own more of the customer relationship, and the latest deals and integrations show how they plan to do it, bringing customer data, engagement tools and AI closer together. Salesforce’s proposed $5.66BN acquisition of Braze is the clearest example, potentially linking CRM records with real-time customer behavior to coordinate marketing and service interactions.
Specialist vendors are connecting AI assistants to existing systems and keeping AI processing within controlled environments. But as I see it, the story is not how many platforms vendors can stitch together, but whether businesses can turn that connected data into better customer experiences without losing control of where the data goes, what AI can do with it and which vendor holds the keys.
The common thread is making customer information more actionable. The question is how businesses can achieve that without adding complexity or surrendering control over sensitive data and customer communications.
Could Salesforce’s Braze Acquisition Fill a Gap in its CRM Strategy?
Salesforce’s proposed $5.66BN acquisition of Braze would bring real-time personalization closer to its wider CRM offering, adding Braze’s engagement platform to Salesforce’s CRM and data ecosystem. The strategic opportunity is to connect Salesforce’s sales, service and marketing information with Braze’s ability to act on live behavioural signals. Businesses could use these capabilities to coordinate campaigns and customer journeys with a more immediate understanding of customer activity.
The acquisition also fits Salesforce’s agentic ambitions. AI agents need relevant customer context and ways to act on it. Braze’s engagement and decisioning capabilities could provide another route for turning that context into timely communications.
However, the benefits will depend on integration. Buyers will want clarity on product roadmaps, implementation costs and how much flexibility they retain when working with other marketing technologies.
The deal raises a broader question about whether Salesforce can deliver a more complete proposition by bringing customer intelligence and engagement closer together.
The transaction remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, with completion expected in Salesforce’s fiscal 2028. Until then, the companies will continue operating independently.
Managed services provider (MSP) Thrive has reported a 73 percent first-contact resolution rate and a 63% reduction in time to resolution after deploying ServiceNow’s Technology Provider Service Management (TPSM) platform and AI agents to support customer service operations.
TPSM is ServiceNow’s service CRM offering for technology providers, including MSPs. It is designed to bring customer service management and operational workflows together, helping providers coordinate support requests and track service delivery.
At Thrive using AI-powered ticket triage, task assignment and generative AI case summaries to support engineers handling customer issues. Automated workflows also manage routine tasks, allowing staff to concentrate on more complex requests.
The company routes more than 315,000 tasks through automated workflows every six months, saving an estimated 21,000 hours of manual work. Thrive also reported a 99.2% customer satisfaction score. Its NextGen 3.0 platform combines TPSM with digital employee experience capabilities and TeamViewer remote connectivity to help identify and resolve IT issues.
The deployment highlights how CRM for MSPs differs from conventional sales-focused systems. Customer relationships depend heavily on service delivery, response times and the ability to resolve technical problems. Connecting customer service processes with operational workflows can give support teams a clearer view of requests and their progress.
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