Salesforce Joins Upstarts Using Machine Learning to Clinch Deals

For all the advances technology has brought to corporate life, salespeople still rely heavily on guesswork when it comes to wooing customers and closing deals, usually involving late-night conference calls and spreadsheets about client interactions.
A raft of startups such as Clari Inc., Aviso Inc. and Highspot Inc. are aiming to change that by hawking technology that uses software to analyze and predict deal outcomes and suggest marketing strategies for corporate sales teams, potentially saving time and boosting revenue.
The systems use machine-learning technology to let businesses crunch reams of data that can help them focus time and resources on winnable deals. Larger companies are also taking notice -- this week, Salesforce.com Inc. unveiled SalesforceIQ, integrating machine-learning capabilities into its main sales-management program to eliminate some of the tedious data entry required to use it.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-18/salesforce-joins-upstarts-using-machine-learning-to-clinch-deals