Salesforce announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tableau, a data visualization software company, in an all-stock transaction valued at $15.7 billion.

SugarCRM, a customer relationship management software company, has acquired Salesfusion, a marketing automation platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

B2B buying cycles are getting longer and more complex. According to Demand Gen Report research, 58% of buyers said their decision process was longer in 2017 than in 2016, while only 10% said purchase time had decreased. Most buyers are conducting more detailed ROI analyses before making a purchase decision (77%), using more sources for research and evaluation (75%) and increasing the number of buying group members (52%).

Sales enablement is only the first step towards sales success. B2B companies must also ensure that their sales teams are using and fully engaged with the content and tools provided to them. In an interview with Demand Gen Report, David Hood, President and CEO of VanillaSoft, a sales software and engagement platform provider, shared his thoughts on the sales engagement space, as well as how companies can promote change management from within.

To kick off 2019, small business CRM provider Infusionsoft announced it would rebrand as Keap. The new name is designed to reflect the company’s core mission to help small businesses continue to grow even though the odds may be stacked against them. In an exclusive interview with Demand Gen Report, Keap CEO and Co-Founder Clate Mask opened up about the company’s rebrand and shared his perspective on the current state of CRM.

SalesLoft, a sales engagement platform, announced the launch of a new mobile app, machine learning capabilities and a new reporting framework at the company’s annual Rainmaker conference in Atlanta, Ga. The new features are designed to help companies uncover insights and embed intelligence into their SalesLoft platform and CRM to optimize their sales performance and achieve new levels of engagement with prospects.

Research shows that nearly half of marketers (43%) say their database initiatives need significant improvement. So, if looking at your MAP and CRM systems sparks stress instead of joy, it may be time for a Marie Kondo makeover.

Infusionsoft, a CRM, sales and marketing software provider for SMBs, received a $20 million investment from ORIX Growth Capital. The company said the funding will be used to fuel product development and market expansion.

Today’s CRM and marketing automation systems provide measurement at every stage of the funnel. That’s good news for marketers who want to optimize the conversion process, and bad news for those who are used to measuring quantity over quality. Those days are over, and the focus is shifting. Sixty-eight percent of B2B marketers have made improving data quality their top priority, and for good reason. Bad data is a marketer’s worst nightmare. It costs businesses money, time and customers, and it’s the number one cause of CRM and MAP failure. Addressing this single issue is the quickest path to improving your top- and bottom-line results.

Building on its Einstein artificial intelligence offering, which was rolled out across its CRM cloud in 2016, Salesforce has unveiled Einstein Voice Assistant and Voice Bots. The new capabilities are designed to help users to talk directly to their Salesforce CRM instance and connect with their customers in engaging new ways.