Salesforce has announced the completion of its $15.7 acquisition of analytical vendor Tableau Software, forming its largest-ever acquisition to date. The deal between both companies was announced earlier in June, coming not long after Google moved to acquire data analytics business Looker for a value of $2.6 billion.

In relation to the Tableau deal, Salesforce believes the acquisition will provide an improved role in expanding digital transformation, allowing companies worldwide to harness new data streams within the entire business and generate more insights leading to smarter decisions. Salesforce believes the new platform will create intelligence, integrated customer experiences and support further innovation.

Leading global market intelligence firm IDC forecasts the global spending on technology and services supporting digital transformation will reach $1.8 trillion by 2022. Tableau offers a self-service analytical system with a platform that enables people from a range of skills to work with data. Over 85,000 businesses including Verizon, Netflix, and Schneider Electrical are using Tableau to support their existing data streams.

Salesforce Customer 360 offers businesses an intuitive and intelligent view of customers across an entire company, including sales, service, marketing, and other key areas. Salesforce Einstein provides detailed AI-driven analytics focusing on sales and marketing. Combining the forces of Tableau and Einstein means Salesforce is capable of delivering one of the most intelligent analytical and visual platforms available for all departments and users.

Tableau will also enhance the potential of Customer 360, allowing the platform to expand to a wider range of customers. Tableau will perform as an independent provider under the Tableau brand and will continue to be headquartered in Seattle and be managed by the existing leadership team. Keith Block, the co-CEO of Salesforce explains that data is essential for digital transformation and Block highlights this is why the business is very committed to producing the highest level of analytics available to every user. Block states that Tableau will allow Salesforce Customer 360, including the analytic potential of Salesforce to improve further, allowing customers to focus on innovation and generate smarter strategic business decisions.

Recently, Salesforce has revealed plans to launch a second data center within the UK and strengthen its data center capacity within France.