Dreamforce 2018 conference highlights and key takeaways

Editor's note

It has been another big year for Salesforce acquisitions, including CloudCraze Software LLC, Datorama Inc., Attic Labs and MuleSoft Inc. Following these purchases, Salesforce is now able to offer its customers a wider array of capabilities and services -- some of which will be revealed at Dreamforce 2018.

With the CloudCraze acquisition, Salesforce enhanced its Commerce Cloud, making it more B2B-friendly. The Datorama purchase helped the CRM company flesh out its Marketing Cloud capabilities with AI and machine learning. Attic Labs brought with it a host of new back-end capabilities for Salesforce's collaboration tool, Quip.

Most notable was the $6.5 billion acquisition of cloud services company MuleSoft -- the company's most expensive acquisition to date. Salesforce plans to use MuleSoft technology to power its Integration Cloud and give customers the ability to build microservices.

Outside of acquisitions, Salesforce has continued to develop its Einstein AI technology. Back in March, the company introduced Conversational Queries, an AI feature that enables its customers to interact with and analyze data more intuitively through text-based inquiries.

Einstein capabilities were also integrated into Salesforce's Philanthropy Cloud, which was introduced this year with the goal of giving activists a lower-cost way to track fundraising, organize activities and keep their communities engaged.

At Dreamforce 2018, customers can expect the announcement of new features and upgrades for the Salesforce core cloud products and to learn how MuleSoft will play a role in the company's platform. 

For more on Salesforce's acquisitions and new releases, check out all the news, features and video from our Dreamforce 2018 conference coverage.