Salesforce can now predict the best time to email someone

Salesforce launched a new product called SalesforceIQ on Tuesday, a new app that helps salespeople automate their sales strategy with more data and analytic capabilities.

The new service is based on something called "relationship intelligence technology," technology that can sift through massive amounts of personal relationship data stored in emails, calendars, or even social media accounts. It automatically extracts data and pulls out suggested actions for the sales person to make when making phone calls or trying to initiate a dialogue with potential customers.

For example, it would send alerts on when to send a follow up email, or find who knows who the best to maximize the chances of closing a deal. Basically, it can help salespeople make better decisions and save a whole bunch of time, based on actual data.

Salesforce is launching two separate products for SalesforceIQ: one targeting small businesses, and another for Sales Cloud customers - about 45% of Salesforce's entire business.

"SalesforceIQ, with all this technology and the vision of connecting all these people in an automatic way, will be available to the millions of Sales Cloud users starting today," Adam Evans, cofounder of RelateIQ, the startup Salesforce bought for $390 million last year, told us. "Sales Cloud has never been smarter."

Evans said SalesforceIQ is largely built on top of RelateIQ's existing technology, and RelateIQ will no longer be available as a separate product. This is the first major announcement Salesforce has made involving RelateIQ, one of the biggest acquisitions Salesforce has made last year.

Salesforce has been making a push towards stronger data analytics features lately. Last year's big announcement was the Wave Analytics platform, Salesforce's first attempt at "big data" analytics, and SalesforceIQ will only bolster its drive towards a more intelligent platform.

"It's a big deal because the ability to exploit social data and other user data can be really instrumental in making the CRM systems more useful," Wedbush Securities' Steve Koenig told us.

The launch falls on the first day of Dreamforce, the massive annual conference Salesforce hosts in San Francisco. More than 150,000 people are expected to come to the four-day conference.