Dive Brief:

• Tuesday, Salesforce announced that its vice chairman and president Keith Block will now also take on the role of Chief Operating Officer.
• The announcement came the same day that Salesforce unveiled a new version of its Lightning CRM platform.
• The new platform includes built-in Wave analytics and some features the company gained in recent accusations, including intelligent email and configure-price-quote features.

Dive Insight:

By pulling Block in as COO, Salesforce is working to further align company leadership. With day-to-day operations falling under block's purview, the company can seamlessly integrate customer-facing and company operations. Block now holds three major executive roles as well as a seat on Salesforce's board. 

Salesforce faces stiff competition in the realm of cloud computing and with its new CRM, Salesforce is working to keep customer's within company offerings without them having to seek supplementary services elsewhere. 

Last year, Salesforce saw growth in subscriptions, support revenues and professional services, placing the company well on its way to becoming a $10 billion company, something the company hopes to achieve faster than either Microsoft or Apple reached that mark.