In the past weeks, two key players in business software and enterprise services have moved rapidly to expand their social media capabilities in order to enhance their cloud-services, a byproduct of the increasing competition facing the Cloud market.

Both Oracle and Salesforce.com have recently enhanced there social media analytic capabilities. Salesforce.com have recently acquired social marketing vendor Buddy Media while Oracle has purchased Collective Intellect.

The £449 million acquisition of Buddy Media by Salesforce is designed to provide the company with specific targeted marketing capabilities through such social media sites as Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Salesforce had previously acquired social media analytics firm Radian6 in 2011 which provided the database firm with the ability to track conversations through social media. Oracle moved to acquire Collective Intellect last week as the company looked to match the social media drive of its competitors. Collective Intellect, like Radian6 provides technology to track conversations through social media.

Salesforce.com acquires social media marketing vendor for £447 million

Oracle has recently moved to compete against the likes of, IBM, HP, Microsoft and particularly Salesforce whose strategy had revolved around social media and software for some time in delivering cloud-based customer management. The purchase of Virtue in May indicated the companies move into social media marketing, with the acquisition of software allowing for coordinated marketing campaigns and data analysis to measure effectiveness.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison announced this month the company’s focus on cloud-based applications when talking on the merits of the new software. His comments came as a departure from past remarks on the “gibberish” of the technology.

Oracle has now said in a statement that they possess the “most advanced and comprehensive social relationship platform," demonstrating the company’s commitment and speed in moving to aggressively compete in the social media market.

Oracle claims it is ready to deliver world’s ‘most comprehensive cloud’

The recent trend of Salesforce and Oracle alternatively buying businesses or ‘listing platforms’ with expertise in social media, reflects the on-going social media capabilities ‘war’ to deliver the most comprehensive product.

Rivalries in certain cases have gone from business rivalry on the markets to legal proceedings in court. Conflict erupted between Oracle and HP, with accusations and court proceedings following the end of Oracle’s support for HP technology. Oracle’s name crops up again in a legal dispute with Google over the copyright of the Java platform, which saw the presiding judge accusing Oracle of perusing damages like a “fishing expedition.”

The ‘war’ between business software and enterprise services providers is a fast moving case and casualties are inflicted on all sides in the race to capitalise the market. Oracle itself has struggled this year, failing to meet its second quarterly expectation, and has struggled to make gains against IBM in terms of server sales.

Competition between cloud software companies is getting fiercer, with no end in sight as the technology advances and the markets having yet to be saturated. The move towards social media, in providing advertising and analytics, reflects another step that IT firms are going to in order to differentiate themselves from their rivals.