2 of 5 customer-intelligence tools we once named were renamed; 1 of 5 prints a price
What became of the five customer intelligence tools in our 2023 list, which one publishes a price, and what CI should mean for an Indian buyer, as of September 2026.
Two of the five “customer intelligence” tools we named in May 2023 were already trading under other names when we named them, and four of the five still print no price. Salesforce Pardot had become Marketing Cloud Account Engagement in 2022.1 IBM Marketing Cloud had been sold to Centerbridge in April 2019 and relaunched as Acoustic that July.3 The one list price among the five, Account Engagement’s, starts at US$1,250 a month.2
The question behind the 2023 piece was a buyer’s one: what is customer intelligence, and which tool do I buy for it? The honest answer starts with the list itself.
01What became of the five
Pardot reached Salesforce through its US$2.5 billion purchase of ExactTarget in 2013 and was renamed Marketing Cloud Account Engagement in 2022.1 Marketo was Adobe’s from a US$4.75 billion deal announced on 20 September 20184 and is sold as Marketo Engage in four plans, Growth, Select, Prime and Ultimate, each behind a “Get pricing” button.5 IBM Marketing Cloud is Acoustic, which sells Acoustic Connect and books demos rather than printing prices.3 8 Oracle Eloqua is Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation, with no price on its page.6 SAS Customer Intelligence is now SAS Customer Intelligence 360, a cloud marketing platform sold through a conversation with SAS.7
02The one price, and what it buys
Account Engagement prints four editions, each on an annual contract. Growth, Plus and Advanced include 10,000 contacts; Premium includes 75,000.2
The only printed price among the five starts at US$1,250 a month and runs 12 times higher
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, US$ list per org per month, billed annually
Source: Salesforce Account Engagement pricing page · as of 30 September 2026 · vendor page undated; Premium includes 75,000 contacts, the others 10,000
03What customer intelligence should mean in India
Customer intelligence is one customer profile that marketing, sales and service all read, plus the analysis run on it. For most Indian mid-market companies that profile already lives in the CRM. Salesforce now sells it separately as Data Cloud, which it also calls Data 360, and builds its newer marketing editions on top of it.9
Profiling customers is processing personal data under the DPDP Act, 2023. Its Rules were notified on 13 November 2025, and the substantive duties, notice, consent, security safeguards and breach intimation, apply from 13 May 2027.10 The Act’s schedule sets a penalty of up to ₹250 crore for failing to keep reasonable security safeguards.11 A CI project that copies the CRM into a second store doubles the data you must protect; ask where the profile is hosted before you ask what the licence costs.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Pardot (ExactTarget and Salesforce acquisitions; renamed Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) — renamed 2022
- Salesforce, Marketing Cloud Account Engagement pricing — vendor pricing page, undated
- AdExchanger, After sale to PE firm, IBM Watson Marketing rebrands as Acoustic — 15 July 2019
- Wikipedia, Marketo (Adobe acquisition) — announced 20 September 2018
- Adobe, Marketo Engage pricing — vendor pricing page, undated
- Oracle, Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation — vendor product page, undated
- SAS, SAS Customer Intelligence 360 — vendor product page, undated
- Acoustic, home page (Acoustic Connect) — vendor page, undated
- TechBag, Salesforce Marketing Cloud intel page (Data Cloud, Data 360) — version of 30 September 2026
- DPDP Rules 2025, commencement timeline — notified 13 November 2025
- Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Schedule (penalties) — 11 August 2023
Related on TechBag: the Salesforce Data Cloud page covers the customer-data layer on its own; the data security and privacy guides cover what protecting a second copy of customer data involves.
Disclosure. TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.
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