Salesforce.com

Overview

Salesforce.com is probably the best known cloud computing provider in the market by virtue of the fact that they've been so successful as a vendor of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Since its inception and founding in 1999 by Marc Benioff, they've helped lead the way in delivering enterprise business applications via a web browser. Today, the term Software as a Service (SaaS) is familiar to many, in large part, because of Salesforce's success and visibility in terms of customers and their ability to help define and lead the SaaS revolution.

Salesforce CRM provides web-based solutions for sales, service, marketing, and call center operations that can be customized for enterprise customers, as well as, small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). A variety of editions are available, priced accordingly, depending on requirements such as customer support and the data and storage needs of the company.

In addition, the Force.com Platform as a Service (PaaS) underpins their solutions and enables customers, developers, and independent software vendors (ISVs) to customize their existing, or build their own, SaaS applications without the need to invest in the infrastructure to do so (see the Force.com profile for more detail). Through AppExchange, you can tap into an online marketplace to find pre-integrated applications developed through their community of customers, developers, and ISVs.

Salesforce.com offers a compelling business value proposition that is now familiar to many: a subscription-based, pay-as-you go model that provides a low cost, low risk, and highly flexible alternative to traditional software and hardware purchases. Today, they've grown to over 51,000 customers across the globe. Clearly, what started as a good idea in 1999 has evolved into something bigger than even Benioff might have imagined.

Value Proposition

Salesforce CRM helps businesses manage the customer relationship life-cycle in a flexible and cost-effective way. Salesforce.com takes the complexity out of deploying business applications while allowing for customization based on the needs of the business. They handle the infrastructure, maintenance, and upgrades. They offer a free CRM trial, very attractive subscription-based pricing, and a very well-regarded customer support team.

Products & Services

• Salesforce CRM covers all facets of the customer relationship life cycle. It's set of business applications delivered on-demand and on a subscription basis. Salesforce CRM consists of:
  • Salesforce CRM Sales Force Automation is a complete lead management, sales, analytic and forecasting suite of applications. It provides real-time and fast access to data to aid decision making; it can be customized; it allows for global deployment; and it accommodates how the user works, whether online, offline, and/or mobile.
  • Salesforce CRM Marketing is an integrated marketing solution that enables businesses to manage multi-channel campaigns, automates lead hand-off, and provides real-time analytics and reporting that makes it easy for marketers to evaluate and adjust campaigns as needed.
  • Salesforce CRM Service and Support focuses on connecting and integrating every customer service channel to evolve the function of the call center from just putting out fires to building customer loyalty while improving agent productivity.
  • Salesforce CRM Partner Network is a set of solutions targeted at increasing the ease and flexibility of working with channel partners to help drive more revenue for both parties.
  • Salesforce CRM Analytics provides real-time information for global sales, marketing and service.
  • Saleforce CRM Content brings collaboration tools to your teams.
  • Salesforce CRM Ideas helps organizations create communities with their customers, partners, and employees.
  • AppExchange Applications consists of hundreds of pre-integrated, on-demand applications created by customers, developers, and partners and available through this Salesforce.com marketplace.