Salesforce.Com: Cloud Services Go Mainstream

What is Salesforce.com?

Salesforce.com comprised of its customer relationship management (CRM) and other application software solutions service leased over the internet, instead of being installed onto hardware like most traditional software. The company was created in 1999 by Marc Benioff a former executive at software giant Oracle, it has grown to over 3900 employees, 82,400 corporate customers, and 2.1 million subscribers. In 2009 it has earned 1.3 billion in revenue, putting it in the top 50 software companies in the world. Its success comes from the benefits its on-demand model of software distribution. Its on-demand model cuts the need for a huge start up costs such as software investments, hardware cost, and lengthy on boarding of software onto corporate computers making it an appealing alterative. Monthly subscription cost can be as low as $9 for the group version for small sales and marketing teams, subscriptions for advanced versions for large enterprises can be around $65 per user. Nestle USA owned Haagen-Daz Shoppe calculated that it would cost them $65,000 to create a custom-designed database to help management oversee its retail franchises, they paid Salesforce $20,000 for its service plus a monthly charge of $125 per month for 20 users to use wireless handsets or the web to monitor it’s franchises across the country. Salesforce.com takes three months at most and usually less than a month to implement, it also avoids many new software and IT solution problems. There are no new operating systems, database servers, installation of application servers, new employees such as consultants, expensive licensing and maintenance fees. It can be accessed from a web browser, and some features can be accessed from a handheld device. Salesforce.com is constantly updating its service behind the scenes, it also offers tools to customize features to fit to a business’ unique processes. If a business cannot afford the service anymore or a better system comes along they can leave. If they have layoffs they can cut down on how many subscriptions they buy. Salesforce.com faces many questions as it moves forward such as how does it use cloud computing? What challenges will it face as it grows and how well it will meet those challenges? What businesses can benefit from switching and why? What factors would you take into account in deciding whether to use Salesforce.com for your business? Could a company run its entire business on Salesforce.com, Force.com, and App Exchange?

How does Salesforce.com use cloud computing?

Salesforce.com has intensified its effort to provide cloud computing to its many customers. The new website places more emphasis on cloud computing, putting its products into three different clouds: the Sales Cloud, the Service Cloud, and the Custom Cloud. The sales and service cloud are meant to help with sales and customer service, but the service cloud