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We provide guidance using our market research and expertise to significantly improve your marketing, sales and product efforts. We offer a portfolio of advisory, research, thought leadership and digital education services to help optimize market strategy, planning and execution.
It’s hard to believe that Salesforce.com was launched only 14 years ago. It has since grown into a multi-billion-dollar company that has changed the way companies source software. Back in the early days its two primary messages were “the end of on-premises software” and “a new era of CRM in the cloud.” Today the first message seems to have softened somewhat, with its own website talking about products and applications, and of course many companies still use traditional on-premise applications. As my research shows, companies are not so concerned about the specifics of “SaaS,” “hosted” or “cloud” but are more focused on usability, functionality, security, scalability, integration, performance and of course cost. They are also increasingly concerned about finding the skills necessary to deploy and operate the applications they need to support their businesses. When you add these all up, off-premises really comes into its own. My research into the contact center in the cloud shows that CRM leads the way in adoption in the cloud, with communications in the cloud (systems to manage the delivery of multichannel customer interactions) following closely behind.
Today, the product message has changed out of all recognition. CRM still features but at the top level the focus is now Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud, Work.com (why not Work Cloud?), Salesforce Chatter and Salesforce Platform; essentially suites of applications that support most of the enterprise, enterprise-wide collaboration and a platform to build applications. Recently I covered many of these in my blog posts about Cloudforce and Dreamforce, the company’s two big enterprise shows which it uses to showcase its products and customers. As you dig below the surface of these top-level descriptors, you uncover a series of more detailed products that increasingly support all six of the developments Ventana Research identified as most likely to impact the provision of software and innovation of business processes: collaboration, mobile, business analytics, cloud computing, social media and big data. This portfolio earned Salesforce.com the Ventana Research 2012 Technology Innovation Award for Cloud Computing.
I can’t possibly do justice to all the Salesforce products in one blog post, but here are some of the highlights:
Several of these capabilities are now bundled into Salesforce Platform, and as I remarked in an earlier blog post, Salesforce.com is increasingly positioning itself as the development and operational platform of the future. This won’t work for every organization, but it is working with some of the biggest brands and has helped them innovative the way they execute business. Many other vendors are trailing in Salesforce’s footsteps. Nothing I have seen or heard suggests that the company is about to slow down, so it is certainly one to watch for 2013.
Regards,
Richard J. Snow
VP & Research Director
ISG Software Research is the most authoritative and respected market research and advisory services firm focused on improving business outcomes through optimal use of people, processes, information and technology. Since our beginning, our goal has been to provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies. In short, we want to help you become smarter and find the most relevant technology to accelerate your organization's goals.
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