Intelligent Enterprise

Ventana QuickTake™

Presiding over a series of recent global launch events, Salesforce.com continued to show impressive growth in revenues, customers and subscribers to its on-demand services.  Most notable was the announcement of the signing of several new large customers with many thousands of subscribers, elevating the company from the small and midsize business market into the highly competitive enterprise marketplace. Slightly less impressive was the announcement of version 2.0 of Salesforce Service & Support. The company promises new functionality and improved ease of use, but could give no firm date for release of the product.

The company also announced new partners, particularly in the contact routing space (Cisco, Genesys and Nortel), and some outsource partners that will provide salesforce.com’s services as part of their outsourced offerings. Another step toward providing total support for customers was the announcement of AppExchange v1.0, a product that will enable Salesforce.com, its customers and partners to make approved applications available for purchase (envision an eBay for applications that run in the Salesforce environment). This further illustrates Salesforce.com’s intent to innovate. Ventana Research thinks that organizations looking for a low-risk, low-cost entry into the customer relationship management (CRM) space should give Salesforce.com serious consideration.

About Ventana Research
Ventana Research is the leading Performance Management research and advisory services firm.  By providing expert insight and detailed guidance, Ventana Research helps clients operate their companies more efficiently and effectively. These business improvements are delivered through a top-down approach that connects people, process, information and technology. What makes Ventana Research different from other analyst firms is a focus on Performance Management for finance, operations and IT. This focus, plus research as a foundation and reach into a community of over two million corporate executives through extensive media partnerships, allows Ventana Research to deliver a high-value, low-risk method for achieving optimal business performance. To learn how Ventana Research Performance Management workshops, assessments and advisory services can impact your bottom line, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.

© 2005 Ventana Research