Salesforce

Some time back, Marc Benioff had this crazy idea he was trying to sell about turning software into a service. After the collapse of so many application service providers during the Internet bubble, who was this guy kidding?

As it turned out, Benioff's only mistake was that his idea was slightly ahead of its time. Salesforce.com went on to become one of the most successful software companies of the decade.

So it is that I've become intrigued about the prospects for a start-up called Zuora that's taking a page out of the Salesforce playbook. Coincidentally, it … Read more

As the cloud continues to emerge as a serious option, many people are starting to catch on that there are limits to what can be done outside that particular platform.

Right now there only a few options if you are a cloud or PaaS provider: 1. Cordon off virtual machines and use VM images (like Amazon.com or Joyent) 2. Allow development on some programming language (like Google App Engine) 3. Force users onto your platform (like Salesforce.com)

The applications that are built on top of a particular vendor's infrastructure are locked into that provider's way of … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--In consecutive talks here at Structure 08, we just heard from big brains at Salesforce.com and Microsoft on the topic of software vs. services. Surprisingly, these companies, which historically have espoused very different philosophies, are converging on a similar pitch: you can't build one with the other.

In Salesforce's case, co-founder and EVP Parker Harris said that early on, Salesforce's architects wanted to build a platform service for consumers, not just an application. But business logic prevailed: customers needed an application, not a platform.

"As a technologist, you want to build a platform, but … Read more

If this is Henning Kagermann's strategy, SAP faces a desperate future.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, SAP's boss downplayed the potential challenge posed by Web-based computing, arguing that businesses are conservative organizations. At the risk of putting words in his mouth, Kagermann's argument is that SAP's success depends on the business world being too hidebound to figure out that there are viable alternatives. In doing so, he draws the invidious comparison with younger software companies that don't operate on the same scale as an SAP. From the WSJ:

While Marc Benioff may rail against the status quo in the enterprise software business, not all software buyers will join in the chorus, according to one of Benioff's chief competitors.

Web-based business software sold by companies such as Benioff's Salesforce.com will likely augment, not replace, large, complex enterprise systems, SAP Chief Executive Henning Kagermann told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Kagermann said that while some of the main selling points for Salesforce and other Web-based services make sense--namely, better usability and productivity--corporate buyers are a notoriously conservative bunch.

A slicker user interface and easier access to … Read more

Steve Gillmor and Nik Cubrilovic, the hosts of the new TechCrunchIT site, snagged an interview with salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff after the announcement of Force.com Toolkit for Google Data APIs. Benioff gives a lengthy commercial for his platforms-as-a-service strategy to remake the software industry and create a multi-billion dollar software company.

When asked about the challenges for older enterprises, Benioff said, "I don't have time or patience for the status quo...for people who are trying to control innovation or stop the future." He included Microsoft, as well as unnamed vendors, partners, journalists and other … Read more

Today Salesforce.com announced a "global strategic alliance" (also known as a partnership) with Google, introducing a new integration point, Force.com Toolkit for Google Data APIs. The alliance allows developers using Salesforce.com's cloud-based development platform to integrate with data from Google services via Google Data APIs. This integration service is in addition to Salesforce for Google Apps, which integrates Google's suite of applications with Salesforce.

CODA, which is developing a financial suite of applications on the Salesforce platform (Force.com), has developed a prototype that takes data from Google Spreadsheets and brings it into … Read more

Salesforce.com is furthering its alliance with Google through a new toolkit that lets developers tap into Google's services.

The two companies inked an initial deal in April to link Salesforce's CRM (customer relationship management) applications with integrated Google Apps.

On Monday, Salesforce.com said it has launched the Force.com Toolkit for Google Data APIs, which will let developers using its Force.com development platform connect to data in Google Apps.

Force.com is Salesforce.com's cloud computing service for building hosted Web applications.

The companies envision that the toolkit will pave the way for new … Read more

Phil Wainewright writes astutely today on the many degrees of multi-tenant SaaS architecture, highlighting "true" vs. "everything else." Considering that customers and end-users have little to no idea what's running at SaaS companies it's a bit ironic that the technology powering these companies is interesting--I suppose it's only so to technical people and other vendors.

Salesforce.com: First-degree multi-tenancy. In this model, all customers are served from a single infrastructure in which every component is shared, all the way down to the tables in the database.

Intacct: Second-degree multi-tenancy. Like many SaaS pureplays, … Read more