5 Responses to “43? Yeah, that’s the four before the three”

1. Kevin Richardson on November 24th, 2008 9:35 am

   I find it interesting that CNET refers to SFDC as an “online CRM software platform.” Kind of a mixed back. Is CRM part of the offering…yes (if that’s what you want). Is the platform a par of it? Yes (if that’s what you need).

   It took Jeffrey Bleustein of Harley Davidson 8 years to convince Wall Street that Harley is a lifestyle company rather than a motorcycle manufacturer. It’s obvious that Benioff is working to change the perception of his company with the investment community. Once he does, no doubt the market cap will blow the roof off.

   Wait for the announcements of Salesforce.com as full ERP sink in and get teeth…or SFDC as a POS system for a major retailer…that’s when Wall Street may start to “get it.”

   The other thing that’s proving prophetic is the statements that SaaS is more resistant to economy upheavals than traditional software companies. No doubt companies are scaling back…and they can scale back their licenses. At the same time, new customers are entering the fold because they can buy only what they need and scale when they are ready.

2. admin on November 24th, 2008 10:30 am

   Amen Kevin…

   If you check out Salesforce.com’s current branding…you’ll notice that ever since Dreamforce 2007 when force.com was announced, they have placed more and more emphasis on the force part of Salesforce.

   Benioff is also being mentioned less and less – new users no longer receive an email from SFDC’s CEO (last time I checked) which suggests they are moving in the direction you stated – less focus on Benioff and CRM and more on being the platform of choice. It’s a bigger context and it’s interesting watching it all unfold.

3. Michael Cawston-Stewart on November 24th, 2008 5:37 pm

   The Benioff quote I am half remembering is something along the lines of; “If people are still calling us Salesforce by 2009, then we’ve failed.” I recall something of a rebranding idea a while ago… turning it into “Force.com” and making it an entire solution, instead of just a CRM product.

   I think it was around the time they got into that slick Adobe AIR situation. (and Dreamforce 2007)

4. A virgence in the Force. SFDC morphs into Force.com | Salesforce Times on November 25th, 2008 11:21 am

   [...] becoming more and more obvious that Salesforce.com is morphing into Force.com. As noted in the comments to this post, Salesforce is shifting its focus from being a CRM company to being known as a platform [...]

5. Kevin Richardson on November 25th, 2008 4:17 pm

   Good memory Michael. I believe I remember hearing Benioff say that (“If people are still calling us Salesforce.com by 2009 then we’ve failed.) at Dreamforce 2007.

   I expect to see more and more emphasis on what partners are building on the platform, thus again changing their emphasis. I think it’s an interesting road they are traveling…killer app to collaborative app to platform. They will no doubt hit road bumps along the way to changing the paridigm. But it’s those game changer shifts that keeps a company innovating ahead of it’s competition.

   In our organization the fact that Salesforce is still called “Salesforce.com” is confusing and limiting the mindset. At the same time, we need more examples of all of that OTHER stuff (ERP, HR, Accounting, MRP, etc) that force.com can do to pit it against other name brands in those spaces.

Got something to say?