Articles

Salesforce.com: Taking the Business Internet to New,
Dizzying Heights

Reported by: http://www.mediabuzz.com.sg
Written by: Shanti Anne Morais

With the introduction of Salesforce.com’s AppExchange, the company is acting on its vision of taking killer applications available on the Internet and transforming them into a platform.

This month the company rolled out the red carpet for the launch of AppExchange in Asia, and introduced the region’s on-demand community to it. Touted as the "eBay for applications" and the world’s first on-demand platform and directory, AppExchange is made-up of a network of on-demand applications, services, components and development efforts that enable customers to run their entire business on-demand. The platform offers a try-before-you-buy approach to online software that plugs into the company’s salesforce automation and customer relationship management (CRM) software. It is essentially, also an online marketplace where software makers and customers can exchange as well as sell applications they develop, read reviews, try applications for free, and make a purchase without any hassle. The applications on AppExchange can be any type of business software and are all accessible to any Salesforce subscriber who has a Web browser and Internet access.

Not previously known as a very channel-friendly company, this has now changed according to Bobby Napiltonia, senior vice president, worldwide channels and alliances, Salesforce.com, who says that the AppExchange is now the very heart and center of the company’s partner strategy. He adds that it also helps that the model allows every partner to be global. Moreover, with such a fluid environment there is a lot more freedom for their partner community. Partners can decide when they want to go-to-market and Napiltonia sums its up by saying, "Basically, it’s time-to-value for customers and time-to-market for partners." [more..]