Sales Force

MIS Case Review: Salesforce.com.com: Software as a service goes Mainstream.

Summary:

In 1999 Marc Benioff left Oracle and founded Salesforce.com.com to provide CRM systems via software as a service. The idea behind this company is that companies lease services over the internet instead of buying software and hardware to support their needs.

This new approach has several advantages such as eliminating the need for a large capital investment in systems, training and set up time. Salesforce.com.com charges a subscription fee that varies depending on the type of required service and the amount of users. The system is easy to access via a web browser; it is continuously updated and offers tools to customize features for unique processes.

Despite its great success; over 740 million in revenue in 2007, Salesforce.com is facing some challenges and its reaction to these challenges will directly affects its ability to stay profitable in the market.

The biggest challenge for Salesforce.com is that it is now facing fierce competition. Competition is coming not only from other SaaS companies like Salesforce.com but also from traditional software leader such as Microsoft, SAP and Oracle. These companies have created subscription versions of their CRM solutions in response to Salesforce.com success.

Other challenges are expansion into another areas and availability. Salesforce.com is already working on getting into new markets with a partnership with Google apps. With this partnership the company is able to offer customers the ability to complete more tasks on the web. Some customers worry about their dependency on software as a service because they need availability 24/7 to address this situation Salesforce.com is offering PC applications so users can work off line.

Case Questions

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the software as a service model?

Advantages

• Low cost: SaaS requires less money up front and it lowers the total cost of...