Salesforce.com Celebrates 10 Years of Customer Success
March 16 2009 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Ten year anniversary of The End of Software marks a decade of
enterprise cloud computing SAN FRANCISCO, March 16
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the
enterprise cloud computing company, today celebrates the ten year
anniversary of its founding, and with it, ten years of customer
success. A decade ago, salesforce.com was founded with a bold
vision for The End of Software. Today, the company's cloud
computing model has enabled new levels of success for more than 1.5
million net paying subscribers at 55,400 companies around the
world, and spurred a new industry of SaaS providers. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050216/SFW105LOGO) "I'd like
to thank our customers, who have created an unprecedented record of
success and inspired our best innovations," said Marc Benioff,
chairman and CEO at salesforce.com. "There's only one way to
describe this past decade: The End of Software. As we look forward
to the next decade, we see not only applications, but also
platforms running in the cloud. The age of enterprise cloud
computing is here." Ten year anniversary recognition from 21st
century business leaders and customers Nicholas G. Carr -
"Congratulations on leading the "big switch" to cloud computing."
Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell and salesforce.com customer
- "Salesforce.com has brought a fresh wave of innovation to the
enterprise software industry and companies around the world. We
have a real appreciation for companies that understand and help
develop the huge power of the Internet." Gavin Newsom, San
Francisco Mayor - "Congratulations salesforce.com. As the second
largest private sector employer in San Francisco, we applaud your
company's success and commitment to the city." Eric Schmidt,
chairman and CEO of Google and salesforce.com customer - "We're
proud of the rich history Google has with salesforce.com, from our
common vision for corporate social responsibility to the work we do
together to bring the power of cloud computing to business. Here's
to the next 10 years." Ten years of customer success Salesforce.com
was founded in 1999 with a vision for three new revolutionary
models: A new technology model where customers access business
services via the cloud rather than buying and installing software;
a new subscription-based business model where customers pay as they
go; and a new 1/1/1 integrated corporate philanthropy model, where
1 percent of the company's people, product and equity are given
back to the community. From early customers such as Cars.com and
Egencia, an Expedia Inc. Company, to today's corporate enterprise
license agreements with Dell and others, salesforce.com's 55,400
customers and 1.5 million net paying subscribers represent the
benefits of the cloud computing model for companies of all sizes
across all industries. "As one of salesforce.com's long time
customers, we can attest to the benefits of cloud computing," said
David Corken, vice president of operations, Cars.com. "It's hard to
remember life before salesforce.com." Ten years of The End of
Software The cloud computing industry has experienced exponential
growth over the past 10 years. In March 2005, IDC estimated the
worldwide SaaS market at $4.2 billion in 2004. In December 2008,
IDC predicts the market to reach $19.8 billion in 2012 (1). "Today
IDC estimates that there are more than 1,000 worldwide SaaS
providers and more than $33 billion has been invested in SaaS
providers globally," according to Robert Mahowald, Director of SaaS
and On Demand Research at IDC. More than $600 million in venture
capital funding has been invested in companies that have posted
applications on the Force.com AppExchange alone. "Salesforce.com's
vision 10 years ago for 'The End of Software' has been instrumental
in bringing cloud computing to the forefront of the enterprise
software market," said Bruce Richardson, chief research officer,
AMR Research. Ten years of cloud computing milestones: -- 1999
Salesforce.com and its Foundation founded - The End of Software
begins -- 2000 Salesforce.com launches its first SFA solution --
2001 Salesforce.com launches its first CRM solution -- 2002
Salesforce.com launches Enterprise Edition -- 2003 Salesforce.com
launches Sforce, the world's first publicly available enterprise
cloud computing API -- 2004 First 1,000 subscriber customer -
Sungard -- 2005 Force.com AppExchange launches -- 2006 First 15,000
subscriber customer - Cisco -- 2006 Salesforce.com launches Apex,
the world's first cloud computing programming language -- 2007
First 50,000 subscriber customer - Japan Post -- 2007 Hits 1
million net paying subscribers and 100 million transactions a day
-- 2007 Salesforce.com launches Force.com development platform --
2008 Force.com wins a Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation
Award -- 2009 First enterprise cloud computing company to reach $1
billion in annual revenue -- 2009 Ranked the #3 fastest-growing
technology company behind Google by Forbes -- 2009 1.5 million net
paying subscribers -- 2009 First 75,000 subscriber -- 2009 100,000
custom applications built by 124,000 developers on Force.com "We're
humbled by how far the industry has come over the past 10 years,"
continued Benioff. "We believe the next decade will be driven by
the low costs, low risks, and fast returns of cloud computing. We
look forward to seeing where our customers lead us." Ten years of
integrated corporate philanthropy Along with the company, the
Salesforce.com Foundation was founded 10 years ago with a
pioneering vision for a new type of corporate philanthropy in which
all of a company's resources and assets contribute to its
communities in order to make a deeper impact than traditional
corporate philanthropy. This vision was formalized into
salesforce.com's distinctive 1/1/1 Model, which has served as an
inspiration to other companies in developing their philanthropic
programs and brought the power of cloud computing to nonprofits
around the world. As salesforce.com has achieved success, the
Salesforce.com Foundation has grown commensurably. Salesforce.com's
1/1/1 Model has achieved the following over the past decade: -- 1%
Time - Salesforce.com employees have given more 125,000 hours of
their time to volunteer in their communities. -- 1% Product - More
than 5,200 nonprofits in 60 countries have received donated and
discounted Salesforce CRM licenses to help them be more effective
in their missions as part of the company's 1% Product Donation
Program. -- 1% Equity - When salesforce.com went public in 2004, 1%
of its equity was set aside for the Foundation. Today more than $13
million in grants have been distributed to organizations around the
world such as Kiva.org, Room to Read, Transfair, U-Turn Homeless
Ministry and World Toilet Organization. "Salesforce.com's
innovative models for philanthropy and cloud computing are
revolutionary for the nonprofit community," said Justin Ricketts,
CIO at Susan G. Komen For the Cure. "We congratulate the company on
its commitment to making philanthropy such an integral part of its
organization from its beginning 10 years ago." Salesforce.com 10
Year Anniversary Promotional Offer Salesforce.com's customers are
the foundation of the company's success. In celebration of its
anniversary, salesforce.com is thanking its customers with a gift
of free subscribers to help them expand their success with
salesforce.com with either Salesforce CRM Customer Service and
Support or the Force.com platform. For more information, please go
to http://www.salesforce.com/10th. About salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company. The
company's portfolio of SaaS applications, including its
award-winning CRM, available at
http://www.salesforce.com/products/, has revolutionized the ways
that customers manage and share business information over the
Internet. The company's Force.com PaaS enables customers,
developers and partners to build powerful on-demand applications
that deliver the benefits of multi-tenancy across the enterprise.
Applications built on the Force.com platform, available at
http://www.force.com/, can be easily shared, exchanged and
installed with a few simple clicks via salesforce.com's Force.com
AppExchange marketplace available at
http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/. As of January 31, 2009,
salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately
55,400 customers including Allianz Commercial, Dell, Dow Jones
Newswires, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other
press releases or public statements are not currently available and
may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase
salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions
based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com
has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia,
and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol
"CRM". For more information please visit
http://www.salesforce.com/, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE. Copyright
(c) 2009 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and
the "no software" logo are registered trademarks of salesforce.com,
inc., and salesforce.com owns other registered and unregistered
trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their
respective owners. (1) IDC, Economic Crisis Response: Worldwide
Software as a Service 2008-2012 Forecast Update, Doc # 215504,
November 2008
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050216/SFW105LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: salesforce.com CONTACT:
Erin O'Keeffe of salesforce.com, +1-415-536-6150, Web Site:
http://www.salesforce.com/
Copyright