Salesforce.com is an ambassador for this space because it reached critical mass first. So when Salesforce.com has a problem, people start questioning the whole delivery model. |
Salesforce.com is selling an on-demand model that gives customers the ability to roll out a CRM deployment quickly and easily and then scale that deployment either up or down to meet their business needs, ... So far, small and midsize businesses have taken the best advantage of that, but we are starting to see larger companies that are seriously evaluating an on-demand model. |
Salesforce.com is selling an on-demand model that gives customers the ability to roll out a CRM deployment quickly and easily and then scale that deployment either up or down to meet their business needs. So far, small and midsize businesses have taken the best advantage of that, but we are starting to see larger companies that are seriously evaluating an on-demand model. |
Some customers have the expectation that you flip a switch and you're done. But there are setup costs and training costs and ramp-up costs. There's getting the system customized to match the business context and then getting people to use the system. CRM implementations are still complex, even if they're delivered in an on-demand fashion. |
The hosted model has reinvigorated a market that has failed to grow over the past several years, ... The hosted category has changed the whole perception of customer management with faster implementations, quicker time to value and easy customization. |
The hosted model has reinvigorated a market that has failed to grow over the past several years. The hosted category has changed the whole perception of customer management with faster implementations, quicker time to value and easy customization. |
The idea behind Software as a Service is ultimately [that] the buyer shouldn't have to worry about the software or the infrastructure but you need to understand who the hosting partner is. In the long term, that goes away as hiccups get ironed out, but for the time being we're suggesting to customers they understand what's going on behind the scenes. SAP going with IBM was smart because it brings instant credibility. |
The small to midsize business segment is a very large part of the hosted market, ... Software-as-service lets companies get CRM in place quickly without having to raid the I.T. budget to do it. |
The small to midsize business segment is a very large part of the hosted market. Software-as-service lets companies get CRM in place quickly without having to raid the I.T. budget to do it. |
The use of Microsoft's .NET also has Web-services implications within an organization because it provides an effective way to integrate Microsoft applications together. |
The vendors are selling fewer full suite deals, multimillion dollar soup-to-nuts implementations, and we see that reflected in how they are trying to build services-oriented architectures, so they can deploy modules rather than big-bang implementations, ... This allows customers to piece together the business functions they need -- even modules from different vendors -- to meet the specific demands of automatic processing rather than having to buy an entire suite at the outset. |
The vendors are selling fewer full suite deals, multimillion dollar soup-to-nuts implementations, and we see that reflected in how they are trying to build services-oriented architectures, so they can deploy modules rather than big-bang implementations. This allows customers to piece together the business functions they need -- even modules from different vendors -- to meet the specific demands of automatic processing rather than having to buy an entire suite at the outset. |
There are several drivers in this market. One surprise has been larger enterprises that want CRM for a branch office or a department. Also, there are so many big players in the market now that it's been creating interest in hosted services. |
They are going after existing SAP customers. We've talked to customers and while it is a nice checkbox option to have, it's not the primary criteria they use when selecting an on-demand solution. |
They've been hinting at this for nine months. Given that amount of time, you might have expected a broader offering. This is not even full-blown SFA. It's really just contact management. |