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Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, is changing the way businesses view CRM (customer relationship management) software. His software-as-a-service mantra helped propel the company to become one of the fastest growing companies in the Top Tech Index.
A reincarnation of the ASP (application service provider) model in the late 90s, Salesforce has succeeded where ASPs failed, that is, to provide a level of customization and flexibility that pre-Salesforce vendors did not provide.
Most Salesforce customers are pint-sized businesses who cannot afford to have packaged software sitting in their server rooms, and more importantly, the cost of maintaining them. Even when software engines are tuned, customers can continue to retain all customizations in their hosted applications. This saves lots of time in migration, and might even require--to the disdain of workers--a smaller IT outfit.
Competitors in the industry are sitting up to take notice of this five-year-plus disruptive upstart. Some, like NetSuite, have copied the same model smacked with their own unique flavors. Others, like Siebel, continue to put its money on business analytics in its CRM apps, something which it says Salesforce lacks.
Whichever way one looks at software on-demand, the pie is set to grow. According to IDC, delivering applications over the Web will rake in US$10.7 billion in 2009, from US$4.2 billion last year.
With Siebel soon to be acquired by Oracle, Benioff is confident the floodgates are open for on-demand software. But analysts cautioned that things might get a little tougher for Salesforce, now that the 800-pound gorilla could be armed with fresh arsenal from Siebel.
Financials
| Fiscal year-end Jan |
FY05 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY02 |
FY01 |
Global full-year
revenue (US$millions) |
176.4 |
96.0 |
51.0 |
22.4 |
— |
Global full-year net
income (US$millions) |
7.4 |
3.5 |
-9.7 |
-28.6 |
— |
| Average year-on-year revenue growth over 4 years |
95.5 % |
| Average year-on-year net income growth over 4 years |
104.5 % |
| Percentage of revenue from Asia |
— |
| Percentage of Asian revenues from channel |
— |
Operations:
| Founded |
United States/1999 |
| First Asian office |
Singapore/2004 |
| Global employees |
800 |
| Employees in Asia |
— |
Asian countries:
Total 3 |
China, Hong Kong, Singapore |
| Notes |
Data correct as at September 2005. Information was compiled by ZDNet Asia from sources such as official reports, corporate Web sites, and Hoover's. ZDNet Asia strived to get the latest information but does not guarantee the correctness or completeness of the data. The information provided on this site is for general informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell any securities. |
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ZDNet Asia Top Tech categories
Systems | Networking and communications | Storage management | Security | Software Infrastructure | Services | Business applications | Internet services
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