The Business Web 2.0
As CEO of business-based social networking site WeCanDo.BIZ, read my take on the role Web 2.0 technologies can play helping businesses to grow.
Monday 3 November 2008, 11:24 PM
More on CRM meets Web 2.0: Salesforce.com and Facebook
Just a few weeks after LinkedIn announced an investment from SAP, Facebook and Salesforce.com buddy up.
If you don't follow Salesforce.com, it's their Dreamforce expo this week, where users and developers of the on-demand, cloud dominator wannabe all meet up and talk about how great their choice was. And Salesforce.com reveals some stuff that no one knew about.
It's already revealed it plans to offer website hosting through its on-demand Force.com platform (you'll find me commenting on this all over the web), but it was very interesting to hear about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg joining The Ego himself, SFDC CEO Marc Benioff on stage for a presentation of a social network to CRM connector -- thanks to Bernard Lunn of RWW for bringing to my attention (full story at http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/8826).
It was fairly predictable stuff, the only real interest coming in what Salesforce.com would do and with whom to counter the recent investment in LinkedIn by rival SAP. The answer was to buddy up with the biggest name in social networking: Facebook is four times the size of LinkedIn, although doesn't share it's business only focus. I wouldn't have expected Benioff to settle for anyone less.
But is Facebook a place to be integrating business applications? Well Salesforce.com demonstrated an example where a recruiter is using their CRM application with Facebook -- cheekily, as LinkedIn considers itself the darling of the hiring industry. Still, this scenario aside, is this an admission from SFDC that they are strongest in B2C (business to consumer) rather than B2B (to business)?
I can't help thinking the alliance was motivated by headlines more than sound strategy and natural alignment...
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
If you don't follow Salesforce.com, it's their Dreamforce expo this week, where users and developers of the on-demand, cloud dominator wannabe all meet up and talk about how great their choice was. And Salesforce.com reveals some stuff that no one knew about.
It's already revealed it plans to offer website hosting through its on-demand Force.com platform (you'll find me commenting on this all over the web), but it was very interesting to hear about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg joining The Ego himself, SFDC CEO Marc Benioff on stage for a presentation of a social network to CRM connector -- thanks to Bernard Lunn of RWW for bringing to my attention (full story at http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/8826).
It was fairly predictable stuff, the only real interest coming in what Salesforce.com would do and with whom to counter the recent investment in LinkedIn by rival SAP. The answer was to buddy up with the biggest name in social networking: Facebook is four times the size of LinkedIn, although doesn't share it's business only focus. I wouldn't have expected Benioff to settle for anyone less.
But is Facebook a place to be integrating business applications? Well Salesforce.com demonstrated an example where a recruiter is using their CRM application with Facebook -- cheekily, as LinkedIn considers itself the darling of the hiring industry. Still, this scenario aside, is this an admission from SFDC that they are strongest in B2C (business to consumer) rather than B2B (to business)?
I can't help thinking the alliance was motivated by headlines more than sound strategy and natural alignment...
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
Previous
