San Francisco-based online business software maker Salesforce.com Inc. has expanded a partnership with  Internet search giant Google, allowing its sales and marketing software to more easily integrate with Google's Web-based application suite, Salesforce announced Monday. The new broader collaboration between Salesforce, which has some 41,000 business customers, and Mountain View, California-based Google, expands a partnership begun in June 2007. On Sunday night users of Salesforce's customer relationship management software, known as CRM, began using a new version that incorporates Google Apps, the search company's collection of Web-based productivity software including word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail, chat and other applications. Salesforce Move May Help Google Gain Business Users The move by Salesforce aims to help it increase software sales, while Google looks to use the more integrated software announced Monday to help gain wider corporate acceptance of its Google Apps suite. The combined software package, for tracking sales calls, does not need to be installed on a desktop computer, instead operating on computer servers at both firms, an arrangement known as "cloud" computing. The basic version of the integrated on-demand CRM package, called Salesforce for Google Apps, is free to Salesforce customers, as is the case with the standard version of Google Apps. Google charges $50 yearly per worker for a premium version of its suite, which includes support, and Salesforce expects to launch a premium version of Salesforce for Google Apps within the coming months that will also include support along with combined billing and provisioning, at a cost of $10 per user monthly. Even giving its online applications away free has not made Google Apps a household term yet, as a recent survey by Port Washington, New York-based research firm NPD Group Inc. revealed. The survey showed that 73 percent of 600 United States computer users had never tried a Web-based office productivity suite, and Google may face even less acceptance among business users, a situation Monday's expanded partnership with Salesforce may help change. Salesforce, which has a market value in excess of $7 billion and annual sales of $749 million, hopes the move will help it better compete with rival Microsoft's CRM software, which is included with its popular desktop-based Office software suite. Business Software Maker Salesforce Expands Web Application Partnership With Google While Google has not released an exact figure showing how many people use Google Apps, it has  acknowledged that more than half a million businesses use the online suite. In 2007 Google brought in $16.4 billion from its core online advertising business, while revenue from its software licensing and other products totaled a relatively small $181 million. Income from Google Apps accounted for less than 2 percent of the $4.8 billion the search giant took in during the fourth quarter of 2007. Those using Google Apps or Salesforce's software before Sunday night were able to use both applications, however the process was somewhat cumbersome according to some analysts. The new software makes it easier to take advantage of features in both programs, Salesforce said in its Monday announcement posted to the company blog. "With Salesforce for Google Apps, you can now run your favorite desktop applications and your Salesforce applications side by side by accessing GMail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google Docs all seamlessly from within Salesforce," noted Salesforce product marketing manager Scott Holden. Integrated Software Eases Salesforce Usability Salesforce for Google Apps allows Salesforce customers to use GMail to e-mail their clients directly from within the Salesforce program and to chat with them using Google Talk, along with the ability to work with and attach word processing and spreadsheet documents created in Google Docs directly to Salesforce records, Holden noted. The new software allows Salesforce "dashboard" displays and other custom company information to be displayed on an integrated Google screen, and Salesforce events such as meetings can also be placed in the Google Calendar module, Holden added. A user of the new Salesforce for Google Apps software can, for example, monitor all e-mail correspondence with a customer from within their sales record, eliminating the need to switch between two separate applications. Google is thought to have some 200 employees selling Google Apps to corporate buyers, while Salesforce employs more than 1,000 people to sell and support its customer relationship management services. While Microsoft is a rival to Salesforce in the CRM market, it is not considered a major one. Microsoft CRM unit general manager Brad Wilson was quick to downplay the expanded Salesforce partnership with Google. "Salesforce has belatedly recognized that it is important to link CRM apps to productivity tools," Wilson said in a recent New York Times report. "It has been core to our product since we launched five years ago. It validates our strategy," Wilson added. Talk Of Google Eying Salesforce Purchase Google and Salesforce first worked together in 2005 on a Web-based mapping project, followed in 2006 by an online advertising partnership that used Google's AdWords program, and since  Google launched Google Apps in February 2007 with Salesforce as an early user of the suite, speculation has arisen that Google might want to purchase Salesforce. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so that makes Google my best friend," Salesforce chairman and chief executive Marc Benioff told the Times. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt noted in a statement that both his firm and Salesforce have "always had similar models and philosophies." Salesforce has worked with two firms to help with the new Google Apps integration announced Monday - Sxip and Appirio, Salesforce said. "Google and Salesforce.com are bringing together the world’s leading platforms to empower organizations of all sizes to run their office in the cloud," said Benioff. Related Links:
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10:07 pm on April 14, 2008 (utc 0)