Dreamforce 2012: Dream A Little Dream of (with) Me: Part 2
In Part 1, I looked at salesforce.com, Marc Benioff and their vision as salesforce’s greatest asset. Here, within that context, I’m looking at the products and the technology ecosystem. As compelling as it is, there is a lot to be done yet.
Benioff’s 2013 (NOT 2012) DreamForce Day 1 & 2 Keynote
Marc Benioff is a great showman, salesman and speaker. His annual show, Salesforce.com’s DreamForce, has become the show to attend for application software buyers globally. Last week’s event was a high-energy affair chock full of product announcements, glowing customer testimonials and more. Marc’s keynote often sets the standard for what other vendors’ user conferences should aspire [...]
Apres Dreamforce
It’s over, Dreamforce that is, and I have gotten some needed sleep on the flight back to Boston. As I contemplate Dreamforce 2012 and its meaning I have three observations. First, it was what I expected it to be. If you refer back to my post just before the show opened my expectations were more [...]
Marc Benioff is the next…
I’ve always been of 2 minds when it comes to Salesforce.com ($CRM). As an investor (I don’t own any shares) I both follow and invest in tech but tend to be wary of richly-priced companies, which Salesforce certainly is. I’ve always had a value bent with a warm spot for the type of healthy skepticism [...]
The Cloud Must Go On. Watch the Banned Benioff Keynote Live.
The best thing that may have happened to Salesforce.com at Oracle Open World is getting CEO Marc Benioff’s keynote cancelled. Oracle and Larry Ellison are now officially the Bad Guys (opinions are split on whether Larry is the Emperor, Darth Vader or God), @Benioff is the oppressed Folk Hero, Salesforce.com got thei $1M keynote [...]
Larry and Marc Round 2 or Is It Round 3? #OOW11
Ahh, what a difference a good night’s sleep makes. The Greeks are still threatening default on their bonds, the economy is still in the loo, the major stock indices are teetering on a bear market precipice and Marc Benioff is still going to speak at Oracle OpenWorld or at least next door. But there is [...]
Converging on the Social Enterprise
I was in San Francisco last week for Dreamforce, the yearly confab for Salesforce that has had a major focus on social business the last couple of years. There’s little doubt that Marc Benioff clearly sees the very near future of business, and it’s something he calls the social enterprise. While you can read my [...]
Enterprise Headlines and Excerpts, 1-15 April 2011
Tax day. Meh. Some highlights of the first half of April: Marin County tries using racketeering charges against Deloitte and SAP. Do Marin County residents realize their paid employees are wasting their money this way? And after wasting so much money with an ill-advised ERP project?!? Larry Page takes over CEO role at Google, shakes [...]
Zuora and Salesforce in Pact
Zuora and Salesforce.com announced today a new offering that highlights the strengths of each company and delivers new functionality to the telecommunications industry. Zuora for the Communications Industry is a solution based on the Force.com platform that handles billing, payments and customer care for telco and related industries’ customers. This makes a lot of sense [...]
Marc Benioff: the consumer tech salesperson to the enterprise
Commenting on the acquisition of Radian6, Dennis Howlett says “Salesforce is becoming a company that I don’t understand”. To be honest, many enterprise observers, yours truly included, have been confounded by the company many a time. When Marc Benioff started the company over a decade ago, he could (should?) have followed the path he learned [...]