As you’ve probably noticed by now, we enjoy talking about our features and getting the word out about our latest innovations. One of the innovations that I’m particularly fond of is the Salesforce Sandbox. Once our customers start using it, they tell us they can’t imagine living without it.

What I’ve found interesting is the sheer number of creative ways that our customers have been utilizing it. Some exciting examples are:

• Shortening their integration and CRM deployment times
• Protecting their live operating environments during testing
• Experimenting with new AppExchange applications – exploring new areas of functionality
• Training new users in a safe environment that exactly mimics their production deployment
• Trying out extensive customizations without any fear of making a mistake that would impact productivity of their end users
• And many others…

But what we’re particularly excited to see is when the press and analysts talk to our customers and validate what we’ve been saying. The folks over at Nucleus Research did just that and have recently written an article on the benefits of Salesforce Sandbox.

If you're curious about what they found after speaking with customers and doing their own research, feel free to download the article.

As you’ve probably noticed by now, we enjoy talking about our features and getting the word out about our latest innovations. One of the innovations that I’m particularly fond of is the Salesforce Sandbox. Once our customers start using it, they tell us they can’t imagine living without it.

What I’ve found interesting is the sheer number of creative ways that our customers have been utilizing it. Some exciting examples are:

• Shortening their integration and CRM deployment times
• Protecting their live operating environments during testing
• Experimenting with new AppExchange applications – exploring new areas of functionality
• Training new users in a safe environment that exactly mimics their production deployment
• Trying out extensive customizations without any fear of making a mistake that would impact productivity of their end users
• And many others…

But what we’re particularly excited to see is when the press and analysts talk to our customers and validate what we’ve been saying. The folks over at Nucleus Research did just that and have recently written an article on the benefits of Salesforce Sandbox.

If you're curious about what they found after speaking with customers and doing their own research, feel free to download the article.

This hour long video from yesterday's Winter ’06 Launch in San Francisco features Marc Benioff, the Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, along with customers and partners who have built applications on top of the AppExchange. There are a number of great demos during this presentation including integration with Google Maps, Skype, Adobe, Tata, and Business Objects. Find out what all the excitement is about.

This hour long video from yesterday's Winter ’06 Launch in San Francisco features Marc Benioff, the Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, along with customers and partners who have built applications on top of the AppExchange. There are a number of great demos during this presentation including integration with Google Maps, Skype, Adobe, Tata, and Business Objects. Find out what all the excitement is about.

The Personalized Account Review is a powerful tool that offers detailed metrics about how an organization might be using salesforce.com. Since launching it last year, many customers have asked us how they are doing relative to other companies their same size.

This month we've added a component for tracking activity management, the first in a series of Personalized Success Benchmarks that we will send to customers. Activity management works pretty well as a benchmark because unlike sales opportunities or cases, it is closely correlated to the number of users vs. a particular business model. When you plot the data as shown below, it’s also pretty clear that those who use tasks heavily end up at the top of the success ladder.

Click here to find out more about this metric and what you can do to help your company achieve CRM Success.

For instructions on how to subscribe to the Personalized Account Review, Click Here. 

The Personalized Account Review is a powerful tool that offers detailed metrics about how an organization might be using salesforce.com. Since launching it last year, many customers have asked us how they are doing relative to other companies their same size.

This month we've added a component for tracking activity management, the first in a series of Personalized Success Benchmarks that we will send to customers. Activity management works pretty well as a benchmark because unlike sales opportunities or cases, it is closely correlated to the number of users vs. a particular business model. When you plot the data as shown below, it’s also pretty clear that those who use tasks heavily end up at the top of the success ladder.

Click here to find out more about this metric and what you can do to help your company achieve CRM Success.

For instructions on how to subscribe to the Personalized Account Review, Click Here. 

On Tuesday Salesforce.com held Customforce Day in New York City. There were three very exciting announcements. 

• Salesforce introduced Customforce 2.0, with significant advances in custom analytics, custom formulas, custom business processes, and custom forecasting.
• Merrill Lynch signed up 5,000 employees in its private client group, a significant win for salesforce.com and validation of how far the on-demand model has come.
• Accenture announced a strategic partnership with managing partner John Freeland saying he “continues to be astounded” with how popular Salesforce.com is with big companies Accenture serves.

To learn more about all the day’s event’s you can view the video rebroadcast or read through some of the press coverage:  News.com | ZDNet | eWeek | Reuters | BusinessWeek

Throughout the afternoon there were several hundred customers and prospects attending breakout sessions, networking with one another, and learning about partner applications. 

Ron Hess from Neoforma said that he was particularly excited about the Conditional Highlighting feature. He pointed out that the person who sets those thresholds, whether it is the administrator or a manager, has the ability to mold behavior. For example, if you’re name is in the red vs. being in the green, that’s a very powerful motivation tool.

I also talked to John Merrill from Lightpath about CRMSuccess.com. He said he was very excited about Community Boards where customers can post questions and join discussions. He said that he’s found 3-4 breakthrough ideas which he’s been able to apply at his organization.

There were many, many other great stories that were told at the event. If you have a story you’d like to share, please add it to the comment section below.

On Tuesday Salesforce.com held Customforce Day in New York City. There were three very exciting announcements. 

• Salesforce introduced Customforce 2.0, with significant advances in custom analytics, custom formulas, custom business processes, and custom forecasting.
• Merrill Lynch signed up 5,000 employees in its private client group, a significant win for salesforce.com and validation of how far the on-demand model has come.
• Accenture announced a strategic partnership with managing partner John Freeland saying he “continues to be astounded” with how popular Salesforce.com is with big companies Accenture serves.

To learn more about all the day’s event’s you can view the video rebroadcast or read through some of the press coverage:  News.com | ZDNet | eWeek | Reuters | BusinessWeek

Throughout the afternoon there were several hundred customers and prospects attending breakout sessions, networking with one another, and learning about partner applications. 

Ron Hess from Neoforma said that he was particularly excited about the Conditional Highlighting feature. He pointed out that the person who sets those thresholds, whether it is the administrator or a manager, has the ability to mold behavior. For example, if you’re name is in the red vs. being in the green, that’s a very powerful motivation tool.

I also talked to John Merrill from Lightpath about CRMSuccess.com. He said he was very excited about Community Boards where customers can post questions and join discussions. He said that he’s found 3-4 breakthrough ideas which he’s been able to apply at his organization.

There were many, many other great stories that were told at the event. If you have a story you’d like to share, please add it to the comment section below.

Many customers have asked about our use of Macromedia Breeze on the CRMSuccess Web site. We’ve found it to be a fantastic product allowing us to the deliver over 150,000 presentation views in just under a year. This short customer success story featured on Macromedia’s Web site explains what lead us to use their technology and how it fits into our customer communication strategy. 

Many customers have asked about our use of Macromedia Breeze on the CRMSuccess Web site. We’ve found it to be a fantastic product allowing us to the deliver over 150,000 presentation views in just under a year. This short customer success story featured on Macromedia’s Web site explains what lead us to use their technology and how it fits into our customer communication strategy. 

Today we posted the Admin Preview and Feature Detail Pages for the Summer '05 Release on CRMSuccess.com. With the 18^th generation of our on-demand solution, salesforce.com is investing in our core CRM applications - Salesforce and Supportforce - as well as unveiling powerful new capabilities to extend CRM and go well beyond it. The Summer ’05 release marks the debut of Multiforce, salesforce.com’s new on-demand operating system that allows companies to create, manage, and share all their business applications in a single environment. Browse through the site and let us know what feature you’re most excited about.

Today we posted the Admin Preview and Feature Detail Pages for the Summer '05 Release on CRMSuccess.com. With the 18^th generation of our on-demand solution, salesforce.com is investing in our core CRM applications - Salesforce and Supportforce - as well as unveiling powerful new capabilities to extend CRM and go well beyond it. The Summer ’05 release marks the debut of Multiforce, salesforce.com’s new on-demand operating system that allows companies to create, manage, and share all their business applications in a single environment. Browse through the site and let us know what feature you’re most excited about.

Yesterday, several hundred customers, as well as press and analysts joined Salesforce.com for Integrationfroce Day in San Francisco. 

During the keynote, there was an exciting demonstration of the new Summer ’05 release including Multiforce and Sforce 6.0.  

View Video Recording | View Slides

The afternoon was jam-packed with best practices sessions, customer speakers, panels, sneak peaks, success clinics and much more. In the coming weeks, we’ll try to post several of the sessions online.

Here is some of the press coverage from yesterday's event.

News.com | CRM Daily | Internet News | eWeek

Here are some pictures from the event at Ruby Sky.

Photo Gallery
 

Yesterday, several hundred customers, as well as press and analysts joined Salesforce.com for Integrationfroce Day in San Francisco. 

During the keynote, there was an exciting demonstration of the new Summer ’05 release including Multiforce and Sforce 6.0.  

View Video Recording | View Slides

The afternoon was jam-packed with best practices sessions, customer speakers, panels, sneak peaks, success clinics and much more. In the coming weeks, we’ll try to post several of the sessions online.

Here is some of the press coverage from yesterday's event.

News.com | CRM Daily | Internet News | eWeek

Here are some pictures from the event at Ruby Sky.

Photo Gallery
 

In New York today, Salesforce.com announced new customization capabilities that will be offered in the Summer ‘05 release. At the core will be the new Multiforce application environment, a feature allowing Salesforce subscribers to multi-task between different on-demand applications, all running in the same environment. With Multiforce, companies will be able to use the same data model, security system, and user interface for any on-demand application built by customers or partners for the sforce platform and with the Customforce tools. Eliminating "data silos" and deployment issues that have traditionally plagued enterprise application efforts, Multiforce will change the economics of customization and allow companies to create applications in as little as a few minutes, and without any code. Much like the way salesforce.com revolutionized application deployment, the company is now redefining application development and customization.

In conjunction with this announcement, the new Customforce website was unveiled along with a contest to show your force. This is your chance to win free passes to Dreamforce ’05 in September.

In New York today, Salesforce.com announced new customization capabilities that will be offered in the Summer ‘05 release. At the core will be the new Multiforce application environment, a feature allowing Salesforce subscribers to multi-task between different on-demand applications, all running in the same environment. With Multiforce, companies will be able to use the same data model, security system, and user interface for any on-demand application built by customers or partners for the sforce platform and with the Customforce tools. Eliminating "data silos" and deployment issues that have traditionally plagued enterprise application efforts, Multiforce will change the economics of customization and allow companies to create applications in as little as a few minutes, and without any code. Much like the way salesforce.com revolutionized application deployment, the company is now redefining application development and customization.

In conjunction with this announcement, the new Customforce website was unveiled along with a contest to show your force. This is your chance to win free passes to Dreamforce ’05 in September.

On Friday CRMSuccess.com released the newest version of the Personalized Account Review, providing even more granular metrics to help organizations easily assess how they are using salesforce.com. This was a very big step forward with over 40 personalization points covering the full breath of the application. It’s our hope that by providing this information in an easily digestible format, customers can drive adoption within their organization and make use of all the features which are being added to salesforce.com.

For example, as an administrator I can see from the usage metrics below that only 10 of my 180 users are using Outlook Edition. I can click on the link to learn about the feature, watch a best practice presentation, and get the link to download the plug-in. From there I might send a mass email to my users encouraging them to download the plug-in. Next month when I receive my next personalized account review I can see if more of my users and now using the utility.

Click Here to find out more out the Personalized Account Review. 

On Friday CRMSuccess.com released the newest version of the Personalized Account Review, providing even more granular metrics to help organizations easily assess how they are using salesforce.com. This was a very big step forward with over 40 personalization points covering the full breath of the application. It’s our hope that by providing this information in an easily digestible format, customers can drive adoption within their organization and make use of all the features which are being added to salesforce.com.

For example, as an administrator I can see from the usage metrics below that only 10 of my 180 users are using Outlook Edition. I can click on the link to learn about the feature, watch a best practice presentation, and get the link to download the plug-in. From there I might send a mass email to my users encouraging them to download the plug-in. Next month when I receive my next personalized account review I can see if more of my users and now using the utility.

Click Here to find out more out the Personalized Account Review. 

Salesforce.com for Dummies was released this week and shot up to the #1 spot in Amazon.com's computer and internet section

Salesforce.com for Dummies was released this week and shot up to the #1 spot in Amazon.com's computer and internet section