Salesforce.com Partner Success Blog
Salesforce.com Partner Success Blog
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Giving Thanks to the Cloud
Nov 25, 2009As many of us celebrate the beginning of the holiday season and the end of 2009, it’s a good opportunity to take a step back to see how far we’ve come as an industry in advancing cloud computing. Despite tough economic times this past year, we’ve seen that entrepreneurship and innovation still happen around significant technology and business models like cloud computing – something that may represent the most profound shift our industry has seen in decades.
Our annual Dreamforce conference has become the de facto industry event for cloud computing and serves as an annual capstone for not only salesforce.com but our entire community of customers and partners too. If past Dreamforce events introduced cloud computing and Force.com to the world, this year’s Dreamforce showcased undeniable proof points of the cloud bringing new business and technical value to IT departments, ISVs, solution providers, and developers – at a pace and intensity unmatched by traditional software.
Companies large and small are recognizing that cloud computing and Force.com gives them both substantial agility and cost advantages – whether it’s CIOs like Yoichi Yokomizo from Lawson (the 2nd largest convenience store chain in Japan, not Lawson Software) standardizing business processes or CEOs like James Sheppard from Vetrazzo moving their entire businesses in the cloud. Startup ISVs likeBenelicious (pictured right, winner of the 2009 Force.com 40 Innovation Showcase) and Appirio are enjoying the capital-efficiency and time-to-market of Force.com and can deliver applications that are challenging larger traditional vendors.
Even some of the largest software companies in the world are moving key product lines to Force.com and accelerating decades of domain expertise to the cloud. Solution providers are also finding new channel opportunities in cloud by reselling Force.com, shedding low-margin, client-server reseller businesses to bring the power of the cloud to their customers.We are in the middle of a very profound shift indeed.
So as we start thinking about the new year and new opportunities, it’s time for us to focus our vision and investments. With exciting new innovations like Chatter, Salesforce.com certainly will continue to do our part in fueling this shift in 2010….and we’re looking for new partners to join us in the mission.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Get Ready for Dreamforce '09
Nov 12, 2009It's that time of year again....we're one week away from the biggest cloud computing event of the year!The keynote preparations are underway and breakout session content is starting to roll in - attendees are in-store for another blockbuster salesforce.com event!If you're a new or existing partner attending Dreamforce, we have a great experience planning for you including a line up of breakout sessions in the Partner Success track, an intimate area for ‘Partner Conversations’ in the Force.com Zone, and a Partner Reception on Thursday night! Check out the list below to see what sessions and activities you can’t afford to miss!Get Engaged: Explore our partner programsGet Smart: Pickup business and technical planning tipsGet Enabled: Boost your sales & marketingGet Inspired: Hear from other leaders in the partner ecosystemGet Connected: Network with other partners and salesforce.com alliances teams- Meet 1:1 with the salesforce.com alliance team to strategize your business in the cloud at the ‘Partner Conversations’ area in the ‘Force.com Zone’
- Meet other partners in the ecosystem over a drink and great food at the Partner Reception on Thursday evening from 7pm – 9pm at Temple (just 2 blocks from Moscone).
Get Registered: It's not too late!- Don’t worry if you didn't get a pass yet because you can still Register Now!
- If you can’t afford the time and expense to attend all 4 days, then just select Keynote & Expo Pass as your Attendee Type and enter promo code EXPOSFDC at checkout to attend for FREE!
We can’t wait to see you at Dreamforce! -
AppExchange Customers' Choice Awards: Overview & Rules
Nov 5, 2009With 2009 coming to a close, it's time to start tallying review scores for our 2nd annual Customers' Choice Awards! These awards are given to those partners who have had excellent user reviews in a particular calendar year. Last year was a tight race but we ended up with a great group of solutions that spanned 15 categories.
Like the Best of '08 awards, this year's awards are category-based and will be given to the apps that receive the highest combination of:
1. # of reviews posted in 2009
2. Average star rating for user reviews posted in 2009
In other words: the more good reviews, the better! Increase your chances of winning by encouraging your customers to post reviews today. To learn more about the program and rules, please access this document in the partner portal.
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Calling All Apps! Time to Get Ready for Dreamforce.
Oct 29, 2009(Cross-posted on the Force.com blog)
Dreamforce 2009 starts in just 18 short days - and we can't wait to see you there! It's going to be a great experience, and everyone here is in full swing getting ready to welcome you. We've been hearing from a lot of partners lately, and many partners have told us that they're planning to release new AppExchange apps at Dreamforce. We're absolutely thrilled to hear about these plans, and we want to let everyone know that if you have similar plans, you need to submit your app to the AppExchange Security Review process no later than Monday November, 2nd! We want to make sure that we have enough time to evaluate your app ahead of Dreamforce. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that we'll be able to review your app in time for Dreamforce if it is submitted after the deadline.
To initiate the security review process for your app, you will need to log in to the AppExchange, click on the "Publishing" Tab and then click on the "Start Review" link for your managed package. (If you haven't already registered on the AppExchange, then you'll need to do that too.)
The How to Publish Apps on the AppExchange page is a great resource if you have more questions about the publishing process.We can't wait to see you (and your apps) at Dreamforce!
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Join us for Cloudforce London - 12/8/2009
Oct 16, 2009Immediately following Dreamforce 2009, Marc Benioff will bring the best of Dreamforce to Europe for a free, invitation-only, Cloudforce London event on December 8th, 2009 at the Novotel West London and our Partner Summit hosted the day before on December 7th.
This momentum event provides a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate your solution to an audience that is focused on CRM success as well as the Force.com platform. Our customers and prospects are looking for your solutions to solve their business challenges. All attendees can take advantage of the high-energy networking throughout the program, including an evening cocktail reception.
Please read through the sponsorship brochure and choose the package that makes the most sense for your business. Please contact partnersuccess@salesforce.com if you have any questions, or the partner marketing team contacts listed in the brochure.
Please visit the Cloudforce London website for more information.
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Force.com 40 Showcase - Last Chance Deadline!
Sep 23, 2009Calling all partners! Think you've got a killer Force.com app? Do you want a shot at fame and glory in front of 10,000+ customers at Dreamforce 2009? Prove it—and get in the game for the final round of the eliteForce.com 40 partner innovation showcase.There's less than 1 week left to join the ranks of the most innovative salesforce.com partners that have built killer apps on Force.com. Top entrants in Round 3 of the Force.com 40 will be invited back in October for a Demo Day at salesforce.com's offices to present to expert judges.Nominate yourself and put your apps to the test today! -
AppExchange Service Listings--Now Live!
Sep 9, 2009We are very excited to announce that Service Listings are now live on the AppExchange. This means that our community of systems integrators, consultants, custom app development partners, and training partners can create listings for their service practices, just like ISVs do for apps today. This is great for both customers and partners as now there is ONE central source for information on all cloud computing solutions.
These new listings leverage several features that are already in use on the AppExchange like search & categorization, lead capture, and customer reviews. Additionally, service listings integrate data directly from the new partner portal like the number of joint projects a partner has completed and their average customer satisfaction scores.
We encourage you to check out the AppExchange to view this exciting new upgrade. Also, if you are a service partner who would like to create a listing, please view this step-by-step publishing demo to get started: http://salesforce.acrobat.com/p87769964/
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Don't get left behind! Get in front of a targeted audience at Dreamforce and start building your 2010 pipeline!
Sep 4, 2009Do you consider yourself a force to be reckoned with in the cloud computing space?
Dreamforce is the cloud computing event of the year. This 4-day experience is a must for any company competing and playing in the cloud computing arena.
We are just weeks away from finalizing the Dreamforce Expo. This is your last chance to sign up! Any sponsors coming in after September 25th will incur rush fees. Please view our online brochure for more details.
Want to differentiate yourself and really stand out? Don't forget about the available a la carte opportunities!
Please email partnersuccess@salesforce.com with any questions.
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Salesforce.com Partners: You Can Now Resell Force.com!
Aug 27, 2009
There's been a lot of talk about over the past year on how cloud computing may make the channel irrelevant.This is simply not the case.The channel represents a vital piece of the IT value chain, represented by everyone from the 1-man local IT guru to the world's largest systems integrators. These channel partners have built up the technical skills and domain expertise to advise companies large and small which results in trusted customer relationships, that sometimes span decades.The activity of delivering custom technology solutions does not fundamentally change with cloud computing. What does change is how these solutions get delivered and cloud computing is forcing the channel to elevate the value they deliver to end customers. No longer can channel partners guarantee a tidy profit by reselling IT hardware and client-server operating systems. The challenge is for the channel to evolve with the changing economics that cloud computing brings to the IT industry. Channel partners that aren't able to shift their business model and up-level the value they deliver will likely lose revenue streams to the cloud that may have been coming from hardware and traditional software sales.So what's been holding back the channel partner community from really participating the cloud?When it comes to cloud computing platforms, there hasn't been a leading vendor that's given the reseller channel a clear path to profitability in the cloud; most cloud platforms are priced for the end user/developer and don't allow the channel to share in revenue generation. Until now.With the newly announced Force.com VAR (value-added reseller) Program, the channel now has a way to generate recurring revenue in the cloud. By allowing partners to markup our Force.com licenses based on the value of the custom apps they deliver to end customers and also own the renewal process, salesforce.com is unlocking the market opporunity of cloud computing for the channel. We're already seening enthusiastic response from the partner community - in fact, there were 14 partners signed up to be VARs when we launched this past week.There's never been a better time to bring the cloud to your customers (and it doesn't hurt to make some money doing it either!) - better yet, we'll equip you with all the tools to build and sell cloud computing solutions, plus it's free to join our ecosystem....so get started today! -
New Partner Portal & Services Listings on AppExchange Live
Aug 24, 2009Salesforce.com’s next generation Partner Portal is now available. Log in today using your existing partner portal credentials to:
- Refer a Lead, Log a Case, or Request an Org—all from a centralized place
- Access a robust Consulting Resource and IT Tech Center with best
- Check out our new Partner Calendar to view the latest Salesforce.com events and evaluate sponsorship opportunitiesMake sure to check out the Getting Started section and the FAQ to get oriented on how to maximize use of the site. The first 250 partners who login will be eligible to win a Kindle.
Need access to the Partner Portal? Click the ‘Need Portal Access?’ link on the Partner Portal login page.
In addition to the release of the Partner Portal, Consulting Partners can now create Service Listings on the AppExchange. A Service listing not only gives you access to salesforce.com’s 1.5 million users but also allows you to differentiate yourself through customer reviews and real-time project and certification data. Check out the Services Listings - How To Demo in the Consulting/Go To Marketing Section to start building your listing today.
Join us for an upcoming Services Listings workshop. We’ll cover a quick demo of the listing process and share listing best practices. Get answers to your questions from our AppExchange listing experts.
Tuesday, August 25 - 9 AM PST/Noon EST/5 PM British Time
Register HereThursday, August 27 - 8 PM PST
Friday, August 28 11 AM Singapore
Register HereTuesday, September 1 - 9 AM PST
Register Here
Friday, September 4 - 11 AM Singapore
Register HereThe first 20 partners to publish a Services Listing will be registered to win a Kindle.
Questions? Please log a case in the Partner Portal.
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