'Cloud Services Go Mainstream\r'

'Case Study 3. 4 †Salesforce. Com: Cloud serve Go Mainstream 1. How does Salesforce. com use befog calculate? Salesforce. com provides client relationship management and other softw atomic number 18 product industrys employ the software-as-a- avail stage occupancy model over the Internet. Cloud work out, in addition known as on-demand computation, eliminates the need for a lineage to make large up-front ironware and software investments and reduces the cartridge clip to implement new programs. Subscribers to Salesforce. om don’t see to purchase or maintain any hardware (albeit personal computing devices) nor do they score to salt away any special operating systems, selective informationbase servers, or application servers. Other than the monthly user subscription fee, championshipes reduce their licensing and maintenance fees. Users access the Salesforce. com cloud through a specimen Web browser or a pass alongny handheld device. Businesses using the S alesforce. com’s cloud take away an easier time scaling their system as they maturation or decrease their takeforce †they adjust the telephone number of subscriptions to the cloud.Salesforce. com offers near customization of its software so a course concern stand adjust the software to unique business processes. It offers three types of clouds: Sales cloud, service cloud, and the custom cloud. The gross revenue and service clouds help businesses improve sales and customer service. The custom cloud provides a venue for customers to aim their own applications for use within the broader Salesforce network. 2. What are some of the challenges facing Salesforce as it continues its growth? How rise pull up stakes it be able to meet those challenges? Challenges include: increase competition both from traditional industry leading and new challengers hoping to replicate Salesforce’s success -Expanding its business model into other areas -Ensuring the system is available 24/7 with no outages -Defending the system against security knee pants Salesforce is answering the first two challenges by partnering with Google and compounding its services with Gmail, GoogleDocs, Google Talk, and Google Calendar to bring home the bacon its customers to accomplish much tasks via the Web . Salesforce. comand Google both hope that their Salesforce. com for Google Apps nitiative will floor further growth in on-demand software. By partnering with Apple, Salesforce. com can expand its applications to iPhone users who will have access to their data anywhere any time. Through its partnership with Amazon. com, ram customers can tap into Amazon. com’s cloud computing services that can handle â€Å"cloud extravasate computing” tasks that require extra processing forefinger or storage capacity. Salesforce opened up its customs Cloud (also known as Force. com) application organic evolution platform to other independent software developers and listed their programs on its AppExchange.The company introduced a development tool for incorporate with Facebook’s social network that allows customers to build applications that cry out functions at the Facebook site. Small businesses can go online and download software applications, some add-ons to Salesforce. com and others that are unrelated. In ramble to grow its revenues to levels that industry observers and Wall Street eventually expects, Salesforce will need to change its focus from selling a suite of software applications to providing a broader cloud computing â€Å"platform” on which many software companies can deliver applications.To ensure system availability, Salesforce. com provides tools to examine customers about its system reliability and also offers PC applications that tie into their services so users can work offline. 3. What kinds of businesses could get from switching to Salesforce and why? Small to medium-size businesses are probably the most likely ones to switch to Salesforce. com because of greet factors and the lack of having in-house resources to provide the same level of computing capacity.Businesses that are trying to increase the sophistication of their computing capabilities could also bene mate from switching to Salesforce as pine as the two are compatible. Businesses that rely on smart customer management would benefit greatly from using the tools available at Salesforce. com. Also companies that have small sales and marketing teams can benefit from the software-as-a-service business model. 4. What factors would you take into account in decision making whether to use Saleforce. com for your business?Businesses should assess the costs and benefits of the service, calculation all people, organization, and technology issues. Does the software-as-a-service application integrate well with the existing systems? Does it deliver a level of service and performance that’s acceptable for the business? Do es the SaaS fit with the business’ overall competitive strategy and allow the company to focus on core business issues instead of technology challenges? 5. Could a company run its entire business using Salesforce. com, Force. com, and App Exchange? explain your answer. Depending on the type of business, a company probably could run its entire operations using Salesforce. com, Force. com, and App Exchange. every last(predicate) four major functional areas of a business are persisted: Sales and Marketing, Manufacturing and Production, Finance, and Human Resources. on that point are dozens of applications available to fully support all of these areas. It would be a matter of integrating the software from Salesforce. com and App Exchange with any existing bequest systems within the business.\r\n'