Salesnet Tries to Capture Developers

On-demand CRM provider Salesnet has launched SalesnetDeveloper.com, a site dedicated to serving the needs of partner and client developers of Salesnet tools. Operating since the first quarter of 2005, the site gives administrators and developers access to community features like blogs and forums, news feeds, a download section for examples of good code and successful integrations, and FAQs. Registration is not necessary to use the site. According to David Golan, vice president of sales and alliances for Salesnet, the site "was developed to be a unique and efficient way for developers to speak with other developers without a middle man, to share ideas, concepts, and code" and to speed ambitious integrations. "Another significant benefit to Salesnet has been the insight we have gained from our partners' and customers' interactions on the site." Golan says this insight will drive the development of new product features and technology. SalesnetDeveloper.com is the brainchild of Rich Perkett, CTO and cofounder of Salesnet. In his greeting on the site Perkett says, "Our Web-services offering has almost doubled in size...as this usage increased, so did the requirement for more assistance." His technical background suggested a means: "I know how much our engineering team relies on online discussion groups and developer sites to get our job done every day," Perkett says. "It became clear to me that we needed to launch a site dedicated to helping customers and partners understand Salesnet's on-demand CRM platform at a technical level." The news section currently includes customer best-practices stories. Future expansions to SalesnetDeveloper.com are planned, Golan says, incorporating "new partners and developers with interests in integrating complementary products and technologies with Salesnet." To that end, "Salesnet will provide complimentary access to the Salesnet application with training and education services" to speed and refine partners' integration efforts. Golan believes sites and services like Salesnet's developer site are a trend that fits well with the two-way communication of good CRM practice. "The need to support complex integrations is clearly a trend within the on-demand CRM market and Salesnet has been a pioneer in this effort since 2001," he says. "Salesnet created the SalesnetDeveloper.com site to specifically support this trend as a mechanism for developers to access and share the information they need to be successful and as a medium for Salesnet to provide valued technical content across as wide an audience as possible." Related articles: Salesnet and Miller Heiman Announce a Partnership Salesnet Names Alan Goldsworthy New CEO