Salesforce.com Goes Vertical

Salesforce.com on Monday unveiled the first of many vertically focused solutions to come for its large enterprise customers. The first vertically focused online CRM solution comes as a result of a partnership with Cybrant Corp., a developer of complex selling automation (CSA) applications in Mountain View, Calif., which will enable high-tech manufacturers to offer quoting, pricing, configuration, and guided selling across the sales channels. "Now, through this partnership, our large Enterprise Edition customers can achieve a substantial increase in sales effectiveness and a dramatic reduction in cost of sales without incurring exorbitant software and hardware expenses," said Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com. "We started out as a horizontal application. We stayed true to that, but we found that there is a need for product and pricing configuration. That wasn't on our roadmap so we decided to partner with a company to do that. After talking to analysts and viewing the usual suspects, we picked Cybrant," says Cary Fulbright, senior vice president of product and marketing at Salesforce.com. The partnership signifies the San Francisco-based online CRM company's move not only upward into large corporate enterprises, but outward into vertically focused markets as well. "We're looking at providing vertical market functionality in industries we've been successful, such as computer software services, financial services, manufacturing, travel and hospitality. So we're definitely looking to put more functionality in a template format. And in the coming six to nine months you will see more vertical market partnerships," says Fulbright. The vertically focused applications are only available through Salesforce.com's Enterprise Edition product, but Fulbright says template versions may trickle down to the Professional Edition product. Customers will not be charged extra for upgrades and training, as all upgrades and training are included in the monthly pricing structure.