Marc Benioff and the Future of Software (AMR)

This week Rob Bois and I were in San Francisco to attend Dreamforce, the annual user conference hosted by salesforce.com. If you’re curious about the future of applications software, you may want to visit the company’s website and watch the video replay of the keynote from Marc Benioff, the company’s founder, CEO, and master showman. Behind the bravado, I see 10 ideas that every software vendor should copy. Why? While salesforce.com is different from vendors with its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, platform, and relatively narrow product offering, its approach in indicative of where the software market is headed in terms of technology and community.

salesforce.com Sets Its Sights High With Apex (AMR)

salesforce.com further clarified the company’s intent to move even further into the role of software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform provider at its annual Dreamforce user conference in San Francisco. While the details of the new winter 2007 quarterly release of the core CRM application outlined a solid set of new functionality, the announcement of the Apex SaaS development tool generated the most buzz at the event.

Gartner: 'Kwart van software in 2011 online' (AG)

In 2011 zal 25 procent van de bedrijfssoftware via een online constructie gebruikt worden, verwacht Gartner. Dat is ongeveer vijf keer zoveel als in 2005. SaaS (software as a service) maakt volgens Gartner-analist Robert DeSisto een ontwikkeling door van basisfunctionaliteit naar geavanceerde configuratiemogelijkheden. En terwijl het tot dusver vooral lijnmanagers zijn die de IT-afdeling omzeilden met het aangaan van een SaaS-contract, zullen IT-afdelingen zich in de toekomst meer met deze...