Salesforce.com Trots Out New Enterprise, Offline CRM Offerings

Salesforce.com Siebel Systems

The company, which made its name offering hosted CRM applications, will officially launch Salesforce.com Enterprise Edition, Offline Edition and Professional Edition in New York next week.

Enterprise Edition, which will sell for $125 per user per month, adds customization to let integrators devise user interfaces for different corporate divisions. "These advanced technologies let every division have its own user interface, currency and modifications but work off the same database," Salesforce.com Chairman, President and CEO Marc Benioff told CRN.

The E-Business Suite is the company's first foray beyond CRM into accounts receivable, contract management, order management, invoicing and billing modules. Due to ship in the fourth quarter, it will sell for $195 per user per month.

And finally, a new Offline edition built on Microsoft's .Net guidelines will let mobile professionals work when not connected to the Internet and synchronize changes easily when they reconnect. The Offline edition is included in the Enterprise version. Users of Salesforce.com Professional can add offline capabilities for an additional $25 per user per month.

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Some integrators agreed with the company's claim that it can offer competitive CRM functionality for less money than Siebel or Oracle.

"I haven't sold against Siebel yet but plan to," said Mark Howe, vice president of Ascendix, a Dallas-based integrator. "Will Salesforce.com win? Yes, because the overall value [is better. The time to market is unbelievable."

Benioff said integrators will be a significant part of the "ecosystem" the company wants to build. "Our strategy, unlike traditional ERP vendors, is to use as many VARs and integrators and consultants . . . it's a great opportunity to extend the product line, to reach small and medium businesses," he said.

Integrators can bill out for customization work and needs-assessment planning, Howe said.

Howe said the company definitely needed to bolster offline capabilities. "Right now, as long as I can reach the Internet, I can get my data. The problem was, and their biggest request was, if I'm on an airplane, I want a local database with my contacts, accounts and opportunities on it. . . . and I want to enter all my activity notes and then sync it up when I am connected again," Howe said.