subject: Salesforce Juggernaut continues in India [print this page] Salesforce is the natural choice when it comes to Cloud Computing. The San Francisco, California-based company is considered to be the leader in the cloud services and has established itself as a pioneer in the cloud computing space in India. VARIndia recently talked to Jeremy Cooper, Regional Vice-President- Marketing, Asia-Pacific, salesforce.com, to know more about the latest on the companys front.
As cloud computing gains popularity, enterprises are rethinking the ways computing is managed. Since the cost of transferring data over the Internet is decreasing and businesses are coming to realize that managing complicated software and hardware building blocks are often not a viable proposition, many are willing to outsource some of their computing tasks via budget-friendly cloud computing.
There has been a lot of confusion being created by the proliferation of terms like cloud computing, Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, etc.
"Cloud computing is a better way to run your business. Instead of running your apps yourself, they run on a shared data center. When you use any app that runs in the cloud, you just log in, customize it, and start using it. That is the power of cloud computing," says Jeremy Cooper. "There is little doubt that cloud computing represents the future of IT in the enterprise, and many enterprises have shown great interest to incorporate this groundbreaking business model into their long-term growth strategies," says Jeremy.
Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable business applications and services are provided by subscription over the Internet. By utilizing cloud computing, users are no longer required to manage and maintain costly and complex IT infrastructure that supports their operations, enabling them to focus more on their core businesses and objectives. Other benefits include scalability, reliability and lower overall IT costs. For thousands of business organizations, the use of cloud computing is often seen as the best alternative to traditional expensive on-premise solutions that are inflexible, have the burden of capital investment and are more risky with disruptive upgrade cycles and unexpected costs.
Recently, Salesforce and VMware have announced a partnership that will allow enterprise Java developers to build cloud applications more easily. VMforce will allow developers to tap into Salesforce products, including its database, Chatter collaboration service, workflow, analytics and search, to build enterprise applications that are reliable and more social.
With VMforce, the more than 6 million enterprise Java developers, including the over 2 million developers using the Spring framework backed by the SpringSource division of VMware, will have an open path to cloud computing. Now, CIOs and IT departments will be able to leverage their existing programming skills and investments in Java applications, and take full advantage of the Force.com platform to build Cloud 2 enterprise applications that are social and work on any mobile device in real time. VMforce will dramatically simplify how enterprises and enterprise Java developers can harness the economics of cloud computing without compromising the flexibility, control and choice they require.Salesforce in India
The stakes for Salesforce in India are really high. The reason is obvious. India is the fastest-growing cloud computing market in the Asia-Pacific region. With ongoing rollouts of national broadband and 3G networks in India, the focus on reducing TCO, and demand for more scalability and flexibility in business applications, the cloud computing market in India is poised for continued growth.
Jeremy Cooper says, "India offers great potential for cloud computing because of the robust growth of Internet and computer usage in the country. Moreover, the time for cloud computing has now come across both applications and platforms. salesforce.com complements growing efforts to streamline operations and optimize cost-cutting measures by helping business organizations seamlessly integrate cloud computing in their operations."
salesforce.com grew its customer base in India by 42%, outpacing the companys growth in the Asia-Pacific region during its full fiscal year ending January 31, 2010. "We are seeing an inflection point in India among leading enterprises which are increasingly saying goodbye to expensive hardware and software that burn precious capital and yet rarely produce the promised returns," salesforce.com Senior Vice-President for Enterprise Sales, Asia-Pacific, Steve McWhirter, said.
"The need for speed, agility, and greater productivity at a lower IT cost has made cloud computing a clear favourite among small- to medium-sized businesses in India," said Lee Thompson, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Sales, Asia-Pacific, salesforce.com. "They are voting with their wallets at a dramatic pace in favour of CRM and other critical business applications on a cloud computing platform."
"The story gets even better this year," said Jeremy. "When Salesforce Chatter is made available later this year to every one of our two million-plus users worldwide, we will introduce- on that single day- a completely new era of enterprise collaboration."Leading organizations in India choose salesforce.com for CRM and custom application development:
Salesforce CRM, which includes Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, is the worlds most popular CRM application. FY10 wins in India include: AdGlobal360, Bajaj Auto Finance, Godrej Properties, GVK Biosciences Private Limited, Infotech Enterprises Limited, Microland Limited, and Y-AXIS Overseas Career.
salesforce.com now has more than 36,000 members in its India developer community, developing applications on Force.com, which allows organizations to build and run applications five times faster, at about half the cost of traditional software platforms.
