2 minute read
Technology enables change, and change drives success. We measure success in terms of change: increases, decreases, percentages, growth and trends. But how do we define change? Transformation? Innovation? Conversion? Shift? Transition?
Powerful data mining systems transform boring data into hidden treasures. Innovative data manipulation programs convert stagnant business relationships into rich prospect lists. And new computing platforms have shifted the technology paradigm from one of monolithic information systems living in giant metal boxes to well-connected business processes that float around in the cloud.
From App to Platform
Salesforce.com was founded as a CRM (customer relationship management) application hosted in the cloud. Since day one, however, the company recognized that in order to be successful, it couldn’t be just an application. Salesforce.com needed to create a whole new platform for business processing.
The Salesforce.com history is teeming with groundbreaking technology initiatives. Its innovation trail blazes with change-driven milestones. The company has morphed from a cloud-based provider of automated CRM solutions to a provider of cloud-based platforms that permit organizations to rapidly deploy powerful, tailored information systems that span all business operations end-to-end and integrate seamlessly with existing information systems.
In short, Salesforce.com has reinvented the way businesses access and integrate the software they use to handle ordinary operations like customer relations, sales, accounting, and internal communications, as well as emerging functions like social business.
What’s the secret?
A relentless commitment to change. Note the proliferation of the change concept throughout the Salesforce.com story: transforming, shifting, innovating, evolving, reinventing, adapting.
Merriam Webster defines change, the verb, as: to make radically different; to transform; to give a different position, course, or direction to.
Salesforce.com embodies change. Salesforce.com made ordinary business systems radically different. And they transformed an industry – establishing unprecedented integration and flexibility for building business technology systems.
How will your business embrace technology change that could define your success?
