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Salesforce.com is a California-based company but has its European headquarters in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow where the company employs 18. Last month, InfoWorld, a US business journal, said of the 10 technologies that made the biggest impact on the enterprise in 2001, Salesforce topped the list. "What distinguishes Salesforce.com are its mighty data exchange features, smooth integration with other Web applications, and remarkably easy-to-use interface," the magazine said.
John Appleby, managing director of Salesforce.com International, described the recognition as a "fantastic honour." Appleby took control of the company's Irish operations last year when the firm launched in Europe. Since that time the company has enjoyed some success despite the poor economic conditions other IT companies find themselves mired in.
Salesforce.com sells on-line based sales force automation and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to its customers through a subscription model that requires no in-house software installation from clients. The company is in the process of launching into the German market after spending the past year focusing its international energies on the UK and Ireland.
That move is expected to lead to more jobs in Ireland, according the company's European marketing director, Amanda Fennell, who says the business hopes to employ as many as 50 here by the end of this year. She said the company is currently recruiting but declined to offer specific numbers saying, "We expect to grow staff numbers as demand increases."
At the end of 2000, the company reported a 400 percent jump in revenues and near the end of last year Salesforce said revenues had been up over 90 percent for the first three quarters of 2001. Moreover, according to Fennell, Salesforce remains committed to its goal of profitability by the middle of this year.
Worldwide, Salesforce has more than 3,000 customers including big names such as Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Siemens, Thomas Cook Global Services and Wachovia. Meanwhile, in Ireland Salesforce counts Cape Clear, Le Meridien Shelbourne, Sercom Solutions, Soft-ex and Spectel-Multilink in its customer base.
Salesforce was founded by former Oracle vice president Marc Benioff in March 1999 and since its inception, the business has raised a massive USD52 million in funding from institutions and individuals including Oracle president Larry Ellison and Gateway chief executive Ted Waitt.
Earlier this week, Salesforce announced that it will preview its next product offerings, the Salesforce.com Offline Edition and Enterprise Edition, at the DEMO 2002 conference in New York. Its new products, although still heavily dependent on the Internet, mark a slight change in the company's focus since they require some offline software. In previous years Salesforce became recognised for its "death to software" mantra after it organised a promotional protest in California in front of Siebel Systems' offices. That awarding winning marketing campaign helped to propel the company to its current status after it received coverage in most of the national American newspapers.
For more information visit http://www.salesforce.com/ie
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