eweek: salesforce.com and Twitter partner

Salesforce’s deal with Twitter - "Platforms are moving to a service. It’s not just about apps; it’s about platforms."

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff discussed his company’s use of the cloud computing and Software-As-a-Service (SaaS) at a New York conference, demonstrating the new features of its Sales Cloud. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM have also been pushing hard into the cloud-computing space as part of their grand strategies. Saleforce also has a new agreement with Twitter.
NEW YORK – Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff, whose company just cut a new deal with Twitter this week, is seeing the possibilities of cloud computing expand as more and more platforms – not just applications – move into the cloud.

Along with Google, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and other companies, Salesforce has been making an aggressive push into cloud computing, recently focusing on expanding its Software-As-a-Service (SaaS) repertoire. The company currently maintains a Sales Cloud and Service Cloud.

"We’ve seen Google and Cisco and Omniture all come out and say the same thing," said Benioff, during a March 23 appearance to partially promote Salesforce’s deal with Twitter. "Platforms are moving to a service. It’s not just about apps; it’s about platforms."

Salesforce has been busy adding functionality to its two main platforms: Sales Cloud and Service Cloud.

On March 23, Salesforce announced that it was integrating Twitter into its Service Cloud, where it would operate alongside Facebook connections, Google search, online communities and other applications to provide a cloud-based customer service channel.

Salesforce took a few moments during its presentation to argue that Twitter is of great utility to the enterprise.

"There’s a question that Twitter asks: 'What are you doing?'" Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care for Comcast, said during the presentation. "There’s a lot of great data, data that marketers pay a lot of money for, and it’s there for free."