HISTORY SALESFORCE
Salesforce continues to be one of the most popular and powerful customer relationship management (CRM) software solutions on the market. As an enterprise-level tool, it has seen constant, successful usage for the past two decades by clients across many industries. With this in mind, it’s essential to have a comprehensive understanding of just how this platform has evolved. For those using Salesforce now — either in its native form or combined with solutions for release management, data backup and recovery and security that further propel its impact — a look at how it has been developed over time is certainly worthwhile. The Birth of Salesforce Marc Benioff founded Salesforce, then called a “Customer Relationship Management Software-as-a-Service” or CRM SaaS, in March of 1999, with the goal of cloud-based delivery of business applications available via the internet. The concept eliminated waiting time for IT departments to install applications as the software and its services are all hosted in the cloud. That initial idea would eventually come to be the foundation of the multi-billion-dollar holdings of the tech giant it is today, as Salesforce became the first company to ever become successful in that space. Early Growth In 2000, following its first product launch, Salesforce achieved $4 million in annual revenue. The following year, it hit a major milestone of over two million end users. This tremendous growth couldn't have been achieved without its robust and unique features like SalesForceChat, which allowed users to participate in live discussion via the internet. Additionally, Salesforce acquired its first company in 2002, laying the foundation for decades of acquisitions to come. Salesforce's Expansion Strategies Over the years, Salesforce has grown and developed its solutions to meet the varying needs of its clients, adding features such as a full-fledged custom application development platform — Apex — and many industry-specific products in addition to its core CRM offering. The company's growth strategies have been tightly integrated around its product development, customer acquisition, and identifying and acting on newly emerging markets. In addition, Salesforce has also embraced an innovative approach to IT management by focusing on reducing its operational costs and avoiding using unnecessary resources. The Present Day Today, Salesforce is now the leading provider of cloud-based CRM software, operating out of over 35 countries. It is used by over 150,000 companies of all sizes and has acquired over 33 software companies, including CRM vendors like ExactTarget, Jigsaw, and Vlocity. Salesforce also continues to develop its API and open platform, alongside a full suite of release management, data backup and recovery, and security solutions, to provide even better value to its enterprise customer base. Looking Ahead As Salesforce continues to expand and innovate, its future looks brighter than ever. Analysts project that cloud computing will grow by more than 20% each year into 2025, and Salesforce is well positioned to capitalize on this trend. In addition, Salesforce has recently been investing heavily into artificial intelligence, and this technology promises to be a major growth area for the company in the years ahead. At the end of the day, it’s clear that Salesforce has become an invaluable part of many businesses’ operations over the past 21 years. As a cutting-edge provider of cloud-based CRM software and robust release management, data backup and recovery, and security solutions, Salesforce is now a go-to source for any enterprise needing to maximize its operations. With the continued evolution of Salesforce as a platform, its clients have been able to unlock even greater value for their businesses.
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