by CIO Staff

Customization to Drive Next Salesforce.com Release

News
Sep 06, 20062 mins
CRM Systems

Salesforce.com is starting to provide some details about the next version of its hosted CRM software, including the product’s primary focus, which will be customization.

Known as Salesforce Winter ’07, the upcoming release will become generally available in the fourth quarter of this year, Salesforce.com said Wednesday.

The vendor plans to launch a website Thursday to invite user feedback on the Winter ’07 version. The idea is to foster a closer working relationship between Salesforce users and the vendor’s developers, Marc Benioff, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, wrote in an e-mail.

Winter ’07 will feature a new user interface based on Ajax, a group of software development tools and standards that help create interactive Web applications. Users will have the ability to customize the CRM application’s desktop console and components. Other new features include a hook-in to Cisco Systems’ computer telephony integration option and full support for IBM’s Lotus Notes collaboration software.

Salesforce.com’s on-demand CRM is available in different versions targeting a variety of users, including its Personal, Team, Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited Editions.

The vendor’s last major CRM version, Summer ’06, debuted in July along with a connector for its Enterprise and Unlimited Editions integrating its software with SAP’s R/3 ERP applications. Salesforce.com competes with a variety of players in the hosted mid-market applications arena including SAP, Oracle and NetSuite.

-China Martens, IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)

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