Salesforce.com Positioned as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers

SAN FRANCISCO, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing (http://www.salesforce.com/cloudcomputing/) company, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers, 2012.

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Comments on the News:

• "Social enterprises delight customers by putting them at the heart of their business," said Dave Kellogg, senior vice president and general manager, Service Cloud, salesforce.com. "We believe this Magic Quadrant position cements the Service Cloud's leadership and demonstrates why it is trusted to power contact centers both large and small at leading business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies. The Service Cloud delivers customer service for the social enterprise in an integrated, cross-channel way that no one else can match."

According to Gartner, "Leaders demonstrate market-defining vision and the ability to execute against that vision through products, services, demonstrable sales figures, and solid new references for multiple geographies and vertical industries. Clients report that the vendors deliver a high level of value and return on their commitment. The development team has a clear vision of the implications of business rules, and the impact of social networking on customer service requirements. A characteristic of a leader is that clients look to the vendor for clues as to how to innovate in customer service in areas such as embedded sensors in equipment, mobile support and extension to social communities. The vendor does not necessarily drive a customer toward vendor lock-in, but rather provides openness to an ecosystem. When asked, clients reply that a Leader's product has affected the organization's competitive position in its markets and helped lower costs. Leaders can demonstrate $50 million in sales to new customers during the past year."

Award-Winning Service Cloud Delivers Customer Service for the Social Enterprise

Salesforce.com is helping businesses to bridge the social gap and meet customers where they are – on social networks and mobile devices – with the social enterprise. Unlike legacy contact center solutions, the Service Cloud is built to delight customers by delivering a social contact center that lets agents assist customers on public social networks and from mobile devices. Trusted by more than 17,000 companies, the Service Cloud powers the largest contact centers in the industry because it delivers customer service at a scale and speed no one else can match.

Recently, salesforce.com announced the launch of Desk.com, the social and mobile help desk for SMBs that is simple to use and deploy. Built with social at its core, Desk.com allows small businesses to instantly deliver customer service over any major social network. Desk.com Mobile allows companies to carry a help desk in their pocket and answer customers on the go. Finally, Desk.com is so simple that any company, even one without an IT staff, can get up and running over a weekend.  With the Service Cloud and Desk.com, now any company can deliver customer service like a social enterprise.

Recent Recognition for the Service Cloud:

• This positioning by Gartner follows Salesforce Service Cloud's recognition as a winner of two CRM magazine 2012 Service Leader Awards in the Customer Case Management and Web Support categories.
• Service Cloud customers Symantec Corporation and Corel were among the winners of the 2012 Gartner & 1to1 Media CRM Excellence Awards in the customer service category.
• Corel and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, also Service Cloud customers, were recently named winners of the 2012 CRM Service Elite Awards by CRM magazine.

Follow @Salesforce on Twitter and Suggested Tweet:

If you'd like to tweet about the Service Cloud's leadership position in the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Contact Centers, here is a suggested tweet to send to your followers:

• Click to tweet: .@Salesforce Service Cloud positioned as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for #CRM #Custserv Contact Centers! Read more: http://bit.ly/KRSZso

Additional Resources:

• For access to a complimentary copy of the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers, 2012, please visit: http://bit.ly/KRSZso
• Like the Service Cloud on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceCloud
• To see a demo of the Service Cloud, visit: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceCloud?sk=app_278917645490268
• For more information about the Service Cloud, visit: http://www.salesforce.com/service-cloud/overview/

About the Magic Quadrant:

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Salesforce.com

With more than 100,000 customers, salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company that is leading the shift to the social enterprise. Social enterprises leverage social, mobile and open cloud technologies to put customers at the heart of their business. Based on salesforce.com's real-time, multitenant architecture, the company's platform and application services allow customers to:

• Create employee social networks with Salesforce Chatter, Salesforce Rypple and Salesforce Force.com.
• Develop customer social networks with the Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud and Salesforce Data.com.
• Connect with customers on public social networks with Salesforce Heroku, Salesforce Radian6 and Salesforce Site.com.
• Empower small businesses to become social enterprises with Salesforce Desk.com and Salesforce Do.com.
• Extend a company's social enterprise with apps from the leading enterprise app marketplace, AppExchange.
• Run apps on Database.com, the first social enterprise database.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit http://salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

©2012 salesforce.com, inc.  All rights reserved. Salesforce.com, Salesforce, Chatter, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Radian6, Jigsaw, AppExchange, Force.com, Heroku, and all associated logos are trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. in the United States and other countries. Salesforce.com offers its Siteforce products and services in Germany under the Force.com Sites trademark. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.  Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE salesforce.com