Salesforce.com Positioned in Leaders Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud computing company, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers. This Magic Quadrant specifically evaluates CRM business applications for customer service interactions such as order management, case management, advisory services, problem diagnostics and resolution, account management, and returns management.

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Gartner: SaaS Evolving into Critical Selection Factor for Customer Service Contact Centers

• According to Michael Maoz, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner: "As more applications are built in a cloud-based model by 2011, SaaS will evolve from an interesting alternative delivery model into a critical selection factor at all levels of the customer service contact center. By 2013, at least 75% of customer service centers will use some form of SaaS application as a part of the contact center solution. This could be for knowledge management, desktop CRM functionality, feedback management or chat."(1)

Additional Industry Recognition and Momentum for the Service Cloud 2

• Nearly 9,000 companies have selected the Service Cloud 2 for their customer service operations.
• Companies using the Service Cloud 2 have seen a 30% increase in customer satisfaction, 25% reduction in support costs, 36% increase in service and support productivity and a 29% increase in customer retention, according to a recent third party survey(2).
• Since the Service Cloud's introduction in 2009, its has been recognized with numerous awards including Intelligent Enterprise's 2010 Editor's Choice Award for its fast growth, the 2009 TMCnet CRM Excellence Award, Network Products Guide 2009 and 2010 Innovation Awards, CRM Magazine Service Leader Rising Star Award, the IP Contact Center Technology Pioneer Award for Best IP Contact Center Service, and named to KMWorld's list of Top 100 Companies in knowledge management.
• For more information on the Service Cloud 2: http://www.salesforce.com/servicecloud2

Comments on the News:

• "We're pleased to be at the forefront of the massive shift to cloud computing taking place in the customer service market," said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. "In the short time since Service Cloud 2 was introduced, there are now nearly 9,000 companies around the world using the latest in call center technology to achieve tremendous benefits."
• "The Service Cloud 2 is enabling us to become a leading-edge customer service organization for the 21st century," said Jerry Kelly, vice president and CIO, Avid Technology, a leading digital audio and video technology producer. "We've been able to improve our visibility of our customers throughout their lifecycle to gain deeper insight into their needs by tapping into the cloud."

About the Magic Quadrant:

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Additional Resources:

• For access to a complimentary copy of the Magic Quadrant, please visit: https://www.salesforce.com/form/pdf/svc_gartner_magicquadrant.jsp
• Follow @salesforce on Twitter

About salesforce.com

Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company. Based on salesforce.com's real-time, multitenant architecture, the company's platform and CRM applications (http://www.salesforce.com/crm/) have revolutionized the way companies collaborate and communicate with their customers, including:

• The Sales Cloud, for sales force automation and contact management  
• The Service Cloud, for customer service and support solutions  
• Chatter, for social collaboration 
• The Force.com platform, for custom application development  
• The AppExchange, the world's leading marketplace for enterprise cloud computing applications 

Salesforce.com offers the fastest path to customer success with cloud computing. As of January 31, 2010, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 72,500 customers including Allianz Commercial, Dell, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks. 

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://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

Copyright (c) 2010 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and the "no software" logo are registered trademarks of salesforce.com, inc., and salesforce.com owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(1) Gartner Inc., Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers, Michael Maoz, April 9, 2010

(2) Third-party research of 4,000+ customers by Market Tools, Inc. commissioned by salesforce.com, April 2010

SOURCE salesforce.com