What Has Google Learned from Salesforce.com?
February 15, 2011
Several years ago, a Googler made a comment about Salesforce.com. My recollection is that the person, no longer laboring in the Elysian Fields said, “We really like those guys.” The “those guys” referred to Salesforce.com. In one of my Google briefings, I mentioned that Google was not yet ready to get married to Salesforce.com. Google did some flirting but nothing serious.
I read the oddly named article “Could Google Risk Taking on the CRM Market?” Despite the headline, the main idea of the article is sound. The question becomes, “Will Google compete with the big dogs in customer relationship management?” Now CRM is an ambiguous phrase. For some poobahs, CRM is nothing more than a reason to sell a search and retrieval system so the “customer” can look up his or her own answers. The idea is for the licensee to fire staff or outsource to customers and low wage workers as much of the annoying queries from paying customers. CRM is a refuge for search and retrieval vendors who find the competition too stiff for the big jobs which go to companies with modern, scalable systems that work as information platforms. CRM is a smaller fish pond and the fish are not the predators found in the Fortune 1000 market.
I see the future… Source: http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/10/the-cbos-crystal-ball
Others, like Salesforce.com, see CRM as a way to keep track of prospects, proposals, and the detritus essential to closing a deal. Sales professionals, as you may know, live or die by their contacts. Putting those contacts in a system that the boss can tap for reports is a hot idea for some senior managers. Mercenary sales professionals use systems like Salesforce.com to manage their professional life. No matter what happens on the job or when a laptop is ripped off, the sales person’s contacts are safe in the Salesforce.com cloud.
The argument in “Could Google Risk Taking on the CRM Market?” focuses on a couple of suppositions. The first is that Google’s enterprise push is working like a champ and may become a juggernaut. I am not sure I buy into this premise, but let’s go along with the Newsfactor story. The second supposition is that Google could buy its way into the CRM market. Google seems to be dealing with a number of different demons these days. The challenges range from a Googler positioned as the focal point for the semi-peaceful revolution in Egypt to coping with the increasing annoyance with apparently less relevant Google search results. Don’t forget the break up of the triumvirate and the realignment of power in Google’s executive suite. Of course, the pesky legal hassles continue. Google, to its credit, now wants to settle these legal matters. Good idea but it may be a little late to slow the flight of some legal eagles.
Here’s the key passage in the Newsfactor write up based on an interview with the pundit, Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group:
“Google is still enthralled, much like Netscape was, with the enterprise market. So if Google is going to go into the enterprise, CRM would be a logical place for them to jump,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. “But for the type of company Google is, the more effort they put into the enterprise market, the more exposed they are going to be — and the more likely they are going to end up like Netscape did.” … If Google moves over to CRM, which is solidly business, the advertising-revenue model probably won’t work because the people don’t want their opinions or information shared,” Enderle said. “In that product class, Google is on a hard path to a traditional software model, and that is a model that Google is not set up to embrace yet.”
Okay, some suppositions and one poobah. What’s our take on this out-of-the-blue speculation.
First, Google bought a company that does what I call “sort of” CRM. If you are not familiar with JotSpot, there is some basic information on Wikipedia. There are other bits and pieces around that could be assembled into a cloud based CRM system without too much sky diving.
Second, Google has been aware of Salesforce.com. The notion of “we really like those guys” has not blossomed into a buy out. Google is a quick study and I think the company is aware of the multi-tenant strengths of Salesforce.com and of Salesforce.com’s core weakness: The shotgun marriage of traditional database technology and open source goodness.
Third, consultant speculation on “what would Google do” has proven to be mostly incorrect. Google is tough to pin down even when it does make a move. The company’s management method is no longer “controlled chaos.” The approach is more like a meeting among different US government agencies. Most of the face time is consumed trying to figure out who does what, when, and how. Committee actions leave the units considerable scope of action. A recent example is the vilification of the Microsoft Nokia deal and then the pitch for unemployed Nokia people to apply at Google for a real job.
Net net? Opinions are interesting. Facts are helpful but obviously not required to earn a top spot on Yahoo News. How should one define a content farm? Good question. Maybe Google will buy Salesforce.com, SugarCRM.com, and a couple of sides of search and retrieval? Worth watching.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2011
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3 Responses to “What Has Google Learned from Salesforce.com?”
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I think the time to buy Salesforce has gone. That was more likely when the GSA was their favourite project, and back in 2007 when the two formed a ‘global alliance’. Now that Google’s focus is on mobile and social, surely they won’t spend a quadrillion dollars on Salesforce. The only thing that might jog their memories that enterprise was going to be a big deal is if Office365 (ever) comes out properly.
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