• Salesforce CRM
• Force.com AppExchange
• Community
• Developer Force

Salesforce.com Receives San Francisco Chamber of Commerce "Ebbie" Award for Excellence in Business

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - October 17, 2003 - Salesforce.com®, the world leader in delivering software-as-service, today announced that the company has received the 2003 Excellence in Business Award from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce in the Emerging Growth category. Sponsored by Williams-Sonoma Inc., the Emerging Growth award is presented to a San Francisco small business or emerging-growth company that has demonstrated a capacity for creativity and innovation, has experienced growth and has established itself as a leader in its industry.

"This year's theme was envisioning the possibilities - leading the way to the future - and chairman and CEO Marc Benioff is doing exactly that with salesforce.com," said Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. "The salesforce.com/foundation's model of giving one percent of their time, equity and profits to create social change demonstrates commitment to the San Francisco community. Furthermore, salesforce.com's innovative software-as-service model has catapulted it past traditional software companies to a leadership position in meeting the challenges of global customer communication."

The ability to "view the ordinary and see the extraordinary" is the hallmark of the Ebbies, which were created in 1991 as a way to honor San Francisco businesses for their innovation, business success and contributions to the quality of life of the city's communities and their own community of employees. Founded in 1999 with the idea of creating an information utility to make traditional enterprise software technology and business models obsolete, salesforce.com has grown rapidly to its current position as the world's most successful application utility and first profitable software-as-service provider with more than 8,000 customers and 110,000 subscribers worldwide.

"Receiving this award is a direct result of two things: the outstanding drive and passion of salesforce.com employees, and the immediate business benefits our customers realize by replacing complex enterprise software with on-demand applications," said Benioff. "As a fourth-generation San Franciscan, it is a particular honor to win this award validating the success of the software-as-service business model and our vision of integrating business and the local community as the future of corporate philanthropy."

Presented at the Excellence in Business Awards Gala, the event is San Francisco's pre-eminent celebration of the city's visionary entrepreneurs, business and civic leaders, and exemplary corporate citizens. Attendees included Chuck Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma [NYSE: WSM]; Chamber of Commerce president & CEO Lee Blitch; 2003 Chamber Chair Jim Wunderman, senior vice president with Providian Financial [NYSE: PVN]; Mike Sangiacomo, president & CEO, Norcal Waste Systems Inc.; Tom Driscoll, managing partner, Foley & Lardner; Martin Richards, senior vice president, Bank of America [NYSE: BAC]; Iris Chan, executive vice president, Wells Fargo [NYSE: WFC]; Julius Robinson, senior vice president, Union Bank of California; Russell Sands, chair & CEO, Lockton Insurance Brokers Inc.; Larry Colton, president, Willis Bay Area; Mayor Brown, and more than 1,000 business leaders from small, mid-sized and large businesses, members of the San Francisco board of supervisors and key civic and community leaders.