UK elections to leverage cloud computing to map public opinion for the first time \u2013 allowing the public to post, vote and comment on ideas in real time
LONDON, March 23, 2010 — Salesforce.com [NYSE: CRM], the enterprise cloud computing company, and Telegraph Media Group http:\/\/telegraph.co.uk\/, publishers of The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Telegraph.co.uk and The Telegraph weekly world edition, have joined forces to launch Debate2010 http:\/\/Debate2010.co.uk\/, the UK\u2019s largest online debate and discussion forum for the forthcoming General Election.
Debate2010 is the first crowd-sourcing site in the UK to report national opinion in real-time and is designed to facilitate debate in the run up to the General Election. The public will be able to debate topics, post ideas, vote and comment on the issues that most concern them. Debate2010 will run until polling day and will highlight areas such as healthcare, education, crime, the economy and foreign affairs.
The site was developed using Salesforce Ideas, a crowd-sourcing application delivered in the cloud and enables users to vote on policies and debate topics. With the voting system pushing the most popular ideas to the surface, Debate2010.co.uk will offer a clear overview of what the public really thinks of the key political issues. Debate2010.co.uk was built and launched in less than four weeks and utilizes the same groundbreaking technology that the Obama-Biden Transition team used to conduct a successful crowd-sourcing project in the U.S. Issues that appear high on the agenda will form the basis of a UK Citizens Briefing Book to MPs and political parties \u2013 a unique compilation of the ideas submitted by the Debate2010 community, which will outline the UK\u2019s opinion on key priorities.
Comments on the news:
\u2022 Marcus Warren, editor, Telegraph.co.uk, said, \u201cTelegraph Media Group will be leading the way during the election campaign. Our partnership with salesforce.com gives our readers a truly exciting and innovative way of engaging with the real issues. Social media will be a central theme of the 2010 Election. There will be no better tool to map public opinion in the weeks ahead.\u201d
\u2022 Dr. Steve Garnett, chairman of EMEA, salesforce.com, added, \u201cBy teaming up with Telegraph Media Group to create Debate2010, we are inviting the UK\u2019s population to have a say. This fantastic example of how cloud computing can translate into the public sector provides a wake up call for politicians. Engaging in interactive, online discussions is the future of politics.\u201d
\u2022 David Bradshaw, research manager, IDC, said, \u201cThis is an excellent example of how cloud-based technology can reshape the debate and help to engage public opinion. It could also re-shape the nature of political debate moving forward. Following the U.S. election, capturing social media conversations to determine the mind-set of a country proved a powerful phenomenon. Another important change is the way that media organizations are moving their business into the cloud to take advantage of the flexibility and scale it offers, and here Telegraph Media Group certainly seems to be in advance of its peers in the UK.\u201d
Supporting Resources:
\u2022 Debate2010 can be found at www.Debate2010.co.uk
\u2022 Follow Debate2010 on Twitter @debate2010 and join the debate with #debate2010
\u2022 Follow salesforce.com on Twitter @Salesforce
\u2022 View interviews with the Debate2010 team on YouTube
\u2022 Find screen shots on Flickr
About Telegraph Media Group
Telegraph Media Group Limited publishes The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Telegraph.co.uk and The Telegraph weekly world edition.
About salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company. The company’s portfolio of Salesforce CRM applications, available at http:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/uk\/products\/, has revolutionized the ways that companies collaborate and communicate with their customers across sales, marketing and service. The company\u2019s Force.com platform (http:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/uk\/platform\/) helps customers, partners and developers to quickly build powerful business applications to run every part of the enterprise in the cloud. Based on salesforce.com\u2019s real-time, multitenant architecture, Salesforce CRM and Force.com offer 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.\u201d For more information please visit http:\/\/www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
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