Now any company will be able to create private social communities to connect with customers and partners in entirely new ways
Salesforce Communities is the only community platform that combines the power of social networking with business processes for breakthrough collaboration and productivity
New technology will accelerate the industry\u2019s transformation to the social enterprise
SAN FRANCISCO — Aug. 14, 2012 – Salesforce.com [NYSE: CRM], the enterprise cloud computing (http:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/cloudcomputing\/) company, today unveiled Salesforce Communities, which will enable any enterprise to create private social communities to connect with customers and partners in entirely new ways. Salesforce Communities will combine social networking features such as profiles, real-time feeds, trending topics, recommendations and influence measurement, with the business information and processes in Salesforce. With Salesforce Communities, enterprises will be empowered to deliver completely new levels of collaboration and productivity through custom, branded communities.
Comments on the News:
\u2022 \u201cToday, more than ever, companies need to put customers at the heart of their business,\u201d said Doug Bewsher, senior vice president, Salesforce Chatter. \u201cWith Salesforce Communities, enterprises will be able to break the boundaries of their companies, connecting them much closer to their customers and partners.\u201d
\u2022 \u201cOur goal was to build deeper relationships with our mid-size business partners across the world, and be seen as builders, not just bankers,\u201d said Ian Forrest, vice president, Global Marketing, GE Capital. \u201cWith Access GE built on Salesforce Communities, we have deployed more than 50 custom communities, leading to stronger partnerships with companies.\u201d
\u2022 \u201cSalesforce Communities will enable companies to build stronger, more valuable relationships with customers, partners and employees through custom communities \u2013 designed to address and support specific business needs,\u201d said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM and Enterprise Applications, IDC. \u201cWhen delivered within the context of the business process of Salesforce, Communities has the potential to facilitate strategic collaboration across enterprises and with customers and partners above the capabilities of online peer communities, which have the tendency to be either entirely conversational or entirely transactional.\u201d
Connect Customers, Partners and More with Salesforce Communities
Legacy technology has failed to deliver on the promise of connecting companies with their customers and partners. Existing offerings are either entirely conversational, such as discussion forums or entirely transactional, such as portals, and so are disconnected from the business.
Today, more than ever, enterprises need to connect with their customers and partners in meaningful ways to increase efficiency and productivity. Combining the simplicity of developing groups and hangouts on the social Web with the trusted business processes salesforce.com is known for, companies will now be able to quickly deploy communities to:
\u2022 Connect with Customers: Salesforce Communities will help social enterprises combine knowledge-driven, peer-assisted and agent-assisted customer service communities into a single unified experience giving customers better and faster service, every time. Companies will also be able to create a variety of marketing communities around events, campaigns or even spin up focus groups on the fly.
\u2022 Connect with Partners: Companies, along with their partners, suppliers and distributors, can create custom communities to drive more sales through seamless deal registration, access to proven sales tools and collaboration with the right experts.
\u2022 Connect with Any Community: Deploy communities to support any business process – from franchises sharing best practices, to high-end retailers delivering custom shopping experiences, to universities looking to connect students with alumni.
Deploy Private Social Communities Instantly with the Trust of Salesforce
In order to be successful, companies must engage with the right people, at the right time – seamlessly across multiple communities. Because Salesforce Communities is built on the Salesforce Platform, the world\u2019s most-trusted cloud platform, companies will be able to:
\u2022 Quickly build and deploy branded communities within minutes, all with the trust and private sharing model of the Salesforce Platform;
\u2022 Move seamlessly across multiple communities with a single identity; and,
\u2022 Scale instantly to support communities of all sizes – from a few people to communities with millions of members.
Accelerating the Social Enterprise Transformation
The number of social networking users has surpassed e-mail users. Nearly a quarter of all time spent online is spent on social networks like Facebook. People access the Internet more from mobile devices than from desktops. Salesforce.com is helping companies meet the challenge of this social revolution with its social enterprise solution. By providing new and more powerful ways for companies to connect with their customers and partners, the introduction of Salesforce Communities will continue to accelerate the industry’s transformation to the social enterprise.
Pricing and Availability
\u2022 Salesforce Communities is currently scheduled to be available in limited pilot in fall 2012.
\u2022 Salesforce Communities is currently scheduled to be generally available the second half of 2013.
\u2022 Pricing of Salesforce Communities will be announced at general availability.
Additional Resources:
\u2022 Like salesforce.com on Facebook: http:\/\/facebook.com\/salesforce
\u2022 Follow @Salesforce on Twitter
\u2022 For more information on Salesforce Communities, please visit: http:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/chatter\/communities\/
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\u2022 Click to Tweet: Extend your #social transformation to customers and partners with private social communities @Salesforce Communities<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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