Salesforce.com, the poster child for the software as a service movement, previewed Sept. 9 new across-the-board customization capabilities in its upcoming Winter 07 release, and also launched a new commentary-based Web site.
The new site, which Salesforce has dubbed “The Idea Exchange,” offers a place where users can comment on new software features, offer up their own feature ideas and vote on their favorite features.
Its also a venue where Salesforce.com customers can collaborate directly with the companys development team.
“The process is totally transparent to everyone,” said Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff in an e-mail. “We believe this new concept will be as important as our AppExchange for the speed of innovation on our platform, and we will encourage our partners to use this service as well.”
AppExchange, announced just about a year ago, is a platform whereby users can test-drive, rate, download and integrate third-party applications that have been developed on AppExchange, using Salesforce.com development tools.
Salesforce.com is also using its newest site, to highlight some new features in its upcoming Winter release (the company has two major releases a year dictated by the seasons—summer and winter).
Scheduled for availability in the fourth quarter, Winter 07 will provide customization capabilities at every level of its service—from the user interface to AppExchange.
The customization capabilities will enable users—customers, developers and partners—to develop new applications on top of Salesforce.coms existing CRM (customer relationship management) offerings, officials said.
“This is a game-changing release,” said Benioff in a statement.
The Winter 07 release will also include a new AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)-based user interface, a customizable desktop console and components, computer-telephony integration with Cisco and an interactive calendar.
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