Salesforce.com jumps on the Twitter bandwagon

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 24 March 2009 08:01

IT Industry - Deals

Salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing vendor, has released a CRM solution for Twitter, enabling companies to search, monitor and join conversations taking place on Twitter directly in the service cloud.
 

Announcing its Salesforce.com CRM, Salesforce  chairman and CEO, Marc Benioff, said the Service Cloud, announced in January this year, was the next generation solution for customer service that exponentially increases the quality of customer service, while lowering the cost, by leveraging the expertise of the community.
 
Already connected to leading social networking sites like Facebook, Salesforce says its CRM for Twitter enables companies to use the Service Cloud to connect directly with the more than eight million Twitter users.

“Since its introduction in January, we’ve seen tremendous momentum and validation from customers, prospects, and partners that the Service Cloud represents the future of customer service,” Benioff claimed.

“Today’s announcement builds on this momentum by enabling companies to join the conversations happening between the more than eight million users on Twitter."

Twitter founder and CEO, Evan Williams, said simplicity has played an important role in Twitter’s success, making it quick and easy for consumers to connect to their community.

“With Salesforce CRM for Twitter, enterprises can replicate this same experience by keeping track of the conversations happening right now on Twitter.”
 
Comcast’s Frank Eliason weighed in, saying that “customers are talking, but it is a question of who is listening.  Salesforce CRM for Twitter and the Service Cloud allows businesses to not only listen and learn, but to also actively participate in the conversation.”

Salesforce’s Beniott says Twitter’s incredible growth has attracted the attention of many enterprises that want to leverage and participate in this” increasingly influential community.”

“Twitter enables a direct connection between end-users and enterprises in the more casual world of Twitter conversations and Salesforce CRM for Twitter and the Service Cloud give companies an easy way to join conversations happening on Twitter.”

Salesforce says its CRM for Twitter is currently scheduled to be available, at no additional charge, on the Force.com AppExchange in the summer of 2009. 
The company says Service Cloud packages start at US$995 per month, which includes the ability to create an online customer community with unlimited usage for up to 250 customers; set up a contact centre with up to five agents; connect with native cloud computing sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter; and, invite up to five partners to participate in the service cloud.