CRM FYI

Nik Panter, a fellow Twitterer, posted a great response today to an article about “10 key issues that On Demand (SaaS) CRM systems won’t tell you about.”  The original article was written by Peter Thomas, a systems veteran, though obviously he’s not much of a supporter of the Cloud.

I applaud Nik for hitting each of the ten points with great responses.  He even points out that his own non-programming background has not stifled his own success customizing and integrating Salesforce.com to other systems.  This is definitely worth a read.

Attention Salesforce.com end users in the Sales.  If you’d like to get a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate and help shape the future of Salesforce.com, the Salesforce Usability Team needs you.

I’ve participated in usability studies with Salesforce for a few years and it’s a fantastic program.  It only takes about an hour of your time, you get a sneak peek at the future of Salesforce, and for your opinions, you get rewarded.  

Here is what they’re looking for this time.  

Sales Reps and Managers who have experience using 

• Salesforce Calendar
• Salesforce Content
• Opportunities
• Pipeline Management

If you are interested, contact Miriam Melo at mmelo(at)salesforce(dot)com no later than Thursday, February 5.  Miriam coordinates the usability testing group and is great to work with.  

While other tech companies are reducing the size of their development organizations, Salesforce is investing in theirs.  Your feedback is valuable so consider participating.  It’s well worth your time.