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Apr. 14, 2008

Google and SalesForce.com have announced that they have signed a deal to deliver an integrated solution for their SalesForce customers who are also users of Google apps.

Salesforce customers who are using its CRM (Customer Relations Management) applications will now be able to use various Google applications, Gmail, Google Calendar and GTalk.

The move was brought about by the clamor of Salesforce’s customers through Idea Exchange (SalesForce's in-house forum) to integrate Google Apps with Saleforce’s CRM.

Previously, Salesforce had ties with Microsoft Office and Outlook desktop applications but this is the first time that the company is embarking on a wider Web-based applications such as Google Apps.

SalesForce.com is open to working with a myriad of office applications. What made this possible is that Salesforce and Google both deliver native Web applications.

"Salesforce is planning to enter into a similar deal with Microsoft Office," said Kraig Swensrud, vice-president of Applications at SalesForce.com.

Google said it is also looking into working with other partners.

Scott McMullan, Google Apps partner lead said “we’re committed to advancing the Web as the platform and partners are key to our growth, whether it’s a developer doing custom applications and gadgets, a company like Appirio making calendar sharing even easier, or SalesForce.com deeply integrating Google Apps into their CRM products.”

Overall, the integration of Google apps into SalesForce's own application is free of charge to its customers since Google apps is accessible online for free.

However, there could be a profit motive behind this deal. SalesForce.com will later be offering a service called Google Apps "Supported" which will charge users a $10 monthly fee for phone support, billing and provisioning services to be offered to SalesForce users.

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Source: News.com.