Top enterprise technologies for 2009: Salesforce.com

Enterprise Outlook

Top enterprise technologies for 2009: Salesforce.com

Aaron Katz, Area Vice President, Corporate Sales, Asia Pacific, Salesforce.com, reveals the top technologies for enterprises in 2009

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Aaron Katz, Area Vice President, Corporate Sales, Asia Pacific, Salesforce.com, presents his perspective on what could be the top technologies to reckon with in the coming year.

1. Cloud Computing: Capital will remain scarce in 2009. That will mean that customers will be less willing to finance big purchases with unpredictable costs. And it means that entrepreneurs will find less funding available for startups. So the capital crunch of 2009 will put a spotlight on the advantages of cloud computing: less risk, no capital expenditure, predictable operating expenses and fast results. I believe, that will translate into greater adoption for both cloud computing applications and platforms.

2. Hot enterprise mobile applications: I think the iPhone really broke through the email/cal/brick breaker rut that the industry was stuck in with mobile apps. Our customers are really demanding access to Salesforce CRM anywhere, and I believe that's happening across the spectrum of apps. Finally, they are getting delivered, thanks to faster 3-G networks, interface breakthroughs like the iPhone, and efficient platforms as a service.

3. Enterprise software consolidators: The current economic environment will put a big squeeze on enterprise software giants, as customers shun mega purchases. Good consolidators will do well; the gun-shy will not.

4. Collaborative CRM applications that are benefiting from a resurgence of interest via Web and online channels are among the hottest technologies for 2009.

5. The social Web, which Forrester calls Social Computing, includes fast-growing peer-to-peer (P2P) activities like blogging, RSS, podcasting, search engines, and user generated content. These technologies have seen rapid adoption, Forrester Research estimates that 22 percent of adults now read blogs at least monthly, and 19 percent are members of a social networking site like Facebook or LinkedIn. Even more amazingly, almost one-third of all youth publish a blog at least weekly, and 41 percent of youth visit a social networking site daily. These new technology and social changes are transforming the way all businesses operate, create products, and relate to customers.

6. Web-Oriented Architectures: The Internet is arguably the best example of an agile, interoperable and scalable service-oriented environment in existence. This level of flexibility is achieved because of key design principles inherent in the Internet/Web approach, as well as the emergence of Web-centric technologies and standards that promote these principles. The use of Web-centric models to build global-class solutions cannot address the full breadth of enterprise computing needs. Continued evolution of the Web-centric approach will enable its use in an ever-broadening set of enterprise solutions during the next five years.

©CIOL Bureau