Salesforce has the honor of becoming “the first enterprise cloud software company to break the $10 billion revenue run rate"
Amazingly, just a short 8 years ago I was blogging about its “second billion”. They have gone from strength to strength.
Am I impressed? Hell, yes. Am I surprised? Hell, yes.
Here is a CRM vendor without much of complex order processing or ecommerce functionality. It is a CRM vendor in a world where there is no shortage of specialists which are transforming field service in the Internet of Things and where digital agencies and social platforms are transforming the marketing function. It is a platform vendor where ISVs do not have very deep vertical functionality. It is a vendor which resisted many temptations of fate to be acquired. In reverse, it keeps tempting fate by promising SIs an outrageously large halo around its revenues.
It has done several things right. While Oracle and SAP continue to target the CIO, Salesforce has built a rabid business user fan base, especially those aligned with revenue goals in companies. It has smartly latched on to emerging themes in the market be they Artificial Intelligence or IoT. CEO Marc Benioff has been willing to stick his neck out on a number of social issues. They know how to throw great parties.
I could go on why they have been so successful. Best to just say hearty congratulations, and watch their path to the “second ten billion”
