Salesforce Still Out to Prove Its Point

Salesforce.com is still out to prove the point that hosted software applications make sense. One area where this is definitely the case is the area of offline use of the applications. Offline Edition 2.0 enables Salesforce users to manage their CRM data when working without Internet connectivity. It seems the next step is to integrate applications such as productivity tools, including word processing, e-mail, VOIP and Web meetings, directly into the newly relabeled Force platform. Documents, e-mails, telephone calls and Web meetings are the basis of customer interactions and the basic building blocks of a formal business relationship. The only ingredient missing is face-to-face meetings, but even those can be logged through a calendaring system. During several workshops that I attended at the Dreamforce "global gathering" I heard the phrase repeated, "If it's not in Salesforce, it doesn't exist." One of the biggest barriers that customers put forward for why...