FirstCRM

Will There Be Room on the Software Cloud for Salesforce.com?

Salesforce.com is a victim of its rapid growth and the concept of the Force platform. Customers want more from the basic product....not add-on solutions that are "pre-integrated". Salesforce does not really help a company or division on the business-side of selling - pricing, estimates, orders, etc. The good thing is that there are other emerging platforms that are providing these features as a part of the standard offer.

Bill Ackman Piled Into Wachovia and AIG Shares

You did not need inside information to see that the remaining part of Wachovia was worth more than $1 after Citi purchased it....you see it was only four years ago that Wachovia had acquired AG Edwards for about $6B and that brokerage was one of the remaining assets of the stub. I tried to buy Wachovia all day for $1.50 but Ackman beat me to it. Oh well, at least I bought AIG in the low 2's. The only difference between Ackman and I is that he buys in the millions and I buy in the thousands!

Next up BAC and RB.....perhaps V and MA too.

SaaS Updates: NetSuite and Salesforce.com

There is no point in comparing Salesforce with NetSuite....they are fundamentally different and are targeted to towards different market segments. The roots of NS lie in managing finacials, inventory (ERP) and SFA. Salesforce, on the other hand, is focused on mid-market CRM/SFA. The buyers of NS are generally CFO's (or small business owners) whereas the buyers of Salesforce.com are mostly likely VP-Sales and Marketing at their respective companies. Salesforce.com does not become a company's central nervous system like NS does. This alone makes it harder for NS to be adopted as quickly as Salesforce.com. I think NS will do well over the long term as people come to accept the SAAS paradigm - thanks to the marketing efforts of Salesforce.

There are several other SAAS companies - from talent mangement, project management, expense management, etc. All of these are likely candidates for acquisition. The day is not far when someone like IBM or HP will wake up and say "I want to be in SAAS" space and start acquiring most of these companies and their customers. Remember, this space is similar to subscription services like aol and at&t except that the switching cost of moving away from aol and at&t have to do with managing the loss of your email address! Now imagine moving your company data away from NS or SF! These stocks are still undervalued!