Salesforce.com 2007 Annual Report Download - page 16

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Table of Contents
We have a comprehensive technical support program to assist our customers in the use of our service and to identify, analyze and solve problems or
issues with our service. The support program includes email support, an online repository of helpful information about our service, shared best practices for
implementation and use, and telephone support. Telephone support is provided by internal and third party technical support specialists on our staff, who are
extensively trained in the use of our service. In addition, we have supplemented our support specialists with other technical support specialists who work for
us on a contract basis. Basic customer support during business hours is available at no charge to customers that purchase any of our paying editions. Premier
customer support that includes additional customer support services is available for an additional charge or is included as part of specific licensed products,
such as Unlimited Edition.
International Sales
We generate over 25 percent of our total revenues from customers in Europe and Asia Pacific, including Japan. We expect international markets to
provide increased opportunities for our applications and services in the future. Our current international efforts are focused on strengthening our direct sales
and marketing presence outside of the Americas, and generating more revenues from these regions.
Competition
The market for CRM enterprise business applications and development platforms is highly competitive, rapidly evolving and fragmented, and subject to
changing technology, shifting customer needs and frequent introductions of new products and services. We compete primarily with vendors of packaged
CRM software, whose software is installed by the customer directly and companies offering on-demand CRM applications. We also compete with internally
developed applications and face, or expect to face, competition from enterprise software vendors and online service providers who may develop toolsets and
products that allow customers to build new applications that run on the customers' current infrastructure or as hosted services. Our current principal
competitors include:
• enterprise software application vendors including Amdocs Limited, Epicor Software Corporation, IBM Corporation, Infor Global Solutions,
Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, and SAP AG;
• packaged CRM software vendors, some of which offer hosted services, such as CDC Software Corporation, a subsidiary of chinadotcom
corporation, Consona Corporation (formerly Made2Manage Systems Inc.), FrontRange Solutions, Inc., Pivotal Corporation, which is owned by,
Sage Group plc, and SugarCRM;
• on-demand CRM application service providers such as Oracle Corporation, NetSuite, Inc., RightNow Technologies, Inc. and SAP AG;
• enterprise application service providers including IBM Corporation.;
• platform and development environment companies, including established vendors, such as IBM Corporation, Oracle Corporation (formerly
including BEA Software) and Microsoft Corporation; and an array of emerging vendors that have gained traction with the press and analyst
communities.
We believe that as enterprise software application and platform vendors shift more of their focus to the hosted applications market, they will be a
greater competitive threat.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our market include the following:
• speed and ease of implementation;
• ease of use and rates of user adoption;
• low total cost of ownership and demonstrable cost-effective benefits for customers;
• product functionality;
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