First fruits of Google-salesforce.com pact
David Bradshaw
05/06/2007

When Google and salesforce.com let it be known that they were working on something jointly, there was a lot of speculation over what it might be. There were even some rumours that Google might be buying salesforce - that rumour was easy to dismiss, because the two companies would have gone to great lengths to keep negotiations of that kind completely secret. In the end, it became clear that it was going to be an alliance of some kind.

Some may see this as an anti-climax, but clearly this is just a first step and there will be further steps. Google and salesforce aren't saying what's next on their roadmap, though with a six-month development cycle, there clearly must be more coming. Instead, salesforce is asking its customers to tell it what they would like to see via its Ideas Exchange. Meanwhile, for those who are keen to get on with developing their own stuff, salesforce has given access to the Google Adwords APIs via its Apex programming environment.

But as a first step in a long programme, the Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords makes perfect sense. In an age when the web is becoming key to success in almost any market, making it easier for smaller companies to buy, use and monitor returns from Google Adwords is a very positive development.

- David Bradshaw is principal analyst at Ovum.

advertisement