Microsoft thinks that the cloud cannot be trusted - Join the debate

There is an interesting debate underway on The Economist website. From my perspective, Marc Benioff is absolutely correct. Given that Salesforce.com is under continued pressure to maintain rigorous standards regarding data security and privacy, they will always outpace the majority of individual companies and their on premise security solutions.


Show your support for the cloud, and vote "NO"

http://www.economist.com/debate/debates/overview/157

Speaker Details for Dreamforce 2009

Well, I am back from a much needed vacation. I have to say that after a week on the Disney Wonder I am refreshed and fully prepared for Dreamforce 2009, Salesforce.com's annual event.

With all the recent chatter about the Service Cloud 2 and Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com, it should come as no surprise that executives from Adobe, Google and Twitter will be joining Marc Benioff on stage later this week.

I am really excited to be part of this...see you there!

1080p HD Is Coming to YouTube

YouTube starting to break new ground. On Thursday, the official YouTube blog announced that YouTube will soon be broadcasting in 1080p.

I think that this will help break new ground by:

• Getting service providers and infrastructure manufactures to work toward faster download standards.
• Forcing cable companies to wake up and recognize that a new threat is emerging. Currently the only thing that they have in their court is content.
  
• Allowing me to do something cool with my new Flip UltraHD video recorder, particularly since I just purchase one and since Salesforce.com's Dreamforce, the CRM event of the year, is right around the corner...next week in fact
  
• Further accommodating my HD-hungery Tivo Series 3 DRV

The question is, when will traditional Cable TV and Satellite be replaced by IPTV?

Audiobook Review: Crowdsourcing

A few weeks back I took my kids to the library. They were all excited to finally get their own library cards and pick out books on their own. I, on the other hand, was excited to see Crowdsourcing available on Audio CD and took a copy home. As an employee of Salesforce.com, I know all to well about Dell’s Ideastorm user community website, as well as a few other examples that Jeff Howe discusses. I found this Audiobook to be well written, not to mention well read by Kirby Heyborne. The book discusses the concept of Crowdsourcing, a term coined by Howe back in 2006, its early pioneers and its evolution. Listeners will find the audiobook descriptive and fun to listen too on the drive home. Fortunately the audiobook does not go into intricate details and formulas. While this makes it a great listen, this might be seen as a shortcoming in the text based version. The Audiobook focuses on describing how regular people (in crowds) are being tapped to provide research, solve problems, create products (photos, programs, audio, etc.) and feedback in unique ways, sometimes at a nominal fee and sometimes for nothing more than the modern day version of bragging rights. Crowdsourcing succeeds in being both entertaining and enlightening and I found it quite motivational…perhaps enough to get that special project of mine started.

Salesforce.com Secrets of Success

Check out the latest book from David Taber, Salesforce.com Secrets of Success: Best Practices for Growth and Profitability, now available for sale. The book focuses on real-world best practices that David has pulled from his experience working on dozens of deployments. The salesforce.com deployment is covered in detail with results-focused tips across a number of departments including sales, marketing, customer service, finance, legal, and IT.

Book Review: The Elegant Solution

I recently read "The Elegant Solution: Toyota's Formula for Mastering Innovation" by Matthew May. This book really hit home with me and I was able to implement a few of the key ideas from the book in my business life almost immediately.

I am in the professional services business, so while it is not my official role to build products; this book has shown me the light … everyone within an organization is responsible for that organizations “product”. Weather that “product” is a physical good, a service sold to customers, or even an administrative “service” that is “sold” internally.

If you an individual contributor stuck in a job, a manager stuck in the day-to-day or an entrepreneur looking to build the next iPod, this book is for you.
Some key points from the book:

• Discipline and Creativity are not mutually exclusive, the creative process can be enhanced through control
• Leverage conflicting goals to invent superior products and services (Do more with less)
• Baby steps are generally more effective then radical change
• Build solutions that will solve today’s problems
• Innovation requires all people in an organization, not just the folks in R&D
• Reflection is critical for growth

Take the time to read this book, and create a new tomorrow.

Great AppExchange Video and Presentation

I came across this video, featuring Guy Kawasaki, from the Salesforce Developer conference back in 2007. If you have ever thought of starting your own SaaS company, this is definately worth an hour of your time.

The slides can be found on www.scribd.com here,

and the video can be found on the Salesforce website here