No, AppExchange is NEITHER iTunes NOR eBay

Zachary McGeary | September 13, 2005, 12:15 PM

Let's just call it a "marketplace" for third-party, on-demand applications that extend the functionality of Salesforce beyond CRM. No, the applications do not cost .99, nor are they auctioned off. And let's not call it Multiforce either, because that might confuse customers. Ok?

Yesterday Salesforce.com announced the rebranding of Multiforce, called AppForce, a new solution that allows Salesforce customers to deploy (currently, 70, with "thousands expected") third-party applications that extend the functionality of Salesforce beyond just CRM. Applications can be browsed, demoed, and ultimately deployed from the AppExchange. Application deployment will be available in Salesforce's Winter '06 release. Meanwhile, they have sneak-peek demos available online.

This third-party development initiative is in stark contrast to that of other vendors in the space such as NetSuite, which have developed their own applications to extend the functionality of their product beyond just CRM. Integration with other apps will be critical to the success of these onDemand CRM solutions: both smaller and larger businesses have demonstrated interest in this functionality.

With one-click install and uninstall, these pre-integrated apps can be deployed and customized and, if need be, uninstalled. Community reviews provide insight to the performance and relevance of each product. Well, it will once there is actually a community.

Appexchange caters to both small-mid size businesses and larger enterprises as well. Currently, around 80% of Salesforce's customers are small-medium size businesses, but Salesforce's latest development initiatives are a strategic move towards gaining a larger share of the enterprise market.

So, this new application deployment model certainly adds a new dimension to the software-as-a-service market, and will make integration of AppExchange applications with Salesforce a breeze. Just don't expect to be able to leverage existing applications as easily as with one-click.