The announcement that Force.com has developed a version of its platform for Google App Engine sounds, to most of the sales professionals I know, like tech-speak for "you got chocolate in my peanut butter." Before you can understand how this innovation could impact your business, let's understand exactly what an app engine does, and why you won't find it under the hood of a Dodge.
Google App Engine and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud are two of the fastest "cloud computing" platforms available for professional developers. Google allows developers to build standalone applications in Python that can be executed by the search company's massive server network. Amazon takes a different approach, offering subscribers the ability to create virtual server images on the e-commerce giant's extensive hardware collection.
In the early days of the web, running CRM software or other sensitive systems required a dedicated server, connected to a pretty hefty Internet backbone. I recall, looking at some old files, that a leased setup like this cost one of my clients about $14,000 per year back in 1999. And the processor in that server was not quite as powerful as the one in my current phone.
Over the years, servers have become smaller, cheaper, more powerful, and more reliable. Yet, when companies lease or buy servers for their CRM applications, they often open themselves up to security and maintenance issues. If the server is located in the office, who gets up at 3am to reboot it if it fails? What happens if someone breaks in and steals it?
Hosted CRM systems solve many of these problems for their subscribers. However, some companies that require full control over their software still need the ability to manage every element of their CRM applications. For these kinds of companies, cloud computing offers the best of both worlds: the convenience of hosted CRM with the precision of custom solutions.
Tomorrow, I'll show you how this combination can extend the reach of corporate CRM systems...
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