BOOK REVIEW
“Less than 1% of customer data
has been analyzed, while 77%
of customers are not engaged
with companies.” —MARC BENIOFF
Behind the Cloud—
The Salesforce.com Story
Join Marc Benioff as he outlines the strategy behind his
explosively successful company, Salesforce.com, and how
it became the leading organization in cloud computing in
just under a decade.
“When we know our data, we know our customers.”
In Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went
from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company and Revolutionized an Industry,
Marc Benioff guides us through this principle, along with many
others by questioning the age-old software standard with powerful
cloud-computing solutions.
Outlining advances in marketing, technology, finance, distribution, philanthropy, and leadership throughout, the book is filled
with insider insights—covering themes such as, “How to Cut
Through the Noise and Pitch the Bigger Picture” or “The Corporate
Philanthropy Playbook—Make Your Company About More than
the Bottom Line.”
The Rise of Salesforce.com
It all started in San Francisco in the late 1990’s with a small rented
apartment and a vision. Benioff’s company, Salesforce.com, began
by developing smarter approaches to internet applications, with
increased flexibility, recovery, updates, and customer relationship management (CRM)—essentially rendering traditional
software programs obsolete.
Moreover, by pairing a well-thought-out and strategic
cloud computing system with exceptional CRM, Benioff saw
his hard work materialize. Salesforce.com began to dominate
the niche in the early 2000’s in spite of financial concerns
rooted in that decade’s stock market crash. Weathering the
storm, the company continued to flourish.
Now, with software companies sprouting up daily, Benioff is
something of a rarity. Resting atop a $46 billion industry, he’s
proudly positioned as the leader in cloud computing software,
with Salesforce.com a multi-million dollar international
enterprise.
A fascinating look at the rise of an innovative technology
company and its leader, Behind the Cloud offers a wide-ranging
smörgåsbord of wisdom, strategy, and advice—all of which
will prove both insightful and challenging for all business
leaders across many industries.
22 | SNB.COM // CONNECT TECHNOLOGY FALL 2016