Salesforce.com looks to extend Chatter with Dimdim acquisition

Posted by Richard Boardman on January 7, 2011

1 comments | 1379 reads

Yesterday Salesforce.com announced the acquisition of Dimdim for $31 million in cash. The press release notes the ‘Acquisition will extend Salesforce.com’s Chatter collaboration platform with critical real-time communication technologies’. Dimdim provides real-time collaboration features in its browser based web conferencing platform including the ability to white board and share documents.

Salesforce seems to have set itself apart from other CRM software vendors in its understanding of social networking and its ability to embrace it within its product sets. Chatter, with 60,000 customers having deployed it, has clearly been a huge success, and the Dimdim deal is a clear commitment to maintain that momentum.

I suspect what we’re seeing in the CRM market at the moment is a shift potentially as significant as the rise of the software as a service (SAAS) model – pioneered by Salesforce – which saw a huge number of new CRM software companies enter the market. The provision of social networking capabilities as part of a CRM offering will provide opportunities for new vendors to enter the market, particularly as many of the existing CRM vendors seem to have been curiously slow to respond.

It will be interesting to see if the success of Chatter stings other software vendors into action. The social dimensions of CRM technology are going to become increasingly important and those without them will inevitably start to suffer. I suspect 2011 will prove a lively year for new product announcements and further mergers and acquisitions.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Richard Boardman.

Richard Boardman

Richard Boardman has worked in the CRM industry since 1995 and is founder of the independent CRM consultancy, Mareeba CRM Consulting. Based in the United Kingdom, Boardman has been involved in more than 200 CRM system implementations.

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Walter Adamson

January 10, 2011

Why were/are the others slow to respond?

You said "particularly as many of the existing CRM vendors seem to have been curiously slow to respond" - why do you think that is?

Walter Adamson @adamson
Certified Social Media Consultant
http://NewLeaseG2M.com
Melbourne, Australia
My social spaces and places: http://xeesm.com/walter

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