Force.com: Create and Run any Application, On Demand

Software as a Service (SaaS), also known as on-demand computing, is changing the landscape of information technology in a profound way. By replacing locally managed stacks of networking, hardware, and software resources with an Internet-based utility, this model has changed how business applications are delivered, bringing new levels of ease, adoption, and success to the challenging area of enterprise software. And just as the evolution of the Internet affects almost all industries, the evolution of the on-demand model promises to change enterprise technology and to offer new opportunities for IT productivity and impact. Perhaps the most important new area of on-demand computing is the introduction of a complete application development platform, capable of supporting virtually all business application requirements—as a service. This Platform as a Service (PaaS) model extends the benefits of the on-demand model to custom application development. It’s an approach that promises to change application development as much as SaaS already changed application delivery. Introduced in 2007, Force.com is salesforce.com’s platform-as-a-service offering. By using Force.com, companies and ISVs can create and run new applications entirely over the Internet, without software. Capable of supporting all kinds of business applications—not just those for the sales, marketing and support departments— Force.com makes the core technologies behind Salesforce CRM available for developing applications that serve all of a company’s departments, employees, and customers. With Force.com, companies are freed from the burdens of implementing and managing their IT infrastructures for custom applications, and can instead focus their resources on those activities that provide the most business impact. With an estimated eight of every ten dollars spent in “dead money” that doesn’t contribute directly to business change and growth, the PaaS model provides immediate benefits to IT and development organizations of all sizes. And, similar to the utility services provided by power or telephone companies, organizations pay only for those services they successfully deploy and use. As a result, they can eliminate much of the risk that accompanies traditional software-based development platforms.* With Force.com, companies can finally focus on innovation, not infrastructure.