E-Commerce Blog

When it comes to setting up your Web presence, entrepreneurs are surprisingly lax. Depending on who you talk to, about half of small businesses do not have a Web site. Most of those will tell you that it’s just too complicated, time-consuming and expensive a job to take on. With the availability of free and very low-cost drag and drop Web building tools, however, entrepreneurs have no more excuses for being off-screen. It’s getting harder than ever for all those entrepreneurial types out there to stay ahead of the game.

Read more:
How to Build a Small-Business Web Site, Part 1: Nuts and Bolts

Part 1 of this two-part series on five of the boldest decisions made by technology companies this year explores the launch of Hulu and Amazon.com’s decision to go DRM-free with its Amazon MP3 store. Now, for the three remaining genius strokes in the E-Commerce Times’ lineup of bold decisions that changed the technology landscape in 2008: Salesforce.com’s launch of its Force.com platform; Google’s launch of the Android mobile platform; and Apple’s launch of the iPhone App Store.

See the rest here:
Rear-View Mirror: 5 Bold, Brilliant Tech Gambits, Part 2

Salesforce.com continues to push its cloud computing functionality into the enterprise, with the introduction of a new tool that allows users to harness the applications available on Force.com and apply them to corporate Web sites. Force.com Sites allows customers to run their Web sites in Salesforce.com’s cloud. Users can leverage the database, workflow, logic, integration, customization and user interface capabilities in Force.com to share business data and applications with external users and Web sites.

See original here:
Salesforce.com Adds Web Site Development Layer to Cloud Services

Not that it’s a done deal like the title might suggest, but Siebel seems to be reconstituting itself into a rival power in the CRM market once again. After Oracle OpenWorld, I made the observation that Siebel appeared to be returning to its old prominence. The introduction of new products based on Web 2.0 ideas, the continued strength in all global markets, and the continued investment in its on-demand capacity all augured well for what is now a unit of Oracle. Before the acquisition, Siebel suffered a brain drain.

Read the original post:
The Siebel Restoration?

Salesforce.com has acquired InStranet for $31.5 million, a transaction that includes the assumption of $4.2 million in cash on InStranet’s balance sheet. This deal is grander in scale than any of Salesforce.com’s previous acquisitions; the company’s past purchases have been small one-off technology providers in niche areas. InStranet not only fills a functional gap in Salesforce.com’s customer service feature set, but also brings to the table many large customers and a huge footprint in large contact centers around the world.

Source:
Salesforce.com Drops $31.5M for Contact Center Software Firm