For a conference whose host boldly proclaims, “We live in the post-PC revolution,” most of the innovations introduced by partners and third parties at this year’s Dreamforce conference are probably best suited for viewing from your favorite PC Web browser.
One huge exception this week comes from Seesmic, which came to fame with its multi-channel social networking tool that became an ecosystem unto itself. This week at Dreamforce, Seesmic is demonstrating its prowess with correlating social data for business, with a CRM platform built on the Salesforce API that’s custom-designed for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.
“We think it’s going to replace the desktop for sure,” says Loic Le Meur, Seesmic’s charismatic CEO, in an interview with RWW. “We think it’s going to be better, and not just because people want this instead of a desktop.”
Le Meur paints a picture of a social tool that finds matches and correlations between Chatter conversations and other Salesforce data, and the social channels that Seesmic is already experienced with monitoring. For example, if someone mentions a contact in a Twitter conversation, that mention may be an actionable item that you may need to act on right away. If you’re the manager of a sales team, you’ll need to know the status of your deal, and you’ll want to be informed on your mobile device periodically. And when your contact crosses a country’s borders, or reaches a specified business destination, that may be an event that should come up on your radar.
All day Thursday at Dreamforce at booth #1430, Seesmic will be demonstrating real-time communications for business apps, using iOS and Android. Le Meur presents his product as something salespeople may prefer to use over the conventional Salesforce UI – something with all the principal functions, but arranged in a manner that an iPhone user with social network experience will appreciate. Leveraging some of the other social tools out there, Seesmic should enable a user to determine, for instance, when a prospect may be sitting at an airport with a delayed flight and time to kill – maybe this person deserves a phone call.
Is Le Meur concerned that it may find itself competing with Salesforce directly?
“I wouldn’t say we’re competing with Salesforce, but it competes with the desktop for sure,” the CEO responds. Seesmic has been working hand-in-hand with Salesforce, and his development team was able to ramp up this product in just a few months with the direct support of Salesforce.
That said, this morning Salesforce premiered its own Touch.salesforce.com app for iOS devices. Based on the early pictures, regardless of Seesmic’s public stance, it certainly looks like Touch.salesforce.com will compete with Seesmic CRM.
So Seesmic is already planning its next move. Le Meur says capabilities for the next build will include built-in mapping. This way, for example, a Comcast technician whose next installation on his route has been delayed, may be able to reschedule a later appointment for earlier in the day based on proximity. “These are things you have to bring to the app,” he says.
“We think that the cocktail of social-plus-mobile will change how everybody is working. It’s just a matter of time; this is not a one-off that we’re launching today. We have a dedicated team, and this is a long-term app we’re building,” the CEO adds. There are plenty of apps that are remaking the mobile world, he remarks, but not to such an extent yet as to penetrate the enterprise – until today.
The first beta of Seesmic CRM for Android is now available for download from the Android Market.
