It was more than a year and a half ago when I had a chance to listen to Marc Benioff talk about how his company's software would be integrating with Google to provide a mashup allowing companies to better track their Google (News - Alert) ads. Using the services together, companies would be able to utilize the customer relationship management (CRM) portion of the software to track where customers came from: which ad, which keyword, which landing page, etc.

The matter was so important I made the article a High Priority column in Customer Interaction Solutions magazine.

The two companies have now decided to take the collaboration one step further. As a result, you will be able to purchase Google Applications via SalesForce.com and there will be tighter integration between the two companies. For example, e-mails sent to customers via Google's mail application will be connected to customer records in SalesForce.com.

While this collaboration is great, there are still companies worrying about how to maintain security when vital corporate data is stored on the servers of another company. Perhaps this move will manage to make customers more comfortable with the hosted approach, since Google has a strong reputation and helps boost SalesForce.com’s credibility. The company didn’t really needed it, but having such a large partner would help anyone.

The hidden gem in this news is the likelihood that Google Gears will be used to allow SalesForce.com to function in the event of a Web outage. In my opinion, there are many companies that would love to not worry about idle employees if a broadband provider or router fails.

I have to say that I really appreciate Marc Benioff as a spokesperson for SalesForce.com because he calls things as he sees them. No longer having Tom Siebel to go after, Benioff has resorted to blasting Microsoft (News - Alert). If you want a more specific example of what I mean, consider the memo put out by Benioff in November of 2005 where he had the following to say:

 

This is what Benioff now has to say about Microsoft:

 

But there is more... He has also said in the past:

 

Microsoft has proven it will not sit back and “take it.” In fact, to me it seems the company thrives on competition. Brad Wilson, the company's general manager for the CRM unit had this to say:

 

But really these comments are more icing on the cake. The real meat of this news is that Google and SalesForce.com will collaborate to make their solutions better. The companies will integrate more effectively and work hard to ensure their solutions that can stand up against products from Microsoft and other competitors.

In addition to the obvious synergies between the two companies, the real winner here is Google. The deal strengthens gives Google an outside spokesman (Benioff) for its applications. Benioff has proven to get under the skin of the competition and he seems to drive people crazy.

This sort of news could have the potential to unite more Microsoft competitors. It would be interesting to see Adobe, Apple and RIM somehow get involved and say they, too, will work with SalesForce.com and Google.

Microsoft for its part has a big advantage in the CRM space due to its UC push and its market mindshare. Also, the company's close ties with Aspect (News - Alert) are a tremendous help in the CRM space — especially as it relates to contact centers.

Rich Tehrani is President and Group Editor in Chief at TMC. In addition he is the Chairman of the world’s best attended IP Communications event, Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO. To read more of Rich’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He blogs for TMCnet here.