Salesforce expands platform with InStranet buy
Published: 20 Aug 2008 08:51 BST
Salesforce.com is again expanding beyond its customer-relationship management roots, with an acquisition designed to broaden its service and platform.
The company has acquired InStranet, a Chicago-based maker of call-centre software, for approximately $31.5m (£16.9m). The purchase gives Salesforce technology that it will use both for its internal customer-service purposes, and for a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering expected to launch within 18 months, the company said.
InStranet makes so-called 'knowledge-base management' software, which can improve companies' self-service support functions by making it easier for customers to find answers to common support questions.
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Salesforce said it plans to integrate the software — which is not currently delivered as an online service — into its SaaS platform. InStranet's 44 employees, based in Chicago and Paris, will join Salesforce. Alex Dayon, InStranet's chief executive, will become a vice president of product management at Salesforce, according to Salesforce representative Bruce Francis.
InStranet, founded in 1999, brings some big-name customers to Salesforce, including UK-based telecommunications provider Orange, T-Mobile and Comcast, among others. Salesforce said it expects that its new SaaS offering, to be called 'Salesforce.com Knowledge Base', will give it a technological edge over competitive offerings from Oracle and SAP, the company's main rivals.
Credit: Salesforce broadens platform with call center buy from CNET News.com
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