Salesforce.com First Cloud Computing Company to Achieve Revenue of One Billion Dollars
A couple days ago, Salesforce.com announced record Q4 results. This makes them the first cloud computing company to achieve annual revenues of over $1B.
- First Enterprise Cloud Computing Company to Achieve Fiscal Year Revenue of One Billion Dollars — Record Revenue of $290 Million, up 34% Year-Over-Year
- GAAP EPS of $0.11, up 83% Year-Over-Year
- Net Customers Increase 3,600 in the Quarter to 55,400
- Net Paying Subscribers Increase 400K Year-Over-Year to Surpass 1.5 Million
- Operating Cash Flow of $76 Million for Quarter; $230 Million for Fiscal Year
- Total Cash and Marketable Securities of $883 Million, up $213 Million Year-Over-Year
- Company Updates FY10 Revenue Guidance to $1.30 – $1.33 Billion
So ask yourself, how is it that during a period of near-historic economic decline and uncertainty a software company can achieve record sales?
Software without capital?
The answer is based on something we have been telling our customers for quite some time now: cloud computing and SaaS helps cut IT spending and grow revenues, without spending capital.
We are seeing many companies questioning (and deferring) their software expenditures. Deploying expensive enterprise software right now – CRM or otherwise – often doesn’t make sense. But companies often still do need the solutions. A cloud computing platform such as Force.com allows new custom apps to be built faster & cheaper, and existing SaaS apps to be deployed easily, without the traditional CapEX costs.
Salesforce.com customers are obviously finding that this is exactly the right solution when capital is so tight.