X - Partner Success Blog

Reminder: Fill out the ISV partner scorecard survey

Twice a year salesforce.com collects information from our ISV community to determine which partners will receive Registered, Select, and Premier program designation through our ISV partner scorecard survey.

The survey collection is currently under way. Eligible members of our ISV partner program (those with at least one app in market) should have received a link to complete the survey on January 5th. If you fall in this category and have not received a link to complete the survey, please contact your account manager as soon as possible. Program placement only occurs every 6 months, so it is essential you take the survey by January 22nd.

Responses will be collected until January 22nd with results announced on February 1st via the Partner Portal.

S-Control Deprecation

(Cross-posted on the Force.com blog)

S-Controls were labeled as deprecated in the Spring ‘09 release. With the upcoming Spring ‘10 release, we will be taking the next step in S-Control deprecation. Read the S-Control Deprecation article for more detail on what will and what won't change with the next phase of S-Control deprecation.

Giving Thanks to the Cloud

As many of us celebrate the beginning of the holiday season and the end of 2009, it’s a good opportunity to take a step back to see how far we’ve come as an industry in advancing cloud computing. Despite tough economic times this past year, we’ve seen that entrepreneurship and innovation still happen around significant technology and business models like cloud computing – something that may represent the most profound shift our industry has seen in decades.

Our annual Dreamforce conference has become the de facto industry event for cloud computing and serves as an annual capstone for not only salesforce.com but our entire community of customers and partners too. If past Dreamforce events introduced cloud computing and Force.com to the world, this year’s Dreamforce showcased undeniable proof points of the cloud bringing new business and technical value to IT departments, ISVs, solution providers, and developers – at a pace and intensity unmatched by traditional software.

Companies large and small are recognizing that cloud computing and Force.com gives them both substantial agility and cost advantages – whether it’s CIOs like Yoichi Yokomizo from Lawson (the 2^nd largest convenience store chain in Japan, not Lawson Software) standardizing business processes or CEOs like James Sheppard from Vetrazzo moving their entire businesses in the cloud. Startup ISVs likeBenelicious (pictured right, winner of the 2009 Force.com 40 Innovation Showcase) and Appirio are enjoying the capital-efficiency and time-to-market of Force.com and can deliver applications that are challenging larger traditional vendors.

Even some of the largest software companies in the world are moving key product lines to Force.com and accelerating decades of domain expertise to the cloud. Solution providers are also finding new channel opportunities in cloud by reselling Force.com, shedding low-margin, client-server reseller businesses to bring the power of the cloud to their customers.

We are in the middle of a very profound shift indeed.

So as we start thinking about the new year and new opportunities, it’s time for us to focus our vision and investments. With exciting new innovations like Chatter, Salesforce.com certainly will continue to do our part in fueling this shift in 2010….and we’re looking for new partners to join us in the mission.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Get Ready for Dreamforce '09

It's that time of year again....we're one week away from the biggest cloud computing event of the year!

The keynote preparations are underway and breakout session content is starting to roll in - attendees are in-store for another blockbuster salesforce.com event!

If you're a new or existing partner attending Dreamforce, we have a great experience planning for you including a line up of breakout sessions in the Partner Success track, an intimate area for ‘Partner Conversations’ in the Force.com Zone, and a Partner Reception on Thursday night! Check out the list below to see what sessions and activities you can’t afford to miss!

Get Engaged: Explore our partner programs

Get Smart: Pickup business and technical planning tips

Get Enabled: Boost your sales & marketing

Get Inspired: Hear from other leaders in the partner ecosystem

Get Connected: Network with other partners and salesforce.com alliances teams

Meet 1:1 with the salesforce.com alliance team to strategize your business in the cloud at the ‘Partner Conversations’ area in the ‘Force.com Zone’
Meet other partners in the ecosystem over a drink and great food at the Partner Reception on Thursday evening from 7pm – 9pm at Temple (just 2 blocks from Moscone).

Get Registered: It's not too late!

Don’t worry if you didn't get a pass yet because you can still Register Now!
If you can’t afford the time and expense to attend all 4 days, then just select Keynote & Expo Pass as your Attendee Type and enter promo code EXPOSFDC at checkout to attend for FREE!

We can’t wait to see you at Dreamforce!

AppExchange Customers' Choice Awards: Overview & Rules

With 2009 coming to a close, it's time to start tallying review scores for our 2nd annual Customers' Choice Awards! These awards are given to those partners who have had excellent user reviews in a particular calendar year. Last year was a tight race but we ended up with a great group of solutions that spanned 15 categories.

Like the Best of '08 awards, this year's awards are category-based and will be given to the apps that receive the highest combination of:

1. # of reviews posted in 2009

2. Average star rating for user reviews posted in 2009

In other words: the more good reviews, the better! Increase your chances of winning by encouraging your customers to post reviews today. To learn more about the program and rules, please access this document in the partner portal.

Calling All Apps! Time to Get Ready for Dreamforce.

(Cross-posted on the Force.com blog)

Dreamforce 2009 starts in just 18 short days - and we can't wait to see you there! It's going to be a great experience, and everyone here is in full swing getting ready to welcome you. We've been hearing from a lot of partners lately, and many partners have told us that they're planning to release new AppExchange apps at Dreamforce. We're absolutely thrilled to hear about these plans, and we want to let everyone know that if you have similar plans, you need to submit your app to the AppExchange Security Review process no later than Monday November, 2nd! We want to make sure that we have enough time to evaluate your app ahead of Dreamforce. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that we'll be able to review your app in time for Dreamforce if it is submitted after the deadline.

To initiate the security review process for your app, you will need to log in to the AppExchange, click on the "Publishing" Tab and then click on the "Start Review" link for your managed package. (If you haven't already registered on the AppExchange, then you'll need to do that too.)

The How to Publish Apps on the AppExchange page is a great resource if you have more questions about the publishing process.

We can't wait to see you (and your apps) at Dreamforce!

Join us for Cloudforce London - 12/8/2009

Immediately following Dreamforce 2009, Marc Benioff will bring the best of Dreamforce to Europe for a free, invitation-only, Cloudforce London event on December 8th, 2009 at the Novotel West London and our Partner Summit hosted the day before on December 7th.

This momentum event provides a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate your solution to an audience that is focused on CRM success as well as the Force.com platform. Our customers and prospects are looking for your solutions to solve their business challenges. All attendees can take advantage of the high-energy networking throughout the program, including an evening cocktail reception.

Please read through the sponsorship brochure and choose the package that makes the most sense for your business. Please contact partnersuccess@salesforce.com if you have any questions, or the partner marketing team contacts listed in the brochure.

Please visit the Cloudforce London website for more information.

Force.com 40 Showcase - Last Chance Deadline!

Calling all partners! Think you've got a killer Force.com app? Do you want a shot at fame and glory in front of 10,000+ customers at Dreamforce 2009? Prove it—and get in the game for the final round of the eliteForce.com 40 partner innovation showcase.

There's less than 1 week left to join the ranks of the most innovative salesforce.com partners that have built killer apps on Force.com. Top entrants in Round 3 of the Force.com 40 will be invited back in October for a Demo Day at salesforce.com's offices to present to expert judges.

Nominate yourself and put your apps to the test today!

AppExchange Service Listings--Now Live!

We are very excited to announce that Service Listings are now live on the AppExchange. This means that our community of systems integrators, consultants, custom app development partners, and training partners can create listings for their service practices, just like ISVs do for apps today. This is great for both customers and partners as now there is ONE central source for information on all cloud computing solutions.

These new listings leverage several features that are already in use on the AppExchange like search & categorization, lead capture, and customer reviews. Additionally, service listings integrate data directly from the new partner portal like the number of joint projects a partner has completed and their average customer satisfaction scores.

We encourage you to check out the AppExchange to view this exciting new upgrade. Also, if you are a service partner who would like to create a listing, please view this step-by-step publishing demo to get started: http://salesforce.acrobat.com/p87769964/

Don't get left behind! Get in front of a targeted audience at Dreamforce and start building your 2010 pipeline!

Do you consider yourself a force to be reckoned with in the cloud computing space?

Dreamforce is the cloud computing event of the year. This 4-day experience is a must for any company competing and playing in the cloud computing arena.

We are just weeks away from finalizing the Dreamforce Expo. This is your last chance to sign up! Any sponsors coming in after September 25th will incur rush fees. Please view our online brochure for more details.

Want to differentiate yourself and really stand out? Don't forget about the available a la carte opportunities!

Please email partnersuccess@salesforce.com with any questions.