CODA 2go hosted financials ready for integration with Salesforce.com

Arguably a better platform - see http://www.devx.com/MicrosoftISV/Article/38171

Quote '.. And now Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is poised to knock your socks off. Before you decide to let the force guide you, take a few moments to learn about why Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is ready to turn the world of CRM development upside down ..'

One hopes the right choice of platform has been made!!

Interesting response (or lack of it) concerning the 'fall back' position if the association with Salesforce should break down

Perhaps someone in CODA would care to let us know the strategic recovery scenario with this product if they part company with Salesforce

Or to put it simply - what happens to the customer if CODA & Salesforce fall out?

Clearly as a global software company that's been around for nearly 30 years, we never considered any of that, JC. So many thanks for your advice.

It's always nice to see our competitors misunderstanding what we're doing, and mis-reading the market. Makes us feel like we're going in the right direction!

A brave move to take this approach & sacrifice control for delivery speed. Hopefully a very watertight agreement exists and how do they reverse out of the partnership if things go wrong?

• Salesforce have their existing products to support which may take precedence over other peoples. This was originally a spin-off which allowed their own users to customise their applications
• it is a proprietary platform and once on it you are the mercy of Salesforce. If a dispute arises can you just 'up sticks' and go elsewhere - and if different levels of service/support are imposed or prices raised you would be in real trouble with no means of arbitration
• In fairness, Salesforce case against 'lock in' is that their APEX invokes the same code as their SOAP API so you could bypass the language; provided the status quo remains with no takeovers etc
• re-badged from earlier attempts and one has to wonder why this was necessary (apart from the excellent name 'force') if the original concept was such a winner. The comment '...We need to communicate (with customers) at a high level still that we have an applications strategy, Mr Benioff said...' is a fairly damning recognition of their own perception of their position
• charging monthly royalties which by their very nature exclude certain types of application. In any event all the 'benefits' come at a price which may be too high to pay and inevitably the higher costs get passed onto the user
• with this type of platform Salesforce has ability to change the rules very quickly and suddenly you may have no business

The balance of power seems to be very one sided and although Salesforce probably would not do anything to alienate their partners things change in the future

Maybe it's the next great thing or maybe all hype.

Perhaps CODA should regard their apps on this platform as 'throw away' because that may be what it comes to in the longer term

Frankly if the best the CODA Group Marketing Director can come up with is sarcasm, as in the response below, then your PR has gone a bit wrong.

Nevertheless, however one chooses to dress it up with marketing speak there is no getting away from the facts:

• missed the boat with SaaS & now not wanting to be left behind
• trying to play catch up with quick wins
• recognising the considerable resources & costs required to achieve an internet solution. A ground up redesign and not simply porting an existing app
• accordingly looking for shortcuts on both fronts and reduced costs/lead time is a very appealing driver

It is a pity that as a '.. global software company that's been around for nearly 30 years ..' you have spent the last 10 of them failing to recognise the merits of SaaS

As for '.. mis-reading the market ..', how does this stack up with CODA's performance over SaaS?

The real question is
If CODA falls out with Salesforce do you still have a product or is the platform so proprietry that you need to start again?

This is important issue concerning future customer concern (continuity). Since these matters have already been addressed by CODA perhaps you would care to share your findings with us so that everyone is aware of your 'fall back' position & can gain comfort from your contingency plans