Not wanting to be left behind the ever-growing Google AdWords / YouTube / DoubleClick / etc. / etc. empire , Microsoft just revealed on Friday that it will buy aQuantive for $6 *BILLION* dollars. How quickly did MSFT scramble that deal together?
Well, don’t blink, cause Google’s hitting back today, with a strange,vaporware-esque leak to the WSJ about doing some kind of deal with Salesforce. This deal/alliance is sketchy on the details and seems like a case of PR one-upmanship, a kind of quick counterpunch designed to make me say, “Yeah, Redmond’s a cash-fillled heavyweight who’s fighting strong, but those Google guys are dancing circles around ‘em in the ring, three steps ahead.“ Ok, they made me say it.
The thing is, I need more than just a whiff of Google “working together” with Salesforce. All I’m being told is that there might be some kind of
“…web-based offering that integrates some of Google’s online services such as email and instant-messaging with those of Salesforce.com…”
Well, YEAH. Salesforce integrates with EVERYTHING… that’s the idea. It integrates with Lotus, and it integrates with Microsoft Outlook. And it should integrate with Gmail. Or Gtalk. There’s no revolution there.
Anyway, this boxing match is fun to watch and all, but how much new & real customer/product value is being created out of all this expended energy and activity? I’m still waiting for that.
-<>-
[Postscript, a few hours later: Hmmm, Google CRM? Ok, maybe… but that’s more like a SMB (small/medium business) play for Salesforce… it would be more of an anti-ACT!/Goldmine move, rather than an anti-Outlook/MicrosoftCRM move. Also, unlike how Google Analytics dovetails with Adwords, I don’t see where “GCRM” would mesh with the rest of Google’s offerings. On the other hand, Salesforce+Intuit, or better yet, Google + Intuit, now that would be something.
Filed under: Advertising, Business, CRM
