One week in the life of Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com had a news-making week this week, with the requisite sales wins, deals, and releases.

On Wednesday, the firm announced that it will deliver its on-demand CRM applications to Japan Post. Not merely a postal service, Japan Post also functions as a savings bank and financial product provider. Ol’ JP is said to be the largest financial institution in the world in terms of asset holdings. Interestingly enough, Japan Post will begin a ten-year privatization process beginning in October.

The Salesforce implementation will be undertaken by Japanese software development and systems integration firm NTT Data. The system will be designed for use by over 5,000 Japan Post sales agents.

Salesforce.com Japan president/CEO Eiji Uda spun the sale as a stereotype smasher: “Conventional wisdom has it that Japan is very conservative and closed. On this occasion, however, the Japanese government selected a new technology and service from a foreign firm based on an open and fair evaluation of our product.”

Presumably in town to ink the deal, Salesforce chairman/CEO Marc Benioff delivered the keynote presentation at salesforce.com Japan’s “Year of the Platform” conference on Thursday in Tokyo. The audio webcast is available on the investors’ bit of the Salesforce page.

In the auto world, the purposefully named Cars.com announced that the website had deployed Centive Compel via the AppExchange. Centive will be used in enterprise sales compensation management. The Cars.com decision makes the lucky 13th sale for Centive via the AppExchange.

Cars.com boasts over 13,000 local advertising clients. Cars.com currently lists more than 2 million vehicles from 13,000 dealer customers, classified advertisers and private parties. Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is in turned owned by a consortium of media companies, including Belo, Gannett Co., Inc., The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company.

Thanks to the ingenuity of eBayer Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign staff, Salesforce.com was able to introduce Campaignforce, Salesforce Political Campaigns Edition, “the first on-demand application to provide campaign and advocacy groups the ability to strategically manage constituent and donor relations with ease and efficiency.”

Via the AppExchange, Campaignforce uses software such as Netfile in campaign finance management and Federal Election Committee reporting, and TubeMogul when “web buzz tracking,” i.e. tracking YouTube video viewings and Google searches.

Paul Greenberg, author of “CRM at the Speed of Light: Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century,” and president of The 56 Group said he was “glad to see that salesforce.com has taken a market-leading position again by providing Salesforce Political Campaign Edition,” going on to declare that “As far as I see, it’s the first donor relations management tool from any CRM vendor – and not only is it first, but it’s good.”

Salesforce Political Campaigns Edition is currently scheduled for general release in the second quarter of 2007, by which time Hillary Clinton is certain to be named Democratic party nominee for Our Lady Prez. Salesforce Political Campaigns Edition is currently scheduled to cost $65 per user per month for the Professional Edition and $125 per user per month for the Enterprise Edition.

Finally, the Salesforcers even announced their plans for Earth Day. The Salesforce.com Foundation runs what it calls a “1/1/1/1 model,” signifying the delivery of 1 percent time, 1 percent equity, 1 percent percent product and – get this – “oneness with the Earth.”

The company recently undertook the Earthforce initiative, which launched a global team of over thirty Salesforce.com employees to assist in designing future salesforce.com environmental programs and practices, the introduction of a biodiesel employee shuttle, technology support for environmental organizations and Earth-friendly volunteer activities across the globe.

And to its credit, the foundation does some good work. Company numbers show that, in fiscal year 2007, salesforce.com employees donated over 20,000 volunteer hours. Salesforce.com employees in San Francisco are currently participation in restoration projects at Crissy Field, the Presidio, Ocean Beach and Alcatraz. Internationally, employees volunteer with organizations such as the Plant a Tree Foundation in Thailand, Clean-up the Broadmeadow Estuary in Ireland, and Conservation Volunteers in the UK.

Although Suzanne DiBianca, executive director of the Salesforce.com Foundation, states that “we strive to make every day Earth Day in Salesforce.com’s offices around the world,” one has to wonder how exactly the company is “tapping into our valuable salesforce.com employees to examine all of our business practices to determine how we can reduce our carbon footprint as a company” while certain CEOs are burning tons of airplane fuel to jet off to the world’s other side for one-hour speeches…