re: Salesforce to lay off 10% of workforce to cut costs amid economic downturn

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Can someone explain to an outsider what Salesforce actually does or can provide? (Like I'm 5 please).

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I'm not intimately involved with it, but from what I've seen it's mostly just a fancy electronic Rolodex / "tickler file." (A "tickler file" reminds you to follow up with prospects on a rhythm - "Jan. 4th: Call Bob Jones at Temple-Inland about Hilti Hammers.")

Unfortunately it's one of "those" systems, i.e. a one-size-fits-all program that (hopefully) gets customized for your business but never quite fits it 100%. As a result, it does kind of have the info you need, but it's ugly, you have to use the mouse a lot, there's a lot of duplicate or obsolete data if your programmers aren't really good, etc.

I've spent some time managing "real" developers (industrial, mobile, etc.) and it's funny how angry they get at the mere thought that we might be doing some Salesforce work- like, even the guy at the next desk doing it provokes genuine anger.