US-based CRM company sets up in Asia’s business hub (hktdc.com)


	(Right) The Vice President, Asia Pacific of Salesforce.com, Graeme Beardsell with InvestHK’s Mark Michelson

The US-based global leader in on-demand business services Salesforce.com, opened its first Hong Kong office to support its expansion in Greater China.

The President and Asia Pacific CEO of salesforce.com, Stephen Russell, said: "We are experiencing explosive growth across Asia, as more and more companies realise that you do not need large budgets and infinite resources to acquire and benefit from enterprise software. Because of Hong Kong’s dynamic commercial environment, sophisticated workforce and geographic location, we are incredibly enthusiastic about the springboard that this city will provide as we continue to expand – both domestically and across Greater China."

The company's Salesforce suite of on-demand applications enables customers to manage and share all of their sales, support, marketing and partner information on-demand. Salesforce.com's on-demand platform allows customers and partners to build powerful new applications quickly and easily, customize and integrate the Salesforce suite to meet their unique business needs, and distribute and sell on-demand applications.

Mr. Russell said: "Hong Kong businesses are realising that business success should not be limited by the traditional requirements of large software budgets, accompanied by costly upgrade cycles. We therefore believe Hong Kong will be a fantastic fit for our value proposition – a sophisticated environment with advanced application usage and strong internet infrastructure."

"Hong Kong’s hub location will also allow us to build a resource base that can be readily deployed across the region."

The Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mark Michelson, said Hong Kong’s proximity to China makes the city an ideal entry point to this fast growing economy. "Hong Kong is the international business hub of Asia. Companies investing here can leverage the large pool of potential customers represented by the largest number of regional headquarter operations in Asia. "

Salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, US, and has offices in Europe and Asia. As of April 2006, the company manages customer information for approximately 22,700 businesses and 444,000 paying subscribers.