Salesforce and Google Link CRM Apps to Office Tools

This morning, the Official Salesforce Blog announced that they have expanded their partnership with Google and together have delivered an industry-changing new product called Salesforce for Google Apps.

Techmeme and the New York Times has some great coverage on this developing story.

As heavy Salesforce and Google Apps users, we're pleased with this development and can see how we'll be using this dynamic duo for greater productivity and ultimately our ability to deliver a better service.

Salesforce for Google Apps

It's easy to see how we could run our business in some exciting new ways:

1. Salesforce and Gmail

Salesforce and Gmail - Send Gmail to contacts from inside Salesforce or log emails in Salesforce from Gmail.

Now that's something that Salesforce really needed; the ability to both send an receive messages. Transitioning from Outlook and Apple Mail to Gmail makes sense, considering a lot of us work remotely, in the evenings and on weekends. I've been waiting for a big enough reason to switch to Gmail and it looks like my reason has arrived.

2. Salesforce and Google Talk

Salesforce and Google Talk - Chat with colleagues right from within Salesforce.

Currently we use Skype as our internal instant messaging tool, however tight integration with Salesforce means one less application we need running on our machines.

3. Salesforce and Google Docs

Salesforce and Google Docs - Create and attach Google Docs to records inside Salesforce for real time collaboration.

From business plans, proposals and product development outlines, Google Docs has all but replaced Microsoft Word in our office. And, if we can use Google Docs for the storage, we'll likely see some cost savings by avoiding purchasing more Salesforce storage.

4. Salesforce and Google Calendar

Salesforce and Google Calendar - Synchronize your Salesforce meetings, campaigns, and events with Google Calendar.

Not that we do a terrible amount of scheduling, I can foresee this being a helpful tool. When, we do have events to attend, the entire week is usually pretty busy, so a single integrated view will ensure we're all in the right place and the right time.

5. Salesforce and Google Start Page

Salesforce and Google Start Page - Access your most important business information, including Salesforce dashboards, and search the Web from a single page.

This is smart. As the CEO, having a single view that shows key performance indicators as well as a snapshot of your inbox allows me prioritize my day or drill down on reports should anything jump out at me. Better information means better decisions.