Appirio delivers services and products that help medium and large enterprises accelerate their adoption of on-demand solutions. As a Services 2.0 pioneer, Appirio has a proven track record of designing and implementing complex and mission-critical systems using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Salesforce.com and Google Enterprise. Salesforce.com is a leading worldwide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider.
Challenge
Salesforce.com chooses to run its business using SaaS applications wherever possible. In keeping with this philosophy, salesforce.com has deployed Google Apps across its entire global business. They chose Appirio to train their employees on the new applications so they could get up and running quickly. Appirio is strategic partner of both salesforce.com and Google. Salesforce.com employees are intimately familiar with the benefits of SaaS applications, as the company pioneered the space and uses its own solutions internally. Yet, like many companies today, salesforce.com traditionally relied upon on-premise office productivity and communication software for day-to-day business activities such email, chat and word processing. They'd also seen the limitations of these solutions. When Google Apps became available, the company quickly grasped the collaboration and cost benefits that these new applications could offer employees.
Solution
Salesforce.com chose to roll out Google Apps Premier Edition to all of its employees because of the powerful communication and collaboration features found in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Sites. The salesforce.com IT team, who was responsible for the internal deployment, worked with Appirio to develop project requirements and to implement a change management plan that would ensure all the various groups within salesforce.com could quickly see the benefits of the new applications. Appirio developed a customized Google Apps training course to help a range of users from senior executives to help desk personnel get comfortable with the new applications and take advantage of their unique capabilities in a shorter period of time.
Results
In less than a month, Appirio conducted 25 on-site and recorded training sessions designed to reach salesforce.com's almost 3,000 employees. Ninety-five percent of those responding to a survey following the training sessions said they'd recommend the class to others. Salesforce.com employees have already begun to explore new ways to use Google Apps, giving them unique insight into an innovative product that salesforce.com now resells to its own customers as Salesforce for Google Apps.
