The Transformational CIO: Leadership and Innovation Strategies for IT Executives in a Rapidly Changing World

New Convergence

If you haven't had a chance to hear Marc Benioff speak, you're missing an interesting experience. Benioff, as most of you already know, is the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com, the company that brought software as a service (SaaS) to the masses. I was sitting in the front row at one of the company's Cloudforce events in Manhattan recently, listening to Marc speak. I was impressed by his energy and exuberance.

He radiated a sort of visionary optimism that reminded me of the 1990s. But it suited him well, and he won over the audience with his descriptions of a world in which the traditional enterprise software model had been effectively replaced by a hybrid of cloud, mobile, and social computing.

After Marc and his colleagues finished speaking, the audience rose to its feet and applauded wildly. It felt more like a rock concert than a vendor presentation. As I looked around the packed room, I noticed only a handful of senior IT people. Their absence made sense; it occurred to me that many of Salesforce.com's products and services are probably sold directly to business units, bypassing the IT procurement process. If that's indeed the case, then I can understand why some CIOs might feel uncomfortable listening to Marc evangelize about a world without enterprise software.

But it would be a major mistake to dismiss Marc as some kind of speculative digital prophet. Marc knows exactly what he's talking about: the newest and most radical convergence of technology platforms ...