Evernote and Salesforce - good for SME customers?
- Summary:
- Integration between Evernote and Salesforce looks good on paper but is it? Where's the customer win?
At the time, Evernote was a relatively simple web clipping and note taking application that can be accessed pretty much anywhere. The company thought people would use it for things like recipe books or as a student research tool. I argued that while research was an obvious use case, there could be multiple use cases for small sales teams. Unfortunately I was pouring water over a duck's back. Fast forward and what do we see today?
Evernote still has its eyes firmly on its consumer fans with a range of branded add-ons but development and acquisitions have taken it much closer to the enterprise. It can clip audios, video and images along with taking notes both typed directly into the application and handwritten. Key for groups, information can be recommended to team members, based upon notebook content. To round out the picture, it can be accessed on all major mobile devices alongside the laptop.
I'm a huge Evernote fan so to hear that they're cozying up with Salesforce.com is interesting news. As you might expect, Evernote data can be seen inside Salesforce.com and vice versa. The idea is that sales people are better equipped to manage opportunities with enriched information but without having to switch between applications.
Verdict
I'm not convinced the announced integration is that big a deal and especially if using these solutions on a tablet. That's because flitting between Salesforce and Evernote need be nothing more than clicking an extra tab. That's not the point. This is about positioning and keeping the consumer faithful using the solution when they move into the workplace.
Evernote has a hill to climb. Consumer experience may be something enterprise is taking on board but that's not the same as functional value. When Evernote announced its business edition earlier in the year, it set a new benchmark for pricing at €10/user/month. So far it reports having recruited 7,900 businesses to the fold in the last nine months. That's not a huge number and I question whether there is quite enough to pull more businesses into the fold.
Elsewhere, Crushpath has a more complete offering for pitching sales folk, claims 40,000 users at a street price of $50/user/month.
Disclosure: Salesforce.com is a premier partner at the time of writing