Salesforce.com customers and developers can now buy and sell applications through Salesforce.com’s AppExchange program in just a few clicks.

According to a company announcement:

With Checkout, it is easier than ever for customers to do business with salesforce.com and our partners. Customers now have a "one stop shop" where you can trial, pay for, start using, and manage subscriptions of Salesforce CRM and some of your favorite AppExchange partner apps.

This is a great model for both developers and customers of Salesforce.com, and provides an excellent model that other SaaS providers should examine.  One of the key points that makes-or-breaks company installs of CRM is customization and extensibility.  Nearly all CRM installations require some form of customization – every company operates somewhat uniquely, and no CRM software can model every type of business process in the world today.  Allowing customers to quickly and easily test drive modules, and install them into their CRM application in minutes instead of days, weeks or years is a huge leap forward from what exists today with traditional enterprise software.

Kudos to Salesforce.com for once again leading the SaaS market forward.

Filed under: Enterprise Web, SaaS