Low Margins Haunt Salesforce But Investment Paves Way For Later SaaS Companies

Leading SaaS customer relationship management (CRM) vendor, Salesforce.com recently reported its first quarter results that topped analyst estimates even as profits slumped 97%. Salesforce.com continues to report record revenues, but margins have been a concern. Let’s take a closer look.
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Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 7)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

Sramana Mitra: If you look more closely that problem [of proving you are who you say you are], yes, I think that is a problem that is unsolved and open. But it is also a very big problem, and architecturally how do you see that evolving? Because, on the one hand we have major players who are trying to be the identity that people use to log into various [services]. They have become the single sign-on for identity solutions for the various services out there, Facebook being one of them. So, when you say it is an open problem, what parts of the problem domain are you trying because, it is not a good idea for a startup to go in and say, I am going to become the single sign-on for the entire cloud. That is not a reasonable position to take. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 6)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

Sramana Mitra: I think in general, the security holes around the world are much larger right now because, for one reason, there is a lot more distributed, federated technology being used, and as a result there are a lot more holes. And you just gave us the use case of Dropbox, which should be encrypted but is not, and most of our laptops are not encrypted! >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 5)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

Sramana Mitra: How can the [data owner have the obligation]? I mean, unless Salesforce.com is involved in the process of securing the data, a customer of Salesforce.com cannot possibly secure that data without Salesforce.com’s being involved in the process. It is just not architecturally viable. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 4)

By Sramana Mitra and Siddarth Garg

Sramana Mitra: I get your point from an adaption point of view, but today we are at a somewhat more mature stage of adoption in the cloud world, right? We are a good five to six years into serious cloud deployments, so we have a lot of very large deployments where IT does get involved and they do scrutinize the security issues; there is a lot of integration happening. There are a lot of analytics happening in CRM systems, for instance, maybe a hybrid configuration of private and public cloud and all sorts of things. So, IT is involved and the CIO is paying attention, the CIO’s office is paying attention, and security is an issue. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 3)

By Sramana Mitra and Siddarth Garg

Sramana Mitra: So, you already have a solution, and you are just applying it to a cloud environment because you encountered a problem that your customers were asking for solutions for.

Chris Burchett: That is right, and there are additional functionalities that we are building into the product in the future that will be unique to the cloud. For example, if you are running in a public cloud, is it possible that somebody else launches your virtual machine image without your knowledge? Yes, it’s possible. Now, if you control the account for the log into that image, this greatly mitigates your risk. But you can further mitigate your risk by ensuring that the encryption keys cannot open unless you are aware of it. So, one of the things we will be providing is the ability for the agent that enforces encryption in that machine to “phone home,” if you will, and request that it be able to unlock the key. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 2)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

Sramana Mitra: OK, let’s look closer at encryption in the cloud. Would you help me understand what kind of data are you talking about, with some use cases as examples?

Chris Burchett: Yes. One example might be that I want to run some of the servers, and instead of buying equipment and running the servers in my environment, I want to rent somebody else’s infrastructure, run the servers there, and perform computing operations. Say I am a drug research company and I want to run algorithms that are important for the development of the new pharmaceutical line. I want to run those algorithms in the infrastructure that is out in the public cloud; I don’t have to buy hundreds of machines. >>>

Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing: Chris Burchett, CIO Of Credant Technologies (Part 1)

By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg

About Credant Technologies
Credant Technologies’ Mobile Guardian solutions are designed to protect endpoint data wherever it resides, helping to ensure endpoint data security and demonstrate compliance while avoiding the costs and complexities of full disk solutions.

Named in 2007 and 2008 as the fastest-growing privately held security company in the Inc 500 survey, Credant Technologies’ goal is to enable customers to leverage the business productivity benefits of highly mobile endpoint computing without the risks or operational constraints imposed by other technologies. >>>