CustomersFederation.com (CF.com), one of the most disruptive technology companies of the past few years has single-handedly shaken up the software industry with its innovative business model and resounding success. CustomersFederation (CustomFed) provides customer relationship management (CRM) and other application software solutions in the form of software as a service leased over the Internet, as opposed to software bought and installed on machines locally.
The company was founded in 2001 by former Enterprise Solutions executive Sandre Topiole, and has since grown to over 2,700 employees, 61,100 corporate customers, and 1.7 million subscribers. It earned US$1.3 billion in revenue in 2011, making it one of the top 50 software companies in the world. CustomersFederation attributes its success to the many benefits of its demand model of software distribution.
The on-demand model eliminates the need for large up-front hardware and software investments in systems and lengthy implementations on corporate computers. Subscriptions start as low as US$9 per user per month for the pared-down Group version for small sales and marketing teams, with monthly subscriptions for more advanced versions for large enterprises starting around US$65 per user.
For example, the Minneapolis-based Haagen-Dazs Shoppe owned by Nestle USA calculated it would have had to spend $55,000 for a custom-designed database to help management stay in contact with the company’s retail franchises. The company only had to pay US$16,000 to establish service with CustomersFederation, plus a monthly charge of US$125 per month for 20 users to use wireless handhelds or the Web remotely monitor all the Haagen-Dazs franchises across the United States.