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Business Ethics Project

Salesforce.com- most ethical company

By- Sajal Kumar Singh

Reg No- 0342/53

Content
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Sl no. Topic Page

1. Executive Summary 1
2. History of the Company 2
3. Salesforce.com over the years 3
4. Salesforce and Ethics 8
5. Core Values of Salesforce 12
6. Code of Conduct 14
7. Philanthropy work 15
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8. Bibliography 16
Executive Summary
This report covers the history of Salesforce.com, an American cloud computing company and
how it has managed to secure the position of most ethical company for seven consecutive years.
The report starts with a brief history of the company as the first section. The second section of
the report covers the journey of the company through the years, from the inception of the
company to its growth. This section covers all the major development which shaped the company
and made it what it is now. This section also has few images which gives an appealing look to
the report. The next section covers the code of ethics at salesforce.com. These seven points
reflect the policy at the company which are followed by all of its employees and which tells us
how the company conduct its business and how important its customers are for the company. The
second last section of the report contains the code of conduct laid down for the employees and in
needed to be strictly adhered by them. These are the pillars of the company which has helped it
to sustain itself throughout the year and to maintain its position as the most ethical company for
seven consecutive years. These code of conducts also makes it one of the most favorable
companies to work for. The key values in this Code can be summed up in the word aloha.
A - ala, watchful, alertness
L - lokahi, working with unity
O - oia'i'o, truthful honesty
H - ha'aha'a, humility
A - ahonui, patient perseverance.
The last section contains some information about the Salesforce foundation which shows that
apart from being the most ethical firm, it also believes in working for its societies and giving
back to the society.
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History of the company

Salesforce.com was founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, former Oracle executive, Parker Harris,
Dave Moellenhoff and Frank Dominguez. It was formed as a company specializing in software
as a service (SaaS). Harris along with other three developed the initial sales automation software
which was launched in the fall of 1999.
In 2004, the company decide to go public and in June of the same year, the companys initial
public offering was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CRM. It raised US
$110 million through early investors.

In October 2014, Salesforce announced the development of its Customer Success Platform to tie
together Salesforce's services, including sales, service, marketing, analytics, community, and
mobile apps.
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Saleforce.com over the years

1999- Telegraph Hill
Salesforce started in March, 1999 out of a one bedroom apartment next ot Benioffs house atop
of Telegraph Hill, San Francisco. They had the goal to create business solution for companies in
a completely new way. They wanted to deliver the software through a model known as Software
as a Service which was almost a new concept at that point of time. This model would remove the
need of multimillion dollar of front costs for companies whose main operation was something
completely different and needed such services just for some minor operation. This model also
saved the time required for recruiting and training of new employees by these companies.

First prototype-
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In July 1999, the company moved to its new office at the Rincon Center. And with the scale of
growth, they expanded, hiring new employees and by 2000, they moved to One Market Street.

2000 No Software

In 2000, salesforce shifted to their new office at One Market Street. They had come up with new
products and t was time to launch the new products. Salesforce launched at the regency theatre
and used some unique ways to advertise their product. They came up with the idea off a plane
representing salesforce.com shooting down the other planes representing other software firms.
Alongside this launch event was some very controversial negative brand advertising that has
become synonymous with Salesforce, No software.

2003- Dreamforce

Before 2003, Salesforce used to held events around the country showcasing their latest features
and roadmap and allowed customers to network and talk about how to get the products. These
events would usually last for few hours and were called City Tours. But in 2003, they came up
with a very innovative concept of event called as Dreamforce which, instead of lasting for a few
hours would last for few days. The first Dreamforce was held in downtown San Francisco at a
hotel called Westin St. Francis and had just over 1000 registered attendees coming to the event
with 52 presentations. Dreamforce was used to launch a product called Sforce 2.0 The
industrys first on-demand application service.
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2005- App Exchange

In 2005, salesforce developed the App exchange software which was touted as a service that
would change the software forever and was even called eBay for business software by the
Business Week.

The AppExchange worked because communities work best with market dynamics. It offered
partners a place where they could develop their own applications and open them up to all
Salesforce customers. Salesforce viewed this as the best opportunity to further a companys
vision and expand capabilities and services.

2006 Apex, Visualforce & Beyond

During the Dreamforce 2006, Salesforce.com launched Apex, its on- demand programming
language which allowed third parties to write and run code on Salesforce.coms molti-tenant,
shred architecture.
This empowered customers, partners and developers with the same language and platform that
allowed salesforce.com to build its industry-leading on-demand service.
Salesforce also developed the technology called Visualforce the very same year, that allowed
users to create any user interface they wanted, could build forms, buttons, links and embed
anything they liked. This was a major step for salesforce.com as this paved the way for Plat as a
Service.
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They called it Force.com and it was released at Dreamforce 2008. This opened up possibilities
for customers to build their own custom applications on the Force.com platform.

2012 Marketing Cloud

Prior to 2012, Salesforce.com acquired vast array of companies such as Radian 6, which was a
social listening tool, Buddy Media which was used for publishing and analyzing social media
content and Exact Target which contained a variety of media marketing tools. These acquisition
helped Salesforce.com to become a marketing cloud.

2013 Mobile

By 2013, almost half of the population owned a smartphone and the smartphone market was
growing at a rapid pace. It was high time for salesforce.com to move into this foray. Before
2013, Salesforce.com had a mobile application called Salesforce Mobile which could be used to
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access the information from the mobile. But with the extensive growth in the number of mobile
users, Salesforce decided to launch a new product for the mobile users.

In 2013, they rolled out the Salesforce1 platform which gave the users access to the salesforce
apps, as well as the App Exchange apps that could be downloaded from the App store.
Salesforce1 was later named as Lightning.

2016 Artificial Intelligence

In the Dreamforce 2016, Salesforce announced their new product Einstein, which allows every
salesforce customers to access latest insight about their platform and customers. With the launch
of Einstein, Salesforce ventured into the area of artificial intelligence as Einstein delivers
advanced AI capabilities to sales, services and marketing.
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Salesforce and Ethics

Salesforce has been able to maintain its image of being one of the most ethical companies in the
IT sector. Over the years, it has been able to maintain its growth and expanded into various
different sectors. In order to maintain its position as the most ethical company over the years, it
has developed code of ethics which is followed by all of its employees.
Code of ethics at Salesforce

1. We Are Here Because of Our Customers

People at salesforce have a strong sense of awareness that they exist because of their customer
and so for them customer always comes first. They know the value of customer satisfaction and
know the consequences of having an unhappy customer.

2. We Understand Our Customers Are Our Future

Salesforce.com and its employees know that survival cant be taken for granted. A company
needs to keep renovating itself in order to meet the changing demands of its customers and
should keep expanding its services in order to attract different customer base as stagnation lead
to death.
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3. We Treat Customers Like Family.

One of the major value of salesforce is to not see its customers as walking wallets and instead
treat them as family members and make them feel special. In order to do so, they must know the
important dates such as the birthdays of their customer so that they can send birthday wishes to
them and other such measures.

4. We Always Listen to Our Customers.

Salesforce.com has a very efficient feedback mechanism. Customers can give their feedbacks on
the quality of services, whether they are happy or dissatisfied by the company etc. this not only
helps the company to improve its services but also makes the customer feel important and
included.

5. We Work Hard to Solve Any Problems.

If the customer faces any problem with the services of the company, salesforce.com makes a
point to solve the problem as soon as possible and do not rest until the customer are satisfied.
They believe that most customers will do business if their problem is fixed on the spot. This
makes them feel respected and not ignored by the company.

6. We Maintain Positive Attitudes.

Salesforce.com believe in maintain a positive attitude even with the difficult customers. They
believe that a smile and the tone of ones voice makes a huge difference on the experience of the
customer.

7. We All Impact Customer Service.

Everyone in the company, no matter how minor, impacts the customer service. Even if the
employee does not directly serves the customer but being part of the company makes him
equally liable toward providing a good experience to the customer. Everyone need to play their
part with equal dedication and honesty.
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Core Values of Salesforce.com

The Aloha culture of Salesforce.com is built on eight core values that unite the entire company
together. These eight core values are-
1. Equity for all
They respect and value the employees from every background and thrive as a result.
2. Customer success
They are obsessed with customer satisfaction and take pride in fulfilling their demands.
3. Innovation
They pursue ideas that can change the company, the country and maybe even the world
4. Wellness
They take care of themselves and their employees so that they can work for the customers.
5. Giving back
They believe in giving back to the society and follow a 1-1-1 model
6. Trust
They communicate openly with their customers and make sure that their data is secure
7. Transparency
They make public mission statements every year to maintain accountability
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8. Fun
They work with talented and passionate people and thrive to gain success

These core values have helped the company to sustain itself in the long run. A company cannot
maintain its growth over a long period unless it has a well-defined set of values and principles
which is followed by all the members of the company, no matter how small their role is in the
company.
A company must know that ethics can never be compromised whatever be the situation. Once a
company compromises over the ethics it follows, it puts in danger all the reputation it had
garnered over the years and it becomes very difficult for the company to gain back the lost
ground. None of the clients will be willing to work with the company again.
Hence, for the long run of the company, it must ensure that the ethics are never compromised.
This is done by developing a culture of trust and having a good communication system within
the company.
As can be seen in the case of Salesforce, it had a very different work culture from that of its
contemporizes. It developed a more employee friendly work environment through its aloha
culture where the employees could easily communicate to their superiors and reach out for any
help. This helped them in situations where the employees found themselves in situations when
the ethics would have been compromised. So through dialogues and counselling such situations
were well handled.
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Code of Conduct
Through the years, salesforce.com has developed from a small firm that started in a one room
apartment into one of the leading firms in cloud computing and CRM. This growth can be
attributed not only to the working culture of the company but also to the values that they follow.
They have always believed in ethical conduct of their business which is apparent from their code
of conduct which mentions the following as their priorities-
1. Transparency
Part of Salesforces aloha culture is a spirit of open communication and cooperation for the
good of the company. When employees are open about potential conflicts, it is easier to find
a way to minimize the problems.

2. Trust
Salesforce trusts its employees with a wide range of technology and other tools that make it
possible to do their jobs effectively, and these tools must be used wisely.

3. Respect
Diversity of opinion, background, and culture makes Salesforce a more creative company.
The Hawaiian concept of lokahi, or working with unity, is a good description of how all of
the different points of view within the company can contribute to a strong and unified team.

4. Communication
Salesforce has an open and transparent culture, and the Communications Policy governs how
the company communicates to the public responsibly.

5. Waivers
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It is rare for anyone to be exempted from any part of this Code, regardless of seniority or
position. Waivers may only be granted in a manner permitted by law, with review and
approval by the Chief Legal Officer or General Counsel, and, if required under applicable
regulations, review and approval by the Board of Directors or a committee of the Board,
with public disclosure of any waiver to the extent required by applicable regulations.

The key values in this Code can be summed up in the word aloha.
A - ala, watchful, alertness
L - lokahi, working with unity
O - oia'i'o, truthful honesty
H - ha'aha'a, humility
A - ahonui, patient perseverance.
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Philanthropy Work
Salesforce.com is a company which has always believed in serving the society it exists in and
has undertaken a lot of philanthropic works in order to contribute to the society. One such
philanthropic work by the Salesforce.com is the Salesforce foundation, a nonprofit organization.
Salesforce foundation leverages the existing resources and talent in salesforce to come up with
ideas for the betterment of the communities. The philanthropic work is based on the 1-1-1 model
where 1 percent of resources, people and technology is used to improve the communities around
the world. Also salesforce work for other nonprofits by helping them develop software and
communicate their objectives to the masses.
Salesforce also believes in sustainability and works in such a way that the impact on
environment reduces. They have their own set of environment policies and they heavily promote
the use of green energy through their work. They have set a high level for environmental
sustainability and work diligently in order to achieve those targets.
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Bibliography
www.salesforce.com- all the images

Salesforce code of conduct

The worlds most ethical software companies: What they all have in common-
www.forbes.com

www.prnewswire.com

www.salesforce.com

https://www.salesforce.com/ap/company/news-press/press-releases/2007/05/070524.jsp

http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/misc/salesforce-code-of-conduct.pdf