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8.4 Document for Analysis: Direct Response
Date: March 4, 2015
To: Helen Lazar, CEO
From: Gilbert S. Luce
Subject: Chatter—A Potential Alternative to Facebook and Twitter
Here is my brief report in response to your request that I research alternatives to Facebook and Twitter.
We may be able to tap into Chatter, a new social-networking service created by San Francisco-based
Salesforce.com. This company provides customer-relationship management and other business software
to its 82,000 customers worldwide.
The disadvantages of conventional online social networks are obvious. They sap employees’ time and
productivity. Their openness creates a corporate security nightmare. Chatter, however, allows for virtual
watercooler conversations but with limitations that are appropriate for business. Management can control
access to sensitive information and records.
Chatter is similar to Facebook and Twitter, but it asks what people are working on, not what is on their
mind or what is happening. Salesforce.com calls Chatter a “real-time collaboration cloud,” meaning that
users need only a browser and an Internet connection to access it. Users create profiles, and their status
updates center on questions, salient tidbits, and hyperlinks that are shared with coworkers in their
personal network. Those comments and updates merge into a running feed. As on Twitter, employees can
follow each other, their customers, and deals.
Additional advantages are that (a) workers can connect with colleagues in the whole company, not just
their workgroups, and (b) profiles are searchable for needed skills, for example, if someone needs a
colleague who speaks Mandarin. Chatter can also recommend to account users the people to follow based
on their past activities and job needs.
A company that implements Chatter can expect its e-mail traffic to drop 40 percent as employees stay
plugged in to the organization and remain connected. Management can also track which workers add
value to the company because supervisors can keep an eye on deals being struck and notice support staff
members who excel at solving problems.
Salesforce.com is offering Chatter as part of its existing service. Currently, about 20,000 companies have
deployed Chatter, computer maker Dell and advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi among them. At Dell
some 20,000 workers are on Chatter. The service is included at no extra charge in the monthly fees of $65
to $125 for customer-relationship management and other Salesforce.com business software. As a
stand-alone product, Chatter costs $15 a month per user.
If you would like me to provide more detailed information, please let me know. I would be happy to
present my findings to you and other executives at your convenience.
