Nimbus Partners Builds and Runs Its Business on the

Force.com Cloud Computing Platform

Nimbus Partners Builds and Runs Its Business on the Force.com Cloud Computing Platform
Nimbus generates 400%(1) ROI over three years with customized Force.com application instead of
on-premise application development
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), the enterprise cloud
computing company, today announced Nimbus Partners, a global provider of business process
management software, has generated a 400 percent annual return on investment (ROI) over three
years using Force.com for custom application development
(http://www.salesforce.com/platform/application-development/).
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Nimbus Partners helps customers drive transformational change with its own business process
management application, Nimbus Control, and associated consulting services. Nimbus moved to
Force.com because it needed a flexible and scalable platform to support its rapid growth. The
company was experiencing extensive international growth and needed to add additional applications
to help manage its business.
Success with Custom App Development in the Cloud:
Nimbus now runs the core of its business on Force.com. Nimbus built over 15 custom applications
including:
Human resources (HR) system
Training applications
Expenses
Purchasing
IT Asset Management
Benefits Nimbus has generated with Force.com include:
Time to Value: Using the point-and-click customization capabilities of Force.com, Nimbus users with
no programming experience were able to build applications in days vs. months with on premise
platforms. As a result, Nimbus has tripled new custom application Solvtopia Business Analysts
development per year.

Reduced costs: Nimbus estimates that if the company had purchased an initial HR application to
support their internal users, it would have cost $100,000 plus another $50,000 for servers and
support as well as 20 percent of those costs for annual maintenance.
Return on Investment: With annual cost savings exceeding $500,000 compared to annual costs of
$130,000 for Force.com, Nimbus has generated ROI of 400 percent over three years. The primary
benefit was the cost reduction associated with custom application development, deployment, and
ongoing management.
Easily Extends to iPhone: Nimbus was able to easily extend its onsite installation custom apps to the
iPhone with Force.com, enabling technical consultants to access client data.
Comments on the News:
"At Nimbus we produce critical applications at a pace of business change. With Force.com, you can
use clicks and code to keep the development of simple things simple and complex things possible,"
said Lucy Mills, business excellence manager, Nimbus Partners Ltd. "And of course, all the
customization work we do is automatically upgraded, removing the pain of traditional software
upgrades."
"Moving our business to the cloud has helped us reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction in a
challenging economy," said Ian Gotts, CEO, Nimbus Partners Ltd. "With low up-front costs and rapid
implementation capabilities, Force.com has been an ideal application development platform to help
Nimbus manage its growth."
Force.com - the Industry's Leading Enterprise Cloud Computing Platform:
Force.com is salesforce.com's enterprise cloud computing platform
(http://www.salesforce.com/platform/cloud-platform/).
Force.com provides everything companies need to quickly build and deliver business applications in
the cloud, including the database, unlimited real-time customization, powerful analytics, real-time
workflow and approvals, programmable cloud logic, integration, real-time mobile deployment,
programmable user interface and Web site capabilities.
Customers and partners have built more than 170,000 custom applications on Force.com to run their
businesses, including, supply chain management, compliance tracking, brand management, accounts
receivable, claims processing, time-off applications and much more.
Force.com enables companies to build and deliver applications 5 times faster(i), at about 1/2 the
cost(ii) of traditional client/server software platforms. For case studies, analyst reports and white
papers please visit http://www.salesforce.com/platform/tco.
The Force.com business case calculator is now available to help estimate the time and costs of
custom application development projects:
http://www.salesforce.com/platform/tco/calculator.jsp?d=70130000000EfON&internal=true.
Additional Resources:
Nimbus Partners is one of the approximately 82,400 companies of all sizes, industries and
geographies that comprised the salesforce.com customer base as of July 31, 2010.

About salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing company. Based on salesforce.com's real-time,
multitenant architecture, the company's platform and CRM applications
(http://www.salesforce.com/crm) have revolutionized the way companies collaborate and
communicate with their customers, including:
Salesforce.com offers the fastest path to customer success with cloud computing. As of July 31,
2010, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 82,400 customers including
Allianz Commercial, Dell, Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE, and SunTrust Banks.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements
are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase
salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are
currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and
Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more
information please visit http://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
Copyright (c) 2010 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and the "no software" logo are
registered trademarks of salesforce.com, inc., and salesforce.com owns other registered and
unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
About Nimbus
Nimbus is a global software company that develops and implements business process management
(BPM) applications to help companies and public sector bodies improve performance, efficiency and
compliance. Headquartered in the UK, Nimbus has offices in 10 countries.
Since its inception in 1997, Nimbus has helped over 700 organizations including AstraZeneca,
Barclays, Chevron, HSBC, JP Morgan, RBS, Sara Lee, Sony, Toyota and Thyssen Krupp. It is a
trusted business partner amongst its clients and has been recognized by several industry awards
including the Deloitte Fast 50.
Nimbus' flagship product, Nimbus Control allows clients to capture, manage and deploy their
operational processes and supporting information to all of their people wherever they are, across the
web or on a mobile device, delivered either on premise or as software as a service (SaaS).
Nimbus is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner (ISV), an SAP Software Partner, an Oracle Partner and
a Salesforce.com Partner.
(1) "IDC ExpertROI Spotlight: Nimbus Partners achieve 40% Growth with Cloud Computing", IDC
Research, (January 2010),
http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/analysts/IDC_Analyst_Nimbus.pdf?fromSearch=true
(i) "Research Note: Force.com Drives Faster Development", Nucleus Research, (May 2009),
http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/analysts/Nucleus_Force.com_drives_faster_development.pdf
(ii) Randy Perry, Eric Hatcher, Robert P. Mahowald and Stephen Hendrick, "Force.com Cloud
Platform Drives Huge Time to Market and Cost Savings" IDC (September 2009),
http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/analysts/IDC_Force.com_Business_Case.pdf

SOURCE salesforce.com