Salesforce debuts AppExchange Store Builder

Salesforce.com is expanding its AppExchange corporate cloud app store with the addition of Store Builder.

Built upon the same technology as AppExchange, Store Builder was designed for businesses to develop their own app marketplaces on top of AppExchange in order to deliver even more Salesforce-connected apps to respective customers, partners and employees.

Some of the same tools intended for AppExchange internally now being opened up to the masses include built-in analytics and user management as well as Salesforce Chatter.

But these extended digital storefronts are made to be customized so that they can fall in line with a company's respective branding experience.

"Consumer app stores don't work for the enterprise," argued Jim Sinai, senior director of platform marketing at Salesforce.com, who suggested via telephone on Monday that all companies are - maybe slowly but surely - becoming app-driven.

"There's this sense that every company we talk to is becoming a software company," observed Sinai, citing manufacturing companies are building apps to connect with employees and customers.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that many businesses are still struggling with "this last mile" of building apps and channels to distribute them.

Connected apps and devices have been at the center of Salesforce's rhetoric for the last few years as it continues to tackle the Internet of Things movement, which the San Francisco-headquartered corporation has repurposed for itself as the "Internet of Customers."

Central to its IoT strategy is Salesforce1, a cloud-based platform intended to serve as a foundation for building connected apps tied to mobile devices, wearables and big data.

The latest cornerstone of the Salesforce cloud portfolio first debuted in 2013 with a subsequent and considerable upgrade at Dreamforce 2014 a few months ago.

Jim Sinai, senior director of platform marketing at Salesforce.com, suggested via telephone on Monday that all companies are - maybe slowly but surely - becoming app-driven.

The CRM giant has already signed on a few high-profile clients for the Store Builder, including Hitachi and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others.

Salesforce promised "support for all platforms" across desktop and mobile, although it specified further on the latter to consist of support for Android, iOS and Windows.

Included with all Salesforce.com licenses, AppExchange Store Builder is available immediately.

Pricing is free for users with a Salesforce license, and starts at $5 per user per month for users without one.

Screenshot via Salesforce.com