[wpaprocki]

Salesforce. It's not a bad system for what it was designed to do--sales and marketing. The problem is that it is over-promoted and over-sold as a versatile platform that can do anything. When you actually try to model complex business logic, however, you're screwed. Unless your business model conforms closely to their pre-built model, Salesforce development turns into an exercise of shoehorning your data into a system that just can't accommodate it.

If you need to model data with a lot of junction objects, good luck getting reports. You can only report on up to 4 objects at a time. Let's hope that you don't need any serious data aggregation since matrix reports limit you to 2x2 fields. You want to store data in JSON format and access it through a NoSQL database? You've got to build it outside of the system and have it talk to that database through custom code. But I thought Salesforce could do anything!

And on top of all of those obstacles, you get the privilege of paying a high monthly fee for a system that you'll probably only be able to get working if you shell out yet more license fees for 3rd party apps that hopefully fill in the gaps. But at least they just released a new analytics system that overcomes some of the absurd limitation on reporting that are inherent in the system--but of course it will cost you.

That being said, the alternatives better be good if I'm going to pay for them. Postgresql enterprise is probably worth it, given how awesome the free version is. And even then, I would just build a Django or Rails app on top of it, so even if I have to customize it, I won't be paying for the very fancy shackles that Salesforce gives me.

[colinloretz]

That's the biggest issue with their growth right now. Salesforce has done a great job in marketing that it can "do anything"... provided you can build it yourself and get around all the developer platform limitations. I used to do Salesforce consulting and custom development, won their hackathon in 2009, worked with many companies on internal tools and apps and am so happy to be out of that game now.

[sg_gabriel]

Who were your typical Salesforce consulting and custom development clients? I may be wrong, but I would think that if you have enough money to spend on customisation for an app that doesn't even belong to you, it may be cheaper and more efficient in the long run to commission a custom built solution.

[kmnc]

Is there anything that actually comes close to doing this and doesn't fall into the problem of "...turns into an exercise of shoehorning your data into a system that just can't accommodate it."? Sadly, from what I have seen Salesforce is probably still the best solution beyond building your own apps.

[wpaprocki]

Yeah, Salesforce might just be the best of these types of systems. But even then, it is the best-dressed clown at the circus. Unless you have a really simple business model, you should probably just build a custom app.

[sg_gabriel]

What business are you running, and how big is your current team? Just curious, as I've heard that Salesforce is probably overkill for most small businesses/startups.

[wpaprocki]

Mid-sized telecom company. SF is too simplistic for our complex pricing needs.