LucidEra, a vendor of end-to-end on-demand reporting and analysis products giving users visibility to data, has announced that LucidEra is now available through Salesforce.com's (News - Alert) AppExchange.


Finance and sales executives at companies using Salesforce.com's on-demand platform and applications can use the product to access on-demand reporting and analysis without any complex setup or need for consulting services, company officials say.

To date, traditional enterprise BI software vendors have not fully addressed the information needs of the individual employee at small-to-medium sized businesses, having offered complex products that are difficult to manage and cost-prohibitive to deploy.

LucidEra, in contrast, claims to "deliver answers to employees quickly and simply by giving them the vital sales and financial information they need, on demand, without the need for consulting services to set up" the products, according to company officials.

"The first on-demand revolution was for CRM and other transactional applications. These solutions were focused on getting the data 'in,'" said Ken Rudin, co-founder and CEO of LucidEra. "LucidEra is leading the second major on-demand revolution -- the ability to get the data 'out,' and analyze all the data captured by transactional systems. By combining Salesforce.com's rich transactional platform with our robust analysis capabilities, we now provide a complete on-demand alternative to the traditional enterprise suite vendors' solutions."

LucidEra claims to be the first company on AppExchange to introduce a reporting and analysis user interface that eliminates any distinction between creating and viewing a report.

In May, Salesforce.com was named one of the world's most ethical companies by Ethisphere magazine, a national publication "dedicated to illuminating the correlation between ethics and profit," according to publication officials.

The list of about 100 companies includes Google (News - Alert), Kellogg Company, Starbucks and Whole Foods, who were recognized for their "strong leadership in ethics and compliance, advancement of industry discourse on social and ethical issues, and positive engagement in the communities in which they operate."

"Having a purpose beyond making a profit distinguishes our company," said Marc Benioff (News - Alert), chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. "Corporate social responsibility has been integrated into our DNA from the very beginning through our innovative One Percent model -- one percent equity, product and employee time are given back to the community, and we have a commitment to be one with the earth. It's an honor to be recognized for practicing what we preach."

Among other awards, salesforce.com was the recipient of the 2006 Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy Excellence Award, as well as ranked No. 7 on the list of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Business Ethics magazine.

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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.