The 6-month-old startup, funded by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, among others, will aim the service at companies with 10 to 200 salespeople. It will offer features found in traditional sales-force automation tools, including account management, contact management, opportunity management, forecasting, and reports. But unlike traditional packages, the service requires no implementation or maintenance by the customer.

The Salesforce.com approach attracted iSyndicate Inc., a San Francisco company that handles syndicated content for Web sites. "You can go and hire these folks, and in one day have them up and running on our sales-tracking software," says iSyndicate sales leader Joel O'Neill. He was able to set up Salesforce.com in about two hours.

The product's Web architecture makes it easier to support iSyndicate's geographically dispersed force, but a drawback is that traveling salespeople can only use it when connected to the Internet. Salesforce.com is trying to address that issue via integration with Microsoft Outlook and Palm devices.

Salesforce.com's instant deployment, and its $50-per-user monthly fee, may eliminate barriers of adoption for sales departments with limited budgets and IT resources. "They're making it really easy for marketing and sales executives to just try an application without making any long-term capital investments," says Deanne Moore, an analyst with the Yankee Group. On the other hand, Moore says, a company that wants to make a long-term commitment to the package could be put off. "Some people like the option that they can bring it in-house when they're ready," she says. "They like the fact that there's an application."