Salesforce.com Launches Do.com Task Management

Salesforce.com quietly started the closed beta for its new Do.com task management web app today, giving us the first hints at what might lay in the cloud CRM platform provider’s SMB future.

Let me just reiterate that “closed beta” part. Salesforce didn’t think to include TalkinCloud in the Do.com trials. I got stopped at the current Do.com landing page when I tried to take a closer look. All that landing page has by way of details is “Do is the social productivity app for your team. Do makes it easy to get work done with anyone, from anywhere you are.”

Fortunately for everyone, VentureBeat was able to give the new app a try, and came away with some early impressions:

Do.com captures the laid-back style of an upstart web application with a simple interface and intelligent HTML5 deployment, but it’s also built with Salesforce’s emphasis on reliability, accessibility and security. It was built on top of Heroku’s cloud app platform and programmed in Ruby on Rails, offers an open API for developers, and has received input from some of Salesforce’s brightest team members.

Intriguingly, it seems that Do.com isn’t designed for Salesforce’s core enterprise segment — it has just as much utility for consumers and very small groups and organizations as it potentially does for larger businesses. Like Salesforce’s other social efforts, it has a focus on collaboration: individuals can set goals that are visible by their friends, helping create a public aspect to each task that impels completion.

Obviously, there’s a lot we don’t know about Do.com. But I can’t help but feel like it’d be a potentially handy tool for Salesforce partners: when a full-scale Chatter deployment is too much, but some kind of focusing cloud application is necessary, this may fill a gap.