Salesforce began in a one-bedroom apartment in 1999 in Telegraph Hill, San Francisco. The company was founded by Marc Benioff and three other employees, including Parker Harris, Frank Dominguez and Dave Moellenhoff. The goal was to provide sales automation software through a software-as-a-service model, one in which businesses could access their sales automation software through a website. By doing so, businesses would eliminate the hassle and costs of owning and maintaining their own IT infrastructure. The idea took off, and in 2003, Salesforce launched the first Dreamforce, an annual conference where Salesforce users and creators come together to discuss product improvements and upgrades and share knowledge. In 2005, Salesforce launched AppExchange, an online marketplace where solutions developed with Salesforce could be open sourced or sold to the broader Salesforce community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay In 2006, Salesforce introduced its own programming language called APEX as well as VisualForce, a technology that allows users to create any user interface of their choice. . Apex and VisualForce together carried the Force.com brand, and with this, Salesforce took the first step in extending its software-as-a-service model to a platform-as-a-service model. Users can now create their own custom apps on the platform. In 2012, Salesforce acquired ExactTarget, a media marketing tool, and expanded its platform to support marketing applications. This was a major milestone as it was the first step in making Salesforce a more comprehensive solution that could address all areas of CRM. Salesforce also expanded its platform to mobile devices in 2013. The Salesforce1 platform was designed specifically for mobile devices and allowed, for the first time, users to access the same information from a mobile device as they would on a mobile device. from a computer. This allowed users to access their Salesforce applications from anywhere and with any device. In 2015, Salesforce launched Lightning Experience, a dynamic new user interface that made creating custom apps more user-friendly. Lightning Experience also encouraged a more componentized development method in which existing functional system components could be integrated and reused to create complete applications, saving development time and costs. Lightning Experience has also served as a foundation for creating smarter apps that incorporate the power of artificial intelligence (AI). AI was introduced to the platform in 2016 with the launch of Salesforce Einstein, a set of AI-based features that could be integrated into apps for better performance. Business users can now get on-demand forecasts, detailed analytics and recommendations about their customers, making them more competitive. Salesforce notes that AI is driving the future of CRM and therefore plans to significantly expand and improve its use as part of its platform over the coming years.[3].