Former BT CIO JP Rangaswami is joining Salesforce.com as its first Chief Scientist "to help customers think about innovative technologies”.
Rangaswami stepped down as BT's chief scientist earlier this month. He had worked for the UK telco since 2006, before which he was CIO of investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort.
Rangaswami will "help European customers think about innovative ways to use the real-time, mobile and social capabilities provided by Salesforce apps and the Force.com platform”, according to Salesforce.com.
"I've long thought that it's only a matter of time before enterprise software consists of only four types of application: publishing, search, fulfillment and conversation," said Rangaswami. "Salesforce.com – with its Cloud-based enterprise apps that are social, mobile and real-time – is already making that vision real and I look forward to helping shape the future of enterprise software."
Rangaswami led BT’s move into the “voice 2.0” market and has evangelised the need for telecom operators to embrace a more Web-centric approach to service delivery.
"I can think of no one better as Salesforce.com's Chief Scientist than JP Rangaswami," said Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com. "He has the rare talent of being able to see what the future should be, knowing what it takes to get there, and the enthusiasm to make it happen. He is a true innovator, and I am thrilled he's joined Salesforce.com."
