If Salesforce can acquire its own database supplier for its cloud software (similar to Oracle's acquisition of MySQL in 2008) or use a free, open source platform, it can end its reliance on one of its biggest competitors. As an October 2012 Wired article pointed out, Salesforce was actively searching for engineers and devs with PostgreSQL experience.
Although PostgreSQL is known for its scalability, it is unknown wether the database can scale to meet the huge data demands of Salesforce.
Besides labor, data storage and data processing are probably the largest costs that Salesforce has. If Salesforce could build its own data farms to store its data using PostgreSQL's free, open source database, it would achieve a greater level of backward vertical integration.
Because Salesforce distributes its own software, there really isn't much room to vertically integrate in the forward direction. There may be opportunities to purchase some companies that sell custom implementation services, but the company would be better served by focussing on backward vertical integration than forward vertical integration, since there is a greater opportunity for cutting costs.
There may be chances to buy a few organizations that offer custom execution administrations, however the organization castings might be better served by focussing on regressive vertical reconciliation than forward vertical incorporation, following there is a more amazing chance for cutting expenses.
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