Salesforce.com has announced the release of Contact Manager Edition (CME), allowing companies to manage customer and business contact information in a cloud computing environment.

Salesforce CME comes with all the regular ingredients, including a flexible pay-as-you-go model, automatic upgrades and no hardware or software to install or maintain.

The company said that the system will let businesses manage customer interactions in the cloud, meaning that remote workers can input and access up-to-the minute sales, reporting and order information regardless of location.

"All you need is an internet connection," the firm said.

CME offers a view into emails from a number of systems, including Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo Mail, and has out-of-the-box integration with the Google Apps range of productivity tools.

The system is built on Salesforce's Force.com platform, which is already being used by some 63,200 customers and offers regular updates and enterprise class-security.

"Salesforce.com has always been committed to democratising software and making cloud computing accessible to businesses of all sizes," said Marc Benioff, chairman and chief executive at Salesforce

"CME opens up a whole new world for very small businesses and individuals, empowering them to experience success with cloud computing."

CME is available today starting at £5 per user per month.