Software CEOs Take on the Economy

In recent weeks, some big-name tech execs have said that they think the economy has hit a bottom. On Wednesday and Thursday, some smaller–although still pretty large–software companies reported earnings, and their CEOs were a little less rosy about the end of the recession.

Salesforce.com (CRM) on Thursday reported a 23 percent increase in revenue from the year-ago period. But the company lowered its full year revenue outlook from between $1.3 billion and $1.33 billion to between $1.25 billion and $1.27 billion.

Marc Benioff, CEO of the online-software maker, didn’t sound like a man who believes the worst is over. He said during a conference call that new customers are taking longer to make decisions and that existing ones aren’t expanding the way they historically have. And he balked when asked if the company’s month-by-month performance indicated any trends: “I feel most comfortable really just delivering these aggregate results right now,” he said.

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