salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is set to report its earnings later in the day today. The provider of software on demand has had some bad brewing this quarter inclusive of the stock price, which has sunk considerably. The board witnessed some high profile exits in the quarter. Steve Cakebread, the company’s president & chief strategist, has resigned. He joined the company in May 2002 and served as the Chief Financial Officer for six years, and he then became President &Chief Strategy Officer in 2008. The resignation is for personal reasons and does not involve any controversy or disagreement with the Company.

Under the terms of the his separation agreement, Cakebread will receive a severance payment of $200,000.00, a full payment of an annual bonus for the 2009 fiscal year ended January 31,2009 of $225,000.00, and group health care coverage from March 1, 2009through July 1, 2009.  Cakebread has agreed to a customary release of any and all claims.  And there are two other departures as well. It has also been rumored that the company had laid off Gary Hanna, executive vice president for enterprise sales, and another executive vice president.

On the brighter side of things, the company’s Salesforce CRM Ideas is being used on the Change.gov Web site to gather input from the American people as part of the effort to foster greater collaboration with citizens and a more transparent government. The Obama-Biden Transition Team, working with salesforce.com and consulting partner Reside, was able to implement Salesforce CRM Ideas in less than four weeks, an indication of the power, flexibility and ease of salesforce.com's cloud computing solutions."We are honored to be one of the first solutions selected by the transition team to help the President-elect realize his vision of a more transparent government," said Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. "With Salesforce CRM Ideas, government can transform a closed conversation into a collaborative dialogue that leverages the wisdom of the crowd." This has got a major positive impact as a public relations stunt for the management.

Also, Jefferies & Co. lifted its price target for the company from $24 to $27, while reiterating its "hold" rating on the firm. Meanwhile, Wall Street's outlook for the firm is somewhat mixed at the moment. Zacks reports that the security has earned 13 "buy" ratings, 9 "holds," and 2 "strong sell" ratings.

Disclosure: The author does not own any of the stocks mentioned above.