Salesforce.com has appointed ex-BT chief scientist JP Rangaswami to fulfill the same role at the cloud computing firm.
Rangaswami, who will report to salesforce.com chief executive (CEO) and chairman Marc Benioff, left BT at the end of last month.
He has now become the cloud company's first ever chief scientist and will work with European customers on using Salesforce apps and the Force.com platform.
"I can think of no one better as salesforce.com's chief scientist than JP Rangaswami," said Benioff.
"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."
Rangaswami said he was looking forward to helping "shape the future of enterprise software" with 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," he added.
Upon leaving BT, the telecoms company wished Rangaswami well.
"Since joining over four years ago, JP has made a significant contribution to the business and he will continue to be involved in BT through his position on the board of Ribbit," a statement from the communications giant read.
"He leaves with our thanks and best wishes for the future."
The announcement comes less than two weeks before the start of salesforce.com's Dreamforce event, which IT PRO will be reporting from.
