Contents
- What is Salesforce
- What is CRM and Why it Matters
- How can Salesforce Help my Business
- How Salesforce Works
- Salesforce Products and Services
- Add-Ons
- Customizable
- User-Friendly Interface
- Easy to Use
- Provide Regulatory Solutions
- Salesforce Key Features
- 1. An all-inclusive framework for business
- 2. Easy Import
- 3. Common Integrations
- 4. Trailblazing for the Help
- 5. Easy-to-use productivity tools
- PRODUCTS /SERVICES OF SALESFORCE
- Salesforce essentials:
- Salesforce Sales Cloud:
- Salesforce Service Cloud:
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud:
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud:
- Salesforce Experience Cloud:
- Salesforce 360 Platform:
- Salesforce Industries:
- Services
- Lightning Platform/ Force.com
- Work.com
- AppExchange
- myTrailhead
- Blockchain Platform
- Salesforce Mergers and Partnerships
- Salesforce Pros and Cons
- Pros
- cons
- Salesforce Pricing and Implementation Cost
- Salesforce Essential
- Lightning Professional
- Enterprise
- Lightning Unlimited
- Additional Costs
What is Salesforce
Salesforce is considered one of the Best Global Brands and has a significant influence on the tech industry. However, its popularity does not come from cloud-based services but rather its highly scalable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution.
What is CRM and Why it Matters
A simplified explanation of a CRM system would be that it helps you keep tabs on your customers and their interactions with your company. Of course, such information is easier to handle for a small business. But as your company grows, so does your audience. CRMs in that scenario become more convenient as it does all the work of keeping your data organized.
How can Salesforce Help my Business
How Salesforce Works
Salesforce follows a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, thus providing hosting service to their clients. But Salesforce’s main product is the cloud-based CRM solution which includes features that can potentially enhance your customer support services. It has specific cloud services for each department and even replaces manual data entry with an automated solution. As a result, it makes the analysis of large amounts of data more manageable and can help companies make better decisions and boost sales.
Salesforce Products and Services
Benefits of SalesforceAs the SaaS market blossomed and small company solutions became more widespread, Salesforce broadened its reach by offering simplified choices that were simpler and cheaper to get up and running. Salesforce CRM was initially designed to satisfy the demands of corporations and big organizations. Today, the CRM behemoth provides customers of all stripes with access to powerful business software customized to their specific needs.
Scalability
Salesforce’s incredible scalability makes it a fantastic alternative for rapidly growing businesses. CRM customers may customize their systems via the use of the Salesforce AppExchange store, which is available for purchase. In addition, Salesforce provides thousands of third-party connections for thousands of applications and software items via its shop, including anything from in-house CRM add-ons to 3rd party solutions.
Add-Ons
Other CRM software vendors we studied offer websites for add-ons comparable to Salesforce’s, but Salesforce is significantly more extensive. In addition, the firm makes it simple to search for add-ons depending on the product name and examine industry-specific product bundles on its website. Being such a large corporation, Salesforce has an extensive range of industry-specific add-ons accessible. There is even a dedicated area for small business-specific add-ons, some of which are entirely free.
Customizable
The Salesforce CRM installation process may be quite variable because of the wide range of customization choices available. However, once the system is up and running, consumers will immediately realize that the work was well worth it. In addition, due to the product’s straightforward design and general sophistication, the learning curve for non-administrative users is not very steep.
User-Friendly Interface
To avoid becoming fashionable while yet retaining a current appearance, Salesforce CRM maintains the navigation procedure straightforward, as it should be. The upper tab-style structure is standard throughout commercial and personal applications, making it clear to understand. Categories such as Home, Contacts, Accounts, Leads, Campaigns, and Opportunities need no more explanation than their names suggest.
Easy to Use
More training may be necessary for in-house administrators. However, Salesforce provides great administrative controls. Create alternative displays and processes for different departments and workers by setting various permissions based on groups or individual individuals (some platforms only allow for admin controls by the group; see your system’s documentation for more information). Even if you have the rudimentary technical knowledge and administration experience, you should have no issue administering Salesforce daily, onboarding users, and upgrading permissions.
Provide Regulatory Solutions
Finally, Salesforce provides a significant benefit to firms that depend substantially on legacy software and enterprises that have specific compliance requirements, such as those in the healthcare, financial services, or communications industries, among others. Salesforce is big enough and well-established to provide regulatory solutions and system integration, including old and proprietary systems. As a result, it is exceedingly unlikely that you will have a use case that Salesforce has never heard of or that the firm cannot accommodate while working with Salesforce.
Salesforce Key Features
Another Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool with as many add-on functionalities will be challenging to come across for Salesforce’s users. Excellent dashboard and elevated reporting and analytics are included in a customized package with this CRM sales and marketing tool. Salesforce’s following characteristics stand out:
1. An all-inclusive framework for business
Each product in the Salesforce suite is designed to work together smoothly. Salesforce is a flexible platform that allows businesses to develop and adapt to changing needs. Salesforce’s categories of products here include Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, and Community Cloud, Quip (a collaboration tool), and Salesforce Platform (the company’s cloud-based software).
2. Easy Import
Customers may import from Gmail and Google calendars, as well as from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, into Salesforce with ease.
3. Common Integrations
One of Salesforce’s most significant benefits is its broad usage, enabling a wide range of simple connections. For example, with Salesforce’s AppExchange, customers can browse a wide range of popular applications, such as Jira and Zapier, and connect them with their CRM instantly.
4. Trailblazing for the Help
Salesforce’s Trailblazer community is chock-full of material helpful to administrators, making it a significant benefit in our evaluation. In addition, detailed tutorials are available on Salesforce, from creating a custom report to enabling user alerts. There is also a user-only forum where administrators and users may communicate directly.
5. Easy-to-use productivity tools
Salesforce’s built-in project management tools are one of its significant advantages. It will be simple for sales and marketing managers to manage and build up processes, assign duties, and mark off permissions once the system is in place. The AppExchange marketplace also offers more productivity solutions.
PRODUCTS /SERVICES OF SALESFORCE
Salesforce essentials:
This service provides CRM to small businesses. With a $25 annual subscription, you benefit from limited features such as sales and customer support tools, email tracking, account, social channel management, and report generating.
Salesforce Sales Cloud:
As the name suggests, this cloud service is directed to the sales team, which helps in opportunity, lead and sales performance management, report generation, and sales forecasting as some features.
Salesforce Service Cloud:
The Service Cloud helps the customer support team to provide personalized and quick support services to your customers. With its multi-channel support and knowledge base as some of its main features, it becomes easier for the team to provide relevant resolutions.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud:
This platform is dedicated to the marketing team who can easily connect to Sales or Service Cloud and create a link between them and the customers through SMS, email, and social platforms.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud:
The cloud provides an e-commerce solution with its Software as a Service (SaaS) model. It uses AI, applications, and other tools to customize the CRM based on your needs. It further provides deeper insights by linking sales, commerce, IT, and other departments while also providing your business a technical roadmap.
Salesforce Experience Cloud:
The Experience Cloud allows you to build interactive sites and applications while also being integrated with other Salesforce cloud products, allowing you to produce personalized content while also allowing customers to access their data fast.
Salesforce 360 Platform:
This is an all-in-one CRM solution that promotes internal collaboration as it combines all services from commerce to IT under one platform. Furthermore, it reduces the workload by using AI for automation, introducing tools to improve collaboration, and creating a hub to provide free training.
Salesforce Industries:
The name says it all; the product provides industry-centered solutions to businesses designed for their needs. From media to education, it aims to provide better sales and improve services for the company.
Services
Lightning Platform/ Force.com
Salesforce introduced their platform, Force.com, which can create third-party applications and hosted on their application marketplace. While passing the Platform as a Service (PaaS) model, users can make applications quickly and with ease.
Work.com
Work.com is a social performance management platform that helps companies track employees’ performance and deliver feedback to their teams. This service is ideal for the Human Resources department.
AppExchange
Being a service that comes with the App Cloud model, users can access multiple apps made on the Force.com platform, either free or available with yearly or monthly subscriptions. Additionally, the apps available can help companies reach out to cloud consulting partners and also look for solutions for their systems.
myTrailhead
myTrailhead is an online training platform designed to provide content and allow users to make their own. This service aims to increase productivity and customer satisfaction as it streamlines the onboarding process.
Blockchain Platform
This low-code-based platform aims to provide blockchain networks, smart contracts, and decentralized apps integrated within the CRM. It is directly integrated into the Salesforce platform and also enables data automation in the Lightning Platform.
Salesforce Mergers and Partnerships
As of 2021, Salesforce has acquired around sixty-three companies, notably, MuleSoft, Tableau, and Heroku.
Apart from mergers, Salesforce also partnered with Facebook in 2014 to introduce analytics and with Apple in 2018 to help build business-oriented apps.
Recently, Salesforce and Team GB have announced a long-term marketing partnership to improve engagement with the audience.
Salesforce Pros and Cons
What makes Salesforce unique is that it is the fastest solution for a CRM as it can take years of development. Once you are familiar with the tools, working with the software makes work easy and increases efficiency. Furthermore, the software’s scalable architecture allows users to integrate third-party applications seamlessly. Salesforce also offers multiple pricing plans, even for small businesses, to start their CRM at reasonable costs.
However, Salesforce CRM being a complex software, might not be helpful for all small businesses. In addition to its sophisticated nature, it takes time for users to adjust to the software. Moreover, users have no control over system upgrades and planned downtimes, which might disrupt operations. There are also certain restrictions that come with the products. For example, there are restrictions on mass email sending and data limits based on your plan but still insufficient for long-term use. Even though Salesforce has many price plans to choose from, they can still prove to be expensive for small businesses depending on their needs.
Pros
1. Fastest Path From Idea to App
2. Fast, Easy, and Efficient to use
3. Easy Access and Collaboration on Cloud
4. Scalable and Seamless Integration of Third-Party Apps Affordable
cons
1. Not Helpful for Small Businesses
2. Users May Face a High Learning Curve
3. No Control Over System Upgrades and Planned Downtimes
4. Memory and Certain Actions Have Limitations
5. Expensive as Compared to Other CRMs
Salesforce Pricing and Implementation Cost
Salesforce offers four subscription levels for its cloud-based CRM platform: Essentials; Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited.
Salesforce Essential
Each user on the Essentials plan is charged $25 per month. Email connectivity with Gmail or Outlook and the Salesforce mobile app is included in the package.
Lightning Professional
You’ll pay $75 per user every month for Professional to get started. Additional capabilities include:
- Lead registration.
- Lead grading based on criteria.
- Forecasting in collaboration with other users.Lightning
Enterprise
Professional plan features are included in Enterprise and process and approval automation. It costs $150 a month for each user.
Lightning Unlimited
All the features of the other versions, including 24/7 assistance and setup, are available in the Unlimited edition for $300 per user, monthly.
Additional Costs
To get a sense of how much Salesforce costs, we’ve provided the subscription prices here as a starting point. CPQ&Billing add-ons, which enable you to swiftly set up, price, and quote complicated services for $75 a month per user, are examples of this product’s valuable add-ons. Additionally, third-party add-ons such as Pardot, Quip, and myTrailhead. Adding training or implementation assistance will incur extra fees.
Salesforce is more expensive than the other CRM programs we compared. Many additional SaaS applications provide free or low-cost memberships and entry-level subscriptions. It’s not precisely price gouging to charge $25 per member per month, but it’s not a viable long-term alternative for most small firms since only five customers are permitted at that level. For $75 per user each month, the company’s next class is much more costly than the competitors.
However,the final price might not add up to what you expect, and there are many technicalities involved in the implementation. This is where companies consult with tech experts to find a better solution. We at Cloud Primero offers complete Salesforce consultation services that could save you give you right solution according to your need. Contact us today for free consultation.