Skip to content

What is Salesforce?

It’s easier to run a company and manage business processes with efficient tools. Regardless of industry or size. You will probably agree with the above statement. Organizations are choosing CRM solutions so that their sales, marketing, or customer service teams can work much easier and faster. Today we will focus on the Salesforce platform, an advanced technology that is breaking records in popularity and is used in companies around the world. We will explain what the functions of the various tools are and who can benefit from their implementation.

A graphic showing a man sitting at a computer using Salesforce CRM
Salesforce is a world-famous CRM system that automates business processes and provides a 360-degree view of every customer of your company

What is Salesforce CRM?

Salesforce is a popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. It includes solutions that address the needs of different departments. Sales, customer service, marketing, and others. We call Salesforce an ‘ecosystem’ because its products co-create an environment with a single goal: improving the customer’s business. There is a reason why Salesforce apps as a whole are referred to as the Customer Success Platform.

The big advantage of this ecosystem is that all the products are cloud-based. So there is no need to install any on-premise software. You manage business processes and work with tools from a web browser or mobile app.

Secure integration

What’s more, the San Francisco-based tech giant’s solutions integrate not only with each other, but also with other products. You use them on a daily basis in your company – this could be accounting systems or ERP programs, for example. This allows you to better provide services, increase sales and improve marketing activities.

The CRM described today operates on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Users buy licenses and use selected products. Salesforce takes care of all the infrastructure, and the end customer simply turns on the browser or app and starts working.

So the answer to the question ‘what is Salesforce?’ can only be one. It’s a powerful platform that is chosen by the best and those that want to be the best.

We’ll now say a few words about the three most popular Salesforce clouds. They were created with key departments of almost every company in mind. We are talking about sales, customer service, and marketing teams.

Sales Cloud

Salesforce’s triad opens with Sales Cloud. The most popular Salesforce product. Sales Cloud streamlines and automates sales processes and relieves the burden on sales representatives… and helps increases sales! It’s a very intuitive tool that you can start using right after implementation, which is, by the way, one of the faster ones compared to other Salesforce products.

If you can’t keep up with processing sales leads and are therefore missing out on business opportunities, choose Sales Cloud. In addition, it will benefit companies wanting to scale sales and have a tool that will grow with their company. Sales Cloud also helps with data silos! All sales data is in one tool, which helps increase the conversion rate from sales or simply put – make money.

Worldwide, Sales Cloud is used by, among others: Spotify, PayPal, AT&T, and Bentley.

Service Cloud

This solution is of interest to companies that want to streamline Customer Service processes and simplify the work of consultants. Its advantages include integration of all contact channels, omnichannel communication, and detailed analytics of each consultant’s work. Therefore, managers get full insight into the work of the Customer Service department, and consultants can build stronger customer relationships.

Key advantages of Service Cloud include:

  • free flow of customer information – every consultant knows the same thing, no data silos;
  • omnichannel approach and continuity of communication – each subsequent interaction starts where the previous one ended, regardless of the channel;
  • automations, knowledge bases, and FAQ sections that enable customers to solve less complex problems on their own;
  • monitoring of service levels and customer satisfaction

This solution is used by well-known brands such as 3M, Activision, Mercedes, and American Express, among others.

Customer Service consultant sitting in headphones by the monitor
Service Cloud allows service departments to grow and provide an even better experience for the recipients

Marketing Cloud

This solution allows marketing teams to streamline business processes for running multichannel advertising campaigns. It also facilitates the creation of customer paths (Customer Journeys) and enables the planning of the entire customer lifecycle. A major advantage of this cloud is that it provides marketers with real-time information. This allows making ad hoc changes to campaigns to increase conversions.

The product enables you to create, optimize, test, and improve all marketing activities and reach customers with personalized messages and engage them at every touchpoint with your brand.

Marketing Cloud consists of a basic platform and modules, selected according to needs. Users can thus opt for a solution for:

  • managing social media marketing (Social Studio);
  • creating email campaigns (Email Studio) or;
  • personalizing the customer experience across channels (Interaction Studio).

Well-known international organizations using Marketing Cloud include Walmart, Amazon, Ticketmaster, and ABB.

Marketing team working with Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a modern tool for demanding marketing departments

All the Salesforce products described here work together in one ecosystem and complement each other. With several solutions used in an organization, there is a synergy effect – the individual Salesforce products create added value for the company. If you want to learn more about what business processes you can improve with Salesforce solutions, click here.

Other solutions

In addition to the above solutions, Salesforce addresses several equally important areas. One of them is data analytics. When Salesforce bought Tableau, a Business Intelligence platform, users gained a unique tool to explore, interpret and analyze data from any source. Analysis performed in spreadsheets works well for small volumes of data. But, for huge volumes from many sources, Tableau comes to the rescue.

Experience Cloud, on the other hand, lets you create online communities. This allows your customers to easily communicate and exchange insights about your brand’s particular products or services. They can also search for answers to nagging questions and solve problems they encounter. Create a knowledge base so that customers can work out some of their problems themselves. This will relieve the burden on your Customer Service consultants.

Commerce Cloud is also a noteworthy tool. It allows you to quickly create e-commerce platforms with Artificial Intelligence support and an emphasis on mobile device support. Predicting shopping needs with AI, personalized customer experience, and easy scalability makes this solution an excellent choice for companies selling online.

A few people around the age of 30 sitting at computers in the office
Salesforce solutions are used by organizations in a wide range of industries – from small companies to huge enterprises

Einstein in the service of the customer

What does Albert Einstein have in common with Salesforce products? Basically, the company has been extensively developing artificial intelligence and named it after the genius from Ulm. Einstein AI is a solution that processes huge amounts of data and ‘draws conclusions’ from it.

The machine learning used by Einstein AI makes it possible to:

  • create personalized product recommendations for users;
  • predict risk, customer churn, or company profits;
  • efficiently create long-term strategies, and much more.

With Einstein AI, you will look at your sales funnels, campaigns, or conversions differently than before. The motto of this Salesforce product is ‘turn data into insight.’ This means that Einstein AI will allow you to draw insights from analyzing data from multiple sources. You collect it every day in your business, and without powerful tools, you wouldn’t be able to study and really understand it.

A graphic depicting the brain to correspond with the artificial intelligence issue described in the article
The San Francisco-based IT giant is developing Einstein AI, artificial intelligence that helps companies become even more responsive to customer expectations

Migrating data to Salesforce from other systems

Salesforce’s professional consulting and implementation service partners integrate these solutions with many other programs used in businesses, so you can easily move your data to and from Salesforce.

You integrate when:

  • there are data silos in the organization;
  • the company is using outdated or incompatible software and applications;
  • the business plans to move software or databases to the cloud.

Integration involves the creation of a bespoke application programming interface (API). Much depends on the skill of the development team conducting the integration, but a well-executed process is secure and connects applications, allowing users to access them seamlessly.

Salesforce: not just for customers

Salesforce is not only a benefit for those who choose to implement it, but also for many employees interested in modern technologies. A person responsible for the development and customization of the platform is called a Salesforce Developer.

For those interested in programming – whether they are starting out or are experienced developers or testers – it is easy to start a career in the Salesforce world. Those who want to get started with the technology should know that their tasks will mainly consist of working on the backend, using Apex, a Java-like language.

As they gain experience and join more complex projects, new opportunities open up for Salesforce adepts. This is because they are working with JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, and using other web technologies. Programmers who develop products from the Salesforce world can choose from a variety of offers around the world. They can also work remotely, which puts them in an excellent position in the market.

Photo illustrating Salesforce Developer's work on code
The work of a programmer developing the Salesforce ecosystem is not only rewarding but also well paid

Summary

So, if we were to briefly summarize the article and describe the Salesforce ecosystem in a few words, we would do it as follows. Solutions from the maker of the world’s best CRM:

  • provide a 360-degree view of each individual customer;
  • make it easy to report on work with clear and customizable dashboards;
  • automate business processes in sales, marketing and customer service, and others;
  • make collaboration between different company teams simpler and more efficient.

You can find more information about Salesforce products here. If you are looking for a certified implementation partner who can explain all the ins and outs of this ecosystem in an accessible way, advise you on the best solutions for your business and carry out a smooth implementation, be sure to contact us!