Many
people ask us ”what is salesforce, exactly?”, because they have heard the
name but don’t fully understand where it fits in the Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) software market. Salesforce .com is rapidly becoming the
standard for CRM across multiple industries. Before true CRM systems there
were contact managers like ACT! and Goldmine that ran on a PC platform.
Later, true CRM systems like Siebel ran in a distributed client/server
environment and encompassed tracking customer service issues in addition to
sales. But to run even a modest-sized sales force with remote sales offices
required expensive software product license fees, annual maintenance fees or
charges for new releases of the product and, even worse, required the user
to maintain the software: install patches and new releases, upgrade hardware
if necessary and then then deal with any interface problems where the CRM
system touched other systems. This requires a dedicated IT resource to
manage the software releases, perform database administration, etc.
To thoroughly answer the question “what is
salesforce”, could take hours but the short answer is it’s an extremely
flexible and scalable CRM system that is delivered via the cloud (or
software as a service - SaaS) for a monthly fee so all your users need is
access to a web browser, either on a PC, tablet or smartphone. Then all they
have to do is go to the salesforce login page and enter username and
password and the CRM system is available to them wherever internet service
is available. Salesforce also keeps a certain amount of information on your
device locally for times when you are out of range of the internet. Once you
go to the salesforce login, you immediately have access to the most
up-to-date version of the system – no more upgrades to load across your user
base, no more worrying about hardware or network issues. Just login to
salesforce and you immediately have access to all your customers’
information such as phone numbers, activity history on the account and next
steps.
What is salesforce chatter, sales cloud
and service cloud?
Once
our clients understand “what is salesforce”, they typically ask “what are
all the capabilities of the product ?“ To answer this requires an overview
of the salesforce product suite, including the sales cloud, service cloud,
chatter and 3rd party apps.
- Once you login to sales force, you
have access to the entire suite of products.
- The sales cloud is the sales
portion of the CRM system, delivered via the cloud, which keeps all
of the information your sales team needs to maximize sales and allows
management to more accurately see what is happening in the pipeline and
forecast more accurately.
- The service cloud is the portion of
the CRM system that deals with customer support issues so your
support team can track all outstanding issues with escalation rules
based on elapsed time and the importance of the particular customer.
- Chatter is an internal instant
messaging system that allows all your employees to communicate and
collaborate without sending email.
- There are numerous 3rd party apps.
that extend the capabilities of the system.
But the real answer to the question “ what
is salesforce ‘s biggest strength ” is the flexibility and customization
available in the system to tailor it to fit any business. Because it works
the way your people work, salesforce increases sales and customer
satisfaction in the true spirit of CRM. If you have further questions about
what is salesforce please contact us and we will be happy to fill you in or
give you a remote demo.

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SiteMap | Mobile © 2013-18 by Tidewater Salesforce LLC. Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Chatter are trademarks of Salesforce.com, Inc. We are a Salesforce consulting firm providing salesforce training throughout the USA,
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