Tidewater Salesforce Consulting includes Business Analysis, Data Migration, Salesforce Implementation, Third Party Application Integration, Salesforce Training, and Ongoing Salesforce Administration.

WHAT IS SALESFORCE?

"What Is Salesforce?" 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.

© 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, but focus on cities & states in the Northeast like Hartford Connecticut / CT, Augusta & Portland Maine / ME, Boston Massachusetts / MA (MASS), Portsmouth New Hampshire / NH, Burlington Vermont / VT, Providence Rhode Island / RI, and Austin Texas, TX.

Salesforce is a global enterprise software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. They are best known for their customer relationship management (CRM) product and contact management software.

Salesforce, with its cloud based architecture and enhanced tracking capabilities, has quickly supplanted Act!, Goldmine, and ORACLE Siebel CRM among major corporations.