The platform allows you to plug into all Salesforce capabilities.
Chief Executive Officer at Customersoft Innovation
Allows you to plug into all Salesforce capabilities with customization
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The platform allows you to do so many things. It could be easy for people to customize it outside of business models. So, some patterns could be more generally available so that it guides the team to not customize the system on the outside itself.
Salesforce could add cognitive functionality. It's still a way to go. There are some particular cognitive functionalities that I've been set up in the market that Salesforce can do in implementing.
It could introduce more templates and industry-specific package solutions, particularly emphasizing energy implementation within those industries. This level of granularity within sub-industries would enhance Salesforce's ability to offer plug-and-play solutions rather than solely focusing on customization options.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Salesforce Platform as a partner for three years.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with SAP and Oracle with a lot of customization. Most specific customizations with platforms are less defined in Salesforce regarding the focus on CRM and its market. E-commerce platforms support Aruba SAP.
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How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex. It allows you flexibility to reach the point where you can break the function. So there could be some controls around. A configuration manager helps you even though you want to customize to reduce the customization so you don't break the system.
What was our ROI?
Salesforce products take a long to realize their benefits. It's organizational-wise. So, from a technology perspective, it has not been processed immediately, but we are looking forward to reducing the multiple points of cost in the coming years. Maybe we will see Salesforce have a positive impact.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We encounter the challenge of exchange rate fluctuations. While the platform may not be inherently expensive, its pricing is based on US dollars, which can pose unpredictability for users in different regions. For instance, if you plan a project with a certain budget, a slight change in the dollar exchange rate can impact your budgetary constraints.
What other advice do I have?
Once you customize Salesforce to outside, it doesn't scale. When upgrades happen, they fail a lot because now you've taken a lot of customizations, and they're not necessarily within Salesforce.
I've been using predictive analysis capabilities and capabilities around consuming basic information like email.
I recommend the solution, but the price point is a crucial consideration. The challenge is that only large companies in my region, those with substantial budgets, could afford it. It's more suitable for established businesses; startups might struggle with the cost. Salesforce might not be attractive for small and medium enterprises due to its higher price than other solutions available.
The solution is technically a good platform but needs investment and commitment. The investment required to make it worth it.
With the introduction of NetFlow Logistics processes, one aspect of the Salesforce Platform that stands out is its industry-based insights. Consider, for instance, a smaller financial services brokerage. Within such organizations, a wealth of knowledge is dispersed across various departments. This knowledge can be harnessed by effectively implementing Salesforce alongside compatible tools to facilitate smoother transactions and enhance organizational efficiency. I'm eagerly anticipating further developments in this direction, particularly in terms of NLP learning and the integration of voice assistants. These advancements can potentially empower agents within companies to engage with customers more effectively, leveraging internal insights. Such innovations will likely be deployed through a shared-site model, offering a novel approach to customer interaction and service delivery.
Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: May 11, 2024
Flag as inappropriateDirector of Sales at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
An excellent CRM with great support and the ability to extend
Pros and Cons
- "The solution scales extremely well."
- "I don't have any notes for improvement. It serves us well."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution as a CRM for client tracking, renewals, and opportunities and as a database for prospects and other CRM tasks.
What is most valuable?
From an organizational level, this solution is great for being able to manage your business efficiently day to day.
It is a stable product.
The solution scales extremely well.
Technical support has always been helpful and responsive.
What needs improvement?
I don't have any notes for improvement. It serves us well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for probably ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. I'd rate the stability nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is super scalable. It's easy to expand.
How are customer service and support?
Salesforce has excellent support. I have no complaints when it comes to their level of service. They do a great job of getting right back to you.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I've never had to set up the solution. I really just get my username and password from the company, and then the company manages all of the data inside.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not sure of the exact pricing. However, they do charge licensing per seat.
What other advice do I have?
We're customers and end-users.
I'd rate the platform nine out of ten. It's the strongest CRM out there, and they've been around the longest. The support is great.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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November 2024
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Sales Director at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Fully functional, customizable, and has a good mobile app
Pros and Cons
- "When compared to Siebel, the Salesforce Platform is easier to use."
- "It may be slow, but that is relative. When compared to Siebel CRM, which was large, clunky, and extremely slow, Salesforce seemed fast to me."
What is our primary use case?
Salesforce Platform is our CRM used to manage the business and the sales opportunities.
What is most valuable?
I like the mobile app.
When compared to Siebel, the Salesforce Platform is easier to use. I really like Salesforce.
The user interface is user-friendly.
The customization is good, you can set it up and do whatever you wanted with it. You can easily customize it, and automate reports.
It's fully functional in my opinion.
What needs improvement?
It may be slow, but that is relative. When compared to Siebel CRM, which was large, clunky, and extremely slow, Salesforce seemed fast to me.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used Salesforce Platform every day for six years and stopped using it one month ago.
I am working with the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have no issues with the stability of the Salesforce Platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the Salesforce Platform is very good, you can easily add people and grow the product.
With the Sprint acquisition, we have approximately 40,000 or 50,000 users.
How are customer service and support?
I personally have not contacted technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have cursory knowledge in Microsoft Intune or VMware Workspace ONE. We used to resell. I worked for Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T, and we were a major reseller of Microsoft Office and Intune at the time of their launch.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in the installation. It has been in place for years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't have any information regarding the price of the Salesforce Platform.
In general, the price is an area where there is always room for improvement.
What other advice do I have?
I am primarily in sales and work with a technical team and engineers.
I would highly recommend this solution to those who are considering using it.
I would rate Salesforce Platform a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of Enterprise Architecture at Mantrac Group
Easy to set up, stable, and offers a great ecosystem
Pros and Cons
- "There is very good documentation available and Salesforce offers good communication with its clients. It's very user-friendly and has a system that is easy to learn."
- "Technical support could be a bit faster."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for the CRM, the customer relationship management, but now we are expanding its usage to allow our customers use access an online customer portal based on salesforce community and using B2B commerce
How has it helped my organization?
It was a great add-on to our digital landscape. It is an easy-to-use, easy to customize platform.
What is most valuable?
Salesforce is not a product, it is a platform, there is a huge difference between the two use cases.
The platform allows us to receive and collect information easily.
There's a great ecosystem within Salesforce:
1) A huge network of implementation-certified partners who have great knowledge about the platform
2) A Market place where you can download 3rd party apps on the platform
3) There is very good online documentation available and Salesforce offers good communication with its clients. It's very user-friendly and has a system that is easy to learn.
We've found the stability to be quite good.
The initial setup is easy.
The product can scale well.
What needs improvement?
The solution doesn't really have any weak areas. Overall, it's a very good product, but technical support could be a bit faster. For the standard support, their SLA is about 48 hours which is not that fast if you have a serious issue
Based on the platform capabilities. I see that the Platform is very, very capable of handling a full ERP, and not only a CRM.
Maybe in the near future, SF will launch their own ERP system.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using this solution for ten years at this point. It's been a decade. It's been a long time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the product has been good overall. We don't experience any downtime. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. You do need access to a good internet connection, however. Without a strong internet connection, you may experience some problems. However, that's not the fault of the Salesforce backend in any way.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good. If you need to expand it, you can do so relatively easily.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is okay. It's average. Their response times could be faster in terms of getting assistance to us. I'd rate it overall at a four out of five. Mostly we are happy with the level of support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did previously use another solution before Salesforce.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult.
The time it takes to deploy depends on what your plans are for the solution. Without any specific customizations, it's a very quick process. Once you log on, you have access.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is relatively expensive. It also comes with extra costs. For example, extra technical support is a bit more. It can add up.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did evaluate a few other options before ultimately choosing Salesforce. Among these was Microsoft.
What other advice do I have?
We're just Salesforce customers. We don't have a business relationship with them.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We're mostly quite satisfied with the product and its capabilities.
I'd recommend the solution to other users and companies. However, you need a strong team to manage it. You need to have suitable admins on hand to properly implement the rules.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Marketing Communications Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good configuratin capabilities and provides 360-degree view of a client but needs better support
Pros and Cons
- "The solution can scale."
- "The back end really isn't user-friendly at all."
What is our primary use case?
We mainly use the solution for Salesforce and for the sales team. They would use it to advise their clients as to other portfolio balances. Also, at any given point in time, we would also use it for referencing any outstanding documents that would ensure that we are KYC compliant.
How has it helped my organization?
We like that it can become a single source of truth that can be shared by providers who would need to interact with their clients on a daily basis. Therefore, rather than having to consult multiple systems to determine a client's portfolio balance, we can just look at one place.
What is most valuable?
We like that we have the ability to configure the solution to meet our needs.
It provides a 360-degree view of the client in one place.
The solution can scale.
It is stable.
What needs improvement?
The back end really isn't user-friendly at all. In terms of data import, migrating data from, for example, a core banking system into Salesforce, we find it very difficult to do the mapping.
They need a proprietary tool that would allow for ease of integration into the environment. That's not just for migration. It's mostly for one-time loads when we need to get the deltas in. We need some sort of tool to make this easier.
The initial setup is complex.
technical support is not very responsive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for seven to eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable. I'd rate the stability and reliability nine out of ten. There are no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is okay. I'd rate the ease of expansion a six out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is not very responsive.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
How was the initial setup?
In the past, I performed the migration to Salesforce in another organization.
The initial setup is very complex.
What was our ROI?
We have witnessed an ROI while using this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Even though the solution is expensive, it does give companies a good value for the money they pay.
What other advice do I have?
I'm not sure which version of the solution I'm using.
I'd advise new users to first do a lot of training beforehand. You need a good base of knowledge before diving into any kind of project that will require development.
I'd rate the solution six out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director Multi-Disciplinary Oncology Enterprise Solutions at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Stable, responsive support, and plenty of useful features
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has plenty of features that are useful."
- "We have a lot of strategic accounts and large accounts that are tied with all the growth and acquisitions across North America, being able to tag parent-child accounts in an easier fashion would be better. This is the biggest pain point is associating parent to child and being able to align and manage it better. Overall a better parent-child relationship between accounts would be a benefit."
What is our primary use case?
I use the Salesforce Platform for quoting, tracking, and updating customer information. We've also had a solution that we've created or built on top of Salesforce. We've recently deployed some native solutions, which I haven't used yet. Our entire project management team has been a recent adoption. There's is another third-party solution called Hot Docs, for reports. I think you're going to be moving to another application that's even more functional.
What is most valuable?
The solution has plenty of features that are useful.
What needs improvement?
We have a lot of strategic accounts and large accounts that are tied with all the growth and acquisitions across North America, being able to tag parent-child accounts in an easier fashion would be better. This is the biggest pain point is associating parent to child and being able to align and manage it better. Overall a better parent-child relationship between accounts would be a benefit.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Salesforce Platform for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable and reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have multiple things that we built on top of the Salesforce Platform which our team utilizes. One's called Customer Planning Opportunities, which is about 16 globally. When through an opportunity, a salesperson on the service side can create requests for us for some of my teams, and then it sends out a mass email.
There are multiple public and private pages that they've developed which we can log activities, such as sales, pre-sales, and pre-sale planning. We can upload documents that everybody can go and gather. If we upload a document in our Customer Planning Opportunity, which is built on top of Salesforce, it doesn't have to send attachments within the CRM.
There are some places where there are some disconnects
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is responsive. I don't personally call them, but they're very good about if you want to learn or receive additional training within the application. It's pretty good.
What about the implementation team?
We have a technical team that does the implementation, and we hired third-party resources too for the deployment. I wasn't part of the deployment team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Salesforce does a user capacity analysis on a regular basis. For example, if you're not using certain areas, you may lose access. If you don't go in and quote and edit quotes, all of a sudden you may lose your rights to quote.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Salesforce Platform an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
COO - KSA at Spectrum Groupe
Enhanced lead management through advanced analytics and automation
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Salesforce Platform are its analytics capabilities."
- "One area that could use improvement is the approval mechanism in the authenticator, which is unstable."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Salesforce Platform to manage our leads, proposals, and POs.
How has it helped my organization?
Salesforce helps manage our leads and the conversion of leads, perform analytics, generate sales reports, track what is converted, what is in the proposal phase, etc. It is also being used to manage discussions with clients by connecting with emails.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Salesforce Platform are its analytics capabilities. The automation and connection with emails allow us to track discussions with clients. Its dashboards are also very useful and provide detailed insights.
What needs improvement?
One area that could use improvement is the approval mechanism in the authenticator, which is unstable. It often stops working after two or three times and requires the use of codes.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Salesforce Platform for five years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Salesforce Platform is stable. Apart from the issue with the authenticator, everything else works fine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are using it for a couple of users, so I cannot comment on the scalability aspect.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Odoo as an ERP before switching to Salesforce Platform. Odoo has a CRM module, but it is not as professional as Salesforce. Odoo requires more customization and coding.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup involves some customization and working on parameters. It normally takes one week to ten days to configure.
What about the implementation team?
We are integrating Salesforce with Jira, and we have experts to handle this, so there were no issues on our end.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Odoo. However, it is not as professional as the Salesforce Platform.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Sep 21, 2024
Flag as inappropriatePremium Services Sales- CX Professional Services at Cisco
User-friendly, easy to set up and has a good GUI
Pros and Cons
- "Checking out or extracting a report is just a click away."
- "Instead of creating our own template, if we had some nice templates that we could pick up - if there were some Microsoft Word templates or Microsoft Excel templates in a repository in Salesforce, that would be great."
What is our primary use case?
From lead management to reporting, everything happens in Salesforce.
It's used for lead management. We work on various accounts. Each of these accounts has various deals. Typically we concentrate on the upside deals. Converting these is a big task for us. That's where we leverage all these cloud platforms. Typically, it's for keeping track of the customer contacts, making an email campaign, or converting these leads.
What is most valuable?
Nowadays, we have the CPQ, right, the configured price and quoting feature, which actually gives us a lot of leverage when we want to submit a quote to the customer directly. It helps us a lot when the customers actually are on the CRM, so that's a platform-to-platform integration. It makes it a little easier for sales to actually have that conversation with the customer.
The best part is the cloud. Most of the updates do not take time with the cloud. We get a version of it on the fly.
Checking out or extracting a report is just a click away.
I really like the GUI.
The initial setup is easy.
It's user-friendly.
The solution is stable.
The scalability is great.
Salesforce as a platform gives a lot of freedom to have a customized view. Once we have more templates in place, that will be good.
What needs improvement?
Instead of creating our own template, if we had some nice templates that we could pick up - if there were some Microsoft Word templates or Microsoft Excel templates in a repository in Salesforce, that would be great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for almost eight-plus years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is absolutely stable for us. We have never faced a problem. Drawing out reports or having that dashboard visibility or creating your custom dashboard views is simple for us. We have not faced any problems there.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is absolutely scalable.
I take care of a POC which has almost 20,000-plus service sellers. It can handle definitely more than 50,000-odd people even in a POC.
We don't have any big plans to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
I've never contacted technical support. I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they are.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is straightforward. It's easy and not overly difficult.
Deployment is something that is taken care of by the backend team. However, we have never faced such an issue migrating from a different CRM platform, a home-grown CRM platform to Salesforce.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The backend team handles licensing. I can't speak to the exact costs.
What other advice do I have?
Many teams can use this solution, including marketing, sales, CRM, business development, and HR. Typically I would recommend users to start using it right from the prospect stage, talking about sales language. That said, you can pick it up at any time. The prospect stage is a great place to start leveraging Salesforce, however. It gives an immense capability to have an end-to-end view when you are in sales.
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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