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DEX-403 techniques - Declarative Development for Platform App Builders in Lightning Experience Updated: 2023
DEX-403 Declarative Development for Platform App Builders in Lightning Experience
Exam Details for DEX-403 Declarative Development for Platform App Builders in Lightning Experience:
Number of Questions: The exam consists of approximately 60 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.
Time Limit: The total time allocated for the exam is 105 minutes (1 hour and 45 minutes).
Passing Score: To pass the exam, you must achieve a minimum score of 65%.
Exam Format: The exam is conducted online and is proctored. You will be required to answer the questions within the allocated time frame.
Course Outline:
1. Salesforce Fundamentals:
- Introduction to the Salesforce platform
- Understanding the role of a Platform App Builder
- Key features and capabilities of Salesforce Lightning Experience
2. Data Modeling and Management:
- Designing custom objects and fields
- Defining relationships and data types
- Managing data security and access controls
3. Business Logic and Process Automation:
- Building and customizing business processes
- Implementing validation rules and workflows
- Creating approval processes and process builder flows
4. User Interface and App Customization:
- Customizing page layouts and record types
- Building and configuring Lightning pages and components
- Implementing custom themes and branding
5. Reporting and Dashboards:
- Designing and creating reports and dashboards
- Customizing report formats and chart types
- Sharing and scheduling reports and dashboards
6. Integration and App Deployment:
- Configuring external data sources and integrations
- Implementing custom app deployment strategies
- Managing sandbox environments and change sets
Exam Objectives:
1. Understand the fundamentals of the Salesforce platform and Lightning Experience.
2. Design and manage data models and relationships.
3. Customize and automate business processes.
4. Create and customize user interfaces using Lightning components and pages.
5. Design and create reports and dashboards.
6. Configure integrations and deploy applications.
Exam Syllabus:
The exam syllabus covers the following topics:
1. Salesforce Fundamentals
- Introduction to Salesforce platform and Lightning Experience
- Role of a Platform App Builder
- Key features and capabilities of Lightning Experience
2. Data Modeling and Management
- Custom object and field design
- Relationships and data types
- Data security and access controls
3. Business Logic and Process Automation
- Business process customization
- Validation rules and workflows
- Approval processes and process builder flows
4. User Interface and App Customization
- Page layout and record type customization
- Lightning page and component configuration
- Custom themes and branding
5. Reporting and Dashboards
- Report and dashboard creation and customization
- Report formats and chart types
- Report and dashboard sharing and scheduling
6. Integration and App Deployment
- External data sources and integrations configuration
- Custom app deployment strategies
- Sandbox environments and change sets management
Declarative Development for Platform App Builders in Lightning Experience SalesForce Declarative techniques
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SalesForce
DEX-403
Declarative Development for Platform App Builders
in Lightning Experience
http://killexams.com/pass4sure/exam-detail/DEX-403 Question: 84
Sales manager at universal containers would like to standardize what information sales rep are gathering. Sales rep
want recommendations, sales strategies and to know what key fields need to be completed at each step of the sales
process on the opportunity record.
What feature should an app builder use to provide this functionally?
A. Workflow
B. Path
C. Chatter feed
D. Global Action Answer: B Question: 85
Universal Containers conduct evaluations of their sales reps using a custom object consisting of numerical scores and
executive comments. The company wants to ensure that only the sales reps, and their manager’s executive can view
the rep’s evaluation record but the reps should not be able to view the executive comment field on their review.
How can these requirement be met?
A. Use a private sharing model granting record access using hierarchy; manage field access with record types and
field-level security
B. Use a private sharing model granting record access using custom setting; manage field access with page layouts and
field level security
C. Use a private sharing model granting record access using hierarchy; manage field access with field-level security
D. Use a private sharing model granting record access using custom setting; manage field access with record types and
page layouts Answer: C Question: 86
Universal Containers has deployed custom tabs to Production via changes sets, without including the profile settings or
permission sets.
What is the settings for the visibility of custom tabs?
A. Custom tabs are default off for all users.
B. Custom tabs are default on for all uses.
C. Custom tabs are hidden for all users.
D. Custom tabs are NOT deployed. Answer: C Question: 87
An app builder wants to show groups as the last navigation menu item in the salesforce1 mobile app. however, the app
builder is not able to select groups as one of the items on the drop-down menu.
What could cause this?
A. Groups is showing up in the exact section and not in the navigation menu
B. Groups is not included in the selecteCreate a criteria based sharing rule using the projects department that grd list
for the navigation menu
C. Groups is included in the smart search items but not on the navigation menu
D. Groups cannot be the last item in the navigation menu. Answer: C
Explanation:
Groups Appears for organizations that have Chatter enabled. If you don’t add this item to the navigation menu, groups
are automatically included in the set of Smart Search Items instead and the Groups item is available from the Recent
section. https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce1.meta/salesforce1/customize_s1_nav_about.htm Question: 88
Universal Containers wants to test code against a subnet of production data that is under 5 GB, Additionally, Universal
Containers wants to refresh this sandbox every weekend.
Which type of sandbox should be used to accomplish this?
A. Full
B. Developer
C. Developer Pro
D. partial Copy Answer: D Question: 89
An App Builder at UVC would like to prevent users from creating new records on an Account related list by overriding
standard buttons.
Which two should the App Builder consider before overriding standard buttons?
A. Standard buttons can be changed on lookup dialogs, list views, and search result layouts
B. Standard buttons can be overridden with a Visualforce page
C. Standard buttons that are not available for overrides can still be hidden on page layouts
D. Standard buttons can be overridden, relocated on the detail page, and relabeled Answer: B,C Question: 90
Sales managers want to be automatically notified any time there is a change to an opportunity close date and want
these changes to be tracked on the opportunity.
Which two configurations should an app builder recommend? Choose 2 answers
A. Create an opportunity outbound message
B. Activate historical trending for opportunities
C. Enable feed tracking on opportunities
D. Use process builder on opportunities and a chatter post action Answer: C,D Question: 91
Universal Containers uses a private sharing model for opportunities. This model CANNOT be changed due to a
regional structure A new sales operations team has been created. This team needs to perform analysis on Opportunity
data, all should have read arid write access to all Opportunities.
What are two recommended solutions for the app builder to give the users appropriate access? Choose 2 answers
A. Create a criteria based sharing rule to all opportunities with the sales operations public group.
B. Add a manual share for all opportunities with each user on the sales operations team.
C. Add a permission set with ‘View All" and ‘Modify All” opportunity permissions enabled.
D. Create a criteria-based sharing rule to share all opportunities with the sales operations private group Answer: B Question: 92
Universal Containers has a junction object called Invoices with a primary Master-Detail relationship with Accounts
and a secondary Master-Detail relationship with Contacts. The app builder has a requirement to change the primary
Master-Detail relationship to Lookup.
What happens to the Master-Detail relationship with Contacts?
A. The Contacts Master-Detail values are cleared from invoices.
B. The Contacts Master-Detail also converts to Lookup.
C. The Contacts Master-Detail field is deleted from the object.
D. The Contacts Master-Detail becomes the primary. Answer: D
Explanation:
Explanation – The second master-detail relationship you create on your junction object becomes the secondary
relationship. If you delete the primary master-detail relationship or convert it to a lookup relationship, the secondary
master object becomes primary. https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?
id=relationships_considerations.htm&languag e=en_US Question: 93
An app builder wants to streamline the user experience by reflecting summarized calculation of specific fields on
various objects.
Which three fields types should be used in roll-up summary fields to accomplish this?
Choose 3 answer
A. Percent
B. Checkbox
C. Currency
D. Date
E. Time Answer: A,C,D Question: 94
The VP of Sales wants a Chatter post to the All Sales private group when an Opportunity goes to the closed won stage.
What two tools should the app builder use to automate this process? Choose 2 answers
A. Workflow
B. Flow
C. Big Deal Alert
D. Process Builder Answer: B,D Question: 95
Which use case can be accomplished using a custom link? Choose 3 answers
A. Navigate to an external system using data in salesforce
B. Navigate to a custom visual flow to update the current record
C. Navigate to a process to update the current record
D. Navigate to a create a record page with field pre-populated
E. Navigate to an Apex Trigger to update the current record Answer: A,C,D Question: 96
The director of marketing has asked the app builder to create a formula field that tracks how many days have elapsed
since a contact was sent a marketing communication. The director is only interested in whole units.
Which function should be used to calculate the difference?
A. Datevalue()
B. Now()
C. Date()
D. Today() Answer: D Question: 97
Universal Containers created a custom object called Component to capture details about products sold.
What approach should an app builder take to show Component as a related list on Product?
A. Create a master-detail relationship on Product to Component. Add the Component related list to the Product page
layout.
B. Create a junction object to relate Component and Product. Add the Component related list to the Product page
layout.
C. Create a roll-up on Product. Add the Component related list to the Product page layout.
D. Create a lookup relationship on Component to Product. Add the Component related list to the Product page layout. Answer: A,D Question: 98
The VP of Sales at Cloud Kicks wants to have a set of screens to guide the inside sales team through collecting and
updating data for leads. Once the leads are updated, the leads should be entered into a marketing journey activated by
the sales rep checking the marketing checkbox.
How should the app builder accomplish this?
A. Process Builder
B. Lighting Flow
C. Workflow
D. Path Answer: B,D Question: 99
The app builder needs to change the data types of new custom fields. The app builder is not able to delete and recreate
any of the fields, nor modify any apex code.
Which data type change will require the app builder to perform the additional steps in order to retain existing
functionalities?
A. Changing the data type of a field used in an apex class from number to text.
B. Changing the data type of a field used in a report from a text to an encrypted field
C. Changing the data type of a field used as an external id from number to text.
D. Changing the data type of a field used in lead conversion from number to text Answer: C
Explanation:
If you change the data type of any custom field that is used for lead conversion, that lead field mapping will be
deleted. If you change the data type of a custom field that is set as an external ID, choosing a data type other than text,
number, or email will cause the field to no longer act as an external ID.
The option to change the data type of a custom field is not available for all data types. For example, existing custom
fields cannot be converted into encrypted fields nor can encrypted fields be converted into another data type.
https://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTViewHelpDoc?id=notes_on_changing_custom_field_ty pes. htm&language=en Question: 100
Where can a custom button be placed? Choose 3 answers
A. On the User Object
B. On the Custom List View
C. On a Person Account
D. On a related list
E. On a Web-to-Case form Answer: B,C,D
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https://killexams.com/exam_list/SalesForceWhat is Salesforce and What Does It Do?No result found, try new keyword!Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software that helps businesses connect with and get more information about their customer base. Salesforce is a cloud-based ...Mon, 13 Nov 2023 10:00:00 -0600text/htmlhttps://www.thestreet.com/technology/what-is-salesforce-14796378Salesforce vs. HubSpot: Which CRM Is Right for Your Business?
Salesforce and HubSpot are industry-leading CRM platforms with advanced sales and marketing features.Â
Salesforce is highly customizable, with a wide range of features and service plans for businesses of all sizes.
HubSpot is often praised for its ease of use and extensive integration library.
This comparison is for business owners deciding between Salesforce and HubSpot for their CRM needs.
Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms can save businesses time and boost sales by tracking and automating client interactions. The best CRM software helps businesses organize customer information and engage with leads and customers via multiple channels, creating a consistent and effective communication strategy.Â
Salesforce and HubSpot are top-tier CRM solutions that can help many businesses. We’ve evaluated key elements of our Salesforce CRM review and our HubSpot CRM review to help businesses weigh their similarities and differences and choose the right CRM software for their needs.Â
Salesforce vs. HubSpot
Criteria
Salesforce
HubSpot
Starting price
$25 per user per month
Free plan available; paid plans start at $20 per user per month
Free trial
Yes (30 days)
Yes (14 days)
Third-party integrations
Salesforce supports API and third-party integrations with a wide range of apps and software services.
An expansive App Marketplace hosts over 1,000 integrations.
Customer support
Customer support is available 24/7 via email, live chat or phone.
Support options vary by plan. Phone support is available only to Professional and Enterprise customers. Starter plan customers can access chat and email support. Free-tier users must consult community resources.Â
Sales features
Salesforce CRM comes with robust sales tools, including:
Account, contact and deal management
Sales analytics
Einstein automated activity capture
Customized sales paths
Customized sales forecasting
Lead opportunity scoring
HubSpot offers a wide range of sales features, including:
Call tracking
Sales management playbooks
Pipeline management
Automated sales quotes
Chatbots
Sales automation
Conversation intelligenceÂ
Marketing features
Upgrade your marketing with Salesforce’s marketing functionality, including:
Email templates
Content personalization
Customer segmentation
Marketing analytics
Customer journey builder
Mobile marketing messaging
Streamline and automate marketing efforts through HubSpot’s marketing tools, including:Â
Live chatbots
Customer contact management
Email templates and tracking
Marketing analytics
Marketing automation
Who Do We Recommend Salesforce For?Â
While Salesforce is an excellent option for any business, we recommend the platform particularly for businesses with advanced customization or automation needs.Â
Salesforce is a well-known and highly respected CRM vendor used by thousands of companies worldwide, including big names like IBM, Mercedes-Benz, NBCUniversal, Herman Miller, Morgan Stanley, PayPal, AT&T, 3M, ADP, Adidas and Asana. Its high-level sales and marketing features can help businesses of all sizes generate leads, close sales, and Improve and streamline operations. We especially like its AI-powered Einstein tool, which automates sales tasks and provides rich deal insights, call coaching and sentiment analysis to help your sales team perform more effectively.
We appreciate that Salesforce offers an expansive range of plans to accommodate the needs of various businesses. In this evaluation, we focused primarily on its impressive small business offerings. Salesforce’s lowest tier starts at an affordable $25 per user per month; as businesses scale and their needs grow, they can upgrade to more feature-full plans.Â
The following features make Salesforce a top CRM choice:
Salesforce’s real-time sales forecasting can help businesses project future sales revenue.
The CRM’s Einstein AI tool can provide personalized insights and recommendations to sales reps.
Salesforce CRM plans start at $25 per user per month; businesses can take advantage of a free trial to test the platform.
Salesforce offers easy-to-read dashboards and AI-powered personalized insights. Source: Salesforce
Who Do We Recommend HubSpot For?
We recommend HubSpot for small businesses implementing a CRM for the first time or companies with teams new to using CRM software. Its user-friendly interface promises a short learning curve that can help quickly get your staff up and running.Â
HubSpot boasts well-rounded sales and marketing features. Its intuitive setup and navigation will make it easy to manage customer relationships, track customer and lead communications, build a sales pipeline, monitor in-progress deals, and much more. Additionally, its expansive integration options can help businesses connect their CRM to their existing business software, creating a customized solution.Â
We were impressed by HubSpot’s free offering, which provides essential sales, marketing, commerce and operations tools to help small businesses on a tight budget manage leads and customers. As they grow, they can opt for the affordable Starter tier for $20 per user per month and gain more extensive sales and marketing features.  Â
We think the following features help HubSpot stand out among the competition:Â
HubSpot features a robust App Marketplace that can help businesses connect the CRM with their existing tech stack.
The platform offers a convenient deal pipeline that tracks in-progress deals throughout the sales cycle.
HubSpot’s free version and affordable Starter tier are ideal for small businesses on a tight budget.
HubSpot’s education platform, HubSpot Academy, offers training courses in multiple areas, including sales training and digital marketing skills development.
HubSpot offers a wide range of sales and marketing tools, including email templates and tracking. Source: HubSpot
Salesforce vs. HubSpot
Price and Plans
Salesforce
Four plans range from $25 to $330 per user per month.
All plans require an annual contract.
All plans allow a 30-day free trial.Â
Salesforce offers various plans with features to Improve lead management, sales, marketing and more. Various add-ons are available for enhanced CRM analytics capabilities, marketing features, commerce options and more. We like that it offers a reasonably priced Starter plan; however, it’s missing notable features like automations and detailed CRM reporting. We were also disappointed that you must opt for the Unlimited plan to access lead scoring.Â
The following prices reflect monthly charges with annual billing. You’ll pay more for monthly billing.Â
Plan
Price
Features
Starter
$25 per user per month
Lead management, offline functionality, duplicate blocking, Einstein activity capture, email integration, mass emails, custom sales processes, mobile apps, custom dashboards and reporting, file sharing, and up to five automation workflows
Professional
$80 per user per month
Everything in Starter, plus sales forecast management (desktop and mobile), Sales Cloud Everywhere functionality, offline mobile functionality, order and quote creation and tracking, additional collaboration tools, and five flows per organization
Enterprise
$160 per user per month
Everything in Professional, plus workflow and process automation, advanced pipeline management, opportunity scoring, deal insights, sales console apps, sales team tools, advanced reporting and forecasting, opportunity splits, territory management, opportunity scoring, deal insights, a waterfall chart, and web service APIs
UnlimitedÂ
$330 per user per month
Everything in Professional, plus lead scoring, advanced Einstein tools and insights, built-in AI, premium support, advanced automation, sales engagement tools, and more
HubSpot
HubSpot’s generous free plan includes marketing, sales and service tools.Â
The Starter tier is only $20 per user per month for new HubSpot customers and adds crucial features.Â
There’s a significant jump between the Starter tier and the Professional plan – from $20 to $1,600 per user per month. And the Professional plan incurs a $3,000 onboarding fee.
HubSpot has various iterations related to marketing, sales, customer service, operations and content management. For our evaluation purposes, we’re looking at HubSpot’s CRM Suite and its pricing.Â
We love that HubSpot CRM Suite has a free tier – few competitors offer this perk. While the free tier lacks some crucial features, including marketing campaign management, it’s still a great deal to help businesses get started with using a CRM.Â
The following plans and prices reflect an annual billing discount. (You’ll pay more for monthly billing.)Â
Plan
Price
FeaturesÂ
Free tools
Free
Up to 2,000 emails monthly (with HubSpot branding), App Marketplace integrations, marketing tools, service tools, CMS tools, email scheduling, one inbox and live chat (with HubSpot branding)
Starter
$20 per user per month for two usersÂ
($25 for each additional user)
Includes everything in the free tier (removes HubSpot branding from emails and live chat), plus access for two users to HubSpot Sales Hub Starter, Marketing Hub Starter, Service Hub Starter and CMS Hub Starter
Professional
$1,600 per user per month (for five users)
$100 for each additional user
One-time $3,000 onboarding feeÂ
Everything in Starter, plus access for five users to Sales Hub Professional, Marketing Hub Professional, Service Hub Professional, CMS Hub Professional and Operations Hub Professional
Enterprise
From $5,000 monthly for 10 users
Enterprise-level tools, including 10,000 marketing contacts
Winner: Tie
We’re calling a tie in this round; your business’s needs and budget will dictate the most affordable package for you. HubSpot’s free plan is unmatched; however, it may not be enough for your business’s sales and marketing goals. The Starter plan adds essential features, but there’s an enormous price jump to its Professional plan if you need more extensive functionality. Salesforce may end up being a better value if you need a higher-level plan. Its Professional Plan is $80 per user per month, offering businesses a way to upgrade beyond essential features without incurring exorbitant expenses.
Check out our review of monday Sales CRM to learn about another popular CRM platform with a generous free tier.
Free Trial
Salesforce
Salesforce offers a 30-day free trial, allowing businesses to thoroughly test its CRM platform. No credit card is required to sign up for the free trial. To sign up, you’ll complete an online form with essential information like your name, contact information, company size and company name.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers a 14-day free trial for its paid service plans. Additionally, businesses can sign up for a free account to access a more limited range of CRM tools.
Winner: HubSpot
While both vendors allow you to test their software for free, HubSpot wins this category. Businesses can use its free offering as long as necessary before upgrading to a paid version.
Third-Party Integrations
Salesforce
Salesforce can integrate with various software packages and productivity applications, including Slack, Google Cloud, Dropbox, Mailchimp, QuickBooks and DocuSign. Salesforce integrations can be managed through Zapier, AppExchange plug-ins or API integrations.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers robust integration options within its App Marketplace, including popular business software like Gmail, Asana, Zapier, Microsoft Outlook and Calendly. It even offers integrations with competing CRM tools like Salesforce, Zendesk, Pipedrive, Freshsales and Zoho CRM.Â
Winner: HubSpot
HubSpot offers an expansive range of integrations in its user-friendly App Marketplace – over 1,000. Additionally, setting up integrations with HubSpot is exceptionally quick and easy.Â
CRM integrations are crucial for many businesses, allowing them to utilize existing software, including productivity and communication apps.
Customer Support
Salesforce
Salesforce’s customer service team is available 24/7 by phone, email and chat. However, the support line frequently experiences a high call volume that may lead to long wait times. Salesforce encourages customers to take advantage of the available online self-help tools or request a support call via an online form.Â
HubSpot
HubSpot’s customer support options vary depending on your plan:
Free plan subscribers can’t access customer support. HubSpot recommends they use the HubSpot community forums to get assistance with CRM questions or issues.
Starter plan subscribers can obtain chat and email support.
Professional and Enterprise plan subscribers can access 24/7 phone support in addition to chat, email and community resources.
HubSpot also offers many self-service features and training options online.Â
Winner: Salesforce
While Salesforce’s customer support options aren’t perfect, we appreciate that the company offers 24/7 support through multiple communication channels. We think it’s crucial for small businesses to have access to phone support, as even the most user-friendly CRMs have a learning curve.
You don’t need to be a HubSpot customer to access the company’s training library. HubSpot Academy courses and certifications are free, providing a great resource for training on skills like sending marketing emails and improving SEO.
Sales Features
Salesforce
Account and contact management: Get an easy-to-read overview of customer information, including key contacts, past activity, communications and internal account discussions.
Deal management: Track deals throughout the sales cycle with an easy-to-understand dashboard and deals tracker.
Sales analytics: Sales managers and staff can customize dashboards and reporting to easily review key sales data and analytics.
Einstein activity capture: Automatically capture activities like calls, emails and meetings by syncing your email and calendar with Salesforce.
Customized sales paths: Customize sales processes and milestones to fit your team’s unique needs.
Customized sales forecasting: Adjust the key information and metrics used for sales forecasts to get the most accurate picture of your business’s upcoming sales and revenue.
Opportunity scoring: Predict which leads are most likely to convert to sales.
HubSpot
Call tracking: Track sales calls and record call notes in customer profiles.
Sales management playbooks: Provide call scripts, competitive battle cards and other sales training resources to help sales teams close deals.
Deal pipeline management: Use the deals pipeline dashboard to monitor deal progress and assign sales tasks.
Sales quotes: Quickly generate professional, branded sales quotes for clients within the platform.
Sales automation: Enhance lead nurturing by setting up automated sales emails and follow-ups to maintain frequent communication with prospects.
Conversation intelligence: Capture call details and access AI-powered recommendations.
Live chat: Capture leads when visitors are on your website and connect them with the right salesperson.
HubSpot offers a wide range of sales features, including deal tracking. Source: HubSpot
Winner: Salesforce
Salesforce offers comprehensive and user-friendly sales features, even in budget plans. The Salesforce CRM is one of the most popular tools for sales teams because the platform offers strong sales tracking functionality along with robust analytics, forecasting capabilities and AI-powered insights to help boost sales teams’ productivity and performance. We also like how well Salesforce organizes lead data and routes leads to the correct sales team member.
Content personalization: Build email and content flows to deliver the right content to the right customers.
Customer segmentation:Segment customers and leads into different lists for more targeted and personalized outreach.
Marketing data: Review dashboards and reporting to analyze the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Journey builder: Build customized and automated content journeys for customers.
Mobile messaging: Create targeted mobile marketing with app push messaging and text messaging.
Track the performance of specific marketing assets or campaigns with Salesforce’s helpful marketing data dashboards. Source: Salesforce.
HubSpot
The HubSpot Marketing Hub includes the following features:
Chatbots: Interact with visitors on your website using chatbots that provide targeted welcome messages and automated chat messaging.
Contact management: HubSpot has excellent contact management features that help you organize customer contacts and distribute targeted email marketing messages.
Email templates: Quickly build branded, professional emails with customizable email templates.
Email tracking: Track which customers open your emails, and send follow-ups or receive tracking notifications as desired.
Marketing analytics: Explore HubSpot’s built-in data dashboards, reports and analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Marketing automation: Access lead scoring, automate email campaigns and more with HubSpot’s marketing automation tools.
Access advanced marketing reporting with visual charts and graphs with HubSpot’s marketing features. Source: HubSpot
Winner: HubSpot
HubSpot’s marketing features shine, with multiple options and ease of use. We also like that the vendor offers marketing skill-building courses to train marketing teams.
Salesforce vs. HubSpot Recap
Both Salesforce and HubSpot provide essential CRM features; however, one may be better than the other for your specific business needs.Â
Choose Salesforce if:
You want enhanced customization options.
You need advanced sales forecasting capabilities.
You’re looking for a vendor with 24/7 phone support.
Choose HubSpot if:Â
You want free or lower-cost CRM software.
You need extensive integrations.
You’re looking for a user-friendly CRM solution.
FAQ
Salesforce does not have a free plan but does offer a free trial. If you are looking for a free CRM option, consider HubSpot’s free CRM plan.
HubSpot has different plans and features targeted toward different functions, including sales and marketing. A stand-alone Sales Hub can be purchased by companies that just need sales-focused features.
Both vendors offer comprehensive CRM tools that can meet the needs of a wide range of businesses. HubSpot offers more affordable pricing and a shallower learning curve, making it a great option for many small businesses. Salesforce’s enhanced customization options make it well suited for larger businesses.
Yes. QuickBooks offers a Salesforce Connector that can integrate data between Salesforce and QuickBooks.
According to HubSpot, over 184,000 businesses globally are using its service.
Thu, 26 Oct 2023 11:59:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://www.businessnewsdaily.com/salesforce-vs-hubspotSalesforce: AI To Boost CRM Growth
Stephen Lam
In our previous analysis, we determined Salesforce, Inc.'s (NYSE:CRM) competitive edge lies in its CRM solutions with solid market leadership and expected profitability growth as SG&A costs decrease due to enhanced scalability. We also identified its strong free cash flows supporting M&A and anticipated further revenue growth through future acquisitions on top of organic revenue growth.
In this analysis, we covered this again following its exact announcements related to AI and we determined how Salesforce could benefit from AI in the CRM market. Firstly, we examined the use of AI in CRM and the benefits provided by it. We then estimated the market size and forecasted the market growth of the CRM market with AI. Moreover, we examined Salesforce AI developments in terms of its launched and announced AI solutions as well as product integration and its AI model approach. Additionally, we examined its acquisitions and how it complements Salesforce’s AI. Finally, we determine whether the company could sustain long-term competitive advantages in CRM with AI by determining whether it has competitive advantages for its AI and how it could leverage its strength in the CRM market.
Could AI Provide a Boost to CRM Market Growth?
According to Itransition, AI has various applications in different business functions related to CRM. In sales, AI can predict customer lifetime value, automate tasks like appointment scheduling and optimize salesperson performance. In marketing, AI tools such as sentiment analysis, personalization and predictive may enhance customer experience. In customer service, AI can provide personalized support through chatbots and email responses, ensuring continuous assistance and enhancing customer engagement and loyalty. Some of the benefits of AI in CRM for businesses include:
Increased Sales: AI in CRM enhances salesforce efficiency by automating manual tasks and workflows, enabling sales teams to focus on lead conversion through streamlined processes.
Increased Productivity: Based on research by the National Bureau of Economic Research, "AI assistance increases the productivity of agents by 14%, as measured by the number of customer issues they are able to resolve per hour".
Cost Savings: AI can lead to cost savings in customer service with examples such as “intelligent document processing, workforce management, post call wrap-up, and task and process workflow automation via robotic process automation and process mining” according to Gartner.
From the company’s latest earnings briefing, management also highlighted the cost and productivity benefits of AI for customers.
…I think many of our customers and ultimately, all of them believe they can grow their businesses by becoming more connected to their customers than ever before through AI and at the same time, reduce cost, increase productivity, drive efficiency and exceed customer expectations through AI. - Marc Benioff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
McKinsey, Khaveen Investments
According to McKinsey, the main business function which has the greatest productivity impact is customer operations. It highlighted research that the implementation of generative AI led to a 14% increase in issue resolution per hour, a 9% reduction in issue-handling time, and a 25% decrease in agent attrition and requests for manager assistance. Besides customer operations, AI also provides significant productivity impact to the marketing and sales business functions.
CRM Market Growth with AI
CRM Market Size ($ bln)
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023F
2024F
2025F
2026F
2027F
Market Size
54.13
57.03
63.39
70.14
77.63
85.92
95.10
105.25
116.50
Growth %
5.4%
11.2%
10.6%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
Source: Statista, Khaveen Investments
Based on Statista, the CRM market has a projected CAGR of 10.7%. Some of the drivers of the CRM market are the growing adoption of CRM systems among SMEs, utilization of cloud-based CRM solutions and a greater focus on enhancing customer engagement according to Technovio.
Several CRM companies have pricing plans that include AI features and are generally more expensive than their standard plans. We compiled pricing plans of CRM companies such as Freshdesk, PSXD Digital, Freshsales, Zoho, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), Clickup, Monday Sales, Zendesk, Copper, Pipedrive and Podio. For their pricing without AI, we calculated the average pricing of their plans without AI features and compared it with their AI plans’ pricing to derive the % increase.
Based on the table, we derived the average pricing increase of the 7 CRM companies at 101.4%. To forecast the CRM market factoring in AI, we first forecasted the increase in the adoption of AI CRM. A study by Freshworks in 2019 found that just 12% use AI CRM. Moreover, a study by IFS involving 600 ERP executives and managers showed that roughly 90% were considering the implementation of AI in their respective organizations.
We compiled the table of the adoption rate of AI in CRM from 2019 to 2022 with a forecast to 2027. For 2019, we based this on Freshwork’s survey of 12% of businesses that adopted AI in CRM. For 2022, we based the adoption rate on AI adoption by businesses from McKinsey. We estimated a prorated increase of 4% per year to reach 90% by 2032 as our long-term assumption.
CRM Market Forecast ($ bln)
2022
2023F
2024F
2025F
Adoption Rate of AI CRM
50.0%
54%
58%
62%
Increase %
12.7%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
ASP Increase Due to AI
4.1%
4.1%
4.1%
CRM Market Growth (Without AI)
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
CRM Market Growth (With AI)
14.7%
14.7%
14.7%
CRM Market Size
70.14
80.48
92.34
105.94
Source: McKinsey, Statista, Khaveen Investments
Based on the adoption rate increase, we multiplied this with our calculated ASP increase between non-AI and AI CRM plans of 101.4% and derived an average ASP increase due to AI per year. We added this into the CRM market CAGR by Statista and derived our market growth forecast of the CRM market through 2025 at an average of 14.7%.
All in all, we highlighted the benefits of CRM in AI including streamlining sales, marketing, and customer service, boosting efficiency, increasing sales, enhancing customer experience, and reducing costs. We expect the CRM market to benefit from AI and projected average forward growth of 14.7%, which is 4% higher compared to the market forecast CAGR of 10.7%, driven by the pricing premium attributed to AI features and the rising adoption of AI in CRM.
Salesforce AI Developments
In this point, we focus on Salesforce’s AI CRM products that have been announced and launched.
Wide Breadth of AI Features
Salesforce, Khaveen Investments
We compiled the company’s AI products and features for its CRM platform in the table above based on the company’s website with a description of the AI feature and identification of the relevant use case for the feature as well as the underlying technology of its AI features. Based on the table, we found a total of 11 AI features for the company across its CRM platform. Additionally, we found a total of 17 unique use cases from its AI features. Its Einstein for Commerce and Slack AI have the most use cases (3). Most of its AI features are based on ML technologies with 5 features leveraging NLP technologies as well. Overall, we believe Salesforce has a wide range of AI features for CRM software as its 11 features span across all 3 business functions within CRM (Sales, Marketing and Customer Service) that can have AI applications as discussed in the previous point.
Product Integration Strength
Salesforce
Salesforce AI integrates with Salesforce's cloud-based CRM platform allowing businesses to leverage AI within their CRM, offering real-time generative AI capabilities across Salesforce services like Slack, Einstein, Data Cloud, Tableau, Flow, and MuleSoft.
Salesforce took a leap into artificial intelligence ('AI') in 2016 when they announced Salesforce Einstein. Salesforce Einstein is not a single product; it’s a technology layer that’s woven into the Salesforce Lightning platform and various Salesforce cloud products. - Salesforce Ben
Overall, we believe this allows the company to target its installed base of large enterprises with a full suite of its CRM AI solutions and could support Salesforce’s growth positively as the AI Cloud’s pricing starts at $360,000 per year which is $30,000 monthly and is 90x higher than its current highest priced monthly subscription plans.
Agnostic AI Model Approach
In 2019, Salesforce introduced its LLM called CTRL with 1.63 bln parameters. However, Salesforce is embracing other company’s AI models such as Anthropic, Cohere, Databricks, Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and OpenAI to allow for a wide range of data models to be used within its CRM product ecosystem. According to the company, its Einstein AI platform, for example, allows the integration of third-party AI models.
Einstein is built on an open platform. You can safely use any large language model (LLM). Ours, yours, or any other you choose. Salesforce Research has developed its own domain-specific LLMs. And Einstein lets you work with any model in an ecosystem of industry-leading LLM platforms. – Salesforce
Additionally, McKinsey highlighted that companies prioritize speed and flexibility with a preference for the "bring your own LLM" (BYOL) approach. Therefore, we believe the company’s approach of allowing its AI features to be powered by third-party AI models is positive for the company to cater to its enterprise customers.
Salesforce Acquisitions Complement AI
Acquisition
Year
Cost ($ bln)
Servicetrace
2022
N/A
Slack
2022
27.7
Tableau
2020
15.7
MuleSoft
2019
6.5
Source: Salesforce, Khaveen Investments
Within the past 5 years, Salesforce has made 13 acquisitions. Out of the 13 acquisitions, we identified 4 acquisitions that complement the company’s AI features. These include Slack, Mulesoft, Tableau and Servicetrace (integrated with MuleSoft).
Slack: One of the company’s acquisitions includes Slack, a communication platform that has been integrated into the company’s CRM platform. In 2023, Salesforce introduced AI capabilities for the platform with Slack AI including channel recaps for essential highlights and one-click thread summaries for quick thread overviews. It also offers a search answers feature, which provides related messages, files, channels, and AI-generated summaries in response to questions. According to the company’s CEO, the platform’s vast amount of data is highlighted for its AI opportunities. “It holds so much data for our customers. I think Slack is going to be the promise of AI for a lot of our most important customers”. One of the advantages of Slack is its third-party app integration with 1.4x more apps compared to Microsoft Teams. We believe one of the advantages of Slack’s AI is its integration with AI models such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Tableau: Furthermore, another acquisition is Tableau which it acquired in 2020. It is a data analytics and visualization platform that infuses AI with Tableau Business Science AI-driven analytics leveraging machine learning technologies. According to BI Connector, “Tableau can handle large volumes of data quickly” compared to competitors such as Microsoft Power BI as well as provides extensive features. One of the features is its integration with Salesforce’s Einstein Trust Layer data architecture which enhances data security and privacy for its AI feature.
MuleSoft: Furthermore, the company also acquired MuleSoft in 2019. According to the company, “MuleSoft is a platform that gives IT the tools to automate everything. This includes integrating data and systems, automating workflows and processes, and creating incredible digital experiences — all on a single, easy-to-use platform”. In relation, Salesforce also acquired RPA company Servicetrace in 2022 which had been integrated with Mulesoft and enhanced its Einstein AI CRM platform with RPA capabilities. According to Artemis Innovations, a reason Mulesoft is popular is due to its integration capabilities which allows companies to integrate their legacy software with SaaS products using APIs. Leveraging MuleSoft’s integration capabilities, Salesforce’s Mulesoft AI enables companies to build integrations with its Einstein CRM AI platform which we believe highlights a product integration strength.
With the addition of Servicetrace, MuleSoft will be able to deliver a leading unified integration, API management and RPA platform, which will further enrich the Salesforce Customer 360 — empowering organizations to deliver connected experiences from anywhere. The new RPA capabilities will enhance Salesforce’s Einstein Automate solution, enabling end-to-end workflow automation across any system for service, sales, industries, and more, - MuleSoft CEO Brent Hayward
Salesforce Ventures (AI Investments)
According to the company, "Salesforce has been involved in early rounds of funding for top AI startups". For example, it is expanding its Generative AI Fund, doubling the fund to $500 mln. One of the company’s investments includes Anthropic and Cohere, which are companies developing LLMs. As highlighted above, the company has an agnostic AI approach and allows for Anthropic and Cohere’s LLM to be integrated with its AI CRM. Overall, we believe its investments in AI companies such as LLM providers support its AI developments as it adopts an agnostic AI model approach, which allows it to integrate third-party AI models such as the companies that it has invested in like Anthropic and Cohere.
Overall, we highlighted Salesforce’s wide breadth of AI features and use cases which encompasses the 3 main business functions of CRM that have AI applications in sales, marketing and customer service powered by NLP and ML technologies.
Furthermore, some of its AI features are related to its key acquisitions such as Mulesoft, Tableau and Slack. We found that these acquisition complements the company by enabling the integration of the company’s and third-party AI applications with its CRM platform, allowing Salesforce to create a more integrated and comprehensive ecosystem of products and benefit customers by offering a wider range of products integrated with AI capabilities.
In relation, we believe that Salesforce, with its AI Cloud, has a product integration strength that includes its AI features in a comprehensive package that we believe could allow the company to target large enterprise customers and support growth with the higher pricing of its comprehensive package. Moreover, we believe its agnostic AI model approach further highlights its product integration capabilities and caters to the needs of enterprise customers.
How Salesforce Could Sustain its Competitiveness in CRM with AI
According to the company, Salesforce management expects to also be the leading CRM company when it comes to AI. Thus, we compared Salesforce’s AI with its key competitors in the CRM market and determined whether it could remain competitive in the market with AI.
… Salesforce is transforming from being not only the number one CRM, but to the number one AI CRM. - Marc Benioff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Source: IDC, Grand View Research, Khaveen Investments
Based on the chart above of the CRM market share by IDC, Salesforce has consistently maintained a strong and growing presence in the CRM market over the years. Starting in 2018 with a market share of 16.8%, it has steadily increased its share each year, reaching 23% by 2022. On the other hand, Microsoft has gained market share during the period and has become the second-largest competitor to Salesforce in CRM, overtaking Oracle and SAP in 2021. Additionally, Oracle and SAP lost market share in the period while Adobe’s share remained relatively similar to its 2018 share. In our previous analysis, we identified one of the competitive advantages of Salesforce is its superior breadth of features on its CRM platform compared to its top competitors.
Comparison with Competitors
Furthermore, we compared the company’s AI in CRM with its competitors based on its AI CRM features, application (use cases), AI models, cloud presence (market share) and acquisitions related to AI for CRM to determine whether Salesforce has an advantage in AI for CRM as well.
Company
Number of AI Features in AI CRM
Use Cases
Number of Use Cases of AI CRM
Salesforce
11
Chatbot Customization, Data Protection, Email Automation, Smart Scheduling, Personalized Customer Service, Personalized Marketing, Customer Sales Insights, Data Visualization, Predictive Analytics, Product Information, Product Recommendations, AI-powered Summarization, In-built Research Tools, Writing Assistant, Workflow Automation, Data Analysis, Forecasting
Based on the table, we found that Salesforce leads with the highest number of AI CRM product features with a total of 11. Additionally, we identified a total of 17 use cases from its AI features in CRM which is the most among the companies compared. On the other hand, we found Microsoft tied with Adobe with only 4 AI features in CRM across its Copilot in Dynamics 365 for Microsoft and Adobe Experience Cloud. However, Microsoft has slightly more use cases than Adobe. We also identified commonly found use cases across all companies including personalizing customer service, providing product information and predictive analytics. Overall, we believe this comparison highlights Salesforce’s superior product breadth and use case application for AI in CRM.
Moreover, we also compared other factors such as AI models, cloud computing presence and the number of AI-related acquisitions for CRM in the past 5 years in the table below.
Company
AI Models
Number of AI Models
Cloud Share
Number of AI Acquisitions
Salesforce
Salesforce, Anthropic, Cohere, Databricks, Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and OpenAI
Based on the table, we identified that Salesforce has the most AI model integrations with at least 6 mentioned by the company. As mentioned above, this is due to the company adopting an agnostic AI model approach where it allows other AI models besides its own LLM to be integrated with its AI solutions such as the Einstein platform. In our previous analysis of Microsoft, we compared the top LLMs and determined that OpenAI has the superior LLM while Salesforce is ranked 17th place out of 18 of the LLMs compared. In terms of cloud market share, Microsoft beats Salesforce as the second largest cloud provider which we previously determined as its competitive advantage. Finally, we found that Salesforce has the most AI acquisitions related to AI for its CRM integration with a total of 4 as mentioned in the previous point.
Ranking
Features
Use Cases
AI Models
Cloud
Acquisitions
Average Ranking
Factor Score
Salesforce
1
1
1
2
1
1.2
1.45
Microsoft
4
3
2
1
5
3
1.00
Oracle
3
3
4
3
2
3
1.00
Adobe
4
5
3
4
3
3.8
0.80
SAP
2
2
5
4
3
3.2
0.95
Source: Khaveen Investments
We ranked the companies based on the factors which we compared in the table above. For the AI models, we ranked this based on the capability in terms of parameters with OpenAI being the best with its GPT-4 model. However, as Salesforce and Microsoft are tied as both support OpenAI’s models, we determined the better company based on the breadth of AI models with Salesforce as the top due to its integration with various AI models. As seen Salesforce has the highest average ranking of 1.2 as it leads across all metrics including features, use cases, AI models and acquisitions. We calculated its factor score at 1.45x which we applied to our market growth rate to forecast its revenue growth and market share in the CRM market through 2025 below.
Market Share Forecast
IDC, Grand View Research, Khaveen Investments
All in all, Salesforce continued to solidify its market position in the CRM market in 2022. Going forward, we believe Salesforce stands to continue growing its market share in the CRM market based on our analysis of its AI CRM developments. We believe Salesforce stands out compared to other leading competitors due to its large AI CRM feature breadth, application in terms of use cases, AI model integration advantage and acquisitions related to the AI CRM space. As such, based on the chart above, we projected Salesforce’s market share to increase to 26.1% by 2025. Additionally, we also forecasted Microsoft and Oracle’s market share to remain stable through 2025 while SAP and Adobe’s market share to decline.
Risk: AI CRM Competitors
We believe one of the risks Salesforce could face to be the top company in AI for CRM is competition from smaller players within the CRM market such as Freshworks, PSX Digital, Zoho, Clickup and Monday Sales have AI features integrated with their CRM platforms. Additionally, as we had highlighted previously, there are many competitors in the CRM market, with a total of 880 CRM solutions based on G2, an increase of 20% from the time of our previous coverage. We believe smaller companies could pose a greater competitive threat to Salesforce if they pursue AI product development. Notwithstanding, we believe Salesforce has several advantages such as its market leadership and installed base which it could leverage to support its growth.
Valuation
Salesforce Revenue Projections ($ mln)
2022
2023F
2024F
2025F
Revenue
31,352
36,483
44,279
53,741
Growth %
16.4%
21.4%
21.4%
Source: Company Data, Khaveen Investments
For our revenue projections, we projected its growth based on our CRM market forecast CAGR of 14.7% multiplied by our factor score of 1.45x for the company, as explained in the previous point above, for a total growth rate of 21.4%. In 2023, we derived a growth rate of 16.4% by averaging its H1 real growth rate of 11.4% YoY and our forecast growth rate of 21.4% as we expect its growth could increase following the general availability of its AI features in July 2023. Furthermore, the company’s management highlighted in its last earnings briefing its positive outlook for H2 as the top company in AI CRM as well as revenue acceleration.
As we head into the second half of the year, we are leading the way as the number one AI CRM with… the pace of innovation at an all-time high. Our focus on customer success drives our own success, accelerating revenue and profitability. - Brian Millham, President and Chief Operating Officer
Khaveen Investments
Based on a discount rate of 10.5% (company’s WACC) and terminal value based on the average EV/EBITDA of top software companies of 30.13x, we obtained an upside of 46% for the company.
Verdict
In summary, we emphasized the advantages of incorporating AI into CRM, such as streamlining sales, marketing, and customer service processes, improving efficiency, boosting sales, enhancing the customer experience, and reducing operational costs. We projected a robust average forward growth rate of 14.7% for the CRM market, with an increase of 4% compared to the market forecast CAGR driven by the premium pricing associated with AI features and the increasing adoption of AI in CRM.
For Salesforce specifically, we found that the company has comprehensive AI features, spanning sales, marketing, and customer service functions, driven by NLP and ML technologies. Notably, we believe Salesforce's strategic acquisitions, including Mulesoft, Tableau, and Slack, have enriched its AI capabilities, allowing for seamless integration of applications within its CRM platform and fostering a more extensive and cohesive ecosystem of products, benefiting customers with a broader range of AI-enabled applications. We believe its integration strength is further highlighted by its AI Cloud, where AI features are bundled together targeted for enterprise customers as well as an agnostic AI model approach to cater to the diverse needs of enterprise customers.
Looking ahead, we anticipate Salesforce's continued expansion in the CRM market, solidifying its position and forecasted its stock to further increase to 26.1% by 2025. In total, we forecasted a 5-year forward average growth of 18% for the company, which is still below its 5-year historical average of 24.4%. Notwithstanding, we derived a price target of $294.61 and rated the company as a Strong Buy.
Tue, 24 Oct 2023 23:31:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://seekingalpha.com/article/4643309-salesforce-ai-to-boost-crm-growthSalesforce CRM Review and Pricing
Editors Score:9.5/10
The Salesforce CRM offers an impressive selection of features, customization options and tailored workflows within a single ecosystem, making it our pick for the best CRM for growing businesses.
The Salesforce CRM is highly customizable; with time, you can modify almost every element to fit your specific business needs.
The lowest-priced plan includes advanced features such as mass emails, marketing campaign management, a drag-and-drop app builder, and lead auto-assignment.
Salesforce has an immense selection of support materials, videos and tutorials, as well as a helpful online community.
Due to the sheer volume of customization and automation options, setting up the Salesforce CRM to match your business's specific processes and needs can be time-consuming. It may require training for your in-house marketing team and administrators.
You must know CSS, HTML and other coding languages to customize specific elements within Salesforce.
Salesforce's pricing model can be confusing; there's a lack of clarity around add-ons, which can drive up costs.
Businesses must successfully convert leads and manage and grow customer relationships to succeed. Salesforce CRM features myriad customization options to achieve these goals, empowering businesses of all sizes – and across various industries – to better understand and support prospects and customers. You can adapt nearly every aspect of the software’s interface and performance to help sales, marketing, customer service and technical support teams succeed. Salesforce CRM features thousands of fully integrated apps, plug-in scripts, and a superior API interface to help businesses create a flexible, customized solution. Once implemented, you’ll enjoy a beautifully designed product that’s speedy, powerful, and perfectly tailored to your company’s specific needs and processes.
Salesforce CRM Editor's Rating:
9.5 / 10
Customization, add-ons and integrations
9.8/10
Why We Chose Salesforce as the Best CRM for Customization
Salesforce is arguably the best-known CRM provider on the market. It has an established community and a well-earned reputation for being a leader in the customer relationship management field. While it was created to meet the needs of enterprises and large businesses, Salesforce has expanded its scope and now actively targets businesses of all sizes.
Unlike more rigid competitors, Salesforce CRM provides countless personalization and customization options, giving businesses a high level of control over how the system looks and acts. We were particularly impressed by how Salesforce handles workflow automation and by its pioneering integration of AI in CRM customization.
Notably, Salesforce was one of the first CRM platforms to open itself up to third-party developers, giving it more apps and customization options than any other provider. If Salesforce doesn’t have a built-in function you need, there’s almost certainly an app to compensate. If not, a developer can create and deploy a specific solution.Â
Salesforce CRM’s initial setup requires time and IT skills. Its learning curve is far steeper than those of many other CRM providers we reviewed. However, you’ll enjoy flexible CRM software guaranteed to accommodate all custom processes and meet the changing needs of your business. For all these reasons and more, Salesforce is our top CRM choice for customization.
Salesforce CRM’s pipeline management feature gives an overview of your sales opportunities. Source: Salesforce
Salesforce may not be the best choice for businesses with less complex operational needs. If your SMB’s CRM needs are straightforward, check out our review of monday.com CRM and monday.com comparison to learn about a well-executed system designed for SMBs.
Ease of Use
Despite its complexities, Salesforce is surprisingly easy to implement and use. Here are some notable ease-of-use factors we discovered.Â
Salesforce’s navigation process is straightforward. We like that Salesforce keeps the navigation process simple. The upper tab-style layout is typical across business and personal software, making it easy to grasp; categories like “Home,” “Contacts,” “Accounts,” “Leads,” “Tasks,” “Reports” and “Opportunities” need no explanation. You can get instant help from the question mark icon in one of the corners of the screen – a handy feature we’ve seen on many other CRM packages.
You can use Salesforce at a limited level out of the box. Because of its numerous features and customizations, setting up the Salesforce CRM takes more time and expertise than other solutions we reviewed. However, we appreciate that Salesforce’s smart default setup options help businesses use the CRM out of the box. You can gradually modify contact, opportunity, account, task and workflow elements as you explore the software’s full scope over time.
Salesforce doesn’t provide practice data. Note that you’ll need data to practice on during onboarding; Salesforce doesn’t supply this. To get practice data, you can duplicate and isolate existing data or use a service like Mockaroo to create dummy data.
Salesforce’s onboarding and support resources are robust. We were pleased to see that Salesforce offers a wealth of support materials, webinars and guides to facilitate the CRM implementation process and resolve usability issues. Its global Trailblazer community is also an excellent resource. Additionally, the vendor promises a two-day query response time.
Onboarding users and updating permissions is straightforward. While in-house administrators may need specific training, we appreciate that Salesforce provides excellent admin controls. Setting up various permissions based on groups or individual users is simple. This is notable because some CRMs allow only admin settings by group. Creating different displays and workflows for various departments and employees is also straightforward. If you have even moderate technical expertise and admin experience, you should have no trouble onboarding users, updating permissions or managing this CRM daily.
Salesforce’s visual dashboards help your team pinpoint problems and work on solutions. Source: Salesforce
Salesforce’s upper-tier plans give business owners access to live support, coaching sessions and adoption guidance for an additional fee. This may be useful if you’re considering switching CRM systems to Salesforce.
Salesforce Features
The Salesforce product boasts an impressive array of CRM features that make it one of the best on the market. Here are some of the most notable features that provide excellent CRM software benefits.
Comprehensive Business Ecosystem
We like that Salesforce’s business products seamlessly integrate. Businesses can grow with the Salesforce CRM and gradually adopt new features as needed. Additional Salesforce product categories include:
Sales Cloud
Service Cloud
Marketing Cloud
Commerce Cloud
Safety Cloud
Heroku (Heroku is an app development platform.)
Quip (a collaboration tool)
Salesforce Platform (with high-level development, customization, analytics and built-in AI)
You can use Salesforce’s impressive range of third-party apps to run many aspects of your company, from marketing to fulfillment. HR, data analytics, workforce collaboration and finance apps plug directly into Salesforce CRM. You can even add ERP apps to Salesforce to build a system close in function to the ERP platform described in our review of Oracle NetSuite CRM.Â
We also like how Salesforce’s AppExchange breaks down apps by industry. There are 12 sector-specific areas on AppExchange, including communications, financial services, manufacturing and professional services.
Salesforce is a capable solution for companies that want to Improve customer service performance. Read our review of Salesforce Service Cloud to discover how it helps supervisors and teams manage ongoing customer relationships.
Customization
We were impressed by Salesforce CRM’s vast customization capabilities – an area where it truly stands out among the competition. While many CRMs we reviewed offer options for customizing deal and contact fields, email templates, and dashboards, Salesforce lets you do much more.Â
Here are some of our favorite customization options:Â
Change how pages look and function. You can change how pages look and function to suit your specific needs. Use the CSS settings to adjust the spacing between page elements, colors and fonts. You can modify customer records to show just the lists, sections and fields you want particular co-workers to see, improving employee collaboration.Â
Use object control to customize the system. The Salesforce CRM’s object control is superior to that of other CRMs we tested. Objects are “fields” within databases (like name, address, email, etc.). Salesforce makes it easy to add objects so you can record exactly the information you want on accounts, contacts and leads. You can set permissions on records and fields to determine who else can view and edit fields. You can even make objects actionable by adding buttons, actions, triggers and links to create processes for adding a new customer, supplier or co-worker to the database.
Use the developer console to create custom apps. We really liked Salesforce’s developer console. Many businesses, particularly SMBs, won’t have in-house programmers but may use freelance developers to develop specific functions within Salesforce. Salesforce gives these developers a dev console where they can write, test and debug code for your custom applications. We found the inclusion of Apex triggers within the dev environment particularly helpful because it will shorten the development cycle in most instances. A developer sandbox and an app builder are included with every plan.Â
Sales managers can customize their dashboards with specific objects. Source: Salesforce
Integrations and Add-ons
We like that CRM users can build customizable systems and integrate their favorite business apps via the Salesforce AppExchange store. Other CRM software companies we reviewed have similar online stores for add-ons, but Salesforce’s is far more comprehensive, with thousands of available integrations.Â
The company makes it easy to search for add-ons based on the product name and view industry-specific product bundles. Because Salesforce is such a huge company, its industry-specific add-ons are expansive. There’s even a separate section for small business-specific add-ons, many of which are free.
On the AppExchange, you’ll find five different solution categories:
Apps: Similar to mobile apps on Apple’s App Store or Google Play, AppExchange apps are direct, preprogrammed plug-ins that interact with Salesforce. You can customize most apps via their settings. Apps add new functions or Improve and augment existing functions on your platform.
Lightning Bolts: Lightning Bolts are prebuilt templates providing extra features to employees, partners, suppliers and anyone accessing your Salesforce CRM. Hundreds of Lightning Bolts have various use cases. For example, there are supply chain management bolts for suppliers, project management tools for employees and tools to access client account information.Â
Flow solutions: Salesforce incorporates Flow Builder, a tool that simplifies workflow automation via a simple drag-and-drop approach. Flow solutions are prebuilt workflows or processes you can import directly into the Salesforce Flow development tool.Â
Lightning data: These are customer tracking tools that can enrich customer and prospect data and keep them updated regularly. We saw four such tools during our review process.
Components: Components are reusable features you can deploy to build your own apps within Salesforce. There are nearly 300 free components and around 30 paid ones.
Salesforce is embracing the “low code” and “no code” trends with its Lightning App Builder and Salesforce Flow drag-and-drop tools. Read our HubSpot review to learn about another CRM with drag-and-drop functionality.
New apps are added to the AppExchange daily, further enhancing its appeal. Source: Salesforce
Intuitive Productivity Tools
We were pleased to see Salesforce’s intuitive productivity-boosting tools, particularly its built-in project management features. (Freshworks has similar tools; read our Freshworks CRM review to learn more.) Once implemented, sales and marketing departments – as well as managers – will find it easy to manage and build workflows, assign and follow tasks, and check off permissions.Â
Salesforce’s visual dashboards allow sales reps to check KPIs and track their progress toward quotas, facilitating productivity and accountability. We like that you can add meetings straight from the calendar tab and see an instant overview of your schedule.Â
Additional add-on productivity tools are available through the AppExchange.
Artificial Intelligence
Salesforce’s artificial intelligence (AI) strides impressed us with capabilities beyond those of the competitors we reviewed. Salesforce was a CRM-AI pioneer, launching its high-profile AI tool, Einstein, in 2016. Today, the company has picked up the pace amid breakthroughs in the generative large language model AIs (like ChatGPT and Bard) that power tools like Einstein. Einstein is available on Salesforce’s upper-tier plans or as a paid add-on.
Einstein can do the following after gathering data from system use and user input:Â
Generate workflows to make companies more efficientÂ
Predict with a high degree of accuracy which deals will close
Deep dive into social media and present you with sentiment analysis about your brand
Help CEO decision-making with decision support systems that give advice based on live analyticsÂ
Einstein, in its current form, is amazing, and we look forward to seeing its next iterations. We expect AI (and the solutions other CRM providers develop) to be integral to corporate life and CRM adoption in the coming years. We’re not awarding best use of AI in this round of CRM reviews; however, if we were, Salesforce would win.
Einstein can flag emails in which leads express critical concerns that could prevent a deal from moving forward, allowing a sales rep to prioritize those messages and act fast to grow and sustain customer relationships.
Salesforce’s Einstein tool can help with sentiment analysis so you understand how your brand is perceived. Source: Salesforce
Trailblazer Community
Nearly every CRM vendor we reviewed has some form of an online community. However, Salesforce’s Trailblazer community is particularly impressive, replete with documentation invaluable for admins. You can find step-by-step guides on everything from creating custom CRM reports to turning on user notifications.Â
There’s also an extensive user-only forum for direct communication with other admins and CRM users and a comprehensive Trailhead learning platform with various product-related courses, upskilling opportunities and official certifications.Â
Salesforce Pricing
You can purchase Salesforce’s Sales Cloud CRM via one of four subscription tiers:
Essentials
Professional
Enterprise
Unlimited
Unlike Salesforce competitors monday and HubSpot, there’s no free plan.
Only Essentials is available on a month-to-month basis; all other plans require an annual contract. Bear in mind that annual contracts often require you to pay for the whole year upfront, which may not be ideal for some businesses.
All costs below are applied when billed annually. All plans allow you to send 5,000 email marketing messages daily from the platform, which is much more generous than many other providers we reviewed.Â
Essentials
Price:Â $25 per user per month; available for up to 10 users
Features: Account, contact, lead, task and opportunity management; lead auto-assignment; prevention of duplicates; automatic capture of a lead’s available web information; mass email; marketing campaigns; customizable reports and dashboards; email integration with Gmail and Outlook; and Salesforce mobile app
Professional
Price:Â $75 per user per month
Features:Â Everything in the Essentials plan, plus pipeline management, lead registration, rules-based lead scoring, collaborative forecasting, a forecasting mobile app, quote and order management, roles and permissions, and a developer sandbox
Enterprise
Price:Â $150 per user per month
Features:Â Everything in the Professional plan, plus workflow and approval automation, sales teams and territories, opportunity scoring, and advanced reporting
Unlimited
Price:Â $300 per user per month
Features:Â Everything in the Enterprise plan, plus a sales engagement hub, AI-powered sales insights with Einstein, sales cadences and 24/7 support
Other Charges
Salesforce is pricey compared to other CRM solutions we reviewed. It’s a massive product with many add-ons and customizations; the subscription costs listed here should be considered jumping-off points.Â
You can spend considerably more on Salesforce. For example, CPQ & Billing, which allows you to quickly configure, price and quote complex solutions, costs $75 per user per month. Other add-ons include Pardot, Quip, Einstein AI and Sales Dialer – all sold separately. There are additional costs if you opt for training or help with implementation.
Many other SaaS products offer free versions and low-cost, entry-level subscriptions that can be used indefinitely. While $25 per user per month isn’t exorbitant, it’s not a realistic long-term option for most small businesses because only 10 users are supported at that level. The next plan jumps to $75 per user per month – significantly more expensive than the competition.Â
We recommend taking advantage of Salesforce’s 14-day free trial to ensure this CRM is worth the investment.
Onboarding and Implementation
Implementing CRM software always takes care and patience. But due to its breadth of customization options, Salesforce CRM’s implementation process can vary drastically, taking anywhere from a few days to several weeks. While that may seem alarming, users will quickly see that this CRM is worth the effort once it is set up.
Salesforce and third-party agencies can manage your initial implementation and launch for you. Still, this help comes at a cost, depending on your company size, number of employees, data volume and complexity, third-party integrations, and customization level.
Fortunately, you don’t necessarily have to create a complex solution immediately. You can use the software out of the box and modify it as your business needs evolve. Thanks to the Salesforce CRM’s intuitive design and overall sophistication, the learning curve isn’t steep for non-admin users after implementation.
In addition to a vast library of training materials, Salesforce offers adoption guidance and coaching services for an extra cost. That may be worth it for business owners concerned about setting up the CRM and onboarding users.
Use the Data Import Wizard from the Setup menu to import up to 50,000 standard objects – like contact, lead and account information – from a CSV file.
Customer Service
While Salesforce is a market leader in CRM technology, integrations and capabilities, we found that it falls short in the customer service department. When we reached out for information about the company’s services, the response was delayed.
When we did communicate with customer support reps, they were very helpful and used real-life situations to explain the product’s features and answer questions about the program. They were very clear and offered several solutions to help further our understanding. However, compared to other providers we called, their answers could have been more detailed.
Unfortunately, Salesforce has a C-minus rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and isn’t an accredited BBB business. It earned 1 out of 5 stars and closed 55 complaints within the last three years. That’s disappointing and surprising for a company that’s so well regarded in the industry.Â
On the plus side, Salesforce provides an extensive selection of self-guided resources, access to the Trailblazer community and basic technical support. Additionally, its Unlimited package comes with 24/7 assistance.Â
For an additional fee of 30 percent of your total monthly service fees, users can access 24/7 phone support, expert coaching and a dedicated account manager.
LimitationsÂ
Salesforce CRM is an excellent solution; however, we did identify some limitations:Â
Customizations can be complex. Salesforce’s biggest strength – its customization capabilities – is also a potential downside. Setting up a fully customized CRM tailored to your business’s specific sales funnel, structure and workflows requires time and, ideally, a dedicated IT team. Entrepreneurs and smaller companies might be better off with an easy-to-use yet still customizable solution like Zoho. (Learn more in our detailed Zoho CRM review and Zoho comparison.)
Salesforce requires technical knowledge. Most of the Salesforce CRM’s customizable elements require some basic technical knowledge of CSS and HTML. This is slowly improving since the introduction of the Lightning App Builder and Salesforce Flow tools. For example, the Lightning Email Templates use a more interactive drag-and-drop functionality, similar to some rival CRMs we reviewed. Salesforce is getting simpler and more intuitive over time. However, it’s not there yet.Â
Pricing can be challenging to understand. Due to the number of available add-ons and platforms, it can be difficult to estimate the final price of your desired CRM solution. However, Salesforce’s sales and support teams are happy to provide a unique quote for your business.
Methodology
When evaluating the best CRM software, we conducted extensive comparative research of dozens of software solutions in the category. Our product review process was designed to help you find the right CRM for your business. It included customer support team communication, trials to evaluate product functionality, and an evaluation of each provider’s tutorials, webinars and support materials. We also took pricing into consideration. When looking for the best CRM for customizability specifically, we examined customization options, available integrations, reporting and analytics, and sales automation.
Salesforce FAQ
Though the Salesforce system has an extensive collection of CRM features and add-ons, its intuitive design and standard CRM lingo make it easy to learn. The vendor also provides various training materials and courses on Trailhead, the company’s free online learning platform, to get you started.
Salesforce doesn’t have a free plan; its pricing starts at $25 per user per month. However, the company offers a 14-day free trial so you can assess whether it’s a good fit for your business.Â
Bottom Line
We recommend Salesforce CRM for …
Businesses that need a flexible and highly customizable CRM solution.
Companies that want access to a large collection of integrations and add-ons to suit their processes and industries.
Businesses looking for a CRM that can expand with their evolving needs.
We don’t recommend Salesforce CRM for …
Businesses that want a free CRM solution or advanced CRM functionality at an affordable price.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses with limited IT resources.
Companies that need a straightforward CRM system that works right out of the box and is easy to customize with no technical skills required.
Nadia Reckmann contributed to this article.Â
Tue, 07 Nov 2023 10:00:00 -0600entext/htmlhttps://www.business.com/reviews/salesforce-crm-software/Salesforce Starter
Salesforce is regarded as one of the best customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for large-scale enterprises, with its Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional tool earning our Editors' Choice award. However, that enterprise-grade CRM is too complex and costly for smaller businesses. On the other end, the company's entry-level Salesforce Essentials offered limited features at a steeper price than its competitors in the small to medium size business (SMB) space. That brings us to Salesforce Starter, a streamlined version of the award-winning platform designed to replace Essentials on Salesforce's menu of CRM options. Starter is specifically targeted toward SMBs, giving Salesforce a seat at the table with HubSpot CRM, Freshsales, and Zoho CRM (our Editors' Choice pick that features deep third-party integrations).
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
How Much Does Salesforce Starter Cost?
Like its predecessor, Salesforce Essentials, Salesforce Starter costs $25 per user per month, billed annually. That's on the higher end of the affordability scale. Still, Starter does a better job than its predecessor of merging usability and scalability with a comprehensive set of sales, marketing, and service tools that won't overwhelm new CRM users.
The most notable bone that Salesforce has thrown to its SMB customers is that you can onboard up to 325 users on Starter, compared with Essentials' 10-user limit. Salesforce aims to make Starter flexible enough to grow with small to medium businesses, so you won't need to jump to a pricier, more complex solution before you're ready.
As with many of its competitors, you can test drive Salesforce Starter for 30 days without a credit card before diving into a yearlong commitment.
If you need more advanced features, Salesforce Professional is the next tier at $80 per user per month, billed annually. This plan adds tools like sales forecasting, quotes and contracts, and third-party API access. Then there are Salesforce's Enterprise tiers that range in cost from $165 to $500 per user per month, billed annually. These include the sophisticated features, high-level customization, and robust library of add-ons that make Salesforce one of the top CRMs.
How does Salesforce Starter fare against its rivals? Let's take Zoho CRM, for example. Zoho's Standard plan costs $14 per user per month, billed annually, making it notably more affordable than Salesforce Starter. Although it lacks the case management and artificial intelligence-optimized tools found in Salesforce Starter, Zoho compensates by offering lead scoring and sales forecasting. Both platforms are evenly matched when it comes to customization, reporting, and ease of use. Ultimately, your choice boils down to your budget and business needs.
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
How to Set Up Salesforce Starter
Salesforce Starter's setup process is one of its most impressive features. In contrast to earlier Salesforce products, Starter practically holds your hand (in a good way) through onboarding. There's still a noticeable learning curve, but you won't need to outsource onboarding to a Salesforce expert. This will save your business money.
To begin, you fill out a brief form and take a short survey regarding your business goals, which will then bring you to a two-minute video. (The video is merely a Salesforce commercial, so you won't lose much by skipping it.). When you're ready to purchase a plan, click the "Buy Now" button in the application's top-right corner to begin the three-step checkout process.
Then you'll see a homepage split into two main areas. The top section, Quick Look, features shortcuts to essential sales, marketing, and service tools. Click on these for a guided walkthrough of those elements, complete with on-page prompts and a sidebar checklist you can either move, minimize, or snooze as needed. The homepage's bottom half highlights your exact sales activities and suggests the next steps based on those metrics.
The top tabs highlight the Accounts, Contacts, Sales, Service, Marketing, Calendar, Dashboard, and Reports sections. Above these tabs are a universal search bar and a notifications button. Guidance Center and Quick Settings offer setup checklists and admin tools, such as adding users or managing your Salesforce subscription.
These are all welcome features, and they make it clear that Salesforce Starter aims to provide SMBs with a turnkey CRM. Starter doesn't support what Salesforce calls "custom objects," which let third-party vendors integrate their software with the platform. That's in contrast to Saleforce's earlier Essentials product, but the benefit here is a less time-intensive setup. This is ideal for companies new to CRMs or smaller teams that lack the resources to allocate for a lengthy onboarding process.
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
Data Transfer and Syncing Options With Salesforce Starter
There are two ways to sign in to Salesforce Starter: the usual email-and-password method or syncing to your Google or Microsoft account. The latter method streamlines the login process and lets you directly upload contacts, emails, and calendar events to the CRM. Salesforce's Einstein Activity Capture automatically links synced data to appropriate deals, granting you more time to focus on revenue-generating tasks. ("Einstein" is Salesforce's catch-all branding for any feature it claims is powered by AI.)
To import sales data, leads, or opportunities, you must upload a CSV file. You can opt to populate your contacts that way, as well.Â
Salesforce Starter's Pillars of Sales Success
The Guidance Center focuses on three main pillars for selling on the platform: Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities. These serve as the backbone of your Starter sales operations, housing all the essential information and functions you'll need to initiate and advance deals.Â
An unobtrusive pop-up walks you through manually entering data for each section. After saving the data, you're taken to an overview page divided into three parts: personal details, exact activities, and other related CRM data such as Cases and Files. This hub streamlines vital sales activities like sending emails, scheduling meetings, and logging calls, eliminating the need to toggle tabs or swap screens.
You can filter Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities with preset or custom list views. Tailor these lists for targeted marketing campaigns or generate quick sidebar charts to track specific metrics on the fly. You also can switch between table, Kanban, and split view formats, whichever suits your workflow best.
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
Maximizing Lead Generation in Salesforce StarterÂ
Although Salesforce Starter's target audience is SMBs, many of which will have little or no experience with CRM software, it offers many features that aid growing companies in executing an efficient lead generation strategy without devoting too much time to grunt work (read: data entry). These tools are found in the Marketing hub. They don't rival what's available from standalone email marketing and marketing automation products, but they'll be a boon to smaller companies that don't want to navigate learning multiple applications for their sales functions.
Cadences, a feature also present in Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional, guides you through the prospecting process by mapping out activity sequences. These sync up with Tasks, which automatically update as leads progress through the pipeline.Â
Sorting leads and automating tasks is seamless, thanks to Segments and Flows. These sections have a visual interface with drag-and-drop elements and dropdown menus, leveling the playing field for people new to CRMs who don't want to be inundated with lines of unfamiliar, confusing code.
The Campaigns tab has an email builder with customizable templates and myriad components for businesses wanting to level up their outreach. Whether you're sending one email or preparing an email blast, the Einstein Send Time Optimization suggests the best times to hit send (you can disable this if you prefer manual timing).
The Performance tab offers a comprehensive view of your ongoing email campaigns so you'll know what's working and what's not. Notably, this component was often the slowest to load during our tests. (For context, we tested the software against the latest version of Chrome on a 2019 Intel-based MacBook Air.)Â
Salesforce Starter lets you send up to 2,000 emails per month, which should suffice for most small businesses. However, if you need to up that allowance, you can pay an extra $10 per month for another 1,000 sends.
Advanced options, such as lead scoring and sales forecasting, aren't part of the package, which is expected given Salesforce Starter's focus on user-friendliness for smaller businesses. Nor is there any integration with social media networks, which is something to keep in mind if you promote heavily on such platforms. However, Zoho CRM is worth investigating if you're looking for such features at a fair price.Â
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
Keeping Clients Happy With Salesforce Starter
In addition to its Sales and Marketing tools, Salesforce Starter also has a Service hub to help manage customer queries. The central feature here is Cases, where you log and view every interaction that a customer had with your company about a given issue. This way, any team member can easily step in and pick up where someone else left off for a smoother transition. (Once again, you can think of this as a subset of what you'd get from a standalone help desk product.)
There's also the Knowledge tab, where you write and publish articles about common customer problems and their solutions, all within the CRM. These articles are searchable and accessible right within each customer case, so you can resolve things quickly and keep things moving.
The last Service feature is Quick Text, designed to speed up outreach by letting you create preset email messages for occasions like birthdays or special promotions. We couldn't fully test this due to a minor bug. Still, it's worth noting that at the time of our test, Salesforce Starter was a just-launched product. As of this writing, it's still only available in a limited number of geographic regions, mainly owing to language localization issues.
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
Measuring Success With Dashboards and Reporting
Salesforce Starter has the weakest reporting capabilities among the full family of Salesforce Sales products. However, compared with most CRM competitors in the small business space (like Freshsales or HubSpot CRM), it's robust without the overkill of advanced features better suited for large enterprises.
Salesforce Starter comes with over 60 customizable report types across 11 categories, such as sales, marketing, service, and admin. You'll also have a range of nearly a dozen chart types, giving you the flexibility to present your data in the most meaningful way. You can organize dashboards according to report types and tailor the formatting to your liking.Â
You can make reports and dashboards public, private, or limited to specific users. With the Subscribe feature, you can opt to receive notifications for report or dashboard updates in real-time or at scheduled intervals.
(Credit: PCMag/Salesforce)
Is Salesforce Starter Easy to Use?
Salesforce Starter aims to be accessible for newcomers to the Salesforce ecosystem or CRMs in general. While the platform is feature-rich, which could potentially steepen the learning curve, the on-page guidance and easy access to the Guidance Center are a boon for smaller teams that may not have the means to bring in a Salesforce expert to train them. There's also the Trailblazer Community, where you can find resources and answers to any questions you may have.Â
Salesforce is known for its high level of customization, and Salesforce Starter also delivers on that front. You can tweak the interface to your liking, which could range from something as basic as choosing between a wide-spaced or compact layout, or going all-in and incorporating the colors and logo of your company for a personal touch.Â
On the other hand, unlike its predecessor, Salesforce Essentials, Salesforce Starter doesn't support the platform's custom objects. As mentioned above, this restricts the range of third-party app integrations that are available. But once again, this is likely intentional given the platform's focus on simplicity for small businesses. If building a tech stack is necessary for your small business, look at HubSpot CRM instead.
Salesforce Starter syncs with the Salesforce mobile app, which is free to download on Android and iOS. While it lacks access to the advanced remote features available in Salesforce's Enterprise tiers, the core functionality should meet the needs of most small to medium businesses.
A User-Friendly Gateway to the Salesforce Platform
Salesforce bills Salesforce Starter as a platform for small- to medium-size businesses seeking a turnkey CRM. It succeeds in that regard, thanks to a straightforward setup process and a focus on core sales, marketing, and service tools. Its scalability and ease of use make it a suitable choice for companies that want to streamline their operations, minus the burden that often accompanies the introduction of new technology. For most SMBs, Salesforce Starter is a fine introduction to the Salesforce ecosystem (or CRMs in general).
There are concessions you must make if you opt for Salesforce Starter. Notably, a lack of support for third-party objects and fewer AI-powered tools than other Salesforce products. The trade-off is a CRM that's essentially ready to use out of the box, barring any tweaks you'll want to make to the interface. Editors' Choice winner Zoho CRM is a better value for your money, but the entry-level Starter is an excellent gateway into the broader Salesforce platform that offers room to grow.
Mon, 23 Oct 2023 23:30:00 -0500en-gbtext/htmlhttps://uk.pcmag.com/crm-software/149272/salesforce-starterSalesforce and Software Stocks Are Slumping. Street Estimates May Be Too High.
Salesforce.com stock is coming under selling pressure Monday after Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin cut his rating on the cloud-based enterprise-software giant as part of a broader call asserting that that Street estimates for 2024 look too optimistic for cloud software.
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Mon, 23 Oct 2023 04:16:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.barrons.com/articles/salesforce-software-stocks-slumping-51e95dadSalesforce Tower Camera 4
David DePape found guilty of federal charges in Paul Pelosi assault
David DePape, accused of bludgeoning former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi​ with a hammer at the couple's San Francisco mansion last year, was found guilty of the charges in a federal court Thursday.
Sun, 28 May 2023 13:28:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/salesforce-tower-cameras/Latest News Mentioning Salesforce
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Maxar Technologies appointed Dan Smoot as CEO of its intelligence business, taking over for interim chief executive Daniel Jablonsky. The company said Monday Smoot is the latest addition to Maxar Intelligence’s new leadership team, which includes CFO Mike Mohn, Chief Product Officer Scott Herman and Chief Human Resources Officer Anat Gan Eden....
Kyle Tobener, head of security and information technology at Copado, said government agencies looking to achieve continuous deployment of secure applications and quick return on investment and facilitate their digital transformation efforts should adopt a low-code DevOps platform. Tobener wrote in an article published on Carahsoft.com how a low-code...
Colorado-based small business V3Gate has received a potential three-year, $178 million delivery order to help the Department of Veterans Affairs renew Salesforce subscription licenses and maintain software applications. The firm-fixed-price order was awarded under NASA’s Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement V contract as work set aside for...
Michael Parker, vice president of business development at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), said government leaders looking to address the talent gap and meet missions should invest in technologies. “With the right investment in technology and talent, leaders can manage through the current challenges and achieve a posture where positive change is a constant...
Scott Brock, vice president of strategy and business development for state and local at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), said chief information officers at state and local government agencies should consider the platform technology they intend to adopt as they advance information technology modernization. “Most have moved into the cloud, but modernizing wi...
Paul Baltzell, vice president of strategy and business development for state and local government at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), said government agencies looking to counter cyberthreat actors and allow internal teams to focus more on strategic efforts should modernize their digital infrastructure with the adoption of an agile, cloud-based platform. Balt...
Mike Mulcahy, a digital transformation and strategy development leader for global public-sector aerospace and government system integrators at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), said the talent shortage in the aerospace and defense industry reflects the need for the industry to keep up with technological developments. “The loss of talent is only the symp...
Karen Hay, digital transformation leader of global public health at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), said government agencies looking to expand access to health care services and mitigate public health challenges should advance digitization. “Digitization helps health workforce challenges as well as addressing the service backlog and supporting expande...
Allan Day, vice president of logistics and sustainment of global public sector at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), said there are three factors government agencies and other public sector organizations should consider to help Improve the decision-making process and address inefficiencies in supply chains post-pandemic. These factors are the development of co...
Syam Nair, a former executive at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), has been named chief technology officer at Zscaler (Nasdaq: ZS) in a move that takes effect May 24. Zscaler said Tuesday that Nair will serve as executive vice president for research and development in addition to CTO. The 25-year technology industry veteran...
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Wed, 09 Mar 2022 18:25:00 -0600en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.govconwire.com/s/company/salesforce/salesforce inc.
Thu, 09 Nov 2023 10:01:00 -0600en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/quote?stockTicker=crmSalesforce, Unity, Asana, others downgraded at Piper Sandler
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Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Unity Software (NYSE:U), Asana (NYSE:ASAN) and several other enterprise software stocks were downgraded at Piper Sandler on Monday, as the firm believes that the coming growth rates may be "overly optimistic."
"While we are encouraged that [software] sector valuations and growth could be nearing a bottom, we have less confidence in acceleration potential," analyst Brent Bracelin wrote in an investor note.
Five risk factors were cited for the downgrades and price target cuts, including concerns that 2024 estimates are too high; an "airpocket" risk as artificial intelligence gets priority over other features; third-party data showing an erosion having occurred in September; little margin for error with current valuations; and "mixed" investor sentiment.
Bracelin downgraded Salesforce (CRM) to neutral from overweight, citing execution and M&A risk, as well as "uncertainty" on the ability to monetize artificial intelligence.
Unity (U) was cut to neutral from overweight on risks to 2024 advertising growth after the developer snafu, while Asana (ASAN) was lowered to underweight from neutral due to concerns over renewals.
Alteryx (NYSE:AYX) was downgraded to underweight from neutral over concerns about a 2024 recovery while Matterport (MTTR) was lowered to neutral from overweight as any acceleration in 2024 is likely "optimistic."
Shares of all five stocks were down in pre-market trading on Monday.
Additionally, Piper Sandler lowered estimates and price targets on 16 enterprise software stocks, including the aforementioned group of five, as well as Monday.com (MNDY), Hubspot (HUBS), Snowflake (SNOW), Freshworks (FRSH) and Expensify (EXFY).
Analysts are largely bullish on Salesforce (CRM). It has a BUY rating from Seeking Alpha authors, while Wall Street analysts rate it a BUY. Conversely, Seeking Alpha's quant system, which consistently beats the market, rates CRM a STRONG BUY.
Sun, 22 Oct 2023 21:06:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://seekingalpha.com/news/4022737-salesforce-unity-asana-others-downgraded-at-piper-sandler