Salesforce is currently the No.1 CRM platform, which lets all size of businesses manage their marketing, sales, and customer service all in one place. Launched actually in 1999, Salesforce has now become one of the top-notch platforms in cloud CRM. It is widely used by business ventures across the spectrum for its ability to customize the user experience by leveraging its built-in features and other third-party apps.
The Salesforce marketplace also features many apps to manage end-to-end marketing processes, scheduling and accessing the analytical data, etc. In order to access such apps, you may first try to browse at the AppExchange and try to download or purchase the ones which you need the most. If you are planning to add some new applications with regard to your small business requirements, here are the top choices to make.
The best Salesforce apps for small business
As we know, without doubt, Salesforce is a leader in the CRM market which stands out among other similar options for its high level of customizability, limitless integration capabilities, and a large number of apps, plug-ins, and add-ons that are regularly getting updated from time to time. In fact, there are many big business corporations already no this platform from a wide range of industry domains, and many of the business experts choose Salesforce as the most preferred CRM platform.
On checking the list of Salesforce users, you can find names like T-Mobile, Google, American Express, Vodafone, Adidas, Toyota, etc. As per research run by Mintigo, about 3/4th of the customers on Salesforce now have an annual revenue averaging $ 1 million to 50 million. Given these figures, one thing small business owners wonder is whether Salesforce can be a good option for small-scale businesses or startups?
In reality, compared to big organizations, small to medium-size businesses may have a totally different technology infrastructure, human resource, system compliances, etc. However, Salesforce is fit for all types of organizations, whatever their industries are and what size they are. There are also some additional considerations for the usage of CRM for small businesses.
Why is CRM ideal for a small business?
Speaking generally, to its core, Salesforce is largely friendly to small to medium size businesses. The primary reason for it is that Salesforce is cloud-based, and the company need not possess any high-cost server network or technical architecture to adopt Salesforce. There is also no need to hire any additional technical experts for the upkeep and support of the Salesforce application. So, everything that an organization needs to do in terms of deploying Salesforce is to have a laptop or PC or even a mobile device.
Considering this, it is a great option for small businesses to even run their company by using a smartphone or a tablet regardless of what business you are running. Irrespective of being large scale or SMB, the users of Salesforce have the opportunity to use the apps from their inbox and also from the tools like Quip, Marketing Cloud, admin apps, etc. among others. More importantly, there are a large number of application developers now as Salesforce partners at Flosum.com and other such services, and there are plenty of apps available to work well with Salesforce on the official store of AppExchange.
Apart from the accessibility factor, another big thing that makes Salesforce ideal for small companies too is the fact that it puts forth many subscription plans and licenses for the customers to choose from. Each customer can decide how much to pay as a monthly subscription based on their personalized needs and budget. They get exactly the functionalities that they want for a certain number of business users and need to pay for only what they avail.
Some issues to consider
However, there are still some concerns on the side of SMBs in terms of Salesforce usage. The major complaint is that SMBs are not there in the Salesforce focus. However, Salesforce had pioneered SMB market once with the launch of its new CRM, but today there are endless alternatives that aim specifically at the small to medium businesses. Here are a few reasons why SMEs used to choose alternative options other than Salesforce.
The bigger learning curve
As Salesforce addresses many business needs on the same platform, it has a lot of features and clouds, and a simple end-user may get overwhelmed with the initial load. The bigger organizations may be able to solve this easily by hiring a consultant who can provide training to users and get them on board to use it effectively. In terms of local businesses, it may not be an option to hire an additional resource for training purposes.
The UI
Until recently, first level Salesforce had been accessing the Classic UI, which was a bit troublesome to learn and manage. However, after the current Lightning Experience got introduced, it has become a breeze to use Salesforce now as the UI speaks for itself. The enhanced page layouts and navigations to make things easier for the individual small business users to excel in Salesforce usage.
The cost
Despite the low cost initially, some of the SMBs may find the need for advanced functionalities sooner or later, which comes at a price. There could also be a need for customization and integration, which may result in extra spending.
However, despite these minor facts, Salesforce surely remains a wonderful platform for small businesses too to streamline their sales and customer relations through it. While some of the SMBs still wonder whether it is an ideal CRM for small businesses, there are many others who actually turn it into one of their need. You may have to do some integration and customizations for sure, but with a solid community to support and the availability of plenty of skilled resources online and offline; it is not a big deal for anyone to land safely on this platform.
As about 20% of the CRM, the market is now taken over by Salesforce, and the competitors are lagging far behind, the numbers speak in favour of Salesforce as the most reliable platform for SMBs too. So, investing in such a CRM may be largely important for businesses and can prove out to be fully worth the money invested in it is widely implemented.
Author’s Bio
Sujain Thomas is a writer and SEO expert. Nowadays Sujain manages and writes blogs. Her primary focus is on “Salesforce, DX”. She is the one who is responsible for building content that helps IT professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.
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