There are dozens of CRM solutions in the market, and going by the sales pitch and advertisement brochures, each vendor claims to be the best. Salesforce has acquired immense popularity and brand recognition over the last decade, but why should anyone trust its words over that of its competitors?
Has Salesforce’s rise to do with a better PR/marketing team who has succeeded in spreading the word more than its competitors? NO – here’s why:
1. SaaS Based Advantages
Being a SaaS based offering, Salesforce delivers all the benefits of the cloud. This includes the flexibility to pick and chose the components required, no upfront investment, no time or effort to keep the software constantly updated, and more. Salesforce also does a good job of all these, and this explains why it propelled itself to the top within a very short time.
2. Ease of Use
Salesforce has become the largest and most widely used CRM for a reason – it leveraged simplicity as its USP even as many of its competitors underestimated the need. A CRM is a technical beast, but the people who use it are front line sales staff and marketing professionals, for whom technology may be as comfortable as Greek and Latin. Salesforce has a simple and easy to use interface that even the computer illiterate will not have much difficulty navigating. Everything is served up in an easy-to-understand format.
The best part is that the simplicity does not sacrifice intuitiveness or functionality one wee bit. In fact, the simplicity and ease of use only makes the CRM more powerful, and users can get more out of the suite.
3. Functionality
A CRM is only as good as the benefits users can extract out of it. Even in this regard, Salesforce takes a big lead over its competitors. It has in place an excellent system to integrate different facets of data, and force effective collaboration between multiple departments, centralizing all information related to the customer. It then allows the user unmatched options with the data, accessible the same from any browser, tablet, desktop, smartphone, or any other device.
4. The AppExchange
One way Salesforce makes things easy for its users and adds to its functionality, is through its “AppExchange“. Apps offer ready-made solutions for complex queries with just a click of a button or a single swipe, and Salesforce offers literally thousands of such apps. The apps not only expand the functionality of the CRM manifold, but also allow integration of other services such as LinkedIn and Microsoft Outlook with the CRM, providing even more easy to use capabilities to the user. Users also have the option of picking and choosing the apps they like, making the suite flexible, and keeping costs low.
5. Customization
No two businesses are alike, and what is deemed as “good” or “essential” may not be the case for the next business. Salesforce is popular across the board as it allows tailoring reports and analytics to the specific needs of its users. This CRM offers a wide range of customization possibilities, unmatched by its competitors. In fact, Salesforce is as good as a custom-developed suite.
6. Excellent Support
For most CRM solutions, support is deploying a customer support team for users to contact when a problem arises. And if the customer service team is knowledgeable and dedicated to walk through users to resolve issues, even better. Salesforce has this, but does much more. It has invested in providing its users with an astonishing array of blogs, articles, webinars, videos, user-guides and other resources, which empower customers, make them aware of the possibilities, and provide answers without having to ask questions.
7. Security
In today’s cyber-environment, where cyber-criminals have a free run, it is important to protect the company’s online resources and assets from attack. The consequences of a cyber-attack go beyond downtime or loss of data. Loss of third party data to hackers could result in costly lawsuits that can wreck the business. Salesforce delivers on this front, having in-built state-of-the-art firewall protection, intrusion detection systems, and proprietary security products, to ensure that sensitive information is not lost or compromised.
The best part of using Salesforce CRM is that it provides different benefits to different users. It makes things simple for the salesman, easy for the time harried marketing professional, and empowering for the tech geek who’s into analytics. Such flexibility is the underlying reason why Salesforce makes for the best CRM you can have for love or money.
If you would like to know more about how we can make Salesforce work for you, read about our expertise, or Email us: services@suyati.com
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