Every company needs sales. No sales no business. Period. If a sales process is not in place, sales may happen and up to a scale. However, in sales scenario after a level one can earn a bad reputation as there would be no follow up, or too many calls, no fulfillment of promises and no required support to get the decision. Issues gain momentum and that things could get out of hand. That is why it is better to have a customer relationship management process in place is a must. It is being managed using software. A CRM is a software tool used by teams to track the interactions one have made with one's contacts and customers and manage follow-ups. Sales process need to be more efficient to make more sales.

Companies are using various cloud technologies and services for themselves and for their customers. Sales are no exception. Companies are using CRM software in cloud for their sales process. Salesforce is a cloud computing company, based at San Francisco with competitors from all over the world - SAP, Sugar CRM, Dynamics and Zoho. Salesforce is a renowned customer relationship management tool (CRM) in the cloud to keep track of and strengthen a company’s relationship with its existing and potential clients. Salesforce is popular as it provides the fastest path from Idea to App and as a result it has been creating deep impact all over the cloud domain. Sales cloud is the most used among various products of Salesforce.

Salesforce is better than other technologies for various reasons. Ease of use for various companies among various industries stands most, otherwise it would be difficult to get user acceptance. Many of the users of Salesforce need not be technical people. It is easy to use compared with few other CRMs due to ease of tailoring to their needs. Ease of use is due to its inherent flexibility and customization possibilities. Hence, most businesses and their business models could use the Salesforce without a steep learning curve. If one wants to get exposure Salesforce offers various sources such as blogs and article posts, webinars, and hosts its own YouTube channel with videos covering a full spectrum of topics, besides user guide. If none of it works, one can access technical and customer service team of the company to resolve their issues. They can take users through any situation or problem that arises.

Ease of use should not come at the cost of functionality. Half solutions are not acceptable to most companies. Salesforce offers great system of integration and functionality. One can do backward integration with various kinds of data and technologies. Salesforce can be integrated with the platforms and widely used tools like LinkedIn and Microsoft Outlook, thus there are no gaps in the flow. Full integration is possible between various platforms and services with Salesforce. Salesforce Security front is also robust and has its own dilemmas and issues.

Companies always want growth. Salesforce facilitates companies to measure and monitor their efforts and the expected success of their marketing campaigns. Salesforce process can be customised, optimized and automated. As it is a cloud service, anyone can access from anywhere in the world, provided one has internet access.

Salesforce provides various tools and resources to diverse team members to maximize their efficiency and productivity so as they can serve present and future customers. However, true to its cloud culture, there is an AppExchange, with around 3000 apps, is a marketplace of easy to access, download, and install apps that provide users with even more resources, options, and expanded functionality. It is also a wellspring of new ideas and possibilities, and a testing ground to test and fine tune to use Salesforce for results.

Salesforce has its share of dislikes and critiques. Most sales people find soon that Salesforce wasn’t built for the sales people or the sales team. There is too much data to enter. Salesforce is for the company to organize sales process and systems. Some perceive Salesforce is too demanding, controlling and with no flexibility as every field needs something in it. In some companies, it can create a rift between marketing and sales as marketing people want data and sales people need to enter too much data into Salesforce.

Developers have their own set of issues such as they cannot do easy things due to the inbuilt limitations such as limits, in the removal or creation of the features they can do with the other CRMs, and Salesforce is not that simple, easy when records are more and one need to be queried. However, Salesforce is always listening to the feedback and has been improving. For finance people in the company, Salesforce is a relatively costly affair as it is not one time cost and every additional service needs money.

Salesforce - New Career Opportunity for Techies and Non Techies

Salesforce is fast becoming a career choice for many individuals while it is becoming synonymous with the cloud services. Many companies are developing their applications on Salesforce platform or are migrating to Salesforce. This has increased the demand for Salesforce developers and administrators.

Salesforce is a hot skill as of right now. Even though no technology will ever last forever, it is expected that Salesforce will lead the cloud services at least for another five to ten years. Too many opportunities are opening up and many more are available.

Better job, better career path, better salary and a more challenging job role are influencing many to jump into the Salesforce. Even seniors with decades of experience from traditional technologies like ERP, SAP, Oracle, and IBM are also entering the Salesforce due to stagnating growth, increasing competition and opportunities and reaching saturation in those technologies.

Salesforce is not too tough to learn. One can learn on one’s own as well besides various trainings- online and offline- with diverse objectives and price points are available. You are expected to know basics of java or c# or any other object oriented programming language to play with Salesforce. Work experience with C# and Java is always beneficial to design and deploy the responsive applications. Master your Object Oriented Programming (OOP) skills before learning Salesforce to master the Salesforce. Learn Salesforce Admin, then Salesforce Programming and then Integration to emerge successful. Certifications help to gain the interview.

Salesforce has many career paths. However, most of the career paths start with Admin only. Learn the technology to start with and then plan your path as you like. Some of the roles in Salesforce are: Developer, Sr. Developer, Lead Developer, Implementation Consultant, Project Manager (Product Development), Platform Architect, System Architect, Principle Architect, Business Analyst, Sr. Business Analyst, Lead Business Analyst, Project Acquisition Manager, Project Delivery Manager, Platform Consultant, System Consultant, Analyst, Sr. Data Analyst Migration Expert BI Analyst, Senior BI Analyst, Consultant BI Architect BI, Marketing Analyst, Campaign Officer, Marketing Automation Manager, Marketing Platform Consultant, Marketing Platform Architect, Marketing Strategies Head(Technical). One many search with those search strings along with the key word Salesforce.

If one wants to be self employed, one can become consultant by doing domains and modules in Salesforce such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Communities, Mobile Platform, and Analytics. Integration between Salesforce and any other tool also opens new opportunities. BI tool Tableau with Salesforce is one of the most in demand skill. Non Techies need not feel abandoned. In Salesforce domain, while one with programming skill and interest can become a Salesforce Platform developer and others with no programming aptitude or interest can become a Business Analyst or functional consultant as Salesforce technology is around 20% code and 80% clicks to build applications.

Consider Salesforce. Make use of the boom and, enjoy the ride, however, don’t be complacent, and rest. Keep a watch on what’s going on out there, be open and curious and keep learning.

Some of the certifications are

• • Salesforce Certifications for Administrators

• • Salesforce Certifications for Architects

• • Salesforce Certifications for App Builders

• • Salesforce Certifications for CPQ Specialists

• • Salesforce Certifications for Developers

• • Salesforce Certifications for Implementation Experts or Consultants

• • Salesforce Certifications for Marketers

• • Salesforce Certifications for Pardot Experts

Every entrant into Salesforce could begin with learning Salesforce Admin and App Builder modules. Company insider says these two modules are relatively easy to learn and master and are in demand certifications. Some employers even keep these as minimum requirement to qualify. It is better to get certified in both. Companies prefer certified professionals and they keep that as a minimum requirement.

Any professional to stay marketable has to stay ahead of change. Learn to learn. Learn to master, Learn to transfer and apply. Realize that you’re not learning the Salesforce; you are learning concepts, attitudes, languages, and transferable skills to the Salesforce of the future. Invest in learning!