“Customer relationship management (CRM) manages your business’s single most important goal – satisfying your customers. A highly effective customer relationship management system will encompass and enhance all aspects of customer interface, from sales and marketing to customer service.” – Salesforce.com
CRM forms the core heart of any business. It works as the connecting link between the organization, customers and even prospects. A good CRM solution would encompass all necessary information required to maintain an effective relationship with clients. One big name in the world of CRM software solutions is Salesforce – the world’s no. 1 CRM. Considered a ‘customer success platform’, it is customizable, robust and flexible nature makes it most sought after, for organizations worldwide.
For leveraging the optimum out of Salesforce applications, there are basically two options available:
Both these concepts are popular but understood interchangeably. Organizations find it difficult to choose which one to opt for. Let us go into stepwise details of what each of these means and when should you be using what.
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Salesforce configuration focusses on everything that you can do, inside the system, without a lot of customized coding. You can do most of it yourself, of course, with some external help. It is basically configuring your needs to the system, not changing much of the basic structure. Here are some of the key characteristics of a configurable Salesforce application:
Salesforce customization talks about dealing with the custom development of code to develop features that can seamlessly integrate with your workflow and business processes. It is a step further to Salesforce configuration and is applicable for cases where configuration doesn’t serve the purpose. Here are certain major features of customizing a Salesforce app:
Salesforce Configuration | |
Pros | Cons |
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Salesforce Customization | |
Pros | Cons |
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Salesforce Configuration | Salesforce Customization |
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Does your Salesforce administrator have knowledge about coding, or do they just manage admin functionalities? |
Do you have in-house development resources or are you going to outsource your development work? |
Have you approached the end limit to the configuration but have more to develop? |
Do the out-of-the-box functionalities fulfill your purpose? |
Can your business processes be accomplished with configuration? |
Do you need to do everything inside the system, without much custom coding or you need to involve custom coding to build certain features that aren’t a part of the initial program? |
Do you have enough budget and time to build customized applications over the initial one? |
Is your infrastructure capable of imbibing newer tools and technologies to carry on customization? |
Have you judged your business objectives and how close they are to the available Salesforce solution? |
Are you well versed with the competency and skills of the Salesforce team that you have? |
You can choose Salesforce Configuration when
You can choose Salesforce Customization when
To each its own. Choose, either way, both have their own set of pre-requisites to choose from. Both, Salesforce configuration and customization are vital for organizations to achieve their business goals. Depending upon the above-mentioned parameters, circumstances and basic requirements, companies can choose on which one to opt for. The best way is to go in for configuration at first and attempt to do it at its best. After optimum configuration, if the organization feels there are still more components that need to be present, for best usage, go in for customization and append the missing ones. That sounds like the best way, but then, you can always differ. If the organization has a vision of customization right from start and is competent to do it, why not!
Understanding how to configure or customize CRM isn’t easy. It needs an expert Salesforce service company to help do it, the best. Taking help of a good Salesforce customization and development partner will surely be helpful to companies to take their business to a totally next level.
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