Salesforce Editions. Keys for a successful selection.

If you have already decided to adopt Salesforce CRM, you may find yourself in the dilemma of choosing which of its editions is more suitable. For a successful selection, you must have a complete vision of your business, in addition to considering your needs and expectations to satisfy them.

We want to help you select the ideal Salesforce edition based on: prices, type of organizations in which they can be used, features, updates and limitations. The most significant thing to consider is the identification of the elements that you cannot forget about prior to making your selection.

Salesforce offers 5 editions: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer. They have similarities, but differ in functionality and price. Generally, businesses start by adopting the basic edition (Essentials) and, as they diversify, they assume advanced editions that contain features of the previous ones and include new functionalities.

Salesforce Essentials

This was developed to meet the basic needs of an organization that does not require advanced customer relationship management or extensive customization possibilities. It includes a configuration wizard, a friendly user interface, and administration tools to customize your deployment as it expands.

• Price: $ 25 / user / month.
• Organization type: small businesses (up to 10 CRM users).
• Characteristics:
  • Lead management.
  • Account, contact and opportunity management.
  • Sales tasks and event management.
  • Sales reports with configurable reports and dashboards.
  • Collaboration between employees using Salesforce Chatter.
  • Mobile access to Salesforce CRM through the Salesforce1 app.
  • Sales processes automation with the Process Builder.

Salesforce Professional

Designed for small and medium-sized businesses that require the full functionality of a CRM, it includes friendly and easy-to-use tools that allow customization, integration and administration to be carried out.

• Price: $ 75 / user / month.
• Type of organization: companies with a sales team between 11 – 60 members.
• Characteristics:
  • Numerical rating based on rules that indicate the degree of interest that your potential customers have with the products and services (rule-based lead scoring).
  • Contract management.
  • Lists of products and prices according to type of market, department, region, clients, etc.
  • Lightning Sync lets you sync contacts and events between any device connected to Microsoft Exchange and Salesforce.
  • Sales forecasting to estimate the amount of products or services that will be sold in an estimated period (it can be by agent, sales team, territory, company, etc.).
  • Developer Sandbox to develop and test new features in a non-production environment.
  • Quotes and orders management.

Salesforce Enterprise

Used to facilitate collaboration between sales teams, Sales Enterprise allows you to fully meet your automation needs with default and customizable tools. It provides access to the creation of profiles, which helps in the definition of roles, hierarchies and permissions for your team according to the function that they perform.

It also includes access to Salesforce APIs to integrate third-party systems. This is an added strength for businesses starting out with Salesforce for the first time. They would also be able to completely reuse the information stored within their databases.

• Price: $ 150 / user / month.
• Type of organization: large-scale companies (more than 1 sales department and more than 50 members per sales team).
• Characteristics:
  • Workflow and approvals automation, which directly impacts the time and speed with which activities are carried out.
  • Possibility for the members of the sales team to collaborate and work in the same business (opportunity teams).
  • Opportunity to share income among members of the sales team according to their contributions (opportunity splits).
  • Advanced reporting features.
  • Unlimited automation capabilities with Process Builder and Flow Builder.
  • Unlimited number of user profiles, roles and permissions, page layouts, and record types per object.
  • Lightning Platform to build and manage applications with point-and-click tools or code.
  • API to integrate Salesforce with third-party systems.
  • Up to 100 Sandbox environments to develop and test new functionalities.

Salesforce Unlimited

Helpful for organizations that need a rich set of features, storage capabilities, and support. Salesforce Unlimited strengthens large-scale process automation, customization through Apex code, and integration through APIs. It includes all the functionalities that you require according to the complexity of your commercial processes and the necessities of your clients and prospects.

• Price: $ 300 / user / month (billed annually).
• Organization type: enterprise level (multiple sales departments and more than 250 members per sales team).
• Characteristics:
  • 24/7 support and configuration service.
  • Access to premier success resources (knowledge bases, interactive webinars, etc.).
  • Access to configuration services performed by a certified Salesforce administrator.
  • Access to individualized coaching sessions with a Salesforce consultant.
  • Developer Support that provides troubleshooting tips and advice based on Salesforce best practices.

Salesforce Developer

Provides access to the Lightning platform and API. It allows experienced developers to create applications and customizations to extend Salesforce and integrate it with existing ones, enabling the development of new tools.

When to update Salesforce editions?

So far you have had a successful evolution of your business with the Salesforce edition that you have implemented. However, this has resulted in the appearance of new needs and expectations that demand an improvement of your current functionalities.

This is a sign that you need an update. Performing it only requires the payment of the difference between your current edition and the planned one. Do not wait for your license to expire. As soon as you identify that you have new business needs, anticipate and make the changes necessary to match those needs.

For an accurate selection of the Salesforce edition, you need to consider the organizational complexity, along with the customization requirements. The alignment of your business needs, along with the operational capabilities and limitations of each of the editions, should also be evaluated.

What are the limitations of the Salesforce editions?

Keys to a Successful Selection of the Salesforce Edition.

1- Needs of your business.

You must define the objectives and results you want to achieve to optimize your processes, the key performance indicators, the efficiency of your team and the relationships with your customers, which will consolidate their loyalty.

2- Work team.

Take into consideration the skills and size of your work team. It is important to have the right people to meet your goals. If your workgroup is small, the Essentials edition may be sufficient. If, on the other hand, you have a considerable number of workers, you must assess the rest of the editions.

3- Budget available.

Mainly for small and medium-sized businesses, cost is often a key consideration. This can limit your options; therefore, you must determine the minimum set of features your business needs to get started. As income is generated, you will then be able to expand the benefits of your services.

Examining the elements exposed above and comparing the characteristics and limitations of each edition will help facilitate your decision. Selecting the edition that best suits your needs will allow you to execute the activities efficiently and, as a result, you will obtain an increase in the profitability of your business.

If you require assistance in selecting, implementing, and updating any of the Salesforce editions, you can email us at hello@theskyplanner.com. We will put at your disposal consultants from our team to guide you in this challenge and achieve the proposed objectives.