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Salesforce and Big Data Applications for Better Small Businesses

Salesforce and Big Data Applications for Better Small Businesses


Salesforce is one of the most desirable CRM now, serving to businesses of all types and sizes. Serving a lot more than customer relations management, Salesforce is now taking care of end-to-end business tasks like marketing, sales, administration, and customer care all through a single platform. Salesforce started its operations back in 1999 and grown over the last two decades as the greatest cloud CRM application of all times. Now, Salesforce is used widely across the business ventures and highly admired for its built-in features and third-party apps available to expand its functionality.

Salesforce for small businesses

As we can see, Salesforce marketplace features a huge number of apps to take care of any business operations, including scheduling and accessing analytical data. To access these apps, you have to check at the AppExchange to purchase or download the desirable apps. You can find the big names like Google, American Express, T-Mobile, Adidas, Vodafone, and Toyota, etc. functioning on Salesforce platform lately and a Mintigo study shows about three-fourths of the sales customers now have an annual revenue ranging between $ 1 to $50 million.

Given the above facts, one major concern of small businesses is whether is an ideal platform for them? In reality, SMBs can be benefitted the most with the use of Salesforce CRM compared to big organizations. Unlike big enterprises, small businesses tend to have a totally different infrastructure, system compliance, human resources, etc., but Salesforce has custom weaved solutions for all types of organizations irrespective of the industries they function.

Why use CRM for a small business?

The primary reason for Salesforce adoption into small businesses is that it is cloud-based. With this feature, the organizations need not have to maintain any server infrastructure of require hosting space to implement Salesforce. Getting Platform-as-a-Service, Salesforce users need not have to maintain any technical experts also to implement and manage their Salesforce application. So, the only need for users of small business Salesforce applications is a computer or an internet-enabled mobile device.

So, it is a great opportunity for the small to medium businesses to run their CRM with the help of a tablet PC or smartphone. Even if the business is large or small, Salesforce users can enjoy using their apps right from their inbox and also using the tools like Marketing Cloud, Quip, and other admin applications.

Alongside the built-in development tools, there are a lot of third-party applications too which extend the functionality of the Salesforce platform as offered by partners. There are plenty of such apps now available at the official store named AppExchange. Salesforce also has many subscription plans and licenses for the customers to choose. It is possible for the small businesses to set their budget for Salesforce adoption and launch the platform and then later avail add-on services on a pay-as-you-use basis.

Some issues for small businesses on Salesforce

Even though Salesforce is considered to be ideal for small businesses, there are a few issues, too when small businesses try to implement it. Let’s explore some of such issues and how to handle it.

– Salesforce has a big learning curve.
Salesforce has many unique features and operational requirements, so the beginners onto it may initially feel a bit overwhelmed with the need for learning these. Bigger organizations may hire consultants to offer Salesforce implementation and training, which may not always be possible for the small businesses to do. However, with the help of providers like Flosum.com,small businesses too get budget-friendly consulting for Salesforce.

Classic UI to use

The first level users of Salesforce had to access the Classic UI until now, which is a bit troublesome for beginners to manage. However, there is Salesforce Lightning Experience now, which makes it much more accessible for the small organizations as the UI is self-explanatory for all. The navigations and page layouts of Lightening is much simplified for everyone to use it effectively from the first day on.

Cost factors

Even though the cost of Salesforce adoption is affordable for all, some SMBs may soon find the need for add-on features and functions on the go. All these come at additional cost. While using Salesforce, there could also be a need for further integrations and customizations demanding some extra spending.

Small business leveraging Big Data through Salesforce

Big Data is another mystery for small businesses even though they see big corporations taking advantage of it. As of late; however, big data has become a common tool for small business operators too with Salesforce. To fill the gap between the Big Data application and small-scale users, Salesforce DX launched the Wave Analytics platform a while ago. This was one of the most anticipated tools by the small business operators, which was actually launched in partnership with some of the biggest names in data management.

A checklist for small business Salesforce big-data adoption

Here are some key points to check on small business big data adoption.

  • Compare all Salesforce records and ensure that everything is accounted for.
  • Monitor closely for any duplication of data and keep appropriate Salesforce apps for database cleansing.
  • Try to automate tasks by setting up workflow rules.
  • Try to save the reports using logical names which make it easier to find later.
  • Automate the processes like mail sending, etc., which could help save a lot of time and effort.
  • Try to run only one task at a time by learning it in full and gaining optimum benefits of it.
  • As a beginner, always try to get a mentor for Salesforce implementation and operations. There are also many Salesforce forums and groups online where you can get the support of SMEs about different aspects of Salesforce and big data administration.

    Even though there are some flaws and drawbacks for small businesses using Salesforce, there is no doubt about the fact that Salesforce still remains a wonderful application for the small business to streamline their marketing and customer relationships. You may have to do some customization and integrations in initially to get it serves your purpose well, but once on mastering it, Salesforce can take up your entire business administration activities by freeing you up to focus more on expanding your business and increasing the revenue.

    Author Bio
    Sujain Thomas is a writer and SEO expert. Nowadays Sujain manages and writes for Flosum.com. Her primary focus is on “Salesforce DX” . She is responsible for building content that helps IT professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.