Free «Salesforce Company» Essay Paper

Introduction

Salesforce is a global cloud computing company located in America and best known for its customer relationship management product. The paper gives a brief history of the company, i.e. when it was launched and who founded it. It also identifies the products offered and further explains how they work. It is one of the largest American cloud computing companies. Other enterprises that use salesforce services are discussed below.

Brief History

Salesforce Company was founded and launched on February 1999, locating its headquarters in San Francisco, California, the United States of America. It was established by Marc Benioff, former Oracle executive, as well as Dave Moellenhoff, Parker Harris and Frank Dominguez (Michael, 2004). The entity was put in place to offer software services. Afterward, the company was listed under the symbol of CRM at the New York Stock Exchange in June 2004. This enabled the entity to raise $110 million dollars. The major shareholders were Magdalena Yesil and Marc Benioff (Michael, 2004). They were the potential investors and at the same time board members. In July 2012, the company applied for a trademark to register definition “social enterprise” in the United States, Jamaica and EU.

 

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Products Offered

The company provides cloud computing solutions through customer relationship management (CRM), Internet or load applications. The company is able to deliver its products and services to the customers through mobile devices and Internet browsers. Its platforms and social applications are marketed on a subscription basis to other businesses (Saleforce). This is done either directly or indirectly; direct sales permeate into different markets while indirect ones involve operations with business partners. It serves its clients through a third party centre that has data for all its customers. The applications offered to the market include Sales Cloud, Salesforce Chatter, Radian6, and Data.com (Berlind, 2007).

These applications help the customers form a system and process for sharing and tracking information concerning sales leads, sales opportunities, sales processes, sales forecasts and the enclosed businesses. It also substantially contributes to sales management. Furthermore, customers are able to have an additional advantage of managing information that is not structured in the form of presentations, prices lists and video assets. Moreover, Sales Cloud comprises other management functions and marketing automation systems. Such additional services include partners’ portal and channel management.

How It Works

The company markets automation features that are customer-supportive due to service cloud. Such features allow the users to engage and interact with their customers. They are able to seek answers to the prevailing problems through a channel integrated to all customers. Such centres may be informed of call centre phones, chat and email; Self-service web portal offers collaboration with customers and interaction with the whole community at large within the social network. As a result, the customer service agents gain skills and knowledge on how to serve their clients in the best way. This progress leads to customer satisfaction, which in turn results in customer loyalty.

ExactTarget Marketing Cloud, also referred to as the Marketing Cloud, is a platform created for marketing purposes. It is a way of products or services’ promotion that uses one-to-one marketing strategy. It enables to deliver digital marketing together with an interaction at a personal level with any customers who are connected to Internet. “The Company has created a marketing platform that allows marketers to manage their digital marketing, including email, mobile, social, web, marketing automation and data analytics, from a single platform” (Lizette, 2001). This may be carried out through phones, email, social networks and web. Companies are able to deliver data sourced from different places and make it available to customers at the same time. From these digital marketing clouds, the client’s information or data can be routed into other clouds such as Service Cloud and Sales Cloud in the form of contacts, leads and customer service. Moreover, the customers’ complete opinion about the offered quality of services and products can be collected easily.

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One Cloud is a platform created to develop applications for customers. It is delivered as a service to guide users in building applications for business without facing the challenge of software and hardware management and control. Salesforce 1 Platform is used by companies to connect all their devices, applications and data, making it available and accessible to any customers’ devices. Any app is made mobile and social by this platform since it provides features built in the social network, such as feeds, status updates, optimized interface and profiles. Additionally, Salesforce 1 Platform provides customers in different and separate environments with the ability to produce copies of their organisations in multiple forms, fulfilling various purposes, such as training and testing.

Additional Products and Services

Apart from different types of clouds offered by Salesforce, it also provides deployment, training and consulting services to its potential customers. These facilities further help the company to adopt its enterprise services that are social in their perspective (Petersen, 2008). Disposition services include technical development and architecture, system integration, data configuration and conversion, as well as customised educational programs development, making them available to their customers. Consulting services involve mapping of business processes, management of projects and guidance of their customers on the best ways and methods to incorporate the system into their businesses, as well as maximum potential of such systems utilisation (Petersen, 2008). Most of its deployment and consulting services are charged based on the materials used and the time taken to offer those services. A number of traditional classrooms together with online classes are provided for educational purposes that address current problems affecting the relationship with companies and their key customers (Petersen, 2008). The classes mostly deal with issues related to deployment and consultation; for instance, how to administer and use Salesforce services. It also offers further training of their partners who deploy its services and products on behalf of its buyers or consumers. Various companies that use Salesforce for customer relationship management have benefited significantly (Greene, 2000).

Companies Using Salesforce Services for CRM

1. LEVIEV Company

LEVIEV Extraordinary Diamonds is one of the companies that cooperate with Salesforce (Wade, 2005). It is one of the largest and the most exclusive diamond selling corporations in the world. The key success of the company can be explained by its ability to offer high quality products. It sells diamonds in London, New York, Singapore and Dubai while valuing any interaction and relationship as important. According to Raps, the CEO of LEVIEV Company, “With one-of-a-kind diamonds, there’s no sale without trust in the brand. Salesforce helps us connect with our clients better and be more knowledgeable when we’re speaking to them (Wade, 2005). Our relationships with customers are the most important part of our business.” The company is able to create a customer-centric “jewel box”, an application that maintains history of each and every customer together with the type of diamond purchased and the views of the client. The app stores all photographs, any piece of jewellery and gemstones purchased by the specific customer. It also presents products, which the company is processing or planning to design and embody in the near future together with a wish list for specific customers. The application can be accessed by individual clients only and their sales associates at a personal level (Wade, 2005).

Simultaneously, Salesforce assists LEVIEV Company in jewellery design and creation. Apart from collection of the stones, the sketches are uploaded to Salesforce by the designers in order for the client to view it easily. By viewing the stone, the clients or his/her associates are able to note any difference in the stone designed and the customers’ requirements. Any difference is made before the jewellery is created. As a result, customers’ specifications are made, reducing losses in cases when jewellery can be returned because it does not meet the clients’ requirements and specifications. Furthermore, Sales Cloud helps the company to identify the jewellery ordered by the customer as well as create a strong relationship with clients to foster the growth of the business. Sales associates are provided with better access to every item they need due to Salesforce1 Mobile Application. This means that the firm is focused on one-to-one relationship with the help of applications provided by Salesforce (James, 2001).

LEVIEV Company is also able to exhibit available gemstones and capture their sparkle and colour adequately through a custom catalogue on the Salesforce1 Platform. The sales associates easily show inventory in the worldwide boutiques of the company. They can quickly access high-definition photos of up to ten thousand of unique stones and jewellery designs on their iPhones and iPads.

2. City & County of San Francisco, Department of Technology (DT)

It is a home of technology with many experts endowed with technological skills and knowledge. The government uses it to connect with citizens. Salesforce enables them to take advantage of everything to serve the country’s residents in a better way. The website serves all the citizens and benefits them in different ways. For example, it helps them to access social and urgent services, pay taxes and fees, register businesses, and also obtain reliable information concerning recreational activities. The CEO confirms that the years before the launch of some clouds at Salesforce, the services were static and the response rate was very low. Due to a large population, not all people can access the offices to seek some information and other services. Therefore, Salesforce application enables such people to access this information and perform their duties in less costly way. Online application is also beneficial to Department of Technology such that it increases the rate at which public opinion can be collected and analysed to improve the services provided.

San Francisco also utilises social media to pass messages on any service disruptions and any events, even informing the public on the breaking news. Marketing Cloud provided by Salesforce helps city agencies, including transit authority, mayor’s office, board of directors, commissions and other departments of public utilities, as well as Department of Energy to interact with citizens. In the process, the country is able to ensure that each and every individual has an equal chance and opportunity to participate and contribute actively to every conversation aimed at resolving issues negatively affecting the United States. Despite a number of people who use social media on a daily basis, Marketing Cloud enables the city to reach specific individuals whom it intends to connect to. In this regard, Ron Vinson, CMO of Department of Techhnology, says, “Salesforce helps us find influencers for a particular topic like the environment so when we have an event or need to reach out about an issue, we can reach the right people at the right time” (Deborah, 2004). Additionally, the city is performing more of its work on mobile applications. As a result, it is able to connect directly to all citizens.

3. The General Electric (GE) Aviation

The third company that uses customer relationship management (CRM) provided by Salesforce Company is the General Electric (GE) Aviation. The company was founded by Thomas Edison, offering a variety of services ranging from healthcare and consumer appliances to power generation. The main aim of the firm is to make its products socially connected, building a very close relationship with all its customers. The company began applying services of Salesforce to manage its opportunities and connect with clients. Thus, Salesforce connected different people from different locations. The greatest number of individuals that were brought together with the help of the clouds developed by Salesforce consisted of marketing and sales people.

According to Beth Comstock, CMO of the GEs, the connection was very fast, giving everyone involved the background information concerning their customers (Lizette, 2001). GE Aviation has also actively employed Chatter adds to escalate sales. These adds are used while responding to customers’ questions and complaints, sharing documents and receiving immediate responses. The instantaneous feedback has a positive effect on the commercial business since the increase of the rate at which information flows from the firm to the customers reduces costs and saves time, hence enhancing profits.

Applications and social networks have helped GE Aviation to promote its brands and become more accessible to customers. Using Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the managing entity is able to innovate and meet customer demands (Lizette, 2001). These are great sources of opportunities and ideas that can be implemented for future inventions. Basing on the services provided by Salesforce Company, the new GEnx jet engine, which is currently used in Boeings 787 Dreamlineer, proves the ability to provide newsfeeds being accessed by service team through their mobile phone devices (Lizette, 2001).

4. Philips Company

Philips Company is able to become a customer-centric entity with the help of Salesforce. It offers innovative healthcare, lightning and consumer lifestyle services (Deborah, 2004). According to the company, for one to be successful in the 21^st century, one should be agile and relevant locally and globally. Through Salesforce services, Philips Company has improved the lives of many individuals in the world. The president of Global Commercial Excellence, Wim Van Gils, confirmed that the company is moving towards solving emerging problems locally and on a global scale. He says that Salesforce has enabled them to come up with processes, tools and new ways of doing chores. The tools developed are collaborative in nature, enabling the firm to take care of all customer needs, and specific markets consumers in particular (Deborah, 2004). With Salesforce, the entity obtains a deeper understanding level of its customers’ requirements under different market conditions. Therefore, the company is in the best position to produce high quality products in large quantities to meet the needs and avoid shortages that may arise due to increased level of customer demand.

Sales Cloud provides operations and helps sales workers in different parts of the world, such as Africa, Netherlands and Brazil, to interact with each other on a daily basis (Greene, 2000). This enables them to share their ideas, knowledge and skills, hence arriving at the best solutions to the prevailing problem. The electronic firm also incorporates Service Cloud to offer the global view of customers for more than seven thousand call centres and engineers in the field. Therefore, they provide services that merge with the requirements. Chatter add makes it easier to collaborate and share the information across geographical areas with different time zones (Greene, 2000). Marketing Cloud has also benefited Philips Company since it started using it by knowing their customers better through social media engagement (Berlind, 2007).

5. Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is the banking sector entity, which provides about three hundred products and services. In the mid-1800s, the company used to deliver mails between San Francisco and St. Louis (Tariq, 2006). This was the fastest and the most reliable means to keep customers in touch. With external technology provided by Salesforce, Wells Fargo is able to utilise social channels to collect and analyse customer views, respond to their questions and shed more light on the products and services availed in bank. Each and every bank has an objective to keep its customers by creating good connections with them. “Wells Fargo puts money where its mouth is and it’s paying off”, says Steve Ellis, the chief executive officer.

Conclusion

Salesforce is a global company that provides products and services in all business industries and sectors worldwide. According to the analysis of some of the companies that use Salesforce products for customer relationship management, all of them have turned out to be successful. This implies that the clouds and online applications provided by the company are reliable for good customer relationship management. Therefore, it is advisable to all other companies, which have not yet started using Salesforce products and services, to incorporate them into their system for their better future.