SWOT Analysis of Salesforce | Salesforce Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

1. What is Salesforce?

This software offers sales and marketing automation, such as lead tracking and data management. Salesforce provides a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that is used by many companies, big and small.

Salesforce was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Salesforce has expanded its client base to 107 countries and employs more than 56,606 people.

The Founders of Salesforce are Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff and Frank Dominguez.

2. How is the Business Model of Salesforce?

In 2015 Salesforce won the prestigious “Inaugural Technology Innovators Award of the Year” from Gartner for demonstrating a business model that empowers a company’s organization.

They provide new level of operating effectiveness, customer insight and overall operational excellence.

Salesforce took home the award for product development, cloud computing and leadership.

This award recognizes companies that have demonstrated innovation in their product development strategy on a global scale.

Salesforce business model of hosting Automation software that are used by many companies; Salesforce provide cloud based computer services to these corporations.

With the help of Salesforce, companies can automate tedious processes to reduce costs and improve productivity.

The customers use the Salesforce platform to manage customers, manage sales content, manage product content and manage other information elements.

Salesforce provide customers with the ability to create customized business applications for their own unique needs.

3. Salesforce Revenue and Financials

Total sales for the first quarter was $5.96 billion, up 23 percent year over year and 20 percent in constant currency.

For the quarter, subscription and support sales were $5.54 billion, up 21% year over year. Professional services and other sales were $0.43 billion in the third quarter, up 47 percent year over year.

Salesforce generated about 20 billion dollars from subscriptions and support in the fiscal year 2021, and 1.28 billion from professional services and other sources.

Salesforce’s yearly sales hit a new high of 21.25 billion dollars in its fiscal year 2021. Subscription and support is the business category that has contributed the most to the company’s continuous sales growth, with revenue of about $20 billion in the same fiscal year.

The company net income in 2021 was $4.07 billion with the total assets of $66.30 billion and total equity of $41.49 billion with operating income of $455 million and 56,606 number of employees in 2021.

4. Salesforce Partners

The salesforce platform has been integrated with more than 240 partners for its various products and services.

Salesforce partners include companies that offer technology, services, or solutions that Salesforce customers can use to succeed in their own businesses.

Salesforce partners include:

a) Algoworks: Algoworks is a Salesforce consulting and implementation services provider with expertise in complex cloud migrations and deployments.

b) Paradiso LMS: Paradiso LMS partners with Salesforce to provide a full end-to-end solution that helps schools and businesses to do the right thing.

c) Appirio: Appirio offers strategic, technology and operations consulting services to support customers’ cloud needs. They specialize in making the most of Salesforce software for businesses of all sizes.

d) S-Drive: S-Drive offers Salesforce consulting and support services for enterprise and marketer customers worldwide.

e) Accenture: Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. They help companies to identify and capture business value from new opportunities.

f) REMeasure: REMeasure focuses on helping companies to deploy and leverage Salesforce.

g) Demac: Demac provides Salesforce consulting for the financial services industry. They help customers to manage risk, grow revenue, manage compliance, and drive competitive advantage using Salesforce technology.

h) Deloitte: Deloitte Consulting helps companies to connect and differentiate through helping them gain and retain customers.

5. Salesforce Competitors

Salesforce.com competes with traditional software providers such as;

a)Oracle: Oracle is a data technology company with products such as; Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Database and Analytics, Oracle Apps, JD Edwards and PeopleSoft.

b) Microsoft: Microsoft is a software company offering products such as; Windows 10, Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint.

c) SugarCRM: SugarCRM creates both on-premises and cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software. Their product uses the open source code model, with a proprietary code layer added on top.

d) Sage: Sage is a business software and services provider with products such as; Sage 50, Sage CRM, Sage ERP and Sage People.

e) SAP: SAP is an enterprise software company that offers various products such as SAP ERP for organizations.

f) Zoho: Zoho is a cloud-based software company with products such as; Zoho Mail, Zoho Creator and Zoho Author.

6. Salesforce Business and Market Strategies

Salesforce has always focused on making their products easier to use with the addition of new features, which they believe is a key differentiator from their competitors.

a) Extending existing service offerings: Every time new technology is invented, Salesforce has always worked to make it work with the existing technology.

b) Reaching new customers: This requires putting an emphasis on the marketing techniques that are required. This is why they try to extend their reach into different industries and use full innovation to help their prospects understand how they can save time and become more efficient.

c) International expansion: Salesforce has a large user base, and it is a very important part of their growth strategy to expand the reach of their products. They have done so by acquiring different companies or opening offices in different countries to help achieve this goal.

d) Reducing customer attrition: Salesforce needs to develop ways of retaining their customers and make them loyal to the products and services offered. They have found innovative ways to do this such as; analyzing business trends and trends about the market, taking surveys of customer satisfaction, listening to customer feedback and implementing new features that can help them retain their loyal customers.

e) Increasing sales: Salesforce knows that it is hard for them to grow sales because of their size; they strive to become more efficient so they can increase their income and gain more income from existing customers.

f) Expanding and strengthening the partner ecosystem: Salesforce needs to partner with other companies to provide access to Salesforce technology and help them grow. They have done this by opening new offices around the world, setting up accounts in different countries, strengthening their business relationships with key partners.

g) Entering new markets: Salesforce is known for its global reach, and it has always strived to expand this reach through comprehensive marketing strategies.

7. SWOT Analysis of Salesforce

·         Strengths of Salesforce

a) Salesforce is a cloud-based business software that is used by many companies for maintaining customer information and manage sales.

b) Salesforce has an effective marketing team that has put emphasis on visiting different markets to understand what their customers need.

c) Salesforce tries to retain its existing customers by building relationships with them and providing services. They hope to extend their reach by growing the companies they work with.

d) Salesforce provides powerful tools for managing relationships with customers, employees, partners, suppliers and distributors. It also makes it easier for companies to sell products and services through multiple channels.

e) Salesforce has an effective partnership strategy that includes recruiting users who are loyal to the business.

f) Salesforce is a widely used software that is easily adaptable to different industries. This means that it has a large user base, which ultimately makes it difficult for competitors to compete against Salesforce.

g) Salesforce provides good services for businesses of all sizes. They have strategic partnerships with other companies in order to offer integrated products to their customers, making them more efficient in achieving their business goals.

h) Salesforce has an effective marketing strategy that is aimed at connecting with potential customers. This is done through social media, email campaigns and in-person programs.

i) Salesforce provides excellent customer support for prospective customers to help them understand how the software can help them.

·         Weaknesses of Salesforce

a) It is not easy for humans to use the features of Salesforce.

b) Salesforce is not easy to integrate with other software in order to increase functionality.

c) Salesforce has difficulty integrating with different tools. This makes it difficult for companies to use the features of Salesforce without using other tools.

d) As with any software, there is always an introduction cost when learning salesforce.

e) Salesforce is only available in the cloud, which means it is not easy to use Salesforce on mobile devices.

f) As mentioned earlier, Salesforce uses an open source model for software development. This may affect functionality, performance and reliability of products.

g) There are many other software providers that offer similar services as Salesforce.

h) Salesforce has to compete with other cloud-based business software providers.

i) It is difficult for Salesforce to reach out to companies in developing countries.

·         Opportunities of Salesforce

a) Since Salesforce offers services in different countries it means they have a large customer base that can be easily reached.

b) The cloud technology is becoming more popular in the software market, which means that it will be easy for Salesforce to continue growing their market share.

c) Salesforce has been able to grow its user base through innovation. This has been helped by its culture of open source software development.

d) Since Salesforce is a widely known company, it can afford to hire excellent marketing professionals and give out professional training to their employees to make sure they continue providing the best customer service.

e) Since Salesforce has an excellent partnership strategy, they will be able to connect with more companies and this will lead to more innovation in developing new services.

f) Since Salesforce wants to expand globally, they can look for potential customers who are looking for cloud-based software.

g) Because of the relationship that Salesforce has built up with other companies, they can look for potential business partners that require their software or would like to use their solutions.

h) Salesforce has strategic partnerships with companies such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, this means it will be easy for them to continue providing support and services to their current customers.

i) Salesforce is known for their business process software; it will be easy for them to provide different services and solutions to help businesses of all sizes.

j) Salesforce is an effective company in terms of the pace at which they have been growing over the past decade. This will help them in reaching out to more businesses in different markets around the globe.

k) Salesforce is a popular business software in many countries. This will be a major advantage in the coming years as the company continues to grow and attract more customers.

l) Salesforce has been able to provide excellent customer service, which will help them in putting a competitive advantage over their competitors.

m) The company is continuously innovating and introducing new services, enabling it to reach out to more businesses both small and large.

·         Threat of Salesforce

a) Since Salesforce is a cloud-based software, there is always a risk that it can be affected by downtime or hacks.

b) There is always the threat of new companies offering similar services as Salesforce.

c) The software developers working for Salesforce may move to another company because of better compensation packages and other incentives.

d) New competitors may offer similar services as Salesforce, but at a cheaper cost. This will make it difficult for Salesforce to grow their customer base.

e) With the ever-changing market, it becomes harder for Salesforce to hold on to their customers as they may be looking to switch to another service provider.

f) Since Salesforce uses an open source model, the technology behind the software may go outdated and will become unusable. This will make it difficult for Salesforce to grow its customer base.

g) The service provided by Salesforce is dependent on how efficient their employees are in terms of providing support and services to their customers.

h) Salesforce is vulnerable to attacks from other companies in the industry.

i) Salesforce may not be able to provide quality services to their customers in developing countries, especially when it comes to offering support.

Salesforce FAQs

How much revenue does Salesforce generate?

Salesforce makes $21.25 billion in yearly revenue. Over the previous fiscal year, revenue climbed by 24.27 percent.

What is the Salesforce Advantage?

Some of the Salesforce benefits include ease of use, an ability to integrate with other applications seamlessly, and a wide range of possible solutions for practically any company.

What is Developer Edition?

Salesforce is an open source application and the newest developer edition of it is free. All developers can use the same tools and data that companies use.

What technology does Salesforce use?

Salesforce uses object-oriented programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, and Objective C for its development. It also utilizes open source technologies such as Linux for its server infrastructure.

What is Salesforce?

It is a cloud based software that helps companies to manage their sales, contact and customer relationship management. It also provides marketing tools to the users.

What is the difference between Salesforce and Oracle?

Salesforce and Oracle use completely different sets of technology for their respective applications.

A comparison of both the applications shows that Salesforce has less limitations, faster development cycles and gives its users better ease of use.

How do I get started with Salesforce?

Visit https://www.salesforce.

What is the difference between Salesforce and SugarCRM?

Salesforce is just one application while SugarCRM is a complete package that has many applications in it.

Another difference between these two companies is that Salesforce has a free version to test for while SugarCRM does not.

What are some of the core functionalities of Salesforce?

Some of the core functionalities include analytics, conversation, social collaboration and mobile.

What is the Salesforce API?

The Salesforce API is one of the most powerful Application Program Interfaces available. The API uses object oriented programming languages to create web applications.

What is the difference between Salesforce & Lightning?

Lightning is a CSS framework in Salesforce’s mobile application development platform. Lightning makes it easier for mobile users to navigate through applications.

Is Salesforce the best CRM available?

Salesforce is one of the best customer relationship management platforms on the market. It has everything that a company needs to stay connected with their customers.

What are some of the biggest competitors to Salesforce?

Salesforce has several competitors including Oracle, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics.

Which application development platform do I need to use with Salesforce?

The best development platform for Salesforce is Java. However, some programmers feel that it’s best to use Python.

It is important that companies use the same programming language for developing both their users and tools.

What is moving or changing?

The sales cycle has been shortened drastically with the introduction of modern technology for business communication such as smartphones, tablets and social media. This has made it easier to reach out to large numbers of customers at a time.

Who are the users of Salesforce?

Companies use Salesforce to track their sales figures, contacts and customer relationships.

What is the tool that is used to integrate with other applications?

Salesforce uses RESTful APIs for integration purposes. This allows users to integrate features to their existing software easily.

How much does a developer edition cost?

One month of a developer edition is free. However, a one-year package for a Developer Edition costs $150.

What is the difference between paid and free Salesforce?

The paid version gives its users special features, advanced support and additional capacity. The free version offers limited support, but still has all the basic functionalities of the application.

Is Salesforce a better alternative to SugarCRM?

Salesforce is a much more sophisticated application. It is only suited for organizations that deal with large amounts of data.

SugarCRM, on the other hand, offers a simpler user interface and is less technical in nature. This makes it easier for beginners to use its features.

How much does Salesforce Enterprise cost?

Enterprise edition comes in the form of software, hardware and cloud based services offered by Salesforce. The cost can vary depending on each of them.

Where does Salesforce store data?

Salesforce maintains all the data centrally, which is why it has a large number of clients. In order to make things better for the users, it stores the data on the cloud.

What is a Force.com application?

Force.com applications are based on Salesforce’s framework and provide a framework to develop customized applications for companies. It can be used to create custom web apps that can integrate into an existing system easily.

What are the applications involved in the Salesforce platform?

Salesforce has several applications that are locked inside its system. Some of these include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Analytics Cloud and Administrator Console.

What is the REST API?

The REST API is one of the most powerful APIs available in Salesforce. It allows users to use their existing skills in programming languages to create applications that integrate with other systems quickly.

What is the difference between Salesforce Enterprise and Enterprise Cloud?

Salesforce enterprise comes with software, hardware and cloud based services. Both the systems are used by companies to manage their sales leads, customer service and data management.

How can I get Salesforce?

Businesses can sign up for a free trial of Salesforce. There is also a free version of the application available.