96% of mid-market companies said Salesforce products have become more important to the success of their business since the start of the pandemic, per a new study from AllCloud
AllCloud, a global cloud services company and Salesforce partner, has completed a study on the use of Salesforce products by mid-market companies. A key takeaway is that the use of Salesforce and related technologies has increased since the start of the pandemic, with mid-market companies prioritizing digital customer experiences over the optimization of sales and forecasting processes.
According to Salesforce itself, 60% of customer interactions now take place online, and 88% of customers expect companies to accelerate their digital initiatives. Against this backdrop, AllCloud sought to understand how mid-market companies are using Salesforce to enhance digital customer experiences and the impact on their business.
Salesforce has been a catalyst for company growth over the past two years
- Organizations have long relied on Salesforce to support customer-centric digital transformation while maintaining other areas of the business, including IT, marketing, sales and service. AllCloud’s research found that this is the case now more so than ever, with 90% of respondents rating Salesforce as “very important” or “extremely important” to the success of their business.
- Additionally, 96% of respondents reported that Salesforce has become more important to the success of their business since the start of the pandemic, with two-thirds citing “managing challenges in customer service” as the top reason.
Read More: Sysdig Announces Global Channel-First Approach
Consumer expectations around digital interactions are driving Salesforce usage
- Two-thirds of Salesforce users responding to AllCloud’s survey began with Service Cloud as their first Salesforce product, followed by Sales Cloud (58%) and Marketing Cloud (40%). This trend underscores the pressure organizations face to enhance customer interactions through personalization.
- Most organizations have since expanded their Salesforce footprint, with over half now using both Sales Cloud and Service Cloud and at least one-third now using Experience Cloud, industry clouds and/or Commerce Cloud as well. Retail bucks this trend, with 72% beginning their journey with Sales Cloud, followed by Service Cloud (52%) and Configure, Price, Quote (36%).
- Notably, the trend towards increased Salesforce adoption shows no signs of slowing down. Over 93% of organizations across all industries said they will adopt additional Salesforce products within the next year. This highlights the value these organizations see from Salesforce and their vision for building a cloud environment that supports digital, customer-centric strategies.
- Consumer Goods organizations have long relied on Salesforce to support customer-centric digital transformation and they are doubling down on this strategy by growing their Salesforce footprint. 46% of Consumer Goods organizations responding to AllCloud’s survey now use six or more Salesforce products. This reflects the value they are getting from Salesforce, particularly Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud, and their vision for the use of cloud tech to support consolidated and digital customer-centric strategies.
Data visibility enabled by Salesforce has been critical to companies across industries
- The top priorities driving Salesforce adoption across industries center around increasing data visibility to improve decision making. This drives better insight into the business and supports activities like forecasting and asset tracking.
- For example, among manufacturing and high-tech software organizations, visibility enables better forecasting and reporting, with Salesforce helping to integrate data from various systems and consolidate infrastructure.
- Meanwhile, 38% of Consumer Goods companies said Salesforce has become more important since the start of the pandemic because it helps them manage challenges in customer service, and 25% said it’s become more important by virtue of its ability to help them support a remote workforce. Salesforce accomplishes both goals by enabling universal access to critical data.
Read More: SalesTechStar Interview With Karam Malhotra, Partner And Global Vice-President At SHAREit Group
Salesforce-centric priorities in mid-market companies have changed since 2020
- Nearly 75% of companies across industries changed their Salesforce priorities and increased their Salesforce budgets since the onset of the pandemic, according to AllCloud’s research. Since 2020, the top goal for companies in all industries has shifted to delivering a better customer experience.
- The overwhelming majority of organizations reported that Salesforce has become more important to their success since the onset of COVID-19. Across the board, organizations cited Salesforce’s ability to help manage challenges in customer service and support a remote workforce as the top reasons why.
- As a result of the increased importance of Salesforce to their key goals, many organizations reported spending more on Salesforce since the pandemic began. This is especially the case among Consumer Goods organizations, with almost 60% reporting that they increased their Salesforce budget.
“The data in our report confirms what we’re hearing from customers, which is that the pandemic has forced a shift in their priorities, from the use of Salesforce to modify business processes to how Salesforce can support customer-centric initiatives,” said Eran Gil, CEO of AllCloud. “The data also points to the growing interest in and use of Salesforce by Consumer Goods companies. The uncertainty of the past two years has paved the way for Consumer Goods companies to accelerate their use of cloud tech, and we are excited to see them adopting Salesforce more strategically.”
AllCloud surveyed 200 leaders in Sales, Service, Marketing and IT from companies with 300- 5,000 employees spanning all industries. All the respondents work at companies that currently use Salesforce, with over 70% having used Salesforce for at least three years and over 80% are using more than two Salesforce products.