Salesforce Case Study

1 . How does Salesforce. com use cloud computing? Salesforce. com use clound computing software as a service . Many advantages and disadvantages come with using the software-as-a-service model. Some of the advantages include: Automatic updates- This means that the user will always be getting the latest version of the software, with no new downloads required. No installs- You don’t have to worry about installing software onto any of the computers. This leaves less room for compatibility issues for computers. Usually if you use a standard web browser, more than likely you will be able to use the service. Low Cost- The upfront cost of cloud computing is small. The user can space the payments out over a period of time, paying monthly payments. Doing this avoids any large upfront costs. There are also disadvantages of using this model. These include: Security issues- Since software-as-a-service is not run directly by the company using it, it is possible that the information can be seen and leaked by others who run the program. Online connection-An online connection is needed to run the system. Therefore if you are somewhere without internet service, you will be unable to use the program. Ongoing payments-Ongoing payments are necessary to keep the service going. Unlike regular software where you only pay one payment to install it, if you don’t pay for the services your account will be shutoff. 2. How does Salesforce. com use cloud computing? AnsSalesforce has come across several challenges throughout its growth. One of these challenges is competition from new businesses wanting to replicate Salesforce and also from traditional industrial leaders. A few of these competitors includes Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, and smaller companies such as NetSuite. Another challenge for Salesforce is deciding if it should expand its business into other areas. As of now, Salesforce is used mainly by sales staff to keep track of leads and customer lists. Salesforce has formed a partnership with Google to hopefully expand functionally. A third challenge for Salesforce is its availability. It has occasional outages, causing companies that depend on Salesforce to be available 27/7 to rethink their usage as software as a service. Salesforce is working very hard to overcome these challenges. They are doing their best to keep up with competitors and to expand their business. They are also providing tools to assure dependability to their clients about the systems reliability. They are offering an application that allows users to work offline, which is a big advantage in case a person is unable to have internet service and needs to use the system. 3. What kinds of businesses could benefit from switching to Salesforce and why? Ans. Just about any company could benefit by switching to Salesforce. com. Salesforce is a great way for companies to keep track of records and information. Almost every company needs a place to be able to manage these types of things. Salesforce gives companies a single place to store all their information and can only be accessed by authorized employees. 4. What factors would you take into account in deciding whether to use Saleforce. com for your business? One of the factors I would take into consideration when deciding if I would use Salesforce for my business is its reliability. If my company had a rough time with its internet service, then I probably wouldn’t use Salesforce, considering that internet service is a requirement. I would also determine if my company would have the money to continuously pay for the program. I would think about its security issues and how that could affect my business. I would also think about how no installation is needed. This means that it’s one less software I have to download on my computer to slow it down and take up storage space. I consider this to be a really big advantage to using Salesforce. 5. Could a company run its entire business using Salesforce. com, Force. com, and App Exchange? Explain your answer. Yes, a company could run its entire business using Salesforce. com and App Exchange. From what I have seen on the Salesforce. com website, it can accommodate businesses processes such as sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, and HR. When I looked up all the different applications on App Exchange, I saw that there are apps for just about everything. Applications can support tasks such as emailing, creating documents, and e-signatures. Between Salesforce. com and App Exchange, a company has everything necessary to successfully run a business.