Salesforce

The software acts as a single source for all customer data and enables users to access that data efficiently.

The software helps automate parts of the sales process, such as sending emails, updating contact records, and following approval processes.

Users can defines salesperson territories based on customer or market characteristics.

Users can track deals and create quotes.

Users can perform tasks within their inbox, such as logging emails, creating contacts, and creating events.

Users can manage contracts, with features such as digital signatures, automated alerts, invoicing, and automated workflow for contract review and approvals.

Users can create, process and fulfill price quotations and sales transactions.

Users can log and track all customer interactions through any channel, including social, email, phone and in-person.

The software allows for sales, territory, lead, order and account management for partners or OEM relationships.

This includes incident/ticket creation, routing, escalation, and resolution.

This includes features such as call routing, recording and monitoring; call list management; autodialing; and scripting.

This includes trouble ticketing, knowledge base, self-service, and service level agreement (SLA) management.

This includes lead generation, scoring, qualification, routing, and nurturing.

This involves the ability to send mass email to groups of people based on particular qualifications.

This includes the ability to plan, track, collaborate and report on tasks.

This includes automated invoice creation and billing.

Software provides a broad range of standard and the ability to build custom reports.

The software helps users accurately forecast sales based on volume and conversion metrics.

Users can visualize the entire sales pipeline to identify trends, determine the effectiveness of the sales funnel, and optimize.

Users can create reports and dashboards unique to their needs.

Users can create custom fields to store additional information on standard and custom objects.

Users can create custom record types that allow them to store information unique to their organization, and link them to standard and other custom objects.

Technical users can write, run, and test scripts that automate common tasks or business rules via a standard or vendor custom programming language.

An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.

The software system supports a centralized authentication mechanism allowing the user to access multiple systems with a single, centrally managed password.

Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.

The software can integrate data and conversation histories from customers’ social profiles. This may also involve enhanced listening features such as sentiment tracking.

The software can facilitate and track engagement with customers via social channels.

The software can integrate with marketing automation software such as Eloqua, Marketo or Pardot.

The software can integrate with compensation management software or sales commission software such as Xactly Incent or IBM’s Varicent.

Users can access the CRM system via mobile or tablet device, and potentially leverage the unique capabilities of mobile devices, such as GPS and voice.