The main difference between Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud is:
- Sales Cloud helps streamline sales and marketing efforts
- Service Cloud helps support teams resolve issues before they become a problem
Understanding this fundamental difference in the technology can help ensure your institution gets the most out of your Salesforce investment. This blog will provide more information to help distinguish the two tools.
Basic Functions in the Sales Cloud®
The basic functionality includes:
- Cases. This is where you can track customer inquiries, escalate issues requiring specialized support, and monitor your agent’s productivity.
- Solutions. Provides your customer service team with the answers to your customer’s questions. This feature can even make the answers available on the web.
- Web-to-Case. Allows customers to log a case directly from your website that immediately enters a Salesforce.com for agent resolution.
Additional Functionality in the Service Cloud®
If you have more complex support requirements or more a active customer service team, you should consider Service Cloud® licenses. Service Cloud licenses provides the standard Sales Cloud functionality and the following additional functionality. Further, you can have Sales Cloud and Service Cloud users in the same instance of Salesforce.com.
Additional features of Service Cloud include:
- Agent Console & Customizable Layouts. This helps your agents access relevant information about the customer with fewer clicks. You can design the console to maximize this efficiency.
- Entitlement Management. Helps to ensure that you deliver the proper service level including first response and resolution times. You can also incorporate automated processes that provide instructions for reps on the best way to resolve cases.
- Access to Live Agent Web Chat. This allows you to Incorporate live chat. (Additional fee above Service Cloud license.)
Additional Functionality Available with Sales Cloud OR Service Cloud
There are two additional features that you can use to help your organization provide superior customer service. Both of these are available for users of Sales Cloud or Service cloud when you purchase incremental feature licenses:
- Knowledge Base. This provides the same basic functionality as Solutions. However, it provides greater flexibility in ensuring the most relevant articles are delivered to customers. Articles can be shared via self-service portal, emailed by an agent, or discussed over the phone. (Requires an additional fee.)
- Service Cloud Customer Community. This enables your customers to get service from the web 24 hours a day. They can get case updates and search your knowledge base, all without involving a customer service agent. You can also incorporate Ideas and Answers to allow your customers to suggest improvements and to interact with each other. (Requires an additional fee.)
Getting Started with Salesforce Service or Sales Cloud
To take full advantage of the Customer Service functionalities of Salesforce.com requires set up and configuration. If you have questions or need help with this configuration, please contact us. We’d love to help.
