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Salesforce Service Cloud Review

Our Verdict

Product Pricing

$65/user/month (Professional Edition)
$135/user/month (Enterprise Edition)
$300/user/month (Unlimited Edition)

Technology

The Service Cloud is delivered on a Software-as-a-Service model, requiring no additional hardware or software installations. Full functionality and information can be accessed with an Internet connection.

Customer Focus

The Service Cloud is ideal for any sized business with service and support processes.

Select Customers

Hewlett-PackardStarbucksTransUnionPervasive SoftwareAIG Edison Life Insurance Company

Deployment

SaaS

Best for

EnterpriseMid-Size BusinessSmall Business

Pros

The Service Cloud’s extensive customer channels–including online communities, customer self service, public knowledgebases and more–cut down on labor intensive human services, giving agents more time and resources to focus on other customer-facing processes.
The Service Cloud features extensive social media capabilities, integrating these tools into the core system–ensuring a seamless, uncomplicated experience for the user.
The Service Cloud includes a powerful Visual Process Manager tool that helps to create workflows and approvals, while reducing the amount of manual activities that must be performed.

Cons

The Service Cloud, like other Salesforce.com solutions, can be relatively expensive compared to other Software-as-a-Service CRM products available on the market.
Salesforce.com does not offer a Service Level Agreement unless the customer requests one, and SLAs often fall behind the guarantees of other CRM providers.
If businesses are seeking a broader solution that covers other back office processes, such as accounting, Salesforce.com products like the Service Cloud lack such features.

Overall

For organizations that primarily use a contact center as the point of delivery for customer service, Salesforce.com Service Cloud may offer what is needed to improve their support processes. If companies are seeking a best-of-breed CRM solution, Salesforce.com has more than established its reputation in such an area, and the Service Cloud offers tightly integrated applications to streamline service processes, while also providing innovative social media capabilities.

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About Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce’s Service Cloud is a customer support solution that helps businesses deliver more responsive and faster service across every channel, from the contact center to social networks. The Service Cloud enables businesses to meet their customers where they interact, such as Facebook or Twitter, to ensure that every customer need is met.

The Service Cloud can also improve agent collaboration, improving their productivity and the customer experience they deliver. With the Service Cloud, companies can service and engage with their customers in more effective ways while also improving service agent performance.

About the Company

Salesforce.com is the leading enterprise cloud computing company with a strong focus on the Social Enterprise, which infuses a social context into the way businesses are run. Founded in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com has gained recognition for its innovative products right from the start. Salesforce.com delivers a range of CRM and business applications that help companies improve the way their employees collaborate and the way they connect with customers.

Salesforce Service Cloud Key Features

Chatter

Use the collective expertise within the organization to close cases and reduce escalations
Follow articles and cases to know when the status on cases has been updated

Contact Center

Use both traditional and social channels to create and track incoming cases
View customer social profiles
Route and escalate cases automatically
Integrate with back office or telephony applications

Customer Portal

Let customers search the knowledge base and get case updates
Enable customers and agents to interact in communities

Social

Listen and engage with customers using public social networks
Filter what’s important and respond quickly to customers
Integrate questions and requests made by customers on social networks into the case queue

Knowledge

Quickly find answers across every channel
Use information from social channels or Chatter to create knowledge articles
Let customers get answers to their issues 24/7

Analytics

Get high-level visibility into service levels with dashboards
Drill down to the details and create customizable reports
Find the metrics that matter most in real-time with Chatter

Use incoming customer emails to create cases automatically
Deliver faster service with custom email templates
Integrate with other email applications like Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook

Live Agent

Provide faster answers to customers
Embed Live Agent for instant chat on websites

Community

Crowd-source knowledge to help customers find the right answers
Let customers share, discuss, and vote on their ideas
Use analytics to get insight into communities
Implement customers’ ideas to show that companies are listening

Share knowledge base answers on Google and other search engines
Provide answers to customer questions directly on the website without requiring a login
Show service information on a public Web page

Partners

Outsource service to partners with a portal where they can create and update cases
Share information in real time with partners to deliver better service
Create a partner knowledge base to ensure that the right answer is always provided to customers

Mobile

Stay updated about customer issues from anywhere using mobile devices
View dashboards and the latest service performance metrics on the road
Manage and resolve cases in the field

Approvals & Workflow

Manage and automate support processes such as quotes, returns, and case resolution
Create scripts to guide your agents through any type of customer interaction
Streamline the approval process by automating processes such as refunds and more

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