What is Salesforce?

Salesforce was founded in 1999 with its core product being salesforce.com; a first-of-its-kind customer relationship management (CRM) software that quickly became market leader and continues to hold that position today.

Nowadays, the Salesforce ‘Customer 360’ suite of products is much larger. It still includes CRM software, but through both acquisitions and innovations over the years, now also includes marketing automation software, a customer data platform (CDP), and more.

Still, when people talk about ‘Salesforce’, they are often referring to the CRM product, rather than the company or the wider portfolio of products Salesforce has today. For newbies to the Salesforce ecosystem, this can be confusing!

Salesforce matters because it solves a common business problem: customer data scattered across disconnected tools. For most organisations, Salesforce:

• Centralises customer data in one system of record

• Aligns sales, service, and marketing teams around shared information

• Reduces manual processes through automation

• Scales as teams, data volumes, and complexity grow

• Acts as a foundation for reporting, integrations, and custom workflows

At a high level, Salesforce works as a shared cloud platform that multiple teams access at the same time. In simple terms:

1. Customer data is stored in a central Salesforce database

2. Different Salesforce products (sales, service, marketing) access the same records

3. Automation tools run workflows and updates across teams

4. Reporting and dashboards surface insights from that shared data

5. Custom apps and integrations extend Salesforce to fit the business

In theory, this shared architecture is what allows Salesforce to function as a single source of truth, although customers can find it difficult to reach a seamless state of Salesforce operations.

Salesforce is made up of multiple products, each designed for a specific function:

• Sales Cloud – Manage leads, opportunities, pipelines, and forecasting

• Service Cloud – Support customers through cases, queues, and service channels

• Marketing Cloud – Run and personalise marketing campaigns across channels

• Salesforce Platform – Build custom apps, automations, and integrations

• Experience Cloud – Create customer or partner portals

Salesforce is commonly used to:

• Track leads and sales opportunities from first touch to close

• Manage customer support cases and service interactions

• Automate internal workflows and approvals

• Create reports and dashboards for leadership teams

• Integrate external systems such as ERPs, billing tools, or websites

• Build custom internal applications without replacing the core CRM

Salesforce vs Sales Cloud

Salesforce is the overall platform and ecosystem.

Sales Cloud is a specific Salesforce product focused on sales processes such as lead management, opportunities, and forecasting.

Salesforce vs Salesforce Platform

Salesforce refers to the full CRM ecosystem.

Salesforce Platform is the underlying application platform used to build custom apps, automations, and integrations on top of Salesforce.

Is Salesforce a CRM or a company?

Salesforce is both the name of the company and the CRM platform it develops. In day-to-day use, “Salesforce” usually refers to the software rather than the organisation.

Is Salesforce the same as Sales Cloud?

No. Sales Cloud is one product within Salesforce. Salesforce is the broader platform that includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and others.

What does “Customer 360” mean in Salesforce?

Customer 360 describes Salesforce’s approach to connecting customer data across products so teams share a single, consistent view of each customer.

Do you need Salesforce Platform to use Salesforce products?

No. Salesforce Platform is primarily used for custom development and automation. Many organisations use Salesforce products without building custom apps.

Is Salesforce suitable for small businesses?

Yes. Salesforce is used by small teams as well as large enterprises, although setup and licensing should be matched carefully to business needs because various products are better suited to different business types and sizes.

Can Salesforce integrate with other systems?

Yes. Salesforce offers APIs and integration tools to connect with external systems such as finance platforms, websites, and data warehouses.