An Introduction to Salesforce and the Benefits of Cloud Computing

 Salesforce is a "software as a service" customer relationship management and cloud computing platform. Instead of storing business information or running applications locally on your own hardware, it is all stored within the cloud. Salesforce apps help guarantee that you'll be able to access information from within Salesforce from any computer or device with an active Internet connection.  One barrier to entry advantage of Cloud Computing is the limited need for capital expenditures when compared to other premise enterprise systems, which are often prohibitive for some enterprise organizations.

 Uptime

One of the most important aspects to consider before choosing a customer relationship management platform is stability. In today's business environment, bragging that your platform has 99.0% uptime just isn't going to cut it anymore.  Keep in mind 1% of down time equals 87.6 hours or 3.65 days on an annualized basis.  In order to keep that competitive edge and to address any and all needs that your customers may have, you need to seek software applications which are managed to strive for 3 to 4 9's. (99.9% or 99.99%) of uptime.  Platform stability matters in a way that it hasn’t ever before, which is why Salesforce is such a reliable and powerful customer relationship management tool for businesses of all types and sizes.

Accessing the Cloud

Because Salesforce is software as a service, no software actually needs to be installed on a computer in order to use it. If you're on vacation or are otherwise away from the office and suddenly find that you need to quickly access the information within a Salesforce object, you can do so directly from a tablet computer, a mobile phone or any device with a standard browser and internet connection. Suddenly being away on vacation or even going home for the weekend no longer has to constitute "downtime." You'll have complete access to all relevant customer and business information from anywhere that you happen to be.

Power Outages and Dropped Connections

Additionally, with software as a service such as Salesforce, you aren't subject to the same types of unforeseen circumstances that usually cause extended periods of downtime. If the power goes out in your office, for example, you can still field customer calls and handle accounts using your smartphone. If your office's Internet connection goes down, you can still quickly access any and all information that you need from within Salesforce using an outside Internet connection, a cellular data connection on a tablet or through other means. "Downtime" literally becomes a thing of the past.

So What?  It is important to consider "stability" when choosing a CRM software. The great thing is that Salesforce is stable, reliable, and powerful. Salesforce doesn't saves you from being a victim of unwanted "downtime". Dropped connection? Internet down? No problem. You can access Salesforce on your laptop, desktop, mobile device, smartphone, or tablet.