Is Salesforce a SaaS or PaaS?

Is Salesforce a SaaS or PaaS? 

If you have availed cloud services, you have probably come across the three main components of cloud computing – SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. SaaS (Software as a service) is the set of software tools that you can access over the internet via a third party. PaaS (Platform as a service) offers the users a platform for developing and executing cloud applications. 

IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) provides the infrastructure such as storage, virtualization, and networking. Salesforce is a popular platform for handling customer relationships by the companies. It is a popular example of cloud software as a service. Obtaining a Salesforce certification has increased employment opportunities for many candidates. 

In this article, we will understand whether Salesforce is SaaS or PaaS. 

What is SaaS? 

SaaS is right at the top of the cloud computing architectural model. Here, you get the products and services from a third party over the internet. You can avail the services for a monthly fee. The third-party provider or company will offer you with the services through an easy to use interface. You will be able to access the services from the comfort of your Opera or Google Chrome browser. 

You are not required to install any additional software for availing these services. The third-party provider handles all the software and hardware technicalities. 

The most popular SaaS products are used for storage. The widely known SaaS providers are DropBox, SAP, Microsoft, and Salesforce. 

The benefits of using SaaS are: 

• Most SaaS subscriptions follow a pay as you go model. You will only have to pay for the services that you avail. You can change the subscription model to get more features or reduce the number of features. 
• You can access the SaaS applications from anywhere as they are hosted on the cloud. The data is completely secured.
• As the applications are hosted centrally, all the updates are offered by the cloud provider. 
• SaaS products are very cost-efficient, especially if you own a startup or small business. 

What is PaaS? 

This is the middle level of the cloud computing architectural model. Mostly used by developers, PaaS can be considered as renting the features required to run and test applications. You can access the entire platform over the internet. Thus, if you are a developer, you will be able to create an entire cloud application within your browser. 

The PaaS providers will host the service on their own architecture. The core offerings that you get from the vendors are: 

• Tools for application development 
• An operating system 
• Middleware 
• Database management 

The services are not hosted locally; multiple developers can access and work on a single application. This enables development teams to work together from different geographical locations. As all the primary features for development are available beforehand, you will save more time and money. 

The benefits of availing PaaS services are as follows: 

• From the comfort of your browser, you will be able to develop applications that are compatible with mobile and desktop platforms.
• The pay as you go pricing model makes it cost-effective. 
• PaaS simplifies the application development lifecycle. This is because you develop, test, debug, deploy and host your application within the same environment. 
• As the cloud vendor handles all the backend architecture and issues of the platform, applications are developed and marketed faster. 

What is Salesforce? 

Salesforce is probably the first name you will hear when it comes to customer relationship management. Although they started out as a Software as a Service organization, their most famous product is Salesforce CRM. CRM is one of the best software used all over the world for handling all aspects of customer relationship management. 

The Salesforce CRM allows companies to store and analyze all the customer data in a single place. Being user-friendly, the CRM can be used by all the employees for understanding their customers better. The analysis of this data enables officials to develop more effective sales and marketing strategies. 

The different services offered by Salesforce are as follows: 

• Salesforce App Cloud 
• Salesforce Sales Cloud 
• Salesforce Service cloud 
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud 
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud 
• Salesforce Community Cloud 

Is Salesforce a SaaS or PaaS? 

Sales-force is an example of SaaS as you can access all their cloud services with the help of a stable internet connection. Their primary offering, the Sales-force Sales Cloud provides you with a host of facilities for enhancing your sales. It can be operated through your web browser. The Sales Cloud offers management of leads, accounts, contacts along with email integration, workflow automation, 24×7 configuration services, and customization reports. 

This follows a pay as you go model where your subscription fee for the Essentials package costs $25, Professional package costs $75 per month and the Enterprise edition is $150 per month. The best package called Unlimited will cost you $300 every month. You can access the software from any part of the world. The hardware is handled by the vendor. 

Sales force, on the other hand, can also be called PaaS. This is because it offers you with its Lightning Platform for creating your own applications. It is also known as Force.com that allows you to develop applications and add-ons. You can integrate these applications along with your Sales-force package to enhance its functionalities. Companies such as Toyota Financial Services are building applications for customizing their customer journeys or making a spreadsheet application for calculations. 

Moreover, you can run, debug and test your applications before launching them. 

Conclusion 

As Salesforce is becoming the numero uno software for CRM, companies are constantly looking for candidates with Salesforce knowledge. Salesforce developers are recruited heavily in organizations such as Deloitte, TCS, Accenture, IBM, and Capgemini. The average salary is more than 500,000 per year. 

So, you can start with the basic Salesforce administration track to get a grip on the basics. If you are interested in handling customer issues and developing sales strategies, you can opt for the Advanced Administrator course. If you like to build CRM applications, the Platform Builder course will be right for you. 

Later, you can move forward to the Platform Developer 1 and Platform Developer 2 certifications.