Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. In general, we recommend Salesforce if your processes are highly customised and you require a certain degree of scalability.

Compared to its competitors, Salesforce is much more customisable, making it easier to implement complex or customised processes and integrations. Accordingly, it is more scalable than alternative systems and grows with your requirements. For start-ups or small businesses, there is a cost-effective solution called Start Suite (https://www.salesforce.com/de/small-business/starter/), but it is also worth taking a look at Hubspot or Pipedrive. Depending on the use case, these are all valid solutions for starting your digital journey.

Feel free to reach out for a free initial consultation to see if Salesforce is the right solution for you!

Our first priority is to understand the problems and wishes of our customers. Accordingly, we take a lot of time to get a comprehensive picture of your challenges and goals before we start with implementation. Our approach isn’t a fixed formula—it’s tailored to your individual needs.

Generally we work in an agile manner and value short communication channels. To achieve our goals quickly and efficiently, we rely on best practices and modern tool stacks that make work easier for both you and us.

Implementing a Salesforce product into your IT infrastructure can serve many goals. Typically, transparency of key data, automation of repetitive tasks, and integration with other systems are among the most common objectives. But Salesforce offers so much more: document generation, data analysis, and easy internal and external communication are just a few examples; even accounting can be managed in Salesforce.

Basically, we believe that (almost) anything is possible in Salesforce – nevertheless, you should never ignore practicality and costs.

That’s exactly where we can support you in making the right decisions.

Your satisfaction is important to us, which is why we focus on fair prices and transparent communication.

Our hourly rates are normally structured as follows – but we offer discounts for NGOs and start-ups:

• Architect: 185€/hour
• Senior Consultant: 150€/hour
• Consultant: 120€/hour

There is no reliable rule of thumb for implementation costs, as integration or highly customised processes increase complexity and therefore also costs. However, we have crunched the numbers and calculated the average:

Salesforce licence costs * 3 = approximate implementation costs

Deviations of more than 30% in either direction are quite realistic.

All our consultants have different areas of focus that align with their interests and strengths. Accordingly, we cannot be the perfect contact for every product and every industry. In general, no single person can be a jack of all trades in the Salesforce cosmos; it is too complex for that.

However, we have been serving the products and industries we focus on for many years and can therefore promise sound advice with a clear conscience. You can find an overview here.

There is no blanket answer to this question either, as many factors, such as the number of products, users, locations and individual processes, are decisive for the overall duration.

Most of our projects start with a Minimum Viable Product that covers essential requirements and is often ready within a few weeks. This is often available after just a few weeks. If you operate internationally and have a three-digit or even four-digit number of employees working in Salesforce, we are talking more in terms of months. Corporate projects can sometimes take a few years.

To give you better planning and cost transparency, we break down the project into manageable pieces and work our way step by step towards the defined solution.

We offer end-to-end support for data migration, which may include the following:

• Analysis of your existing data: We evaluate your current data sources and structures.
• Data cleansing and preparation: We cleanse and prepare the data to ensure that it is accurate and complete.
• Mapping and transformation: We map the data to the Salesforce structure and transform it according to requirements.
• Migration and validation: We migrate the data to Salesforce and perform validations to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data.
• Training and support: We provide training and ongoing support to ensure that your team is familiar with the new data structures and can work with them efficiently.

Yes, Salesforce offers a free trial version. You can sign up for a 30-day trial here to explore the features and benefits of the platform. This allows you to try out various modules and tools to see how well they match your business needs.The trial period can also be extended if necessary, in consultation with your Salesforce account executive.

Last but not least, it is worth taking a look at Trailhead, Salesforce’s own learning platform. There you have the opportunity to get to know Salesforce and its various features and to learn and test them in specially available test instances, known as playgrounds.

Salesforce attaches great importance to security and data protection. The platform offers:

1. Encryption: Data is encrypted both during transmission and at rest.
2. Access controls: User roles and permissions can be configured in detail to restrict access to sensitive information.
3. Monitoring and logging: Activities are monitored and logged to detect unauthorised access or suspicious activity.
4. Compliance: Salesforce complies with various international data protection standards and regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA and more.
5. Security certificates: Salesforce has numerous security certificates that demonstrate compliance with industry standards.

Salesforce offers extensive integration options with a variety of systems, including:

• ERP systems: Integration with systems such as SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics.
• Marketing automation: Connection to platforms such as Marketo, HubSpot and Mailchimp, or of course Salesforce’s own products.
• E-commerce: Integration with Shopify, Magento and other e-commerce platforms.
• Collaboration tools: Linking to tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace.
• Custom APIs: Using Salesforce APIs to create custom integrations with virtually any application.

Basically, anything that offers modern security mechanisms for authentication and authorisation of the integration can be linked. These include, for example: Bidirectional SSL, OAuth 2.0 or connected apps.

The return on investment (ROI) of your Salesforce investment can be measured using the following approaches:

• Cost savings: Reduction in operating costs through automated and efficient processes.
• Increased revenue: Increase in sales revenue through improved lead and customer management.
• Productivity gains: Increase employee productivity through optimised workflows and better data accessibility.
• Customer satisfaction: Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through personalised and timely communication.
• Reporting and analytics: Use Salesforce reports and dashboards to measure and analyse performance in real time.
• Benchmarking: Compare current performance with goals and performance prior to Salesforce implementation.