It’s been almost a year since Salesforce launched its biggest innovation yet, Lightning. The milestone marked much more than a facelift for our products. Lightning represents the next generation of Salesforce: A completely re-imagined user experience and platform. And it’s only gotten better.
Sales Cloud Lightning is a seriously intelligent customer relationship management (CRM) application with a point of view that helps you sell smarter, sell faster, and sell the way you want, from anywhere. But that’s not all.
Here are 10 additional reasons to make the move to Lightning:
1. The latest innovation
For 16-plus years, Salesforce has defined the cloud computing space. Lightning is the CRM we would have built in 1999 if all of the technology that we have today had existed back then. By switching it on, you access the latest in this innovation. You also get each and every Lightning improvement we make, thanks to three automatic upgrades a year.
2. New selling features
Lightning offers more than 55 new Sales Cloud pages and well over 150 new features. That’s too many to list individually here, but rest assured that we talked to thousands of salespeople to surface the tools they wanted the most. Each one is designed to make reps more productive and drive business forward.
3. Lightning Voice
Speaking of new features, Lightning Voice for Salesforce is a game-changer for salespeople. It connects them to customers and prospects faster than ever by enabling voice calls directly within Sales Cloud. This means wherever you are using Salesforce, including on your mobile device, you can make and receive calls in context, while taking notes and logging these calls at the same time. You can even choose a number that’s local to your territory.
4. Steelbrick Quote-to-Cash
Built 100% on Lightning, Steelbrick CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) makes Sales Cloud the first lead to cash sales platform in the industry. Now reps can easily do complicated quoting, get discount approval, generate branded proposals and contracts, and even collect signatures, without ever leaving their CRM.
5. Lightning for Outlook
Salesforce and Microsoft have formed a strategic partnership which brings the world’s #1 CRM and the world’s leading productivity suite together. Now you can access Lightning from your Outlook, without jumping between programs. The 100% cloud-based Lightning Sync also keeps your contacts and calendar up-to-date across Salesforce and your Office 365 and Microsoft Exchange accounts.
6. Lightning is mobile first
In fact, the Salesforce1 Mobile App is built on top of the Lightning Platform. Both innovations served as catalysts for the reimagined Lightning desktop experience. Any and every customization that happens there is immediately accessible on any mobile device via Salesforce1.
7. Lightning Builder
You don’t need to be a hard core developer to build apps. With Lightning Builder anyone can drag and drop Lightning Components to build mobile and desktop apps, and customize pages in Lightning Experience. There are three types of components in Lightning Builder: Pre-built components from Salesforce, components from Lightning Exchange built by partners, and custom components.
8. AppExchange Apps
There are now more than 157 Lightning ready third-party apps available in our AppExchange, all pre-vetted and pre-integrated to work in Salesforce. Lightning ready apps are designed to deliver the most consistent user experience as you move your organization to Lightning. Look for the “Lightning Ready” symbol on AppExchange and read about many of them by downloading this free ebook.
9. Lightning Snap-Ins
Snap-Ins is the newest feature from Service Cloud Lightning. Built with Lightning Components, Snap-Ins allow companies to quickly integrate customer support directly into their apps and webpages. This makes it easy to reach customers effectively, right where they are. You can learn about Snap-Ins by watching this video.
10. Lightning Customer Community
The Lightning Customer Community is the most feature-packed release in the history of Community Cloud, enabling companies to quickly and intelligently engage with their customers. The all-new UX offers a new level of personalization, plus engagement opportunities that help your business provide an unparalleled customer experience. Read more about the Lightning Customer Community here.
Our singular mission at Salesforce is to help make our more than 150,000 customers successful. We know that if you engage deeply with your customers and build unique relationships with them, you will have incredible success. It’s why we built Lightning, based on your feedback, and why we continually work to improve it.
Are you ready to transform how you use Salesforce? See if it’s time for your organization to make the move to Lightning Experience and the key steps for rollout here.
