Is There Any Tool for Salesforce Automation?

"Salesforce Automation" has become a buzz these days as automation tools focus on the most important business processes, streamline the test strategies, and provide insights to effective sales process.

Any Salesforce software automation tool involves key features like

• Lead Prioritization and Management
• Sales collateral Automation
• Opportunity Management
• Contact Management
• Team Collaboration
• Automated Report & Analysis
• Content/Record Creation

Let’s take a look at few Salesforce Automation Tools as mentioned below:

1. Salesforce CRM

   Without any doubt, Salesforce considered as the best leading CRM software. It helps managing the sales territories, sales forecasting, and managing the data which in return helps lowering the burden and increasing speed, efficiency, reliability, and eliminating the monotonous tasks.

   Majorly, Workflow Rules, Process Builder, and Flow builders are considered as no-code automation tools for automating any business process in Salesforce. Each tool has its own advantage, features, and capabilities based on the complexity, user interactions, launching flows, and sending messages along with time-based actions.

   • Workflows: This is the oldest of all the tools mentioned above which can create time-dependent actions, update the current or parent record, sending alert emails and sending outbound messages without coding to an external application. Though, this is not actively used now but in case simple tasks are needed to be covered, this would be really helpful.
   • Process Builders: It provides a Graphical interface to handle complex task calling Apex/flows to build automation(s) with point and click tools where all custom settings, including the metadata settings can be handled. You can launching the Apex flows, posting the data and sending Custom notifications which can also be triggered by record creation/updation of another process/platform event.
   • Flow Builder: Dealing with multiple logic branches and handling complex areas when dealing with Creating wizard type functions via Interface and also includes a visual debugger built-in Flow builder.
   • Pros: Contains Custom Dashboard and helps Extracting detailed sales reports and finding customer information(i.e lead, contact & opportunity management) has become easy with use of Salesforce CRM as it has smooth integration with other tools(i.e. helping Integration API/Data import, export tools), including email clients, calendars, and task managers.

2. HubSpot CRM:

   An integrated automation system that helps to boost marketing productivity efficiently by offering marketing automation features and capabilities. It helps in looking for the Leads, performance and streamlining the content creation.
   • Pros: Lead generations are easier. SEO and Content Strategy with apt analytics/measurements.

3. SalesGenius:

   Often considered as both marketing automation and email marketing solution, the tool is designed to meet the needs of both Sales and Marketing. It helps with automating lead nurturing as they convert prospect to Sales in real-time because this continuously strive that prospect i.e. Future sales/marketing area is nurtured/opportune by identifying apt contents to appropriate person at with no delays.
   • Pros: SalesGenius Automation Workflow Designer, helps to build out multi-step drip campaigns in very less time and helps in Sales forecasting.

4. FreshSales:

   It is a cloud-based SFA tool which tracks Sales progress and provides a visualized scheduling capability to set up tasks and meetings, detailed reports on your sales processes and deals, and automated lead nurturing campaigns.
   • Pros: Ease of use as it tends to provide a behavioral-driven lead segmentation and this tool automatically calculates score based on a lead’s engagement, characteristics which makes Lead generation and its progress tracking easier.

5. Pipeliner CRM:

   Main insights of this tool is the dynamic targets and social selling. The multi-tasking in between the system and visualization of sales dynamically through the activities, process, and pipelines has made it popular amongst the users. Viewing the sales reports and task management is another feature that makes it count as one of the best SFA solution.
   • Pros: Integration (APIs, Data Import/Export tools), Reporting & Analytics, Social & Mobile collaboration features and continuous customer support.

In addition to the above, Pardot and Marketo are 2 more tools dealing with Salesforce marketing automation platforms that works on measuring and reporting ROI.

Both have their own unique features like Pardot accelerates the pipelines and drivers sales through Social/Email marketing, sales intelligence whereas Marketo Offers email marketing and campaign management to measure and optimize the ROI.

A few more Salesforce Test Automation tools that are widely used are:

1. Cucumber: Cucumber is a tool which helps Behavior Driven Development (BDD). Behavior Driven Development is based on the Test-Driven Development (TDD) and it aims to bridge the gap between Business analyst and developers. BDD also bridges gap between Manual QA with Automation tester (who write BDD) and Manual QA with Developers.
2. Force.com IDE (Eclipse-based): The Force.com IDE is an influential client application for creating, modifying, and deploying Salesforce applications. Created on the Eclipse platform and constructed on the Tooling API, the Force.com IDE provides a relaxed environment for programmers acquainted with integrated development environments, letting you code, compile, test, package, and deploy all from within the IDE.
3. Selenium WebDriver: Selenium WebDriver is an assembly of open source APIs which are used to automate the testing of a web application. It is used to automate web application testing to validate that it works as projected.

   Gaining knowledge on the SFA tool is one thing and discovering the right fit for your business is another. There are several considerations you need to be aware of when exploring choices. Choosing an SFA solution can be an overwhelming process as there are dozens of solutions. So, finding the right tool depends entirely on business needs.