Salesforce vs. ServiceNow: Which CRM is Ideal for your B2B Business?
Customers are the driving force of any business. Having a good relationship with your customer base is important for your business. For businesses that wish to improve their relationships with their consumers, offering excellent customer service is an essential component. This is where CRM (customer relationship management) services came into the picture to offer businesses streamlined customer support.
Back in 2008, only 12% of businesses adopted CRM services, and now 91% of businesses have cloud-based CRM services because of their exceptional features. There are several CRM services available in the market. But there has always been a debate about two of them, ServiceNow and Salesforce. Let us find out which one is better for your business!
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce Service Cloud is a market-leading CRM solution that gives businesses the ability to resolve issues quickly and accurately. It has developed into a distributed design that offers several advantages, including platform compatibility, customization, unlimited capacity, API interaction, and app development.
Because the platform is very scalable, you are able to customize your processes according to your customer service and operational procedures.
Additionally, Salesforce Service Cloud gives your staff a comprehensive and 360-degree picture of every customer. This unified picture offers them access to all the data, suggestions, and activities they’re looking for to address concerns promptly.
Salesforce supports the four main interfaces: web-based, Windows, Android and IOS (iPhone). Regardless of its size, it also offers multi-platform compatibility, a characteristic that encouraged major businesses like Google to use Salesforce products as a means to improve the customer experience.
Salesforce tools like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, etc., will boost your growth rate and enhance all aspects of your customer interactions.
Salesforce Service Clouds
Salesforce has multiple tools or services that makes it accessible to every kind of business.
Sales Cloud
Salesforce sales services help your business’s sales staff manage leads and wrap up deals with precise efficiency. The goal of this kind of service is to speed up sales procedures for businesses.
It facilitates a more efficient workflow, flawless distribution, and management of pipelines with strong leads. It enables businesses to streamline sales procedures and eliminate manual data entry.
Service Cloud
Businesses may significantly boost the effectiveness of customer support by transforming it into a self-service gateway for their customers using Service Cloud. One of the main advantages of using Salesforce Service Cloud is the fact it helps businesses provide quicker and more informed services to their customers.
The Field service lightning is a type of service cloud that unites the entire workforce to deliver onsite support that is quicker, more effective, and smarter.
Marketing Cloud
Salesforce Marketing Cloud integrates businesses with every customer experience and interaction that happens across numerous platforms. You may interact with clients in real time on a range of platforms, such as social networking sites and email, with the help of Marketing Cloud. It allows you to generate personalized individual messages that could promote sales.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud can also be integrated with eCommerce services to simplify the process.
Commerce Cloud
The Salesforce commerce cloud solution’s key principles are excellent service and a positive experience for the customer. Businesses can take advantage of a full range of commercial features from it, such as a customizable e-commerce platform and an order management system, providing businesses with real-time inventory access and an entire suite of resources for marketing, merchandise sales, and customer service.
Experience Cloud
With the help of the Salesforce Experience Cloud platform, businesses may interact with their customers, suppliers, and staff members. It ensures that any data illustrated on the website has already been saved in your particular Salesforce CRM system.
Experience Cloud uses your CRM data to build a central social media network for all Salesforce users within the business. You may build customized dashboards for your IT support center, HR division, and other internal departments.
Analytics Cloud
Analytics Cloud is a powerful cloud-based analytical system that streamlines the discovery and analysis of a huge quantity of data. It incorporates AI technology to delve thoroughly into your data and generate valuable insights. It enables you to easily display your data in effective charts and graphs that you can provide to significantly interested parties. Businesses can use Analytics Cloud to save valuable resources and receive insightful analysis of their sales data.
Salesforce Features
To understand the difference between Salesforce and ServiceNow, you need to know the unique features that Salesforce has to offer to help you make a better choice that which platform is best for your business.
Automation Features
The platform provides a large selection of AI tools and automation services that simplify automated processes for different teams. With Salesforce, you can create innovative workflows, set up prompts for automated action sequences, and use machine learning to gain insights into both internal and external operations. With its Einstein GPT solution, you may additionally automate creating content across multiple platforms.
Contact Management
Salesforce CRM makes it easy to manage contacts by giving users access to essential customer data and conversation records. Additionally, it offers an entire picture of the customer that contains approaches and data for enhancing communication. You can use customers’ social networking data to have an improved grasp of their specific actions when it comes to any service or product.
Trailhead
This application includes expertise while offering customers exceptional services. Trailhead can gather data from e-mails, calendars, and additional platforms to provide you with a complete picture of your customers.
Lead Management
The Lead Management system has a detailed activity timeline. It gives users access to the most recent interactions on a timeline with the most effective marketing methods. This CRM tool operates as a quick lead converter that offers useful details regarding the lead’s primary source, too.
Opportunity Management
This feature offers an activity monitoring system for every one of your customers. It accelerates your decision-making process by demonstrating where you should take steps in an existing deal. By keeping you updated on your competitors’ initiatives, opportunity management also helps you stay one step ahead of them.
What is ServiceNow?
Developed by Fred Luddy in 2003, ServiceNow is a PaaS (platform as a service) for cloud-based applications. ServiceNow helps businesses improve their operational effectiveness by streamlining and automating mundane duties.
ServiceNow is more than simply a tool for automating certain repetitive operations in a business. It is the technology that enables you to have instant interactions with customers to address their issues and handle and maintain relationships with them. There are many distinct ServiceNow CRM features, some of which are applicable to large and medium-sized businesses with various business needs.
With the implementation of several kinds of different apps and plugins, ServiceNow may help users organize their assignments, groups, and customers. ServiceNow offers a range of IT, customer support, security, programs, and other solutions that enhance the overall experience of users, employees, and customers.
The platform can be customized by ServiceNow’s staff, stakeholders, and clients to suit their particular functions and workflows. By integrating ServiceNow with the current major HR resources, you can oversee HR services with ease as well. Additionally, especially for large businesses, it makes use of machine learning technology to streamline work procedures, provide KPI reports, or develop progress dashboards.
ServiceNow Features
To get a better view of which side you stand in the ServiceNow vs. Salesforce battle, you must explore the features offered by ServiceNow to make a better decision for your business.
IT Operations
ServiceNow facilitates redefining the role of IT operations from a reactionary response unit to a proactive business partner. It offers insight into end-to-end business processes through understanding how they interact with the fundamental IT infrastructure.
Additionally, it improves efficiency by automating IT operations and keeping services in multiple cloud platforms by giving cloud customers access to enterprise-ready self-service features.
Instance Scan
The Instance Scan feature shows your platform’s shortcomings and provides suggestions for how to implement the best solutions. It analyzes your present structure and fixes any potential problems. It allows you to browse applications and modify data using predefined measures. The results of the scan are shown in an organized dashboard.
Customer Service
ServiceNow includes an option that can seamlessly help you in managing your customer interactions. It enables you to establish a strong relationship with your customers and promptly respond to their concerns. Customers are, therefore, more satisfied as an outcome, which leads to better sales.
Security Management
ServiceNow’s security services are powered by a security arrangement, automation, and reaction system that prioritizes issues on the basis of their potential effect. These solutions include security analytics for processes, regulatory setups, responses to security breaches, detecting threats, and other areas. They are built on efficient workflows and well-thought-out processes.
ServiceNow CRM vs. Salesforce CRM
ServiceNow and Salesforce are completely distinct CRMs. In regards to function and advancement, these two platforms are both unique and alike. ServiceNow or Salesforce are both commendable in their ways, but if you want to give your customers a top-notch experience, you must have a platform that satisfies all of your business requirements.
ServiceNow vs. Salesforce: Similarities
There are certain similarities between Salesforce and ServiceNow, such as the following:
- Both ServiceNow and Salesforce provide a CRM platform and a sales feature.
- They both offer a comprehensive view of a consumer’s interaction with the business.
- Both the services could be easily implemented in a business.
- Both platforms provide a high level of adaptability so that users can modify their functions to match their own business needs.
- Salesforce and ServiceNow provide reporting and analytics solutions that help businesses in making decisions from their data.
- Both platforms provide strong integration features to facilitate easy interlinking with other apps and systems. ServiceNow offers integration possibilities through its IntegrationHub and RESTful APIs, whereas Salesforce offers a sizable ecosystem of pre-built interfaces with its AppExchange marketplace.
ServiceNow vs. Salesforce: Differences
The difference between Salesforce and ServiceNow can be given as follows:
- The primary distinction is that Salesforce was created as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool geared at serving the sales and marketing departments. In contrast, ServiceNow was created for the IT operations department of the business.
- Salesforce works with a number of platforms, including Web, Android, and iPhone. Whereas ServiceNow supports platforms: Windows, online support, and video training.
- There are numerous embedded features and integrations in Salesforce that currently function and precisely fulfill business demands. In comparison to Salesforce, ServiceNow only provides interfaces with only a few systems.
- Salesforce primarily provides three customer service tiers: Trailhead, Trailblazer, and Premier. The regular levels of help are offered through the Trailhead and Trailblazer communities, while Premier is a higher level. ServiceNow provides 24/7 call support to all customers through the Contact Support section or the website’s live chat.
- Salesforce has an accessibility management feature, but ServiceNow does not have this specific expertise.
- ServiceNow is a little bit of a challenging environment with regard to upgrading and updating. It requires professional consultation and support. Salesforce, on the contrary, is totally devoted to providing on-demand business apps.
What’s Next
When choosing between ServiceNow and Salesforce, it becomes difficult as both are exceptionally good at certain levels. The determining factor becomes the size of your business and your customer base. The customers’ needs are very important before implementing any operations within your business. The primary purpose of both platforms, Salesforce, ServiceNow, is to automate business processes and integrate every department of the business under a single digital tool that enhances and organizes the process. It must ultimately provide services consistently, which promotes business development and enhanced earnings.
FAQs on Service vs. Salesforce
1.What platform is ServiceNow built on?
ServiceNow is created using the TomCat and Java web servers running on the Linux operating system.
2.Why is Salesforce so much in demand?
There is an increasing demand for Salesforce as businesses start to capitalize on the Salesforce system to improve productivity and simplify operations. The demand for Salesforce developers and consultants is going to rise as businesses strive to shift toward a more digitally focused strategy.
3.Does ServiceNow use AWS?
With the help of the AWS Service Management Connector for ServiceNow, end users of the software can seamlessly deploy, manage, and use AWS resources through ServiceNow.
4.Is ServiceNow the same as SAP?
SAP is an integrated system in ServiceNow. This integration minimizes business automation in any organization.
5.Who is the largest client of Salesforce?
Walmart and Amazon are the biggest clients of Salesforce.
6.Which is easier: Salesforce or ServiceNow?
ServiceNow is easier when it comes to resolving concerns.
7.What is ServiceNow best known for?
ServiceNow enables accessibility to and usage of company-wide statistics, operations, solutions, resources, employees, places, and data through a single user portal using simply a single data source.
Discover insights that drive results - explore out latest blog posts now
Unlocking AI for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer reserved for large [...]
Salesforce Winter ’25 Release: Key Industry-Specific Highlights
The Salesforce Winter '25 release brings a plethora of [...]
Salesforce Unveils Agentforce: Transforming Business Operations with Autonomous AI Agents
Salesforce, the global leader in AI CRM, has announced [...]