Is Salesforce a SaaS or PaaS? – Understanding the Cloud Model

Salesforce is the leading CRM software and is considered one for a long time now. It is software for customer relationship management, providing a variety of services for the same purpose, hence acting like Software as a Service (SaaS).

But with force.com, a part of Salesforce that acts as a platform for users to create and deploy apps like a Platform as a Service (PaaS), it has been under scrutiny whether it shall be considered as a SaaS or PaaS.

WHAT IS SaaS (SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE)?

Software as a Service is a product that we download in our system, and it contains a variety of services to fulfill the needs of operations of a business, hence the name, software as a service. And the biggest example is cloud computing or Salesforce.

SaaS proves to be a great option for data storage and management as it saves businesses from hardware costs and storage thereof, with its feature of maintaining data on a server of software providers and there is no need to physically download and store the updates as it is done while the software is functioning with the help of server storage.

Since SaaS does not require any physical buying of the updated software and its installation, and the risk of losing data between transfers or under any cyber attack, the business becomes more efficient as a lot of time and energy is saved with access to data and its management while the updation is in progress.

WHAT IS PaaS (PLATFORM AS A SERVICE)?

Platform as a Service or PaaS is a platform that enables businesses to build and deploy apps with the convenience of not having to maintain servers, upgrades, etc. with the facility of securing their data.

The in-built tools, environments, and servers allow businesses to create the apps efficiently without incurring the costs to create the said tools from scratch.

Without any infrastructure issues and problems, businesses can make apps faster than ever.

FEATURES OF A GOOD SaaS AND PaaS-KEY POINTS

WHY SALESFORCE IS A SaaS?

The following arguments or points are similar between Salesforce and a SaaS that make it possible for us to say that Salesforce is a SaaS:

SCALABILITY

Salesforce grows when the business grows. It facilitates the addition of new users, and integration with more third-party tools so that the growing needs of a business are met in the fast pacing environment.

EASY ADAPTATION

The knowledge of Salesforce like any other SaaS requires a little initial training and documentation of the personnel and hence it is convenient for new users to become onboard with its services.

EVOLUTION AND UPDATES

Salesforce ensures simultaneous updates while the software is up and running on a real-time basis so that the business does not face any obstacles in operations with time.

DATA ACCESS

Salesforce presents data in a centralized manner and hence the teams of an organization have access to the updated data in one place.

SECURITY

Salesforce’s data encryption and management ensure the data is not lost in transfer and is well maintained while being secure from cyber attacks.

ANALYTICS AND REPORTING

Salesforce after the analysis of the data present provides a detailed insight and report for determining the performance of the business and helps in making informed and data-driven decisions.

WHY SALESFORCE IS A PaaS?

EASY INTEGRATION

Salesforce proves to be an easy platform for integration with other platforms so that the users can work efficiently with access to each one of the software already prevailing in the business.

REAL-TIME INFORMATION

It enables developers to connect with their managers in real time and gain feedback to make the process more efficient.

EASY MAINTENANCE

Like a PaaS, the platform force.com is looked upon by a vendor i.e. Salesforce so the users need not worry about the maintenance of the servers and can focus on their apps only.

ACTIVE COMMUNITY

Salesforce provides a platform for hosting an active community of developers and users so that everyone can reach out to solve their problems within themselves through others’ support.

CONCLUSION

From the above analysis, we can determine that Salesforce is both a Service and a Platform, as Force.com which is itself a PaaS, is a part of Salesforce that operates as the platform for app creation and deployment. However, Salesforce mainly focuses on being a Software as a Service providing sales, service, and marketing management along with other cloud services.

Some may consider Salesforce as an IaaS too, but that is not possible as Salesforce does not facilitate storage services to consumers for networking and connectivity. Some examples of IaaS are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, etc.