Customized vs. Standard Salesforce Support Plan: Which One to Choose?

Technology | 08-11-2024 | Shivani

salesforce support plan

Your business, irrespective of the size and domain, requires being supported by the right technology to ensure superior customer relationships and business process efficiency. However, getting access to reliable information for drawing actionable insights can be tricky. To be precise, translating humongous data gathered from multiple sources into valuable information can be a task. Robust customer relationship management software like Salesforce allows you to store customer details, recognize sales opportunities, record service issues, and manage marketing campaigns, all from a centralized location by organizing customer data in an easy-to-use and secure digital record. With a majority of customers expecting every sales rep they get in touch with to know about their issue, they tend to be loyal to businesses that offer quick resolution to their queries.

Getting in touch with Salesforce support partner can take time and effort, even for experienced users. A Salesforce support plan can provide your team with case resolution, in-depth expertise, and essential CRM support. Managing your Salesforce platform requires expert support. Salesforce offers various support plans to help customers start on solid footing, but how can you determine which plan best suits your needs? Before selecting project support, it’s important to choose a suitable Salesforce Success Plan. Salesforce offers several options, allowing customers to pick the one that best fits their needs. The three main Plans are Standard, Signature and Premiere.

The Salesforce Standard Success Plan is a great starting point, helping businesses lay the foundation with Salesforce. However, for companies aiming to achieve more ambitious goals, the Standard plan may fall short. In these cases, Salesforce Premier Support becomes essential. The Salesforce Signature Success Plan provides top-tier support tailored for organizations with complex requirements needing customized assistance. With accelerated support and tailored insights, the Signature plan empowers businesses to augment performance, reduce risks, and maximize the value of their Salesforce investment. Let’s delve a bit deeper to know more about these plans in detail:

All About Salesforce Standard Success Plan

All Salesforce users have access to basic support that helps them resolve issues and maintain productivity. The Standard Success Plan offers customers with self-guided resources, such as demos, online learning tools, and advice from the community. As the most basic plan included with all licenses, the Standard Success Plan is designed to provide essential support for businesses aiming to maximize their Salesforce investment. The Standard plan is well-suited for beginners, providing access to resources such as the Help Portal, the Trailblazer Community, and more. However, it's essential to note that this plan has certain limitations, such as no round-the-clock phone support or other services.

Significance of the Salesforce Standard Support Plan

Round-the-clock Access to Self-help Resources: Users can access Salesforce's online help center, Trailhead learning modules, and community forums around the clock, empowering them to find answers to common questions, build new skills, and stay informed on new features.

Customer Success Resources: Customers have foundational resources at their fingertips, including webinars, checklists, etc., that support onboarding, best practices, and maximizing the value of Salesforce.

Help and Knowledge Base: The plan includes a robust knowledge base, including articles and more, enabling users to troubleshoot and resolve issues independently.

Admin Assist Sessions: The Standard Support plan offers a limited number of "Admin Assist" sessions, where Salesforce experts provide guidance on configuration, helping customers resolve specific issues.

Support for Product and Feature Activation: Salesforce provides help with activating and configuring new features, ensuring customers can fully leverage the latest platform augmentations.

Case Submission: Standard Support users can submit cases to Salesforce Support. While response times may be longer than the higher-tier plans, case submissions ensure that critical issues receive attention.

Quarterly Reviews: Depending on the subscription level, Salesforce may conduct quarterly reviews to align the platform with your organization's evolving needs.

This entry-level plan is cost-effective and ideal for organizations that prefer self-guided support while benefiting from the core tools and resources that Salesforce provides. It includes essential resources to help your team get started, troubleshoot problems, and stay productive. Key features of the Standard Success Plan include:

  • Online Resources: Access a vast library of self-help resources, including guided tutorials, knowledge articles, and training materials to empower your team.
  • Trailhead Training: Leverage Salesforce’s interactive learning platform, Trailhead, to build skills and understand Salesforce features more effectively.
  • Case Resolution Support: Receive assistance through online case submissions to help resolve issues and maintain productivity.
  • Community Access: Connect with other Salesforce users in a community forum where you can share best practices and learn from peers.

What is the Cost of Salesforce Standard Support Plan?

Salesforce Standard Support, usually included with Salesforce licenses, offers essential support to meet customer needs. The cost for Standard Support is covered in the Salesforce subscription. However, for an additional cost, Salesforce provides more advanced support options, such as Premier and Signature Support.

Standard support generally includes:

  1. Access to the Salesforce Help Portal
  2. Access to Trailhead, Salesforce's training platform
  3. Response time of two days for basic inquiries.

All About Salesforce Premier Support?

Salesforce’s Premier Success Plan is the most popular choice, offering everything included in the Standard plan plus added expert support for adoption guidance and other assistance. It also provides users with coaching and live customer support to address any challenges they may encounter throughout their Salesforce journey. It offers enhanced, specialized assistance for users, elevating basic Salesforce support to provide personalized solutions for all the challenges users encounter. These plans are designed for businesses needing additional, targeted help from Salesforce experts to effectively operate the CRM platform and handle specific processes. With Premier Support, you gain certified Salesforce professionals backing you at every step, helping to boost the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of your work. This exclusive support includes one-on-one mentoring sessions, round-the-clock assistance, and expert insights from industry leaders, ensuring a strong virtual support system you can rely on. To know more about this plan, organizations should consider availing Salesforce Consulting Services.

Significance of Salesforce Premiere Success Plans:

Technical Support: With Salesforce Premier Support, you gain access to expert-led technical guidance sessions where all your questions can be addressed. Whether you need help troubleshooting code, managing your database, or resolving technical glitches during Salesforce implementation, the Premier Support Plan is designed to help you overcome every challenge.

Augments Productivity: Achieving your goals and hitting your targets depends on your team working at full potential. With Salesforce Premier Success Plans, you can equip your team exactly as needed. Salesforce support ensures your progress stays on track, preventing any lengthy delays. If challenges arise, you can rely on Salesforce experts for prompt, dependable assistance to keep moving forward seamlessly. These experts help you leverage the platform to its fullest, using every tool and feature optimally. With this level of support, you can maximize your ROI and connect with your customers and clients more effectively than ever.

Success Guidance: Salesforce Premier Support offers extensive guidance on certain aspects of the CRM platform, helping users get the most out of it. With an automated system, Salesforce enables you to get in touch with the right expert at the right time. Irrespective of the issue, you can trust that it will be directed to the best specialist in the relevant field.

Premier Accelerators: For industry-leading mentorship, you can choose Premier Accelerators—an essential part of the Premier Success Plans. Accelerators offer specialized, exclusive coaching resources that cover both fundamental and advanced aspects of Salesforce. Regardless of which Salesforce Cloud you need support, you can select targeted accelerators and engage in expert-led mentoring sessions. There are three main ways to access this feature and gain valuable Salesforce insights: Webinars, On-demand Videos, and One-on-one Sessions.

Admin-assist: Admin Assist is an add-on to Salesforce Premier Support designed to help Salesforce Admins work more efficiently. With Admin Assist, you receive comprehensive support from experienced, Salesforce-certified Administrators who are experts in the platform and skilled in best practices.

What is the Cost of Salesforce Premier Support Plan?

The cost of Salesforce Premier Support depends on your unique needs. The Premier edition offers a range of benefits, including various Accelerators, exclusive phone support, developer support, and Success Guidance from Salesforce experts, and is available for 20% of the Net License Cost. For more advanced support, the Premier Plus edition includes all Premier features, along with Admin Assist, and is available at 30% of the Net License Cost.

All About Salesforce Signature Success Plan

The Salesforce Signature Success Plan is the top-tier support service offered by Salesforce. It is tailored for businesses that need proactive, customized, and ongoing assistance to fully leverage their Salesforce investment. This plan is particularly advantageous for large enterprises or organizations where Salesforce holds great significance. The high level of support and personalized service it provides is crucial for businesses navigating digital transformation, experiencing growth, or working in regulated industries.

Key Features of the Signature Success Plan

Round-the-clock Support: Users gain access to an expert team with in-depth Salesforce knowledge, ensuring swift responses and faster issue resolutions. The support team actively screens your Salesforce environment to prevent issues before they arise, which minimizes downtime and ensures stability.

Hands-on Technical Guidance: Salesforce experts work closely with your team to ensure alignment on architectural best practices, providing tailor-made solutions for current and future needs. The plan also includes regular assessment of the system to ensure peak Salesforce performance, with targeted recommendations to boost efficiency.

Cutting-edge Knowledge and Training: The plan includes custom-made training to ensure your team remains informed on the latest Salesforce updates, features and best practices. Your team gains early access to insights and training on upcoming releases, which enables them to stay ahead while making the most of the new capabilities.

Strategy and Consultation: Salesforce conducts quarterly reviews to align the capabilities of the platform with your organization's goals, helping you stay on track. Additionally, A dedicated success manager collaborates with your team to plan future expansions, guide adoption and optimize processes.

Benefits of the Signature Success Plan

Increased ROI: Due to the proactive approach of the Signature support plan, it becomes easy to align the objectives of your business with the implementation of Salesforce. This helps in maximizing the platform's ROI.

Minimizes Risk and Downtime: By ensuring active monitoring and response rates, downtime is reduced. This provides a seamless experience for users.

Quick Adoption and Greater Productivity: The plan allows for tailored training and support when required. This accelerates adoption across teams, leading to improved productivity and streamlined workflows.

Improved Agility and Innovation: The plan offers users quick access to features. Additionally, a dedicated team of experts assists your organization in grabbing new opportunities and adapting to changing needs.

Strategic Partnership: The plan is designed to offer a long-term partnership, business reviews, and strategic planning sessions to ensure that Salesforce grows with your evolving needs.

What is the Cost of the Salesforce Signature Success Plan?

Salesforce's Signature Success Plan offers highly personalized and proactive support, featuring a dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM), expert-led architect reviews, and rapid response times (including round-the-clock technical support). This plan is designed to optimize Salesforce usage, accelerate innovation, and minimize risks by providing recommendations tailored to each organization's needs. The cost of the Signature Success Plan is not publicly listed, as pricing varies based on the level of customization required for each business.

The Bottom Line

Salesforce offers thoughtful, comprehensive support to enhance its users' experience, focusing on efficiency and adaptability. With a wide range of solutions tailored to meet diverse business needs, Salesforce equips organizations with the tools they need to sustain. However, because each business is unique, it’s essential to carefully evaluate your specific needs and expectations before choosing a Success Plan. Designed to deliver varying levels of support and resources, Salesforce Success Plans help businesses fully leverage the platform’s capabilities, from basic assistance to in-depth, proactive guidance. If you’re unsure which plan is best suited for your business, consider consulting experienced and certified Salesforce Implementation Consultants for expert guidance. Additionally, such a partner will help you navigate the Salesforce implementation journey in a hassle-free way.

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Author

Shivani

Shivani, an experienced technical content writer at Girikon Inc., follows a keen interest in the tech world. Her ability to dive into the intricacies of technologies allows her to craft easy-to-understand tech blogs and articles. Recently, she has been diving into Salesforce, equipping her to offer valuable solutions to businesses struggling to navigate the complexities of the software.