"Shopify Is Winning Salesforce Clients, Stoking E-Commerce Rivalry" – that’s the headline of a Bloomberg article spotlighting how Shopify has attracted notable Salesforce clients (like Toys "R" Us and Casper) by offering competitive pricing for e-commerce services. It’s worth noting that this rivalry centers around Commerce Cloud/Demandware.
But an even more fascinating conversation is happening in the comment section at Y Combinator’s forum: https://lnkd.in/gQbSKVuh
Some users candidly admit, “I hardly even understand what Salesforce does,” and “This thread might help me finally understand what exactly Salesforce sells.”
This confusion isn’t unusual. Companies often lack in-house expertise in vendor-specific platforms like Salesforce, and the total cost of ownership can be much higher than anticipated.
Salesforce has evolved beyond SaaS into what might be called “UaaS” – Universe as a Service. Staying current on its features and acquisitions requires significant effort, and it's not always an easy journey.
Many also shared their frustrations and challenges in using the platform, and it seems clear that these experiences might have been different with the guidance of a seasoned Consulting Partner/System Integrator.
My observation is that not all Salesforce Account Executives (AEs) have a solid network of quality partners to recommend to new clients. In fact, at one of the consulting firms I was previously part of, despite a strong track record of successful implementations and glowing client testimonials, we found that we weren’t on an 'internal list' shared among AEs at a particular office. As a result, we saw less business from them while less reputable SIs seemed to be recommended more often. 🤷🏻
Here’s a picture of The Zodiac restaurant at Neiman Marcus’s flagship store – the venue where Salesforce AEs hosted us before contract negotiations when I worked as a client-side employee. 🥩🍷
