In 2016, Salesforce unveiled an update to its customer relationship management (CRM) solution: Salesforce Lightning. This alternative to Salesforce Classic promises a new and improved interface, additional features, and a more user-friendly interface.
While many businesses are migrating to Salesforce Lightning, others are choosing to stay with Salesforce Classic due to their familiarity with its processes. However, Salesforce’s new features are built primarily for the Lightning interface – and if you are currently using Salesforce, you may want to migrate.
Salesforce Classic vs. Lightning
Salesforce Classic is the older interface for the Salesforce platform. The company phased out Classic’s setup assistant in 2016, and currently builds its new features for Salesforce Lightning. Companies who used Salesforce Classic prior to its end of life can retain the software and are grandfathered into its pricing plan. If you are a new Salesforce customer, you can no longer implement Classic into your organization.
On the other hand, Salesforce Lightning is the updated framework for the CRM platform. It comes with user-friendly text, graphics, and icons to improve accessibility, and makes it easier to integrate third-party services into the platform. Additionally, Lightning comes with more intuitive dashboards and enhanced reporting and analytics capabilities. This makes it easier to generate insights and gain a better understanding of how your business is operating.
Benefits of Salesforce Lightning
Salesforce Lightning provides a number of unique features and advantages that can’t be found with the older Classic interface. Some of these benefits include the following.
- Better user experience: Salesforce Classic was more text-based than Lightning and used a smaller font, which was harder to read. Its homepage only had three columns, which limited employee access to important records. However, Lightning comes with a more convenient homepage interface complete with a search engine, a left-hand navigation bar for easy resource access, and an activity log.
- Easier lead generation: Salesforce Lightning comes with more tools to help salespeople foster new customer relationships. For example, the Activity timeline provides information about plans and prior accomplishments for specific leads or accounts and compiles information from calls, tasks, and meetings into one location. Salespeople can use the Notes function to share and create detailed notes about specific leads, which encourages collaboration among teammates. Finally, the Path function allows salespeople to gain a complete picture of the sales process and facilitate closing a deal.
- Einstein Analytics AI: Lighting comes with an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tool called Einstein Analytics, which helps organizations take full advantage of their data. Einstein Analytics is a separate platform integrated into Salesforce and updates periodically, helping businesses gain a complete picture of their operations in one location. You can run queries using this tool to calculate formulas, capture metrics, and create charts for presentations using the latest company data.
- Stronger security features: Salesforce Lightning comes with Locker Service, which is a security feature that protects the individual components of the CRM platform. If a threat attacks one part of the platform, Locker Service will isolate the threat to the targeted application and prevent it from interacting with other parts of the software. As a result, your company can better protect against threats and resolve security issues without affecting other parts of the platform.
Interested in Salesforce for Your Business?
Salesforce can provide unique benefits to businesses and teams – and its Lightning version is more advanced than the software’s previous iterations. If you are interested in migrating your organization to the Lightning interface, schedule a free consultation with the HigherEchelon team to learn more about our Salesforce implementation services. Our specialists can help you understand where Salesforce best fits into your business and initiate the implementation process.