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Can Salesforce Replace SharePoint? (Compared)

Getting the best software to manage your company, whatever it is that your company works with, is indispensable.

We already have an article about whether Salesforce can replace Constant Contact. In this article, we will talk about Salesforce and SharePoint and bring them to comparison.

Can Salesforce replace SharePoint?

Yes, it can. SharePoint is known for delivering plenty of tools that a company needs to make file sharing easy among all the employees, but Salesforce has tools to do the same job just as well too.

Some companies, though, use both applications and use the best tools of each one to achieve high efficiency.

The biggest problem with Salesforce is that, if you want to get the same tools you have on SharePoint, you need to pay for extra licenses. That starts to get pricey, and then many companies look for admins who are capable of using both Salesforce and SharePoint.

Salesforce vs. SharePoint compared

To begin with, Salesforce and SharePoint are two different tools that companies can use to work. SharePoint is used for sharing files within a company, but Salesforce isn’t used only for that. It has solutions that can work for that as well. In the end, SharePoint is a narrow application, while Salesforce has broad usages.

Salesforce includes many different tools which need to be acquired individually by the company using it.

In this comparison, then, we will focus on comparing SharePoint to its counterpart within the Salesforce network, the Experience Cloud.

Also read can Salesforce be used as ticketing system?

SharePoint

One of the major strengths of SharePoint is that being a product of Microsoft, it integrates perfectly with all the Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and other Microsoft services. That way, employees can easily share and collaborate while working on those applications.

One person can rapidly access what another just uploaded and check if all is fine. Employees can make the most out of their working hours, becoming more productive and improving their communication as a team.

SharePoint gives companies the perfect way to implement collaborative solutions such as intranets and websites.

One pitfall that needs to be pointed out, though, is that SharePoint is advertised as highly customizable, but the customization tools are in fact hard to grasp. Many admins have headaches when trying to adapt SharePoint to match the company’s needs precisely.

SharePoint certainly shines as a strong document management solution, even if it has the clear disadvantage of being a complicated tool.

If you are implementing SharePoint in your company, you need to make sure you have the perfect system admin for the job.

Analytics are also important for a company, and here SharePoint could see some improvement. Advanced analytics are poor and count with few custom reporting.

Salesforce Experience Cloud

Experience Cloud is one of many services offered by Salesforce as a solution for companies seeking the best efficiency that translates into immediate profit.

It allows companies to connect customers, partners, and employees as well as relevant content and data. Users of the service can collaborate without barriers, extending business processes.

The application is highly customizable to best meet each company’s needs. Admins with experience on the platform can easily configure Experience Cloud to become the most collaborative experience possible, allowing employees to truly work as a team.

It would be unjust to brand Experience Cloud as just a content repository.

Best of all, since Salesforce offers many applications to run together, there is no headache in creating a truly cohesive network that connects all departments of a company.

Salesforce updates all its applications three times a year, boosting the platform with new features and functions to deliver all solutions a company might need to keep business up and running.

The Salesforce platform teaches all people to work with it, meaning that you can find qualified professionals to admin your Salesforce team very quickly.

What are the best alternatives to SharePoint?

Considering the fact that SharePoint is more complicated to make work properly than Microsoft probably intended, looking at alternatives may immensely pay off.

In this section, let’s take a look at three great applications that companies are using nowadays to make file sharing easy and accessible to the whole team of employees.

Glasscubes

Glasscubes is known as one of the top alternatives to SharePoint. In fact, it is advertised as such. Its features and tools are very similar to what you find on SharePoint, including the document management and usage of intranets.

Glasscubes, though, diverts in the way the interface shows itself to users. Setup and usability are made simpler on this application.

All users can set the software to their taste without needing to call IT all the time. Even if they need help, training to use Glasscubes takes much less time than SharePoint.

Glasscubes is perfect for companies that cooperate both with internal and external parties. Since the application runs smoothly and doesn’t take a lot of time to learn, you can show your clients how it works and they will get briefed on your business in the blink of an eye.

Aside from file sharing, Glasscubes features project management, customizable workspaces, etc. To learn more, check Glasscubes here.

Huddle

Another very popular file-sharing tool used by and large in companies is Huddle. It offers fewer tools than Glasscubes, but its simplicity is enticing enough so that plenty of managers choose to go with it.

The main focus of Huddle is file sharing and document management. It is also possible to manage tasks on it, but this tool is less outstanding than the rest.

Similar to Glasscubes, you can also build and customize workspaces to meet the taste of your company. Developers promise a safe service so that your team and clients can work safely and share information.

Samepage

As the name suggests, this application should keep all workers and clients on the “same page”. Samepage intends to make work simpler for all parts involved so that no one misses important tasks, files, conversations, anything.

Just like the two options already featured above, Samepage is known as a great alternative to SharePoint due to its simplicity.

However, it stands out in page editing (it is done in real-time across the network) and built-in communication tools.

All of this in one app is great as your team doesn’t need to manage multiple applications. Sure, nowadays everyone is always handling several apps at the same time, but the less, the better.

Does SharePoint work with Salesforce?

Yes, it does. Both applications can work nicely together. As already explained, licenses for Salesforce are expensive, so many companies choose to use Salesforce as the main application for managing the team and then complement everything else with third-party applications.

SharePoint is one of those third-party applications some companies use. It is not the simplest file sharing service one could get, but it is developed by Microsoft, so it is still popular.

Sure, this isn’t the whole explanation. Here are two reasons why SharePoint gets used along with Salesforce:

  1. SharePoint surpasses Salesforce in information sharing. Its communication tools spread the information quicker to anyone: users inside the platform, clients, customers who are interested in the company’s services, etc.
  2. When it comes to managing many files for a large team, SharePoint is more powerful than Salesforce. SharePoint allows real-time editing by different users on the same file. Moreover, data storage offered goes up to 1TB per company plus 0,5GB for each user license.

How to transfer files from SharePoint to Salesforce?

This quick guide should work for SharePoint as well as any other document manager you are using in your company.

The trick is to know which is your external data source and if this source allows you to pull the files. If the system is well integrated, there should be no problems in following what is written below.

In Salesforce, navigate to Files home. The External Files list in the left column shows available external data sources. Select one and navigate through the folders, or use the search bar to find a file.

Click the “Actions” menu next to the file name, and choose one of the following:

  • Open the file in the external data source (SharePoint)
  • Download the file to your local system
  • Share the file either as a copy or as a reference. The admin is responsible for the type of sharing used in the company.

When sharing, you have two options:

  • Share a copy of the external file stored in Salesforce. If files are shared with a Chatter group, all group members can access the files, even if members lack access to the external system. Salesforce Files doesn’t reflect any revisions to the file in external systems.
  • Share a reference to the external file stored outside Salesforce. Only users with access to the external system can download files. (Users must enter credentials for the system in the Authentication Settings for External Systems section of personal setup). Salesforce Files doesn’t reflect revisions to the file in external systems, but the reference points to the latest file version in those systems.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right document sharing and management for your company is key. While Salesforce remains a strong software used by many companies as the base of the network, finding the best application for file sharing gives many people a certain headache.

The perfect application is that which all workers can use with ease and that the Salesforce admin has no trouble configuring and customizing to meet the company’s needs and goals.