Build, Customize, and Scale with the Salesforce Platform
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Understand the comprehensive capabilities of the Salesforce Platform that enable businesses to build and deploy apps, AI, and automations.
- Summarize how the Salesforce Platform allows for extensive customization and integration with other systems and data lakes.
What’s the Salesforce Platform?
Every company is racing to implement AI, but they’re often hitting roadblocks with complex development timelines and the need for specialized skills. Why? Because they don't have an integrated approach on a central platform. Companies are pouring millions into AI tools that don’t connect to their data, don’t deliver useful results, and can’t be easily tweaked without leaning on their already overloaded IT teams.
That’s what makes the Salesforce Platform so powerful. It’s a comprehensive suite of no-code and low-code tools and services that help businesses build and deploy apps, AI agents, models, code, prompts, automations—you name it! It offers a range of features that enable developers and administrators to create tailored solutions without extensive programming knowledge.
Here are some key benefits of the Salesforce Platform that you should know.
Customize Anything with No Code, Low Code, and Pro Code
The Salesforce Platform lets you tailor the experience for your customers, partners, and employees. You can go beyond the standard features to meet your unique business needs. With point-and-click tools, you can easily customize objects, data, and fields. Without writing a single line of code, change the look and feel of your org, enhance business processes, create websites, and even build apps so you can accelerate deployment and time to value.
Our platform includes a wide variety of low-code tools and builders.
- Prompt Builder lets you build AI prompts with low code.
- Flow Builder lets you automate any process with low code.
- Code Builder helps you build with Apex and JavaScript right in your browser.
- Model Builder lets you build custom AI models for your business.
- App Builder lets you create and customize any app you need.
- Agent Builder lets you configure, test, and deploy agents with our standard tools.
For those with programming skills, the Salesforce Platform offers a range of developer tools, including:
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Salesforce CLI: Create environments for development and testing, sync source code, run tests, and manage your application lifecycle.
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Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code: Develop on the Salesforce Platform using the lightweight, extensible VS Code editor.
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Code Builder: A web-based integrated development environment with the power and flexibility of Visual Studio Code, Salesforce Extensions for VS Code, and Salesforce CLI in your web browser.
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Agentforce for Developers: An AI-powered developer tool available as an easy-to-install Visual Studio Code extension.
Easily Extend Salesforce with What You Already Use
The Salesforce Platform has great integration capabilities, allowing you to connect with other systems, data lakes, and services. This ensures smooth data flow between all your systems and boosts the efficiency of your business processes.
An important feature offered by Data Cloud is Zero Copy, which enables seamless data integration and access across different systems without the need to physically copy or move the data. Zero Copy ensures real-time access and reduces data redundancy. This helps IT teams access data across multiple locations while eliminating the need to move it manually, resulting in lower storage costs while maintaining security and performance.
The enhanced efficiency from the Zero Copy approach is also why we’ve built the Zero Copy Partner Network of technology partners, ISV Partners, data providers, and SI Partners, to give companies the flexibility they need to access data between platforms to build AI-powered solutions.
And then there's AppExchange, a marketplace with hundreds of cloud applications created by Salesforce customers, developers, and partners. Many of these apps are free and already integrated with Salesforce, making it easy to add new functionality.
With our extensive network of tech partners, AppExchange partners, and the Zero Copy Partner Network, you can seamlessly integrate the data lakes and systems you've already invested in. Plus, you can easily add any apps you need without any hassle. It's all about making your life easier and ensuring everything works together smoothly!
In summary, the Salesforce Platform is a powerful and flexible solution that enables businesses to build, customize, and deploy applications tailored to their specific needs. Whether you're an administrator looking to enhance your org without coding or a developer seeking advanced tools, the Salesforce Platform provides the resources you need to succeed.