Salesforce Managed Services Pricing & Managed Services Pricing Models

Salesforce managed services pricing

Factors influencing salesforce managed services pricing and available managed services pricing models is the first thing every leader would ask. Especially when considering choosing one or another salesforce managed service provider. The reason why a company can choose managed services over an internal team could be different. It could lack internal expertise. Unwillingness to focus on topics outside of the business’s core competence. Or important functionality is there to be yesterday.

It is extremely overwhelming when there is nobody who can help push forward mission-critical functionality. As result business leaders start evaluating options available on the market. In this process, a budget should be planned, and often there is a gap of knowledge. Managed Service Companies can’t estimate figures before actually knowing the scope. On the other hand, companies need to get an idea of pricing to actually generate a scope.

With this article, I have tried to shed so light on salesforce managed services pricing. That way you can get an overall idea of the pricing. Also, I have included managed services pricing models for your convenience. That way you have a better overview of the available options on the market.

Pricing Models

Before jumping into salesforce managed services pricing I need to explain what managed services pricing models are available on the market. That way you will have a better overview of what exactly the price means. Also knowing pricing models will enable you to conduct a more targeted search. As a result chances of finding a model which fits your business will grow.

As any other managed service offering on the market, Salesforce managed services offer multiple pricing models. Such models are common for the whole managed service industry. However, within the Salesforce ecosystem there are few, which showed better performance. As a result, most providers will offer one of the managed services pricing models discussed further.

Informative Support Only

I’m often asked about salesforce managed services pricing for support. By default, every Salesforce org comes with a support plan, or Customer Success Plan (this is how Salesforce call’s it). You can file a case and get an answer from Salesforce. There are a few flaws with default support from Salesforce. First of all, you are limited by the number of tickets you file. Secondly, support quality often is limited to agents sharing links to existing articles. My experience tells me that in most cases users are actually left without an answer. It will lead to manual research, loss of time, and bad customer experience of the user, who originally filed a case with Salesforce.

Salesforce also offers a premium service called Customer Success Plan. Feedback from industry colleagues shows that these plans are not much different from standard support. Apart from the fact, you are answered faster. But responses are more or less the same quality. Most likely you will end up researching solutions yourself.

This leads to a demand on the market for user support from outsourced companies. This is the cheapest model available on the market. In fact, every time you will log a case with your salesforce managed services provider there will be someone researching for you. And delivering an answer to your mailbox or dedicated customer portal. Whatever is channel you will be using. However, such support plans save a lot of time and enhance the user experience. And most importantly – adoption rates grow.

All You Can Eat

When conducting research on salesforce managed services pricing I came up with the managed service model I have never heard of before. I found a few companies on the internet, who actually provide so-called “All you can eat” plans. Such plans usually include unlimited usage of Salesforce-managed services. I have strong concerns, however in regards to such a business model.

The first thing, which concerns me is how the company is actually making money. So there is either a high overprice for this model or the service company will be losing money. In both cases, this is definitely not a sustainable and long-term model. Considering that no Salesforce setups look the same, It will be very costly to change suppliers. Once you signup with a managed service provider, there is usually onboarding time. During this period service provider learns your setup. While onboarding suppliers, on the other hand, you have to spend extra time answering discovery questions.

So my concern with this pricing model is connected to a service company will have to quit an agreement someday. Or a customer will have to stop cooperation due to above-the-market costs of the service. The only case when this model might be a good fit is when there is a huge demand for high development capacities. Once you are done with your roadmap contract could be renegotiated.

Anyway, I could not think of a scenario when such a Salesforce managed services pricing model could be long-term and sustainable.

Per User

Pay per user is a very popular salesforce managed services pricing model. This is a great model if your company is missing internal users support or administrators. Salesforce specialists are a very limited resource on the market. As a result, companies tend to choose this model quite often.

Pay per user salesforce managed services pricing model is great for smaller companies. The reason behind this is very straightforward. The larger the corporation, the bigger and absolute amount of the contract is going to be. What makes things even worse is the fact of not all users use the service. If you are a smaller or medium-sized business this model is worth evaluating.

First of all, with such a pricing model is super-easy to forecast and estimate. Quotes from managed service providers are often sent the same day. After answering a few simple questions a sales rep will be able to send an estimate.

A La Carte

This is the most popular salesforce managed services pricing model. This model can include any number of services. Any type of service. In any amount. However, there are few industry standards.

The first standard is monthly service limits. Every plan comes with service hour limits. For example. If your managed service plan included 15 Salesforce administration hours, your vendor will reject anything above that. Alternatively, vendors could bill for additional hours. But expect these hours to be more expensive than what is included with the plan. This happens because managed service company is planning its resources. Any service which exceeds their capacity requires them to hire additional resources. It results in extra costs. And there is someone who has to pay for this.

By the way, our company is providing managed services using exactly this model. We believe this is the best salesforce managed services pricing model. It allows us to provide tailored solutions for every customer.

Salesforce Managed Services Pricing Range

What can you expect often depends on what you require. I will speak about price influencing factors later. But before, let me roll up some information I have about the price range depending on the Salesforce managed services pricing model.

Please note. All prices are indicative and are provided as-is. I’ve tried to do my best to aggregate market knowledge. I’ve called a couple of specialists from other firms and they’ve exposed pricing. But as you might guess – it’s quite sensitive information. As a result, no specific companies are mentioned in this list. Also, all the prices are monthly billed.

Influencing Factors for Salesforce Managed Services Pricing

Now, when you have a starting point I wish to explain factors that influence pricing. Most likely you want to know your exact project costs. So here’s what can influence salesforce managed services pricing.

Complexity

Is your project a local sales tracking tool or a global business process solution? How many integrations it has? How complex is the overall setup? Costs depend on the number of Flows, custom apex code, and overall technical complexity of the project. Also, are you using Sales Cloud alone, or do you also use some add-ons? Like CPQ for example. Also, a more complex project will require more resources working simultaneously on your project. As a result – the more resources there are allocated, the faster your budget will be spent. Simple math.

Timeline

Is your project to there delivered yesterday? Or you have a rollout plan for the next 24 months. Just like with the complexity, the timeline is essential. The more tight your project is on time, the more simultaneous resources you will require. Resulting in a higher monthly budget. Also, think of MVP which has to be delivered for your next update. It gives great visibility on your timeline versus budget ratio. And could help you estimate your monthly limitations.

Your Team

Apart from complexity and timeline, your team skills are important. The less competent your team is. The higher is the probability of budget growth. You will have to carefully plan managed service utilization. It results in SoW (Statement of Work) preparation, planning, and communicating ideas. If your team does not have proper knowledge and skills, this will have to be done with your vendor. It results in extra hours as a business analyst. And trust me, they are super limited resources nowadays.

Billing period

Last, but not least. The longer your contract with the managed service provider is going to be, the lower the costs you can expect. Managed service providers tend to look for long terms commitments. The reason is very obvious. Service companies have to pay salaries and minimize risks. Longer service contracts could save a lot in cash. But be careful signing a long-term contract with the vendor. It’s sometimes safer to sign for a trial period of 3 months or so. After the trial, you would be able to tell if it’s safe to move forward with the chosen supplier. Or you should change them.

Summary for Salesforce Managed Services Pricing

Our company is providing Managed Services for Salesforce on A La Carte basis. This means we tailor an offer based on your company’s needs and resources allocated to the project.

I wish you have a great day/night whatever it is now when you are reading this.

Cheers