Communications vs. E&U Cloud

Communications vs. E&U Cloud

Salesforce offers a new CRM experience designed specifically for different verticals. Your business and industry have unique needs that standard Salesforce cannot always meet. This new Cloud application offers a total solution that meets the needs of the industry you operate in. But what exactly are the differences between the Communications vs. the E&U Cloud?

The Basics

Salesforce has been named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant 2021 for CPQ. And now they want to offer solutions that are even more tailored to their customers' needs. If your company is in the telecom industry and has a standard Salesforce CRM organization, you are missing out on many features that can help employees and customers. To still meet those needs, you need to deploy developers to build appropriate tools and applications. With industry-specific Cloud applications, Salesforce overcomes this problem. 

In this article, we look at the Communications Cloud and the Energy & Utilities Cloud. What are the main differences? The name says it all: the former is for organizations in the communications sector, the latter for companies in the energy and utility sector. But there are also similarities between the two versions. For example, Omnistudio, CPQ and the Enterprise Product Catalog are included in both solutions. 

Communications Cloud explained simply

Salesforce Customer 360 is being extended with Communications Cloud to provide a customized solution for the communications & telecom sector. This helps companies with their digital transformation, enabling them to deliver industry-standard customer experiences while optimizing operational effectiveness.

Communications Cloud includes Enterprise Product Catalog, CPQ, Digital Commerce, Contract Management, Order Management and Retail Clienteling applications. It also includes hundreds of ready-to-use business processes, product models and integrations.

With numerous turnkey processes, integrations and data models, Communications Cloud supports Business-to-consumer (B2C) as well as business-to-business (B2B) and wholesale markets. By using a catalog-driven, modular approach, Communications Cloud also meets telecom industry standards right away. Moreover, it supports digital-first trajectories and thus guarantees perfect Orders time after time. The image below gives you an overview of all the features included in Communications Cloud:

The functions of Communications Cloud application

Energy & Utilities Cloud: a simple explained

Energy & Utilities is a collection of sector-specific applications that enable B2B and B2C customers in the power, gas, water, heat, waste and renewable energy market segments to sell and support products and services.

It leverages Salesforce's omnichannel capabilities and also provides a range of industry business processes across all channels for customer engagement (e.g., meter readings, new connections and billing inquiries).

By using standard Salesforce tooling and advanced integration tools such as Omnistudio DataRaptors and Omnistudio Integration Procedures, it can be quickly and easily linked to third-party existing business systems.

See the image below for an overview of all the features you get in E&U Cloud:

The functions of the E&U Cloud application

The differences

Cloud solutions have some features in common, such as CPQ, OmniStudio, Order Management and more. But there are also a few key differences to keep an eye on when determining which package is best for your business.

Each Cloud solution has standard configured tools for each industry. Both include for their specific industry:

• Pre-built, industry-specific data models and modules
• Preconfigured consoles with key processes per user role  
• Decomposition and orchestration templates for order management
• Pre-designed web applications for consumers and businesses
• Sample Dashboards
• Comprehensive documentation, training and certification

Moreover, both Cloud solutions have industry-specific applications. Here are the main highlights and features at a glance:

E&U Cloud highlights:

• Smart Contact Center
• Customer Acquisition Management
• Field Service
• Large Account Sales Management
• Utility Self-serve console

Communications Cloud highlights:

• Enterprise Sales Management
  • Data model specific to enterprise sales
  • A shared catalog of ready-to-use product models
  • Ready-made proposal templates
  • Guided processes for multi-member quoting
  • Turnkey orchestration plans for order management
  • Omnistudio configurations that support the Communications model

• Mobile Subscription Management
  • Expanding the Communications Data model to include MSM actions
  • A shared catalog with sample products, prices and more
  • Ready-made Omnistudio components for guided processes

The differences between the two cloud applications

Conclusion

The combination of industry-specific features with shared functions such as CPQ, Omnistudio and Order Management, make the new Cloud solutions unique. By adding them to your Salesforce package, you get a perfectly tailored solution for the industry you operate in. If you operate in either of these two industries and your organization "just uses" the standard Salesforce CRM, you may wonder if Salesforce is the right platform for your organization because it is a generic sales application. While it does have options for customization, it does not yet directly fit your models and processes. But when you use the right Cloud solution for your industry, you upgrade the entire organization in one fell swoop. From your sales team to your developers, everyone has the right tools.

Colin Hammer

Colin Hamer is a Software Engineer at CaseNine. He is responsible for various Salesforce projects at clients.