When you need an application, you look in the Play Store or App Store among millions of trusted applications to make your life easier. Similarly, for solving the business problem, why only rely on unreliable and insecure custom solutions when you can pick from the huge pool of industry-grade solutions from Salesforce AppExchange? Or you can go for the Salesforce AppExchange Development service specific to your business needs.

It is no secret that Salesforce is the world’s leader in CRM, all thanks to the wide range of customer processes that can be enabled from the platform through extensive Salesforce modules. In response to the newly arising business-oriented needs on the Salesforce AppExchange, many Salesforce partners have published customized or integrated solutions and numerous third-party applications.

Salesforce AppExchange is well-known for being the go-to place for customers who want to discover unique apps and solutions to enhance the quality of their Salesforce Implementation and extension needs. This leading enterprise marketplace has millions of installs, more than 5000 ready-made installable solutions, and 100,000 reviews.

Stay tuned to the blog to unveil what a Salesforce AppExchange Solution is and what else the Salesforce AppExchange platform has to offer to its dearest Salesforce Customers. Also, discover the most popular apps on the Salesforce AppExchange.

What Is A Salesforce AppExchange Solution?

Well, Salesforce AppExchange is more than just the marketplace for applications. It has extended its territories by listing thousands of ready-to-install solutions such as apps, components, bolt solutions, flow solutions, and lightning data. You can install an AppExchange Solution that caters to your business needs in the best possible way and start improvising your deliverability.

All the solutions are available on Salesforce AppExchange are prescreened by the Security team of Salesforce and are present there after going through the rigorous Security Review process. AppExchange lets you tap into the views of industry experts and partners through the personalized experiences that they have shared in the reviews column.

Before we discuss prime AppExchange solutions, let’s see what all the available categories of Salesforce AppExchange Solutions are.

Categories Of Salesforce AppExchange Solutions

Salesforce AppExchange Solutions are divided based on how they are built and managed. Following are categories in which all solutions are anchored:

1. Native Apps

Built and hosted through the Lightning platform within Salesforce. Native Apps don’t need any separate integration. When you put Native apps to use, it automatically stores and secures your data in Salesforce.

2. Non-Native Apps

Built outside of Salesforce, Non-Native Apps can only be integrated with Salesforce through the Salesforce API. Applications of these categories are hosted outside the Salesforce platform and your data can be stored and located in locations that are not directed to Salesforce Servers.

3. Managed Packages

Entirely scalable and installable solutions that empower the provider to optimize applications by customizing and upgrading them. Distributed and sold by Salesforce partners, mostly codes are hidden in this package but they are automatically updated. Customers or end-users can directly install the packages in their respective orgs. to procure desired business results.

4. Unmanaged Packages

Unmanaged packages are used as open-source solutions. Developers mostly relied on these while developing functionalities as it enables them in customizing the code as per the business requirement. They can also utilize these packages and build and modify them per the project requirement. For information, providers are not responsible for the customization and upgradation of such packages.

You can read here in detail about when to use Salesforce Unmanaged Packages.

5 Types Of AppExchange Solutions

Be it a pre-configured solution for custom processes or getting assistance from an experienced CRM consultant, Salesforce AppExchange is more than what it appears.
AppExchange is home to thousands of solutions that users can directly add to their Salesforce org or deploy with their existing configuration.

Discover AppExchange solutions categorized into 5 different types:

1. AppExchange Applications: Specialized Apps

They are ready-to-install third-party applications developed by Salesforce ISV partners to serve a particular business requirement. Developers combine applications, custom objects, components, and tabs to create a single app package. Users can install these pre-integrated apps and drive growth and productivity.

AppExchange has a plethora of free, paid, and discounted non-profit applications, categorized as per the solution use case, business flows, needs, and industry. Customers who have any of these editions: Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited editions, Performance, Force.com, and Developer access can filter applications according to what they find suitable.

In the App Store of AppExchange, several filters are available that easily take users to the right solution, such as clouds & features, language, ratings, category, device support, etc.

Another feasibility that Salesforce has provided on the homepage of the App Store is the precise segmentation of solutions:

• Product collection, wherein applications are arranged cloud-wise. If you want a cloud-based solution, hop on the Product Collection head and discover all the products listed there.
• Industry collection is a category in which application listing is done based on different industries. If you are only aware of the industry, then Industry-based classification will get you to the right product. You can check the configurations, test them and add the same in your Salesforce org.

2. AppExchange Components: Your Left Hand To Build & Customize Magnificent Pages

An app isn’t everything you need to make an app or webpage more usable. That’s where Components slays.

Building blocks or Components offered by Salesforce enable you to create code-free applications and custom pages through a couple of clicks in Lightning. They are responsive, reclaimable, and work well with Lightning app Builder’s drag-and-drop option. Components are mostly replenishable and contain all the code required for running apps and pages.

When we talk about building apps, it’s one thing. But when we mention customization in web pages, it entails a different concept. To cater to these, Salesforce has two types of components: Components and Web Components.

Components are modular building blocks that permit users to add different functionality without entering the coding role. You can also use these to build several other solutions, such as apps and bolt solutions, in just a few clicks.

All user interface elements are referred to as Web Components that assist in comprehending the Lightning experience user interface. The lightning experience consists of everything a page covers – buttons, tabs, etc. If you want to expand or customize a page, then Web Components is what you need.

Users can select from free or paid components on the Salesforce AppExchange, which Salesforce partners create. Also, get your hands on a high-powered array of components created by Salesforce partners.

3. Bolt Solutions: Launch Your Industry Solutions Faster With Lightning Bolt

Bolts are powered portable packages comprising pre-built templates for Salesforce Communities. It enables you to deploy custom Lightning apps; business process flows, Experience Builder templates, and pages with lightning speed in your industry solutions and communities.

Bolt Solutions come along as part of the service agreement for listed SI Consulting Partners, and later end-users can seamlessly integrate them with Customer 360 platform as well.

Now the question is what a Bolt Solution is capable of doing. Let us solve this riddle for you. Bolt Solutions:

• Furnishes an entire customer onboarding experience;
• Pump-start with creating a website or community that can be later integrated with Salesforce CRM;
• Helps in the implementation of an Experience Builder site with an eccentric outlook;
• Directs the configuration of the automation process.

Bolt Solutions works fine with various Salesforce products like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, etc. Users have to pay one-time installation fees and then can mark their reign on the intellectual property of the solutions incorporated in their platform. Besides, you get a customizable and engaging user interface, easy to deploy on the Salesforce tool in the form of Bolt Solution.

4. Lightning Data: Enrich Your Business With The Right Data

Keeping your data secure & updated is as important as growing in the highly dynamic market. You might have seen your teams juggle storing and updating customer data. They need a high-quality data manager that fills the gap by immortalizing the entire information of what’s going on & around the customer world.

Packed with power and flexible capabilities, Salesforce has brought up Lightning Data. It employs refined matching algorithms and machine learning that smoothens the implementation and shares intellectual data and insights from reliable third-party sources.

You can automatically get data updated in your CRM by connecting your Salesforce org to a data feed. You will always have access to your customers’ data this way.

Lightning Data empowers your team to deliver industry-best data quality, through which they can formulate more strategies from the prevalent data of targeted customers. Lastly, improving ROI and CRM user adoption.

Many Salesforce users have already used Lightning data to stimulate typical business procedures like market analysis, creating go-to-market strategy, lead scoring & routing, Segmentation of targeted markets, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Einstein features.

On the Salesforce AppExchange, there are many industry and business-specific data providers; you can install and take a free assessment of your preferred one in trial mode.

5. Flow Solutions: Enable Faster Process Automation

The idea of automating various business processes sounds appealing only when it doesn’t take you to the coding part.
In these times, your business can rely on Flow Solutions. They can automatically perform numerous tasks, such as sending emails, updating information in the system, and interacting with external systems on the user’s part.

In simple terms, Flow Solutions bridges flow-building processes by creating flows that connect with third-party systems and perform required actions without any need for supplementary code or integration. Cloud Flow Designer is the housing board of flows, guiding you in assembling industry-oriented flows for guided and connected experiences.

Flow Solutions have two segments named Flow actions and Flow templates.

Flow actions are in-built functional elements that only take actions within the context of a flow. It is just a side character. Flow templates are the protagonist that plays the main role.

Flow templates are pre-built end-to-end and configurable business processes custom-tailored for meeting industry-specific use cases.
It looks like it’s a lot to take in one go. Let’s understand them one by one:

-Pre-built

Users don’t have to get into implementing automation from scratch; that’s why Experienced Salesforce partners have already taken Salesforce flow into account for creating flow templates and actions.

The Point-and-click builder of Salesforce flow meddles with business logic even without code. Users can create flows with user input, guide user interactions, operate several records at once, and have rich branching logic with Flow Builder.

-End-to-end

Templates draw an entire business process flow from the start point to the endpoint. The steps a user should take to reach the desired goals are available there.

-Configurable

Both apps and templates give away an end-to-end experience. Like apps, you can’t use templates the way it is. Consider flow templates as configurable business processes and first configure whether a flow template is eligible for meeting your business demand.

Templates are the primary step in the creation of a custom process flow. Start with saving the template as your flow and customize it to your concern later.

-Custom Tailored To Industry-Specific Use Cases

Just like a prerequisite, Salesforce partners didn’t miss out on embedding industry intelligence in their flow templates to make your way to success easy.

Expected Extra From AppExchange

Salesforce AppExchange Consultants – Advising What’s Right For Your Business

After discussing a lot of pre-built solutions, what about some real-time expertise? As mentioned, Salesforce AppExchange is a marketplace for bootloads of solutions aiding your Salesforce extension needs. You might have a dedicated in-house team for development, implementation, and integration activities.

Still, guidance from experienced certified consultants can add more value to your existential way of operating. With the direct support of experts and consultants, you can achieve more and faster.

The good news is that Salesforce AppExchange took care of this as well. On the Salesforce AppExchange platform, you will find hundreds of Consultants having in-depth knowledge of the industry and proven Salesforce expertise.

Consulting companies on AppExchange are trusted Salesforce Partners who collaborate with customers to select the right solution, streamline the implementation, and provide support with unannounced problems, regardless of the industry. Salesforce authorizes them to develop and deliver project implementations and integrations, creating custom solutions, migrations, etc. But it’s important to know how much it would cost to develop an appexchange solution and list.

Customers can take help from AppExchange in recognizing the right combination of Salesforce system integrators and Consultants they can partner with. A comprehensive category of consultants is there on AppExchange, like partnership tier, level of expertise, rating, area of expertise, location, number of certifications, and ratings to facilitate decision-making.

Consultants substantiate their skills and expertise by adding salesforce certification to their portfolio and completing different projects. AppExchange opens the door to more than 1500 certified experts with deep technical knowledge, industry-class expertise, and a strategic approach to transforming businesses.

Most Popular Apps On Salesforce AppExchange

Explore some app recommendations on Salesforce AppExchange in different categories:

• Finance: Facilitate payments like Mobile Payments, PCI-compliant credit cards, Subscriptions, and ACH payments. Applications like ChargeOn connect Salesforce with different payment gateways like Stripe, Paypal, etc., making your financial operations easy and convenient.
• Marketing: Highly used app in this category is MailChimp Integration, which allows users to send, automate and report on Mailchimp Campaigns in your CRM software.
• Integration: Cloud service-based app, Dataloader.io lets you export, import, or delete data in your Salesforce CRM.
• Sales: Trail Tracker is a gamified application showing you how to use the Salesforce Dashboard on Trailhead. Also, there is one more app, Easy Incentivizer, through which businesses can easily calculate commissions or incentives of sales representatives for closed opportunities.
• eCommerce: For managing everything from mitigating vendor management process to scaling the capabilities of your e-commerce platform, you can put your faith in Aarch Merchant Tool, a highly recommended application on AppExchange.
• Analytics: For easing the summarization of Salesforce data, Analytics Rollup Helper is the tool that can be an added advantage for your business.
• Customer Service: This category encloses a wide range of apps for signing documents and attesting e-signature for Salesforce. Here recommendation is DocuSign, an electronic signature solution enabling users to sign, save, send, and track documents.
• IT & Administration: A useful solution for taking care of the complete Salesforce installation lifecycle is Element Catalyst. This app lists features like mapping business demand, capturing them and creating user stories, documenting it, and bringing adoption.
• Enterprise Resource Planning: ZenKraft Multi-Carrier authorizes a business to ship and track packages within Salesforce CRM, keeping 60+ shipping companies in alignment. (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.

Well, don’t define your limits around these applications only. Salesforce AppExchange has a huge stack of the best and most secure applications and solutions to offer to all its customers. You can go for anyone that you find serves your needs the best and take your team on a journey to success or you can get a Salesforce AppExchange Development team to create a solution for you.

Wrapping it Up

Salesforce AppExchange is not just an application marketplace. It is the ground for several categories of solutions that not only act as guiding agents for businesses but also solve existing business needs. With these tools on AppExchange, users can understand the procedure setback and where improvement is needed.

Different solutions cater to different purposes. If you are also uncertain about what your business needs, we suggest you get our Industry-expert on board and let them deal with all this. Meanwhile, you can witness your business grow and expand.

We are here to offer you the right advice and smoothening your workflows with more than 300 Salesforce Experts mastered in different verticals of Salesforce. Instead of getting troubled in the entire process, get in touch with our Experts today and allow them to take care of the rest.