Salesforce is arguably one of the best cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Being one the best CRM software in the business world, Salesforce is used by almost every company nowadays to manage their customer service process. Salesforce administrators have an average annual salary of $91,000 which is pretty worthwhile for the job. While the salary seems rewarding, learning how to be a Salesforce administrator is not only about the money, as it opens up doors to bigger opportunities in your career. If you are interested in becoming a Salesforce administrator, read on to know what they do, their responsibilities, and how to become one.
What is a Salesforce Administrator?
There will be many definitions of what a Salesforce administrator can do that you can find on the internet but to put it simply, Salesforce admins help Salesforce users to make the most out of the platform. Companies hire Salesforce administrators to make the platform customized to the company’s needs. These admins’ main responsibilities are to maintain the platform, make it easy to use for anyone no matter their technical level, and train employees on the platform’s new tools, updates, and capabilities. Apart from working with end-users, Salesforce administrators also coordinate and inspect different aspects of the workflow, business operations, and productivity of the company through the platform. They manage the Salesforce security by creating and updating profiles, roles, workflows, and groups.
For example, they help the sales team by maintaining and customizing the Sales Cloud application to enable the sales team to build custom reports, dashboards, and workflow. Salesforce Administrators perform database maintenance tasks which include cleansing of duplicate entries and diagnostic testing. The duties and responsibilities of Salesforce administrators can vary from one company to another and from one industry to another, but the core responsibilities are the same.
How to Become a Salesforce Administrator?
If you are interested in becoming a Salesforce administrator, you need to take a look first at what the requirements for this position are. Most recruiters ask for a bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, communications, or other related fields. However, some Salesforce administrators have a high school degree, but their skills and experience play a role in the recruitment process. The experience needed is usually at least a year using the Salesforce platform, even if you are a Salesforce Certified Administrator, as it is required to have experience using Salesforce in the first place. Needless to say, you need to be skilled at Microsoft Office applications including Excel, Word, and Powerpoint.
To improve your chances of landing a Salesforce Administrator job, you have to be certified. It is actually a must-have certification to be able to apply for this kind of job. Salesforce offers six different certifications for different job functions:
- Administrator
- Developer
- Architect
- Consultant
- App builder
- Specialist
There is a Salesforce Advanced Administrator certification that is suitable if you are already certified to improve your resume and deepen your Salesforce knowledge.
What to Expect From the Exam?
Before scheduling your exam, you need to have six months to one year of experience using Salesforce. It takes around 115 to 125 hours to prepare for the exam, and you visit the Salesforce training portal, Trailhead, to start preparing for the exam. Some of the concepts covered in the exam are:
- How to manage users, security, and data
- How to build reports, dashboards, and workflows
- How to Maintain and customize Sales Cloud and Service Cloud apps
The cost of taking the exam is $200 and $100 for retakes. If you want to have a Salesforce Advanced Administrator certification, you need to acquire the Salesforce Administrator certification first. Typically, the concepts covered in this exam are the advanced version of the Salesforce Administrator certification test.
Trailhead is the main resource you need to prepare for either of the certifications, though there are other several resources you can find on the internet that may be suitable for your learning type better. If you are a visual learner, there is a Salesforce Admin Youtube channel that includes videos on how to do different tasks, webinars, educational videos, and much more. Keep in mind that after acquiring the certification, you need to maintain the certification by taking regular exams, otherwise, your certification will expire.
Salesforce Administrator jobs are increasing rapidly especially with the reliance on this technology in countless businesses and industries. It was first used as a CRM platform, but over time, it evolved to contain all the necessary operations of any business. By investing in growing your skills in Salesforce now, you ensure that you won’t be left behind in the future. The secret is to continue learning and to stay updated with any Salesforce changes or updates.
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