Which PSA software is best for Salesforce?

If you're a company in the professional services industry and are running Salesforce then you're likely to be thinking about which PSA software can work well alongside it.

Although Salesforce provides market leading functionality for CRM, sales, service, marketing automation, ecommerce and more, it provides little if any robust functionality for professional services automation (PSA). 

In this post we'll explore some of the most popular PSA choices for Salesforce users and look at why and how you may choose to use Salesforce alongside a professional services automation software.

Salesforce Professional Services Automation Software

Salesforce itself does not focus on the PSA software market, instead leaving this space to be filled by specialist professional services automation software vendors. Let's look at some of the most common choices of PSA software for Salesforce users:

FinancialForce

As the name suggests, FinancialForce is a Cloud financial management and PSA software that plays well with Salesforce. FinancialForce PSA is built on the Force.com platform, making integration with Salesforce tools as easy as can be. 

FinancialForce PSA adds professional services automation capabilities to Salesforce including financial management and accounting, project management and accounting, billing and resource management. 

FinancialForce is a great PSA tool for small and medium sized users of Salesforce.

Read our full FinancialForce Solution Guide >>>

NetSuite

Oracle NetSuite is a software-as-a-service, Cloud solutions which includes PSA features for project management, project accounting, finance and accounting, resource management and more. 

Netsuite also includes many connectors to simplify the integration between Salesforce, enabling you to pass customer and sales related data.

Read our full NetSuite Solution Guide >>>

Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is a Cloud financial management and PSA solution used by many accounting, architecture and professional services companies. Sage Intacct works well with Salesforce as Sage and Salesforce have developed a strong integration between the two platforms.

Intacct PSA includes capabilities for finance and accounting, project management, project accounting and more.

Read our full Sage Intacct Solution Guide >>>

Workday 

Workday was popularised by it's human resources capabilities but in recent years has developed full financial management and PSA features and functions including project management, project accounting, revenue recognition, planning and much more. 

Workday has also developed a strong integration with Salesforce, having no sales or CRM capabilities itself.

Read our full Workday Solution Guide >>>

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is one of the most popular professional services automation solutions and has established integrations with Salesforce, despite many Dynamics users using the Dynamics CRM solution.

Dynamics is a very popular ERP and PSA software providing versions for small and large businesses alike.

Read the full Microsoft Dynamics 365 Solution Guide >>>

SAP S/4 HANA Cloud

Read our full SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Solution Guide >>>

Acumatica

Acumatica's PSA capabilities enable Salesforce users to take advantage of a wealth of features for project and service based businesses including integrated finance, billing, projects and more. Acumatica users can choose from multiple integrations including the Commercient Sync integration with Salesforce to streamline professional services business processes.

Read our full Acumatica Solution Guide >>>

What is Professional Services Automation Software?

Professional Services Automation software, also known as PSA software is used by accounting firms, consulting companies, architecture firms and legal firms to streamline their business processes, serve more clients with less resource and protect and improve profit margins.

PSA software does this by pulling key professional services lines of business together such as finance, project management, resource management, sales and human resources in one platform and under one data model. This enables business processes to be automated and allows businesses to tap into the value of their data.

Does Salesforce include a PSA?

Salesforce delivers many capabilities for businesses, but it does not include all professional services automation features. Typically professional services automation software includes capabilities for finance and accounting, project management and accounting, sales and service, contract management and billing. Sales and service are core modules of Salesforce, but it's customers need to look towards other solutions for full PSA capabilities.

PSA Software Modules

Professional Services Automation software adds lots of useful functionality to businesses using Salesforce for sales, service and marketing including:

• Billing
• Project Management
• Project Accounting
• Resource Management
• Human Resources
• Financial Management & Accounting
• Reporting & Analytics

Benefits of PSA for Salesforce Users

Salesforce is a fantastic, market leading platform for customer data and engagement and is used by the fastest growing startups through to the largest corporations in the world to power their sales and marketing processes. However, Salesforce does not include many key functionalities or modules which many organizations need within their IT landscape. This includes modules such as finance and accounting, project management, human resources, payroll, billing, invoicing and revenue recognition. 

All of these modules and capabilities are key for professional services firms and increasingly they are turning to PSA software to achieve greater efficiency gains.

PSA software can help Salesforce users to reap several benefits, including:

• Better resource utilization rates
• Projects delivered on time and on budget
• Better compliance
• Increased cashflow
• Increased profitability
• Increased customer satisfaction
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Which PSA Software is best for Salesforce?

Salesforce users have multiple choices when selecting professional services automation (PSA) software and for good reason. Simply put, there is no one best PSA software for Salesforce users, but several depending on your requirements. In order to determine which PSA software is the best fit for your businesss, you should evaluate between 4-8 different PSA software vendors and see which best meets your requirements. 

Small and medium sized businesses are likely to find a good fit with PSA software such as Sage Intacct, Netsuite, Acumatica or SAP Business ByDesign. These PSA solutions provide great functionality, whilst also being manageable to implement and maintain for businesses on a budget, but also wanting to maintain a level of agility.

Larger enterprises may look towards more prestigious software vendors and PSA solutions including the likes of Oracle ERP Cloud, SAP S/4 HANA, Workday or Microsoft Dynamics 365. These PSA solutions have greater credibility and pedigree with the Fortune 500 and have stood the test of time.