At Cloud Analogy, we work with a large number of esteemed customers that work around Salesforce products and services. We see many questions about the partner program and a big majority of customers enquire us about how to identify and explore the correct license type for their business. After all, this will be the differentiating factor that defines your relationship with Salesforce, the world’s number 1 customer relationship management giant, but also in the innovative ways in which you architect your application.

We are going to focus on two of the most popular partner types – ISVforce (ISV) and OEM Embedded (OEM).

How Much Does It Cost?

1. For OEM apps, the revenue share is 25 percent and there is a fee of $2,700 for AppExchange Security Review listing process. The floor price is $10/user/month.
2. For ISV apps, the revenue share is 15 percent and there is a fee of $2,700 for AppExchange Security Review listing process. The floor price is $0.5/user/month.

However, it is always better to have a word with your Salesforce Account Manager to know about the latest pricing and clear all doubts beforehand.

Understanding The Terminology

ISV, the most common partnership type for partners on the Salesforce AppExchange, stands for Independent Software Vendor that applies to an organization that builds an application-specific software to function on the Salesforce platform.

On the other hand, OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer and can be described as a specific version of software that comes bundled with a piece of hardware (the original equipment). However, this term is a bit inaccurate in the context of Salesforce products, services, and capabilities as the partnership type is known as Lightning Platform Embedded or OEM Embedded.

To Put It Simply

On the highest level, the ISVforce partnership can be perceived as a way of selling your applications to existing customers of Salesforce via the AppExchange. 

Conversely, you sell your application as a standalone solution that has a specific version of the Salesforce platform (Force.com) licenses embedded within the app to either existing or new Salesforce customers either through the AppExchange or independently. It is important to note here that the application cannot surface Service and Sales Cloud objects to your customers. However, it can interoperate within a shared org. Furthermore, you are not allowed to rebuild Service and Sales Cloud functionality within an Original Equipment Manufacturer Embedded application.

Why Choose OEM Embedded?

Typically, OEM embedded apps are those emphasizing on changing the infrastructure of an industry vertical (manufacturing, healthcare, finance, etc.), where the Salesforce platform may or may not be used by their customers. The biggest advantage of OEM embedded apps is that you are not restricted to selling to Salesforce customers only. This means that existing customers of Salesforce can locate, purchase, and install the apps from the AppExchange just as they would an ISVforce app

Why Choose ISVforce?

Typically, the ISVforce applications expand the functionality of Salesforce in some way – namely, they can be referred to as an add-on filling the whitespace within the ecosystem. 

Organizations that want to develop an app on the AppExchange find it lucrative to find out that a big majority of their prospects and customers are already making use of Salesforce products and capabilities. Moreover, these prospects and customers are more than just ready to bring their apps where their target audience is. Usually, this will require the augmentation of the Service or Sales Cloud offering the all-critical customer relationship management part of Salesforce in one way or another. Therefore, it is a win-win for the partner as well as Salesforce.

One of the biggest advantages of the ISVforce partnership is that ISVforce customers can easily extend or develop their application through custom objects. The best thing is that ISVforce customers can then access unmatched scalability and flexibility when evaluating the total market opportunity, which is something lacking with the OEM Embedded partnership.

Existing Automation Technology Challenges

A big reason why automation and transformations-at-scale are difficult to achieve is because of the complexity and nature of challenges with the broad range of tools and technologies meant to offer these services.

• Some tools such as iSaaS (API based Integration Software as a Service) are fast, cloud native, modern, and easier to operate while others such as Integration platform as a service (iPaaS) and RPA (UI based automation) are more complex to automate with and operate and of an older vintage.
• Technologies such as iPaaS are powerful, complex, and made for information technology while others such as Integration Software as a Service (iSaaS) are business focused and lack the power information technology requires.
• A big majority of the tools such as iPaaS, iSaaS, Robotic process automation (RPA), and cloud API automation tools are standalone.
• Tools such as RPA are based on user interface automations and ideal for legacy systems. However, they are brittle to UI changes and therefore less applicable to Software as a Service applications. If this is not all, RPAs cannot easily leverage modern artificial intelligence services that come as application programming interfaces. On the other hand, iSaaS tools are API-based but somehow fail to connect to legacy systems. Real world companies require both.

If you still aren’t sure where to start, you must consider working with a professional Salesforce Consulting Service provider such as Cloud Analogy to guide you every step of the way.

Why Choose Cloud Analogy?

Ajay Dubedi, the CEO and Founder of Cloud Analogy, remarked “Cloud Analogy takes great pride in the fact that we are an ISV Partner. We have assisted hundreds of clients that run over technology inside their solutions. At Cloud Analogy, we want to make sure that our esteemed clients understand our cloud offerings. For this, we’ve to ensure that they have complete and uninterrupted access to our certified and experienced Salesforce consultants and technology experts along with our out-of-the-box and seamless technical environments to pursue and continue their cloud journeys.” 

Dubedi also added, “We want our clients to leverage the technical expertise of take their cloud solutions to market.” The CEO of Cloud Analogy, one of the world’s most trusted and successful Salesforce Development Companies in USA and beyond, added “There has been a massive explosion in the growth and potential of emerging technologies such as Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Things can only get brighter from here. Clients who are looking to drive growth, employee and customer experiences, operational excellence, and innovative business models can always trust Cloud Analogy that helps you access automation happening on the fertile ground on both sides (experience and revenue) of the equation.”

How Does Cloud Analogy Helps Transform Your business?

• Powering more integrated automations connecting with hundreds and thousands of services, devices, apps, and on-premises systems.
• More diverse technical automations from data and app integration, workflow bots, IoT, and workflow automation to intelligent technologies (AI/ML).
• More pervasive business automations from smart employee experiences and connected customer experiences, to operational excellence across the organizations in marketing, HR, finance, IT, and sales.

That is exactly what we’ve been doing at Cloud Analogy.