What is Salesforce multi-tenant architecture?

What are the main sectors that will lead spending on cloud services? Software as a Service (SaaS) and CRM, such as Salesforce. Behind this growth in the industry, therefore, lie the many advantages of multi-tenant architecture.

What is multi-tenancy?

Multi-tenancy is the fundamental technology used by cloud infrastructure to share IT resources cost-effectively and securely.

If Salesforce is the most innovative CRM solution on the market, it is partly due to its commitment to multi-tenancy. Not surprisingly, its was the first multi-tenant CRM solution on the market.

Multi-tenancy is a software architecture based on a single instance. A single implementation from one server available to multiple clients and users. Despite the complexity of the concept, users are turning to environments built on a multi-tenant architecture on a daily basis. Without going any further, the main properties of giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon are based on multi-tenancy.

The relevance of this architecture is such that Forrester considers it as the fundamental key to SaaS, as it is through multi-tenancy that cloud services achieve their greatest cost efficiency. For a start, because the service provider in question (Salesforce in the case of CRM) focuses all its efforts on maintaining a single version of its software, rather than working on the development, deployment and maintenance of multiple customised versions installed on each customer's machine.

This very fact means that multi-tenancy ensures that all customers can rely on the same version of the software. This way everyone will have the latest developments and functions implemented by the service provider at the same time, generating savings both in terms of costs and time. After all, when opting for a customised solution, a company must spend heavily once again to receive an upgrade of its software with new features.

Multi-tenancy is developed in such a way that no client is left behind when the software is updated. This translates into greater innovation not only for the provider company, which is constantly working on the launch of its next big platform, but also in the day-to-day operations of all its clients, as they can instantly test new functionalities for their service from the cloud.

Multi-tenant SaaS

Multi-tenancy does not only solve the problems of updating services. The fundamental factor behind SaaS is that it allows for more secure solutions. While it might seem that storing client data in a provider's cloud could compromise confidential information, the opposite is true: SaaS providers have the knowledge of an entire army of IT security experts and are able to secure their data centres and, in turn, the information of all clients who rely on the multi-tenant architecture.

In short, they invest an amount of resources in cybersecurity that is unattainable for any small or medium-sized enterprise.

The latter is the most relevant aspect of the multi-tenant architecture on which SaaS solutions are built: it democratises technology by minimising the individual costs of contracting a service. Until the advent of cloud solutions deployed from a server to all users, such as a CRM system like that of Salesforce, companies had to pay for a customised software licence.

Multi-tenancy allows the costs of software development and maintenance to be borne by all clients. accordingly, tools such as CRM and other cloud-hosted solutions become affordable products for small and medium-sized enterprises that were previously unable to access certain technologies.

For just a few hundred euros, any company, no matter how large or small, can turn to expensive technologies previously only available to corporate giants. This is how Salesforce used its own innovation with the first multi-tenant CRM system to foster innovation in others: by accessing its platform and each new feature implemented through updates available to all users, Salesforce clients can experiment and go further on a smaller budget.

Moreover, having a tool based on multi-tenant architecture helps companies to enter the universe of APIs. By using server-side solutions (while ensuring the confidentiality of each client), it is easier to use third-party tools via APIs and develop even more complete solutions.

Conclusion

Relying on a tool based on multi-tenant architecture is essential to capitalise on the advantages of SaaS (Software as a Service) as much as possible.

Salesforce was the first multi-tenant CRM solution on the market. The result? Democratisation of technology, cost savings, greater innovation and more security thanks to the cloud.