If you're part of the Salesforce ecosystem (and it doesn't matter if you're an administrator or a developer), you're familiar with one of the largest learning curves of the industry – AAA. That means Acronyms, Acronyms, Acronyms! Salesforce has a TON of them.
Living in the Salesforce realm means you need to know them AND use them if you want to be effectively understood by others in the field.
We've talked before about how you should be careful because the habit of using those abbreviations can be hard to break and can actually cause communication problems when talking to clients and stakeholders who aren't as Salesforce savvy as you.
Let's focus on two very unique examples of acronyms in the Salesforce field: PDO and SI. They're two of the least used, but potentially most important to know when it comes time to hiring a consultancy to make your project a reality. Many Salesforce partners strictly fit one category only, but the lab coats at CRM Science have experience in both arenas.
Understanding the difference between PDO and SI consultants and the types of challenges they solve is an essential step when dipping the first toe into the Salesforce ecosystem.
Difference between a Salesforce PDO and Salesforce SI
Here is the definition for Product Development Outsourcer (PDO) and System Integrator (SI):
Consultants with expertise in building commercial Salesforce applications are known as PDO consultants. The Salesforce platform is highly customizable, and PDO partners create apps to add functionality to Salesforce orgs beyond out-of-the-box tasks.
PDO partners build apps that can be distributed through the Salesforce AppExchange, which boasts more than 3,000 apps and components to enhance functionality for Salesforce products. A PDO partner can build simple apps users can open in Salesforce, like an enhanced user experience for the standard Salesforce functionality, or something more complex like a complete CPQ and billing transaction system. There are less than 20 Salesforce Certified PDOs in the world.
Working with PDO partners is more efficient than hiring internal developers to build custom apps that solve unique tech challenges. That’s because they have proven experience with navigating the approval process with the Salesforce Independent Software Vendor (ISV) team and can reach project completion faster.
Consultants specializing in the implementation and configuration of Salesforce products are called SI consultants. About 1,400 Salesforce SI consulting partners are active globally.
SI partners provide consultative services to build, optimize, integrate and configure Salesforce orgs. Many SI partners even provide user adoption and training services to clients.
Most SI partners specialize in certain industries, Salesforce products, or types of projects. For example, CRM Science works with a variety of industries including financial services, manufacturing, and the nonprofit sector.
How to Choose the Right Salesforce Consultant
Choosing the right Salesforce consultant or consultancy may require some exploration into the types of solutions involved with a particular challenge, and the answer to whether a PDO or SI should handle a project depends on who the end-user for the solution will be.
A PDO creates a product for their client to distribute to their client's end-users while an SI provides a direct service by implementing or improving your organization’s own Salesforce instance for internal use. This may be a clear difference, but stakeholders don’t always know which solution they need as they leave the starting gate.
For example, if you want enhancements to your internal Salesforce org such as implementing an event management system, then contact an SI partner. If you want a distributable product that can assist your clients in implementing an event management solution, t