Salesforce Foundations is an upgrade that unlocks powerful multi-cloud capabilities for Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, and Data Cloud — all at no additional cost.— but jumping to Salesforce Foundation activation prematurely could cost your organization valuable time and generate frustration.
Before a Salesforce Foundations Activation, take a step back and evaluate whether your organization is ready. In this article, we’ll walk you through three critical questions to help ensure your business is prepared for this transformative upgrade.
In This Article, You’ll Learn:
- What is Salesforce Foundations?
- What to do prior to Salesforce Foundations Activation.
- How to assess your organization’s readiness for a multi-cloud system
- Why clean, organized data is critical to success
- How to align Salesforce Foundations’ features with your business goals
Let’s start by understanding what Salesforce Foundations really is and why it matters.
What Is Salesforce Foundations?
Salesforce Foundations is a free upgrade designed to expand your current Salesforce environment by adding Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, and Data Cloud features—without requiring new licenses.
Think of it as an advanced Salesforce features built directly into your existing org.
What Salesforce Foundation Activation Gives you
Salesforce Foundations offers ProSuite features (sales, service, marketing, pay now, etc.) for existing orgs — and gives you ”feature parity” between ProSuite and your Salesforce instance.
When activated, this offers a low-risk way to explore cutting-edge features like Data Cloud, Prompt Builder, and Agentforce before making long-term commitments. So, if you only have Sales Cloud Enterprise Edition (EE), for example, now you could also have those additional features/functionality.
Be mindful, though: it is possible to be charged consumption credits if you use more than your entitlements.
| Key Features | Limits | |
|---|---|---|
| Data Cloud | Unified profiles, Data services, and Storage credits | 10,000 annual segmentation credits 200,000 Einstein Requests |
| Agentforce | Sales and Service AI Agents and Prompt Builders | 1,000 conversations |
| Marketing Cloud | Drag-and-drop email builder, Built-in email, analytics, Segmentations | 2,000 monthly email sends |
| Commerce Cloud | 1 D2C Digital Storefront (US only), Managed Checkout, Merchandising Tools, Analytics, and Pay Now secure payment links* | * Transaction fees applied |
| Salesforce Platform | Salesforce Platform Login license, Agentforce extended to infrequent users | 600 annual logins with 30,000 credits |
| Service Cloud | Case Management, Omnichannel Case Routing, Knowledgebase Macros Service Console | |
| Sales Cloud | Deal Management, Quoting Meetings, Sales Console, Pay Now Links for Quotes |
Treat it as a powerful “trial” while managing access and monitoring feature usage.
If your organization is even thinking about expanding its CRM capabilities, Salesforce Foundations is a great place to start—but only with the right preparation.
Question 1:
Is Your Team Ready to Work Across Multiple Clouds?
A multi-cloud Salesforce environment that blends Sales, Service, Marketing, and Commerce features under one system can unlock new business potential. It also requires a mindset and operation shift among your teams.
Integrating the operations into one system breaks down data silos, enabling teams to collaborate more effectively. However, this also means overlapping responsibilities and shared system access. If your teams aren’t aligned on processes and data ownership, the added complexity could slow productivity instead of enhancing it. Taking time to align roles and train users ensures your business can fully leverage Salesforce Foundations’ integrated features from day one.
Consider This:
- Unified Workflows: Sales teams may need to manage service cases, while service agents might be expected to upsell or process payments.
- Shared Data Access: Every team will have visibility into customer interactions, requiring a clear data-sharing strategy.
- Training & Onboarding: New tools like Pay Now, Marketing Campaigns, and Service Macros may need specialized training to avoid operational bottlenecks.
What to Do:
- Conduct a readiness assessment with key team leaders.
- Build a cross-functional playbook outlining roles and responsibilities.
- Set up team-specific dashboards and permissions to streamline adoption.
Question 2:
Is Your Data Ready for Unified Insights?
Salesforce Foundations centralizes data across Sales, Service, Marketing, and Commerce, enabling real-time insights and personalized customer interactions. However, unified data only works if your existing data is clean, organized, and well-structured.
Is Salesforce your only source of truth?
Data consolidation can streamline inter-application functions and supercharge customer relation management and marketing. But incomplete or duplicate records can undermine the system’s potential.
Before enabling Foundations, ensure your data meets quality standards to avoid skewed insights, inefficient processes, and unnecessary costs linked to data-based services like segmentation and campaign execution.
Consider This
- Data Accuracy: Are your customer records complete, up-to-date, and standardized?
- Duplicate Records: Are there duplicate contacts, accounts, or leads that need merging?
- Data Migration: What data reservoirs will need to be integrated or moved?
- Data Security & Privacy: Does your data comply with industry regulations and privacy policies?
What to Do:
- Conduct a full data audit to identify gaps and inconsistencies.
- Establish data management policies, including record-cleaning procedures.
- Set role-based permissions to control data access and maintain data integrity.
Question 3
Can You Manage Usage-Based Features Effectively?
While Salesforce Foundations is free, some of its features come with usage-based limits. This includes Data Cloud segmentation credits, marketing email sends, and Pay Now payment processing. Mismanaging these features can lead to unexpected costs, reducing the platform’s overall value.
Usage-based features are powerful but require close monitoring. If your team exceeds free allocations, additional charges can quickly add up. Establishing clear usage policies and assigning monitoring responsibilities ensures your business stays within budget while maximizing available resources.
Consider This:
- Data Cloud Credits: Do you know how many segmentation and activation credits your org is entitled to?
- Marketing Email Sends: Are you tracking your monthly email campaign limits?
- Commerce Payments: Have you factored in potential Pay Now transaction fees?
What to Do:
- Set up usage monitoring in Salesforce to track key metrics regularly.
- Create alerts for usage thresholds to prevent overages.
- Train team leaders on how to manage campaigns and payments efficiently.
How to Activate Salesforce Foundations
Activating Salesforce Foundations in your Salesforce account is straightforward. Follow these steps to get started:
Step 1: Check Your Eligibility
Salesforce Foundations is available for organizations using the following Salesforce editions:
Supported Product Areas:
- Sales Cloud
- Service Cloud
- Sales & Service Cloud
Supported Editions:
- Enterprise Edition
- Unlimited Edition
- Einstein 1 Sales Edition
- Einstein 1 Service Edition
Note: Salesforce Foundations feature updates apply to both Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic, but user interface improvements are exclusive to Lightning Experience.
Step 2: Salesforce Foundations Activation
- Log into Your Salesforce Account: Use your admin credentials to access your Salesforce environment. Learn more about setting up your account and managing user access.
- Navigate to “Set Up”: From the home page, click on the gear icon and select “Set Up.”
- Select “Salesforce Foundations”: In the Set Up menu, find and click on “Salesforce Foundations.”
- Click “Add to My Contract”: Follow the prompts to add Salesforce Foundations to your account.
- Add Products to Your Cart: Ensure the following products are included for full functionality:
- Salesforce Foundations (Required)
- Data Cloud Provisioning (Required if not already included)
- Salesforce Foundations — Data Cloud Segmentation and Activation (Required)
- Salesforce Platform — Login and Dev Provisioning (Optional, if needed)
- Complete the Checkout Process: Review your selections and finalize the checkout process.
- Return to “Set Up” to Start Using Foundations: Head back to the Set Up page to begin configuring and using Salesforce Foundations.
CRMNinjas helps SMBs & Enterprise Teams Successfully Scale into Salesforce Foundations
Despite it’s no-cost value, activating Salesforce Foundations is more than flipping a switch.
Added functionality without the proper foundational steps puts your workflows at risk of major disruption and lost efficiency. The additional features with Foundations requires aligning teams, cleaning up data, and managing complex features effectively.
This is where CRMNinjas comes in. We specialize in Salesforce consulting, helping businesses evaluate their current Salesforce environment, train staff, and integrate new features with minimal disruption.
Here’s How We Can Support You
Comprehensive System Evaluation:
Our experts conduct a detailed audit of your Salesforce instance, identifying gaps, inefficiencies, and areas where Salesforce Foundations can provide the most value.
Tailored Staff Training & Best Practices
We provide custom training sessions designed around your specific Salesforce setup. Your teams will learn best practices for managing cross-cloud features, maintaining data integrity, and monitoring usage-based services like Data Cloud, Pay Now, and email campaigns.
Expert-Led Product Integration
From configuration to seamless integration, we ensure your Salesforce Foundations setup works in harmony with your existing systems. Our team streamlines complex implementations, so you can start leveraging new features without delays.
