*Sourced from independent G2 reviews.
1. Introduction
FinancialForce PSA is far from the new kid on the block. The company has become synonymous with Professional Services Automation (PSA) on Salesforce over the years. However, services organizations looking at more modern solutions to take their ROI to the next level are increasingly looking at alternatives like Cloud Coach.Â
Read on to see our side by side comparison between the Cloud Coach Enterprise tier and FinancialForce PSA.
Starter
FinancialForce
Enterprise
Ultimate
2. Plays Nice With Salesforce
Cloud Coach
Cloud Coach is built 100% natively on the Salesforce platform and offers seamless connection to Salesforce Sales and Service Clouds, meaning you can:
- Links to accounts, opportunities & cases
- Ability to add custom fields
- Configure your page layouts & displays
- Create your own custom reports and dashboards
- Implement point and click custom Workflows & Approvals
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Importantly with Cloud Coach your data is stored and managed 100% on Salesforce, so you don’t need to worry about data security issues.
FinancialForce PSA
FinancialForce is also built natively on the Salesforce platform, so you get access to all the same capabilities as described to the left with Cloud Coach, including:
- Links to accounts, opportunities & cases
- Ability to add custom fields
- Configure your page layouts & displays
- Create your own custom reports and dashboards
- Implement point and click custom Workflows & Approvals
Cloud Coach
1 v 1
FinancialForce
Plays Nice With Salesforce - Opinion
Result: Tie
If you want a solution that works seamlessly on Salesforce, there’s not a lot to separate between these two solutions.
3. Project Management
Cloud Coach
Cloud Coach has a strong set of feature support for project management including:
- Waterfall Projects
- Agile (Kanban) Projects
- Water-Scrum-Fall
- Project Templates
- Project Health Views
FinancialForce PSA
FinancialForce PSA has a broad (but not advanced) set of project management feature support that includes:
- Gantt Views
- Project Templates
- Project Health Views
Cloud Coach
2 v 1
FinancialForce
Project Management - Opinion
Result: Cloud Coach
There’s much more project management capability available to your team with Cloud Coach than with FinancialForce, so if that’s the focus of your search, you should engage with Cloud Coach.
4. Resource Management
Cloud Coach
Managing people, resources and skills is key to the success of any organization, and a key piece of functionality in any professional services automation (PSA) solution, here Cloud Coach has extensive capabilities including:
- Capacity Planning
- Project Assignments by Work Type / Skill
- Soft & Hard bookings
- PTO & Out of Office Handling
FinancialForce PSA
FinancialForce as you would expect from a long term leader in the PSA space also has extensive resource management built into its solution including support for:
- Capacity Planning
- Project Assignments by Work Type / Skill
- Soft & Hard bookings
- PTO & Out of Office Handling
Cloud Coach
3 v 2
FinancialForce
Resource Management - Opinion
Result: Tie
This one is too close to call, both solutions have great options, although they differ a little in their approach, so it’s worth taking a detailed look at both solutions to see which one best matches your needs.
5. Time Tracking
Cloud Coach
Tracking time is probably one of your team’s least favorite parts of their workday, but it’s important for your business to track performance against KPIs, here Cloud Coach has support for:
- Multiple ways for users to enter time
- Estimated vs Actuals
- Track time on any Salesforce record
- Time entry and timesheet approval
FinancialForce PSA
FinancialForce PSA comes with inbuilt time tracking including many of the same capabilities of Cloud Coach including:
- Track time on any project task
- Estimated vs Actuals
- Track time on any Salesforce record
- Time entry and timesheet approval
Cloud Coach
4 v 3
FinancialForce
Time Tracking - Opinion
Result: Tie
Another one is too close to call, both solutions have great options, although they differ a little in their approach, so it’s worth taking a detailed look at both solutions to see which one best matches your needs.
6. Financials
Cloud Coach
Tracking financial metrics are key to profitable professional services teams and here Cloud Coach has capability in abundance including:.
- Invoicing
- Revenue Recognition
- Resource Utilization
- Project Profitability
- Multi Currency Support
FinancialForce PSA
As you would expect based on their name, FinancialForce are strong in financials related capabilities including:
- Invoicing
- Revenue Recognition
- Resource Utilization
- Project Profitability
- Multi Currency Support
Cloud Coach
4 v 4
FinancialForce
Financials - Opinion
Result: FinancialForce PSA
While the two solutions both broadly support the same Financial functionality, currently FinancialForce has slightly better interfaces in this area currently. But this isn’t a lead we expect to last, with the Cloud Coach roadmap targeting enhancements in this area in 2021.
7. Meetings & Documents
Cloud Coach
Managing documents and meetings are integral to any successful onboarding project, Cloud Coach excels in this space with.
- Meeting agenda templates
- Coaching notes
- Meeting automation
- File storage against on projects
FinancialForce PSA
Managing documents and meetings are integral to any successful onboarding project, FinancialForce provides:Â Â
- File storage against on projects
Cloud Coach
5 v 4
FinancialForce
Meeting & Documents - Opinion
Result: Cloud Coach
For any project, you are likely to have any number of meetings, from kick-off meetings, to client updates, and testing reviews. Cloud Coach’s meeting module gives it the clear edge here.
8. Reporting & Dashboards
Cloud Coach
As a Salesforce partner Cloud Coach get to leverage all the great reporting and dashboarding capabilities of Salesforce including:
- Out of the box reports & dashboards
- Reports available in real time
- Reports available on any device
- Customize reports to your needs
- Tableau CRM Analytics
FinancialForce PSA
As a Salesforce partner FinancialForce also get to leverage all the great reporting and dashboarding capabilities of Salesforce including:
- Out of the box reports & dashboards
- Reports available in real timeÂ
- Reports available on any device
- Customize reports to your needs
- Tableau CRM Analytics
Cloud Coach
6 v 5
FinancialForce
Reporting & Dashboards - Opinion
Result: Tie
When it comes to the core underlying reporting technology, there’s not a lot to separate between these two solutions, and with both solutions providing access to Tableau CRM analytics for deep dives into your data, either option can provide the insights to take your services business to the next level.
9. Implementation & Tailoring
Cloud Coach
Implementing a PSA solution in your business is something that you’re going to want to do by engaging a professional consulting team. Cloud Coach or one of its certified partners can help with this.
FinancialForce PSA
Like Cloud Coach, FinancialForce is also typically professionally implemented by the vendor or one of its partners.
Cloud Coach
7 v 5
FinancialForce
Implementation & Tailoring - Opinion
Result: Cloud Coach
Cloud Coach sneaks the win here with its well thought out architecture that allows for greater tailoring and configuration options than with FinanicialForce.
10. Overall Opinion
Both Cloud Coach and FinancialForce PSA are tools that can help you with your Salesforce Professional Services Automation (PSA) needs at comparable price points, so if you are already considering FinancialForce PSA then it makes sense to also evaluate Cloud Coach Enterprise.
Many people, including former FinancialForce executives, employees, & partners are now choosing Cloud Coach over Financialforce PSA for their next-generation PSA solution on Salesforce.
12. Other AppEx Apps to Consider
Learn about similar solutions to FinancialForce and discover more about the capabilities and benefits of the Salesforce platform for PSA, Onboarding & Project Management for your business.
Information contained herein is based on the companies’ posted Salesforce AppExchange listings and other publicly available websites as of the date of this publication.
