What Is Vlocity in Salesforce? Key Features and Business Applications

This article explores Vlocity's key features and how businesses use them to enhance efficiency and customer engagement.

Salesforce Vlocity and Salesforce Industries are closely related but not entirely interchangeable terms. Salesforce Vlocity refers to the specific industry solutions and technologies brought into Salesforce through the acquisition of Vlocity. In contrast, Salesforce Industries is the overarching category that includes all of Salesforce’s industry-specific solutions, including but not limited to those from Vlocity.

Vlocity refers explicitly to the solutions and technologies developed by the Vlocity company, which have now been integrated into Salesforce’s offerings. Vlocity, now known as Salesforce Industries, provides pre-built, industry-specific solutions on the Salesforce platform. These solutions cater to industries requiring extensive CRM customization beyond Salesforce's standard offerings. Vlocity's applications, designed for sectors like Communications, Insurance, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Media, Health, and the Public Sector, deliver omnichannel sales, marketing, service, and CPQ solutions.

In 2020, Salesforce acquired Vlocity, integrating its industry-specific CRMs into Salesforce's existing products and rebranding them as Salesforce Industries.

Originally, Vlocity specialized in industry-specific cloud and mobile software solutions. This acquisition allowed Salesforce to expand its product portfolio, introducing three new clouds for communications, media, energy, utilities, and new public sector solutions. These products feature industry-specific data models and pre-built business processes built on the Salesforce Customer 360 platform, enhancing customer engagement.

Salesforce Industries now includes 12 industry clouds, covering:

• Healthcare
• Financial service
• Manufacturing
• Consumer goods
• Government
• Nonprofit
• Education, and
• Philanthropy

Vlocity’s offerings, such as Salesforce Omnistudio, provide industry-specific data models, pre-built processes, guided interactions, and integration tools, helping companies accelerate their digital transformation and achieve faster ROI.

Here are some prominent use cases of Vlocity in Salesforce across different sectors:

• Omnichannel customer engagement for telecom and cable providers

Telecom providers use Vlocity to integrate customer interactions across phone, email, social media, and in-store experiences. This ensures that customer service agents have a unified view of each customer’s history, and gain insights into customer behavior, service usage, and operational efficiency, enabling data-driven decision-making.

T-Mobile leverages Vlocity to boost its customer service and optimize its operations. T-Mobile enhances its support capabilities with AI-driven insights and real-time data access to deliver quicker and more personalized service, improving case management and issue resolution. As a result, T-Mobile has seen higher customer satisfaction and greater operational efficiency.

• Claims management and policy administration for insurance carriers

With Vlocity, insurance companies can streamline the entire lifecycle of a claim, from initial reporting to final settlement. The platform enables agents to manage claims efficiently by automating workflows, reducing manual data entry, and ensuring consistent application of business rules.

The insurance company MetLife leverages Vlocity to streamline claims processing and policy administration. This enables agents to manage claims efficiently, reduce processing times, and provide customers with real-time updates on their claim status​.

• Patient relationship management for health systems and HMOs

Vlocity offers advanced capabilities for patient relationship management, particularly valuable for health systems and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). The platform centralizes patient data, providing clinical care teams with a comprehensive view of a patient's medical history, treatment plans, and ongoing care needs.

Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan, deployed Salesforce Health Cloud to create Care Connect, an integrated care management system. This initiative was crucial for managing data from 13 disparate systems, improving care coordination and patient outcomes. The system allows clinical care teams to have a unified view of member data, supporting holistic care.

• Digital commerce and subscription billing for media and entertainment companies

Video on demand (VOD) platforms can leverage Vlocity to manage digital subscriptions and billing processes. Vlocity provides tools for offering personalized subscription plans, efficiently handling billing, and managing customer interactions. By using Vlocity, companies can enhance customer experiences with tailored content offerings and seamless payment systems.

For instance, Sky Italia utilized Vlocity to streamline its sales, digital commerce, and customer care systems. This deployment allowed Sky Italia to quickly launch new products and services, optimize their billing processes, and improve customer service.

• Government portals for benefits and services access

Government institutions can utilize Vlocity to create portals where citizens can access various government services, such as unemployment benefits, health services, and more. This integration makes it easier for citizens to find and apply for services online. ​

This digital integration not only enhances user experience by providing a centralized and efficient platform but also improves the overall accessibility of government services.

An excellent illustration of this can be seen in how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs leveraged Salesforce technology to create a centralized portal for veterans. This platform provides seamless access to various services, including healthcare and benefits management.

• Nonprofit platforms for connecting donors and beneficiaries

By using Vlocity, nonprofits can efficiently track donor interactions, manage fundraising campaigns, and ensure transparency in how funds are allocated. The platform helps link donors with specific causes, making it easier for them to understand the impact of their contributions.

• Wealth management for financial advisors

Vlocity can provide financial advisors with comprehensive views of clients' portfolios. This allows advisors to offer tailored investment advice and better manage client relationships.

Edelweiss Global Wealth Management utilizes Salesforce Vlocity to enhance its client engagement and streamline its wealth management services. By deploying Vlocity’s industry-specific solutions, Edelweiss can deliver personalized experiences to its clients, manage complex financial products efficiently, and improve overall service delivery.

• Regulatory compliance for life sciences companies to manage complex data

Pharmaceutical companies face stringent regulatory requirements and the need to manage sensitive patient data securely. Vlocity offers specialized tools that streamline these processes, ensuring compliance with global regulations and facilitating efficient management of clinical trials, drug safety, and patient support programs.

For instance, Johnson & Johnson uses Vlocity to gain a better view of its data and align cross-region business strategy, as well as automate the tracking of clinical trial data and manage the complex web of regulations associated with bringing new drugs to market.

• Retail management for consistent customer interactions and supply chain optimization

With Vlocity, retailers streamline customer interactions across online and in-store platforms. It ensures a consistent shopping experience, from personalized marketing to efficient supply chain management​.

L'Oréal uses Salesforce Vlocity to enhance retail management by streamlining sales processes and managing promotions. The platform provides insights into customer preferences, allowing L'Oréal to tailor marketing strategies and improve customer experiences.

• Customer service automation and energy management solutions for utility companies

Utility companies leverage Vlocity to automate customer service processes, such as billing inquiries and service requests. Vlocity’s energy management solutions also help monitor energy usage and promote sustainability initiatives.

For instance, Vlocity integration provided Hawaii Gas, the sole full-service gas utility in Hawaii, with advanced tools for managing customer interactions, improving operational efficiency, and gaining deeper insights into customer needs. The new system facilitated better data integration, automated processes, and optimized business workflows, leading to improved customer experiences and support for business growth.

Vlocity enhances Salesforce with:

• Enterprise product catalog (EPC)
• Configure Price Quote solution
• Digital commerce
• Pre-built processes

With built-in adherence to industry standards, Vlocity streamlines integration and supports comprehensive business processes.

Among its offerings is Salesforce OmniStudio, a suite of tools for building custom applications and workflows tailored to specific industries. OmniStudio's modular system uses standard click-based components to quickly create Salesforce flows and solutions, ensuring ease of use and efficiency.

• OmniScripts: Enable customizable approaches to deliver seamless customer experiences by guiding users through business processes.

• DataRaptors: Provide and update data for OmniScripts, Integration Procedures, and FlexCards, simplifying the creation of custom data models tailored to business needs.

• FlexCards: Build customer-centric UI elements and apps focused on specific industries, enhancing the user interface and experience.

• OmniStudio Integrations: Perform multiple operations with a single service call, integrating Vlocity with Salesforce data using code languages and automation tools. This feature allows developers to meet the growing demands of industry-specific solutions while maintaining reusability and reducing complexity.

• Vlocity Actions: Automatically generate URLs that launch OmniScripts, FlexCards, web pages, or external applications specific to objects like Account, Contact, Policy, or Asset. The Action API returns actions associated with an object, allowing users to invoke actions from the object context.

• Vlocity CPQ (now Industries CPQ): automates quote generation and sales flows with features such as automation rules for configuring products, quote approvals, complex pricing, industry-focused templates for documents and quotes, an Enterprise Product Catalog (EPC) for managing CPQ, guided selling, and contract lifecycle management.

To better understand how Vlocity features work in context, let's get to the architecture level. OmniStudio is designed to streamline and enhance the creation and management of complex business processes on the Salesforce platform. It consists of three main layers:

• FlexCards: Summarize and display contextual data and actions from Salesforce or third-party systems.
• OmniScripts: Configure sequences for sales, service paths, and other business processes, providing a guided path for completing transactions.

• DataRaptors: Retrieve, transform, and update data within Salesforce.
• Integration Procedures: Retrieve and manipulate information from third-party services, facilitating complex integrations.

• IDX Build Tool: Manage OmniStudio DataPacks for streamlined development and deployment.
• IDX Workbench: A desktop application that assists in migrating Datapacks and Salesforce metadata, enhancing the developer's workflow.

When integrating Vlocity (Salesforce Industries) into your business processes, it's essential to consider potential drawbacks to ensure a smooth and efficient implementation. Understanding these challenges can help you make informed decisions and prepare adequately to mitigate any issues that may arise.

• Salesforce Industry clouds integrate numerous functionalities into a single platform, making it difficult to determine which features are relevant to specific implementations. By recognizing this upfront, you can avoid unnecessary complications and ensure a more streamlined setup process with only the components you need.

• Updates for all clouds and APIs are often bundled together, lacking clear structure and making it challenging to manage and apply updates effectively.

• Users report and may encounter limited support for bugs and platform limitations, which can hinder the smooth functioning of the platform. Being aware of this potential drawback allows you to plan for additional support mechanisms, such as employee training or hiring specialized support agents.

• The Vlocity data model and features may be overly complex to get started with and configure functionalities for efficient use without a competent Salesforce-certified partner. This preparation can significantly enhance your ability to leverage Vlocity's capabilities effectively.

Check out another amazing blog by Kizzy Consulting here: HubSpot to Salesforce Migration: 3 Ways To Do It Right

Vlocity integration enables companies to manage complex processes and customer interactions by offering ready-made flows and pre-built processes, saving significant time and resources that would otherwise be spent on custom development.

At Twistellar, besides the core Salesforce clouds and niche products, we specialize in Salesforce industry solutions and integrate Vlocity into all Salesforce environments. Our certified experts thoroughly assess your CRM setup, identify integration opportunities, and develop a detailed roadmap. We ensure data integrity, security, and optimal functionality, allowing Vlocity integration to enhance your Salesforce system effortlessly.