App versus platform
A normal app does a fixed set of things — a calculator calculates, and that is it. A platform is different: it is a foundation you build on. Salesforce ships with a lot working out of the box, but its real power is that companies (and consultants like the ones at this firm) reshape it to fit how a specific business actually works. Two companies can both “use Salesforce” and end up with systems that look nothing alike. That flexibility is the whole point.
The clouds, decoded
Salesforce sells its capabilities in bundles it calls “clouds.” You do not need to memorize them, just recognize them:
- Sales Cloud — for teams that sell. Tracks leads, deals, and the sales pipeline.
- Service Cloud — for teams that support customers. Tracks cases (a customer's problem or request) from open to resolved.
- Marketing Cloud / Account Engagement (the product formerly called Pardot) — for teams that run campaigns and nurture prospects.
There are more, but those three cover most of what you will meet early on.
What is an “org”?
You will hear people say “in the client's org” constantly. An org (short for organization) is one company's individual Salesforce environment — their data, their users, their customizations — walled off from everyone else's. When a consultant logs in to do work, they log in to a specific org. One client, one org (sometimes a few).