Salesforce can be expensive. Architecture decisions affect total cost.
Levers:
- License optimization — right-size per user; reassign inactive.
- Edition decisions — Enterprise vs Unlimited; Professional where adequate.
- Add-on add-ons — only purchase needed (CPQ, Marketing Cloud, Industries).
- Sandbox tier — only Full where necessary.
- AppExchange optimization — replace expensive packages with native or cheaper alternatives.
- Compute / storage — archive old data to Big Object / external.
- API consumption — reduce chatty integrations.
Negotiation:
- Multi-year contracts for discount.
- Bundle deals (Salesforce + Mulesoft + Tableau).
- Renewal timing leverage.
- Compete with alternatives during negotiation.
Architectural decisions affecting cost:
- Custom code vs config — code requires devs (expensive).
- Industry Cloud vs custom — Industries Cloud licensing premium.
- Multi-org vs single-org — multi-org doubles costs.
- Sandboxes — Full sandbox is significant.
Hidden costs:
- Compliance overhead for regulated industries.
- Mulesoft / iPaaS for integrations.
- Heroku / AWS for compute.
- Premier Support add-on.
- Training and certifications.
Annual cost review:
- License utilization audit.
- Vendor relationship review.
- Architecture review for cost-saving opportunities.
Senior insight: architecture decisions made today affect costs for years. Don't lock in expensive patterns without justification.