When would you choose Health Cloud or Financial Services Cloud over standard Salesforce?

Industries Clouds are pre-built solutions for specific verticals. The decision is build-vs-buy at the data-model level.

Health Cloud:

Pre-built for healthcare providers, payers, life sciences:

• Patient / Member as core records (replacing/extending Person Account).
• Care Plans, Care Teams, Health Conditions, Medications.
• Encounter (visit/interaction).
• EMR integration patterns and connectors.
• HIPAA-aware features (PHI handling, audit logging).
• OmniStudio components for healthcare workflows.

When to use: provider organisations doing care management, life sciences with patient programs, payers managing member experience.

When standard fits: a healthcare-adjacent business that primarily does B2B sales — standard Sales Cloud likely fits.

Financial Services Cloud:

Pre-built for banks, wealth managers, insurance, lending:

• Householding (linking related members of a financial unit).
• Insurance Policy, Financial Account, Financial Goal, Life Event.
• Action Plans for advisor processes.
• Wealth management features (asset allocation, performance).
• Insurance features (claims, policy lifecycle).
• Compliance / KYC patterns.

When to use: financial advisors managing client relationships; banks doing relationship banking; insurance companies managing policies.

When standard fits: financial services company with primarily transactional sales — standard might suffice.

Decision criteria for Industry Clouds:

1. Coverage — does the Industry Cloud's data model cover 70%+ of needs out of the box? If yes, faster start.
2. Roadmap alignment — Salesforce evolves Industry Clouds with releases; will you ride that wave or lag?
3. Customisation needs — heavy customisation away from standard model defeats the purpose.
4. Licensing cost — Industry Cloud SKUs are pricier than core Sales/Service Cloud.
5. Talent availability — fewer consultants specialise in Industry Clouds.

Hybrid pattern: use the Industry Cloud's data model as a starting point; customise where needed; integrate with industry-specific external systems.

Common pitfall: choosing Industry Cloud because "we're in that industry" without validating the actual fit. Then heavily customising away from the standard model — losing the upgrade path.

Senior consultants validate fit explicitly: walk through 5-10 key business scenarios in the Industry Cloud's standard model. If they need significant rework, custom on standard Salesforce may be better.