Salesforce vs. HubSpot: Why Salesforce Admins Fail

As we continue our analysis of Salesforce vs. HubSpot, we must bring one of the most crucial key players in the CRM world to the forefront of the discussion: the administrator. The role of the CRM admin changes depending on the needs of the users — and if you’re using a platform that’s behind on the times, those needs can be hefty. On the other hand, admins gain exciting new opportunities to help B2B teams when tasked with maintaining an intuitive sy

This article will explain the differences in administrative responsibilities and use cases between Salesforce and HubSpot. In doing so, we’ll reveal the fundamental correlation between ease-of-use and admin functions.   

The Admin’s Evolution  

Unlike a general IT team that maintains an organization’s entire technological structure, the CRM admin takes on a more specific role by ensuring the platform is running at optimum performance. Ideally, this admin works each day to help your team to complete their tasks efficiently and with as few bumps in the road as possible. How can B2B organizations better understand the ways in which this fundamental role has evolved over time? For Wendt Partners’ Chief Growth Officer and co-founder, Doug Wendt, the answer becomes clear with a simple analogy. 

“Until the late seventies/early eighties, all aircraft had three people in the cockpit — the pilot, the copilot, and the flight engineer,” says Doug. “The flight engineer's job was to run all the systems on the airplane that the pilots didn't have time to address, including making sure that the cabin was properly pressurized, that the electronic system was properly functioning, and much more.” 

But with the development of computers and the introduction of other technological innovations that transformed aircraft as we know it, these individual maintenance tasks didn’t carry over to modernity. “We don't have flight engineers anymore because we don't need them,” explains Doug. “All of those functions are now automated.”

Fueling an Inconsistent Machine 

Salesforce is like a Boeing 727 from 1972 — it requires a database administrator in the “flight engineer” role in order to make the platform work correctly. A Salesforce admin is a person who is busy keeping the existing machine running with all of its weaknesses and inconsistencies. This is one of the main disadvantages of Salesforce that encourages users to finally make the jump and migrate to HubSpot each year.

Discussing the evolution of the CRM admin role in simple terms leads B2B organizations to compare Salesforce vs. HubSpot on a fundamental level. While one platform has continued to innovate for the sake of the modern user experience, the same cannot be said for the other. 

An Administrative Nightmare 

Salesforce’s lack of requirements for determining which lead and client data is needed to complete a specific function often results in users collecting data that has no clear purpose. This bogs down the system and creates more problems for Salesforce admins to address — and doesn’t provide a framework for those admins to clarify how to keep the problem from happening again in the future.   

Salesforce’s solution to locating missing data points, duplications, and filling required fields is to implement a separate add-on tool. By and large, Salesforce’s higher-ups operate on a “buy instead of build” mentality that creates a cumbersome network of disconnected software. When admins are the only members of a team who truly understand how to use such a complex system, they struggle to get to everyone’s resulting problems in a timely manner — let alone make the CRM work better for the future.  

The answer to these ongoing setbacks is not to address concerns individually with patchwork solutions that maintain the status quo. What modern CRM users and admins need is a reimagined system that prioritizes organization and user experience from the ground up.     

Navigate To New Horizons With Your HubSpot Admin 

One of the key advantages of HubSpot that B2B organizations new to the platform report is its robust support system. While HubSpot admins are still available to your team, their role is fundamentally different from that of a Salesforce admin — leading to a smoother experience for everyone involved.  

HubSpot has invested capital in building a single core product, ensuring that all five Hubs — Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub — work seamlessly together. Because everything is part of one product, one platform, and one code base, an organization's different teams can speak the same language throughout any process and collectively maintain a confident grasp on HubSpot’s diverse functions. 

Data management in HubSpot is leagues more refined than its competition. Each piece of data is linked to key functions within the sales and marketing pipelines, making it impossible for team members to carry out tasks without the necessary information about prospects and clients, and reducing the likelihood of unneeded data clogging the team’s workflow. Automation features that kick in after the right data is inputted increase the speed of client connections and reduce the amount of manual work delegated to team members. 

Because the platform is so easy to understand, use, and scale, HubSpot admins can spend the majority of their time helping you gain the most benefit out of extending the capability of the platform. Rather than a flight engineer, they are like a navigator taking your team to new horizons. 

Spearheading Your HubSpot CRM Journey  

Because HubSpot changes expectations surrounding admin work, your current admin team will likely have a lot of questions about their evolving role once you make the switch. Wendt Partners offers both a customized training program just for CRM administrators, and an additional add-on workshop for Salesforce admins making the shift to HubSpot.

“When you choose Wendt Partners for your platform migration, you not only gain access to the best CRM platform on the market today for leading B2B enterprises — you can also rest assured that your administrative team has all of the knowledge and skill sets they need to back your users and make the most of the new platform,” says Doug Wendt.  

Book a timeslot with Doug to get the ball rolling on your organization’s Salesforce to HubSpot migration today. And don’t miss the next article in this definitive Salesforce vs. HubSpot series, where we’ll explain the problems with Salesforce’s cumbersome library of product offerings — and explore how HubSpot products work seamlessly together.