What is Salesforce Ohana? A Community Guide

Those companies prosper more in the long run and build a powerful community in which their clients and employees exit altogether. One such company is Salesforce, which has built a platform (Salesforce Ohana) that anyone can join, whether their client or employee – no restrictions on that.

The company specifically selected the word “Ohana” for its community-building platform because it literally means “family” in Hawaiian culture.

Let’s see what this platform is and why it is popular in the Salesforce ecosystem.

What is Salesforce Ohana? Understanding the Core Concept

Salesforce Ohana represents the family-like culture within Salesforce. It’s more than just a community—it’s a philosophy urging collaboration and innovation to improve Salesforce products and services.

Here’s what makes Salesforce Ohana stand out:

• A space for everyone to share challenges and receive support.
• A family atmosphere promoting transparency and inclusion.
• A thriving network of professionals, all contributing to mutual growth.

The Origins of Salesforce Ohana: A Look Back in Time

People might think that Salesforce Ohana is a new term coined by the company. However, the story is different here!

The company’s CEO, Marc Benioff, traveled to Hawaii around the 1990s. He went there to enjoy his holidays. He was immersed in Hawaiian culture. During his stay in Hawaii, he perceived a thought in his mind about the “Ohana” concept.  

He officially integrated the family principle into the company’s foundational values and officially declared Salesforce Ohana in 1999.

Core Values That Define Salesforce Ohana

Salesforce Ohana operates on five fundamental principles:

1. Trust: Building relationships with transparency and integrity.
2. Customer Success: Empowering customers to achieve growth and satisfaction.
3. Innovation: Driving the development of cutting-edge solutions.
4. Equality: Ensuring every voice is heard and valued.
5. Sustainability: Collaborating to protect the environment and ensure a sustainable future.

These values form the foundation of Salesforce’s ecosystem, fostering a community where everyone thrives together.

Key Components of Salesforce Ohana Community

Salesforce Ohana became a mass success after its launch; however, there is always a team behind it to make it popular.

Below are the several integral groups:

1. Employees: This section belongs to the internal workforce. They drive the company’s mission and work towards its objectives.
2. Customers: These are the main stakeholders to which various types of businesses and individuals come. Basically, they use Salesforce products and services.
3. Partners: This consists of several organizations and individuals that provide solutions on behalf of Salesforce.
4. Global Community: In this section, all other activities exist, such as philanthropic efforts, volunteerism, and many more.

Each component mentioned in the above list has an important role in sustaining the Ohana culture.

How Salesforce Ohana Shapes Corporate Culture

This positive culture impacts the company’s corporate culture in various ways, which are described below:

1. Bringing Employee Satisfaction: Employees feel they are a part of the company, which leads to higher engagement and job satisfaction.
2. Product Innovation: This culture helps the company to encourage everyone to pour their ideas into the product to extract new innovations.
3. Customer Loyalty: The main focus of this reliable culture is to serve the customers and build long-lasting relationships with them.

Social Responsibility: Salesforce provides a weightage on the commitment to equality and sustainability, which in turn strengthens the company’s reputation and societal impact.

What are Salesforce’s Ohana Floors? A Brief Introduction

Salesforce has dedicated special spaces called Ohana Floors in its global towers, including those in San Francisco, New York, and Indianapolis.

These vibrant, flexible spaces:

1. They are open and flexible areas that focus on the Hawaiian concept of ‘Ohana,’ meaning family.
2. These places accumulate everyone, such as employees, customers, and partners, under one roof for future announcements or updates.
3. When these places are vacant on weekends, Salesforce devotes them to nonprofit and educational organizations for events.

Challenges Faced by Salesforce Ohana

Undoubtedly, Salesforce promoted Hawaiian culture to its fullest. The company brought everyone under the same umbrella.

However, Salesforce faced various challenges while promoting this culture. Recently, while performing corporate restructuring in 2023, the company announced layoffs, in which 10% of its workforce was asked to leave.

Now, this action proved to be a blot on the company’s reputation, and the authenticity of Salesforce Ohana was questioned.

Even CEO Marc Benioff avoided direct questions related to the layoff and instead conveyed what the future of the company would be. Marc’s ignorance of questions about family culture escalated the issue further.

He introduced a “New Day” strategy in March 2023, which, to some extent, was a distance from the prior Ohana culture. Under this new plan, he communicated more about efficiency and profitability rather than employee well-being.

How to Join the Salesforce Ohana Community

Salesforce has opened multiple doors to join the family platform. Below are the ways through which you can be a member:

• Join the Community: Individuals can become a part of the Salesforce family by participating in various training programs and joining groups.
• Attend Events: Many events are conducted by the team. Some of them are Dreamforce and community gatherings. These are the optimum platforms for networking, learning, and joining hands with new customers.
• Work for Philanthropic Initiatives: There is a 1-1-1 model where companies can participate to serve communities.
• Leverage Various Resources: Salesforce offers multiple learning sources. One of the best platforms is Trailblazer, where individuals can hone their Salesforce skills by completing a certification.

In the above list, we have mentioned various ways through which you can be a member of Salesforce Ohana and increase your knowledge base about the company.

Final Words

Salesforce is a renowned name in the CRM industry, and it has the potential to prosper more in the long run. With the introduction of Salesforce Ohana, the company worked towards building a soothing environment for stakeholders so that they could come and solve their challenges.

Furthermore, the company believes in building a strong family foundation to sustain its operations, which seems to be a marvelous move. Many hiccups came and questioned the implementation of Ohana, but the company smoothly passed them.

Now, if you want to learn more about this concept, you can connect with AYAN Softwares and gain more knowledge.

Share this article
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn