Are you awestruck with which Salesforce interface is best suited for your organization? Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic offer distinct user experiences, and understanding their differences is crucial for optimizing productivity and user adoption. In this blog, we will compare Salesforce Lightning vs Classic, providing you with valuable insights to make an informed decision.

Salesforce provides two primary user interfaces: Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic. Salesforce Classic has been the trusted choice for businesses over the years, offering a comprehensive feature set. In contrast, Salesforce Lightning presents a modern approach, featuring a visually pleasing interface and improved performance.

Interested to find out more? Let’s begin.

What is Salesforce Classic?

Introduced in 1999, Salesforce Classic is the original interface of the Salesforce CRM. It was the primary interface used by Salesforce users before the introduction of the Lightning Experience, which is the newer and more modern interface.

Salesforce Classic provides a comprehensive set of features and tools for managing customer relationships, sales processes, and business operations. It offers various functionalities such as contact management, lead tracking, opportunity management, case management, and reporting.

As time passes customer expectations and high-resolution monitors put Salesforce Classic under stress to meet the requirements.

What is Salesforce Lightning?

Introduced in 2014 as a beta version, Salesforce Lightning is a flexible and customizable user interface from Salesforce to satisfy evolving needs.

Salesforce Lightning comes with a modern, streamlined interface that embraces simplicity, and boosts productivity, and efficiencies. The responsive interface makes it easy to adapt seamlessly to different devices–desktops, tablets, computers, and smartphones. components, tools, and features of Lightening enable developers to easily create and customize applications.

Simply put, Salesforce Lightning revolutionizes the user experience by offering a contemporary and user-friendly interface. It empowers Salesforce developers, administrators, and users to create, customize, and navigate Salesforce applications efficiently.

Salesforce Lightning vs Classic: Detailed Comparison

Here we have a detailed comparison of Lightning vs Salesforce Classic on different aspects:

1. Salesforce Lightning vs Classic: User Interface

User Interface (UI) refers to the visual part of an application that enables the users to interact and navigate through its features.

Salesforce Classic User Interface

Salesforce Classic features a traditional, tab-based interface with a left-hand navigation menu. The left-hand navigation menu can be collapsed or extended to create a comfortable viewing experience.

Salesforce Classic offers a familiar layout resembling a desktop application, providing users with easy access to different modules and records. The UI focuses on simplicity and familiarity but may lack the modern and dynamic elements found in Lightning.

Salesforce Lightning User Interface

Salesforce Lightning introduces a sleek and responsive UI design with a component-based architecture. It embraces a more modern and visually appealing approach, featuring a customizable home page, enhanced navigation through app and utility bars, and interactive dashboards. Lightning prioritizes productivity and personalization, offering a more engaging and intuitive user experience.

Salesforce Classic vs Lightning: User Interface
Features	Salesforce Classic	Salesforce Lightning
Interface style	Traditional desktop-style interface	Dynamic and visually appealing UI
Navigation	Tab-based navigation	App-based navigation and utility bar
Layout	Fixed-layout	Tab-based layout
Drag-and-drop	Not available or limited drag-and-drop functionality	Extensive drag-and-drop functionality
Mobile responsiveness	Limited mobile responsiveness	Mobile-responsive design for a seamless mobile experience

2. Salesforce Classic vs Salesforce Lightning: Features

Let’s compare Salesforce Lightning vs Classic features to find out which offers a more robust set of features:

Salesforce Classic Features:

Salesforce Classic offers a comprehensive set of features refined over years of development. It includes core functionalities such as lead and opportunity management, account and contact management, customizable reporting and dashboards, email integration, workflow automation, and a wide range of app integrations. Classic provides a solid foundation for managing customer data and sales processes.

Salesforce Lightning Features:

Salesforce Lightning builds upon the foundation of Classic and introduces several additional features. With Lightning, users gain access to a more modern and intuitive user interface that enhances productivity.

Lightning offers enhanced sales and service features, including customizable homepages, interactive dashboards, Kanban boards, advanced opportunity insights, integrated calendars, and more seamless integration with external apps through the Salesforce AppExchange.

Salesforce Classic vs Lightning: Features
Features	Features
Lead and opportunity management	Enhanced lead and opportunity management with advanced insights
Limited account and contact management	Improved account and contact management with interactive records
Customizable Reporting and Dashboards	Advanced reporting and analytics with customizable dashboards
Email integration	Enhanced email integration with Lightning for Outlook/Gmail
Limited workflow automation capabilities	Advanced workflow automation with Lightning Flow
App Integrations	Seamless integration with external apps through Salesforce AppExchange
Artificial intelligence is not available	It has an AI feature called Einstein (Wave) that helps with predictive analytics.

3. Salesforce Classic vs Salesforce Lightning: Customization

Customization is one of the most important factors to consider to make sure the platform aligns with their specific needs. Let’s have a quick customization comparison of Lightning vs Salesforce Classic to find out which one offers more customization options.

Salesforce Classic Customization

Salesforce Classic provides a range of customization options to tailor the CRM platform according to your business needs. Users can create custom objects, fields, and page layouts to capture specific data and design personalized user interfaces. Classic also offers workflow and approval processes, allowing businesses to automate and streamline their unique business processes. Additionally, Classic supports custom code development using Apex and Visualforce for advanced customization requirements.

Salesforce Lightning Customization

Salesforce Lightning takes customization to the next level with its modern and flexible framework. Lightning offers a powerful and intuitive drag-and-drop interface called the Lightning App Builder, enabling users to design custom homepages, record pages, and dashboards with ease.

Lightning also introduces the Lightning Web Components framework, allowing developers to create reusable components for more granular customization. The Lightning Experience Configuration Converter tool helps users to perform Salesforce Classic to Lightning migration with ease.

Salesforce Lightning also supports features like Lightning Design System, which offers a robust set of UX elements to make it easy for developers to create cutting-edge robust apps.

Salesforce Classic vs Lightning: Customization
Salesforce Classic Customization	Salesforce Lightning Customization
Limited UI customization	Extensive UI customization
Basic page layout customization	Advanced page layout editor for providing flexibility in customization
Limited component customization	Component-based customization
Limited control over record highlights panels	The advanced record highlights panels customization
Limited ability to create custom fields and relationships	Ability to create custom fields and relationships easily
Lack of branding and theming options	Improved branding and theming options with Lightning Experience
Limited ability to create custom buttons and links	Ability to create custom buttons and links with Lightning App Builder

4. Salesforce Lightning vs Salesforce Classic: Performance

Performance matters in today’s time to enable businesses to stand high with the evolving needs of today’s customers.

Salesforce Classic Performance

Salesforce Classic has been in use for many years and has undergone optimizations and improvements to enhance its performance. However, due to its older technology and architecture, Classic may experience slow page loading times, especially when dealing with large data sets or complex customizations. Users may also encounter limitations in terms of responsiveness and speed when navigating through the user interface.

Salesforce Lightning Performance

Salesforce Lightning is designed with a focus on performance and efficiency. It utilizes modern web technologies and a responsive architecture, resulting in faster page loading times and improved overall performance. Lightning leverages client-side rendering, caching, and asynchronous processes to deliver a more fluid and seamless user experience. With its streamlined design and optimized codebase, Lightning offers improved responsiveness and faster navigation between pages.

Salesforce Classic vs Salesforce Lightning: Performance
Performance Aspects	Salesforce Classic Performance	Salesforce Lightning Performance
Page loading time	Slower loading times, especially with large data sets	Faster page loading time
Responsiveness	Limitations in terms of responsiveness	Improved responsiveness resulting in smoother customer experience
Navigation speed	May experience slower navigation between pages	Faster navigation between the pages
Technology Stack	Older technology or architecture	Modern web technologies with optimized architecture

5. Salesforce Classic vs Lightning: Security

Salesforce Classic vs Lightning both platforms offer security, however, they both have different approaches to safeguarding sensitive data. Let’s break down a quick list of Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic on the basis of security.

Salesforce Classic Security

Salesforce Classic provides a robust set of security features designed to protect your organization’s data. It offers a role-based access control system, allowing administrators to assign specific access levels to different user roles. Field-level security is also available, enabling fine-grained control over access to specific fields within objects. Additional security measures include login IP restrictions, session timeout settings, and encrypted data storage.

Furthermore, Salesforce Classic also offers a masking security feature that enables you to encrypt custom fields with 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standards (AES).

Salesforce Lightning Security

Building upon the security foundation of Salesforce Classic, Salesforce Lightning introduces several enhancements to strengthen data protection. Lightning offers advanced login capabilities, including multi-factor authentication options like Salesforce Authenticator and SMS verification. It also provides improved session management features, ensuring secure user sessions. Enhanced security reporting and auditing capabilities offer better visibility and compliance monitoring.

Built on the trusted cloud infrastructure of the Salesforce Lightning platform enables you to leverage ORG security, user security, and programmatic security offered by the Salesforce platform. Lightning web security and Salesforce shield further extend the Salesforce security capabilities.

Salesforce Classic vs Salesforce Lightning: Security
Security feature	Salesforce Classic Security	Salesforce Lightning Security
Role-based access control	Available	Available
Field-level security	Available	Available
Login-IP restriction	Available	Available
Session timeout settings	Available	Available
Encrypted data storage	Available	Available
Multi-factor authentication	Not natively available	Available (e.g., Salesforce Authenticator)
Custom field encryption	Available (128-bit AES encryption)	Apart from AES encryption, it offers a Shield add-on to enhance the encryption
Security Reporting	Login history, password policies, user-login activity, and field history tracking	Apart from Classic security reporting, lightening offers lightning locker service, and lightening web security.

Why Should You Migrate Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning?

If you are still a user of Salesforce Classic, then it is time for you to migrate from Salesforce Classic to Lightning. The detailed comparison of Lighting vs Salesforce Classic makes it clear that Salesforce Lightning is a modern choice to meet today’s needs. Apart from this, there are several other reasons as well.

Here we have provided you with a few of the reasons that will inspire you to migrate from Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning:

1. Better User Experience

Experience a modern and intuitive user interface with Lightning. It’s designed to be user-friendly, ensuring speed and ease of use for seamless navigation and interaction.

2. Increased Productivity

Boost your team’s productivity with Lightning’s new features. Customize your dashboards to access critical information instantly, and enjoy improved mobile access for on-the-go productivity.

3. Better Customization

Take customization to the next level with Lightning. Enjoy the convenience of drag-and-drop functionality and create custom themes to tailor the interface to your preferences.

4. Enhanced Analytics

Gain deeper insights into your data with Lightning’s advanced analytics features. Interactive dashboards, advanced reporting, and data visualization tools empower data-driven decision-making.

5. Improved Security

Security is a top priority, and Lightning offers enhanced security features. Benefit from advanced login capabilities, multi-factor authentication options, and improved session management to protect your data.

Apart from all these reasons, Salesforce discontinued adding new features to Salesforce Classic after the Spring 19 release. However, there is no official launch date advertised by Salesforce, but sooner or later it is expected that Salesforce will discontinue support for Classic. As a result, you should prepare yourself for the change so your business may accelerate at full speed on its growth trajectory.

6. Architectural Change

Migrating from Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning offers businesses architectural advancements that drive improved user experience and operational efficiency.

With a responsive design, Lightning ensures a seamless experience across devices. Its component-based architecture enables modular customization, empowering businesses to tailor Salesforce to their needs.

The Lightning App Builder simplifies application development through drag-and-drop functionality. Enhanced user productivity is achieved through intuitive interfaces, interactive dashboards, and improved navigation.

The refreshed Lightning Experience enhances user adoption, while access to Lightning-Ready Apps on the AppExchange expands customization possibilities. Embracing Salesforce Lightning unlocks a scalable, future-ready environment for businesses to thrive in today’s digital landscape.

Final Take

Salesforce Classic to Lightning migration is no longer a choice, but a strategic move to boost your organization’s efficiency and growth. Salesforce Lightning offers a modern, visually appealing interface for managing customer relationships and sales processes.

As Salesforce has stopped adding new features to Salesforce Classic and there is an expectation of its eventual retirement, therefore migrating to Lightning is an important step to future-proof your business and take advantage of the latest innovations and functionalities offered by Salesforce.

The decision of migrating from Salesforce Classic to Lightning seems like a daunting task, but you don’t have to walk alone on this journey. A partnership with a trusted Salesforce consulting firm can make the migration seamless and efficient. Cyntexa, a Salesforce Crest (Gold) Consulting Partner, has the expertise and experience to guide you through the migration process, ensuring a smooth transition and minimal disruption to your business operations. Contact Cyntexa today and take the first step in a journey toward greater efficiency, productivity, and success.

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