Salesforce is a powerful CRM platform, yet it comes at a high and steadily growing price. Licensing fees, storage limitations, API call caps, and the need for additional tools or consulting can quickly push annual costs well into six figures, becoming a major blocker to growth.
Moreover, the lack of ownership over business data and insufficient integration capabilities are limiting for enterprises expecting control and scaling flexibility from such tools.
During our collaboration, we migrated their Salesforce data to a scalable, cost-efficient AWS architecture, eliminating their dependency on Salesforce for analytics and reporting. As a result, we helped them save more than $440,000 through Salesforce optimization.
Our client is one of the world’s most recognizable U.S.-based technology companies, known for its popular web browser, email client, open-source software, and contributions to web standards.
For one of its products, the company relied on Salesforce CRM. However, rising costs, missing key features, and limited control over business data made the platform increasingly unsustainable.
To maintain business continuity while transitioning to a more efficient solution, the company turned to STX Next and our Salesforce Optimization Services.
That’s where the story begins.
I see companies start with 20GB in Salesforce, feel great about the $150/month storage. Three years later they're at 180GB paying $3,200/month, and their reports take forever to load. Mozilla achieved 40% cost reduction and faster reporting after we migrated their historical data to AWS. About 70% of most clients' data should cost $12/month in cloud storage, not $2,400 in Salesforce. But the migration has to maintain business continuity, which is where most companies get stuck.
Tomasz Jędrośka
Head of Data Engineering, STX Next
Limited data ownership and control.
Unscalable pricing structure and increasing maintenance costs.
Lack of required features, such as real-time data insights.
Difficult integration with other tools.
Lack of technical in-house team to address Salesforce configuration.
Custom AWS Solution vs Salesforce (Einstein 1)
The STX Next team used a phased approach to rebuild critical Salesforce features using AWS-native tooling.
All revenue sources (donations, subscriptions, Google Play, Stripe, PayPal) stored in AWS for unified access.
Salesforce data extracted, transformed, and stored with AWS Glue and S3.
Recreate key reports in Amazon QuickSight, providing real-time insights.
Enables attribution of campaigns to revenue performance.
Migrates donor support cases from Salesforce to Zendesk.
Implements data policies, controlled access, and structured documentation.
Machine learning models to forecast donation trends.
NLP-based CRM data extraction.
Live dashboarding for fundraising and marketing activities.
Correlation of revenue with product telemetry data.
For each project, we put together a dedicated team to maximize business value and optimize project costs and time. We are able to cover competencies holistically, from strategy, through infrastructure and development, to governance and design.
Data lake on AWS
We used AWS Glue to extract Salesforce data – covering deals, transactions, subscriptions, and payment provider records – and stored it in Amazon S3. The data was then transformed into analytics-friendly formats such as Apache Iceberg, making it easily queryable with Amazon Athena. In larger ecosystems, it can also be accessed via Amazon Redshift (including its serverless option) or Snowflake.
Automated reporting
Data control was one of our client's most important objectives. Our team rebuilt key financial and operational dashboards using Amazon QuickSight. With automated refresh pipelines, business teams always have access to up-to-date metrics without relying on Salesforce reporting.
CRM and case migration
We migrated donor support and CRM-related data to more cost-efficient tools like HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Zoho. These platforms offer strong integration and automation features with significantly lower recurring costs – delivering greater business value and ROI to our client.
Future-ready foundation
Our client needed a solution that was both cost-efficient and scalable for the long term. With that in mind, we designed an architecture that supports predictive analytics, real-time dashboards, and advanced attribution models without incurring additional licensing fees.
Key takeway:
Over five years, a custom AWS-based solution can save more than $440,000 compared to Salesforce, all while offering more control, flexibility, and future readiness.
At the beginning of our cooperation, the client approached us with very specific expectations. They needed a solution that would give them full control over their data, meet their aspirations for growth and scaling, and be cost-efficient in the long run. And we are proud to say that we helped them meet these goals.
Full control over infrastructure, access policies, and data retention rules.
Tailor-made solutions designed to meet specific business needs and support real workflows
Open standards and modular architecture enable flexibility for future changes
AWS costs scale with actual usage (not per user), reducing Salesforce-related expenses by up to 80%.
If your organization is facing steep Salesforce bills and limited flexibility, now is the time to rethink the setup. Migrate from an expensive, license-based tool without losing business continuity or compromising performance.
At STX Next, we specialize in building efficient, modern data solutions that help companies grow without overspending. Let’s talk about your project!
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