Tesla is starting to abandon Salesforce for a proprietary customer-relationship-management (CRM) system, three Tesla salespeople told Business Insider.
The electric-car maker has already begun using the new system, though the move away from Salesforce is not yet finished, the salespeople said. Two said they expected the transition to be completed in the near future.
An internal email seen by Business Insider refers to Tesla's CRM system as the "Tesla Operating System," but the three employees said they were not aware of an official name for it.
Tesla and Salesforce did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tesla's salespeople have used Salesforce to record information about their interactions with customers and potential customers, as well as information about customer orders. The company's decision to develop its own CRM system aligns with its desire for vertical integration and continues a trend toward making its own software for internal functions rather than using third-party systems.
CNBC reported last year that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has urged the company to create its own software where it's possible to do so. The company also uses proprietary software in its vehicle-assembly factory and service centers, according to CNBC's report.
While CNBC described persistent issues with Tesla's service-center software, the three Tesla salespeople expressed excitement about Tesla's new CRM system, with one calling it "pretty slick." Another said that while it could use refinement, he expected that it would eventually be "less cumbersome" than Salesforce.
Tesla's moves toward vertical integration have distinguished the company from its competitors in ways both good and bad. Building the capacity to handle an increasing number of internal and external functions is expensive, especially for a company without the vast cash reserves held by traditional automakers and a history of losing money. While Tesla has struggled to reduce wait times at its company-owned service centers, a recent Bloomberg survey of 5,000 Model 3 owners indicated that Tesla's decisions to operate its own stores and build a network of charging stations have had a positive influence on customer satisfaction.
Graham Rapier contributed reporting to this story.
Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@bjinnox.com. You can ask for more secure methods of communication, like Signal or ProtonMail, by email or Twitter direct message.
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