It’s no secret that the retail sector has found it necessary to focus on boosting the customer experience or CX for everyone they do business with. However, CX is not just for retailers anymore. You’ll find that as companies commodify their products, there is a growing need to harness CX among members of the manufacturing sector too. According to a survey from Salesforce, approximately 86% of manufacturers report that they think they can competitively distinguish themselves from rivals by improving their customer experience.

Reasons for the Rising Importance of the Manufacturing Customer Experience (CX)

Essentially, there are three chief reasons why manufacturers are starting to embrace the CX:

1. There is a service factor, also known as the “servitization” of products that is transforming the relationship between manufacturers and customers. Businesses are no longer content to consider a sale as merely being a one-time transaction. Indeed, the notion of selling products as a service itself is prompting companies in the manufacturing space to remain engaged with their customers, instead of stopping communication after they’ve sold them a product.
   
   What’s called for is a system to help them keep customers updated with new information about their items. Part of this involves letting customers easily discover new products, and use self-service features to learn and engage with your offerings. Another key ingredient is to invest in a service, such as Salesforce, to connect with customers more effectively and consistently. After all, the numbers don’t lie, so you’re advised to use all the marketing automation tools at your disposal.

2. As noted, business-to-business buyers now prefer to have a consumer-style experience when shopping for products too. When your customers grow displeased with your brand and the consumer experience, it’s a trivial matter for them to locate a competing manufacturer who sells the same types of items, with a few taps of their smartphone. Accordingly, B2B buyers are demanding a good user experience (UE) and user interface (UI). If you aren’t paying close attention to the experiences you’re providing through your website and social channels, you’re doing your company a grave disservice.
   
   With a focus on the customer experience, you can give each person an instant response when they request service. You’ll also be in a position to offer purchasers of your manufactured products support and maintenance just when they need it.

3. To remain competitive in an increasingly crowded market, it’s incumbent on manufacturers to differentiate themselves from rivals in terms of the experience of doing business with them. It’s no longer enough to try to get by offering the best products possible and developing an outstanding, reputable brand. Your customers will expect and deserve a better experience.
   
   Delivering this to them will certainly help boost revenue. But by focusing on the CX, you can also anticipate that your team will make operations run more efficiently, cutting out waste. This occurs naturally when you invest in systems to automate the marketing and sales functions, with analytics to provide support for your next business decisions. Add data streams from Internet of Things or IoT devices and advanced analysis made possible with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, you can dramatically improve the customer experience journey.

Addressing the Complexity of Your Manufacturing Customer Experience

If you’ve been involved in the manufacturing space for any significant amount of time, you and fellow stakeholders in your organization are already familiar with just how complex the journey it is for each customer to take before finally purchasing items from you.

One reason has been the vast array of middlemen that tend to get in the way. Even the most powerful manufacturers often did not know exactly who their final customers were, let alone the uses to which they put their various products. But that’s part of the past. In the information age, anyone with internet access can access the supply chain more readily. Therefore, you need to spend time and attention on improving your approach to center around your B2B customers’ journey.

To that end, some crucial options for you to consider include:

* Deploy more assets to build an “intelligent” customer service:

It costs a lot of time and other resources for manufacturers to provide traditional customer service, such as setting up a network of field agents and training them in your ways, and building contact centers. At the same time, you have to relentlessly focus on speeding up orders and making each transaction more accurate. Most customer service complaints have to do with resolving their requests, and all of the time and effort they have to expend on repetitive data entry tasks to finalize orders.

Instead, you’ll want to design a better customer journey experience that values their time and attention. Do this with design experts making a better UE/UI interface. Use the latest digital technology products, such as cloud services, chatbots for customer service reps, mobile device targeting, IoT and artificial intelligence systems. Of course, you’ll also need to deploy analytics, such as through a platform like Salesforce.

* Use smart devices to better connect with your B2B customers:

Whenever possible, use integrated devices such as IoT products. Kone, a Finnish manufacturer, notably added artificial intelligence inside its elevators, along with IoT devices, which allow the elevators to communicate with their data servers.

This enables Kone to understand where each elevator is at any point in time, with data if they are suffering any problems. The treasure trove of information helps Kone predict when customers’ elevators need maintenance. Doing so avoids service interruptions, and makes customers happier with Kone’s products.

The same principle applies to automotive manufacturers. For example, data from each car allows manufacturers to send drivers tips on reducing damage to tires when riding fast over certain types of road surfaces.

Boosting Your Manufacturing Online Presence With a New B2B Customer Portal Designed to Accelerate Sales

CLOUDSTREET has successfully set up B2B stores for manufacturers operating in the consumer goods, IT services and industrial sectors. To enable manufacturers to quickly get up to speed, CLOUDSTREET provides two Accelerator packages, to help you get your online store up and running to start making fast sales.

With a tool such as Salesforce helping you engage more effectively with new customers as well as existing loyal customers, you can anticipate boosting sales, thanks to your customized sales portal.

So, even if you have limited resources to handle Salesforce marketing automation tasks yourself, or to set up and maintain an online store, you can still set yourself apart from competing manufacturers by partnering with the experts at CLOUDSTREET, who have years of experience in implementing effective B2B storefronts online.

CHALLENGE:

• Give leadership real-time sales and manufacturing reports and dashboards that are difficult to access using the legacy ERP (Epicor).
• Create real-time operational reports and dashboards for the factory floor.
• Streamline manual sales and manufacturing workflows with new digital workflows.
• Reduce reliance on manual spreadsheets.
• Reduce the risk of data error with less manual data entry.

SOLUTION:

• Implemented Epicolor Salesforce ERP Integrations using Mulesoft
• Implemented a cloud-based workflow solution focused on more efficient processes that replaced the many time-consuming spreadsheets, and offered easily accessible inventory data
• Provided Salesforce reports and dashboards for all areas of business and made sure they were mobile-friendly.

RESULTS:

• Increased efficiencies across several key areas including visibility of all the necessary data, communication, and time.
• Quote-to-order processing time dropped by 25 percent during the first year. They also went from using 12 spreadsheets for managing sales order data during order fulfillment to using none.
• The rate of data entry errors during the order processing became negligible.
• C-Suite was finally able to access real-time manufacturing and sales data with a highly-intuitive, user-friendly and mobile-friendly dashboard through custom integration process

Salesforce Integration with Manufacturing ERP

CHALLENGE:

A manufacturing client had some pain points that are pretty familiar to similar companies within the same space. Namely, the firm wanted to both boost top-line sales and their bottom line profits. A key sticking point in reaching these objectives was the client’s inability to tap into real-time sales and manufacturing data because of an outdated cloud/server-based ERP known as Epicor. Currently, C-Suite needs to wait for reports generated at month’s end for this information.

The client also wanted to reduce processes for both manufacturing and quoting, increase the manufacturing and sales data visible across all levels, and reduce their reliance on spreadsheets. A decrease in errors during the data entry phase, as well as the manual resources needed for data entry, was also desired.

SOLUTION:

As soon as CLOUDSTREET was contacted, it was evident that Salesforce was the perfect ERP solution for this client. We set about integrating sales and manufacturing data from Epicor ERP Platform with Salesforce using Mulesoft. While the client will continue to use Epicor as its primary ERP software, they will implement the Salesforce platform to add to or replace certain business processes that might not be usable in their current form or lack the functionality they need.

We also implemented a cloud-based software solution focused on new processes that can replace those that are outdated such as the many time-consuming spreadsheets. By doing so, the client can reduce the manual entries needed as well as human error, and enhance data accuracy. This solution also increases efficiencies for sales and service teams across several key areas including customer data visibility, communication, and time. By integrating Salesforce CRM solution, sales processes such as lead tracking, accounts, transactions, contacts, and opportunities, as well as their related reporting, can be accessed.

RESULTS:

The results for our client were pretty impressive. Their quote-to-order processing time dropped by 25 percent during the first year. They also went from using 12 spreadsheets during order fulfillment to using none. Instead, they rely 100 percent on Salesforce. By doing so, they enjoy streamlined planning, work management, scheduling, quality control, and inspections. Moreover, it reduced the overall pressure of work on the sales team. Subsequently, the rate of data entry errors during the order processing became negligible. To top it all off, C-Suite was finally able to access real-time manufacturing and sales data with a highly-intuitive and user-friendly dashboard – thereby meeting customer expectations to the T.

Making the switch from a system that is a patchwork of different solutions that aren’t working well can be overwhelming. Not knowing where to start and which solution will best meet their objective is why this client turned to CLOUDSTREET. Thankfully, we have the right amount of expertise and experience in Salesforce ERP systems can implement ERP integration in the most hassle-free manner possible. With us by their side, implementing Salesforce for project management made the otherwise challenging process of changing gears worthwhile with the benefits it provides.

CONTACT US NOW TO EXPLORE SERVICE OPTIONS

We are in business to help you build a solid foundation for business success through the informed and efficient use of available and transformative technology.

CLOUDSTREET has the resources, the tools, the people, and the commitment to help you achieve the goals you set for your business.

Salesforce has been focusing on its services for specific industries and its Winter 24 release for manufacturing is no exception. It has included automation for warranty claim adjudication processes and more support for social impact measurement and contract lifecycles.

Overall, Salesforce’s Winter 24 release for manufacturers has several changes that benefit B2B manufacturing sales, service, IT, and marketing teams. Salesforce can be an excellent tool for manufacturers and can benefit many aspects of operations: information security, customer service, territory-based B2B sales, and more. We’re covering the top features below:

Leads Added to Territory Assignment

Prior releases of Salesforce for manufacturers only allowed the categories of Accounts and Opportunities to be assigned on a territory basis. In the Winter 24 release, admins can assign territories to Leads.

Assigning territories to leads enables you to measure territory potential by lead volume. There’s no longer any need to establish complicated lead sharing rules.

This new feature will also make it easier to track marketing ROI and assign sales reps more easily based on your existing or planned territory system. Adding leads to territory assignment will also help to plan targeted email campaigns, and monitor lead-to-conversion performance by territory.

Broadcast Settings: Incident Management And Service Improvements

Salesforce’s Winter 24 release now supports sharing of incident updates with customers at scale. Some of the advantages of this update include:

• Notifying customers of incidents proactively using email list functions.
• Informing leadership, stakeholders, agents, and others of incidents in a timely, accurate manner.
• Setting up site banners on broadcast sites quickly and easily.
• Controlling access to broadcast communications by user.
• Managing incident contact lists to comply with contractual and government or agency requirements.

The release also supports assigning and responding to customer contacts on your help center sites. Overall, the upgraded incident management feature will let you put data related to incidents, easily broadcast messages to the desired audiences, and automate email templates for incident responses and rapid communication.

Administrators Have Enhanced Cloud Site Security

The Winter 24 release of Salesforce for manufacturing has enhanced health check settings that can support administrators in their quest for improved site security. These improvements strengthen the overall security health check and portal health check. Within the checks, admins will find they have options to create compliant security settings in many areas of operations.

Critically, the enhanced health check settings now include the ability of administrators to assign a specific number of objects that guest users have the ability to read and edit. This release gives you more control over CRUD (create, read, update, delete) records and offers you increased security over guest users and their abilities.

It’s recommended that admins run a security health check following the Winter 24 release. The enhanced settings and controls will make the process simpler and more effective.

Dynamic Form Upgrades On Hundreds Of LWC-Enabled Objects

You enhance your page performance and create dynamic, flexible pages for your users that show them the data they need when they need it. Prior releases only supported Dynamic Forms on custom objects and a few standard objects. The Winter 24 release now supports hundreds of LWC-enabled standard objects.

You’ll be able to determine if the Dynamic Form upgrade is supported by opening a record page in App Builder. If it shows you that Dynamic Forms is supported, you’re good to go. If not, the page won’t show the Dynamic Form upgrade option.

It’s recommended that you move your page layouts to Dynamic Forms to support both security and efficient page creation. This is one area where CLOUDSTREET services can assist, helping to eliminate any conflicts due to security and permissions as you continue to develop your pages and processes.

Reactive Screen Flows Now GA

The Summer 23 release included a Beta version of reactive screen flows, and now it’s generally available (GA). You can configure standard screen components or custom Lightning Web Components to react to changes on the same screen instead of having to place the reaction on the next screen.

To enable this function for API versions 57.0 and 58.0, you can select “Enable Reactive Components For Screen Flows” for these APIs in the Process Automation Settings Page.

This feature will allow you to help your users to dynamically select radio buttons based on dynamic components. They can also run price comparisons based on dynamic components. The flexibility and power of this new feature is a real game changer and will upgrade user experiences and workflows.

Tracking User Engagement By Using Google Analytics 4 (LWR)

Google’s move away from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 has had benefits for site integration, particularly in no-code environments. Salesforce’s Winter 24 release makes it easier for marketing teams to track activity on customer and partner portals.

The complexity of this feature means that you will likely need to work with developers. For example, a Salesforce implementation partner like CLOUDSTREET can help to leverage the powerful new capabilities resulting from the change to Google Analytics 4 and integrating it with your pages.

Manufacturers Can Optimize Their Salesforce Cloud Tech

CLOUDSTREET Services can help you to customize your Salesforce technology and make the most of the Winter 24 release and other upgrades that Salesforce releases. Winter 24 release contains a number of new features that can support B2B manufacturing admins, marketing pros, and IT support and security functions.

In these transformative economic times, B2B organizations need every competitive edge they can get. If you have considered Salesforce in the past but didn’t make the call, look again. Salesforce is a remarkable opportunity to streamline your operations, connect with your customer base, and optimize your profitability. Take a look at just some of the ways you can use Salesforce Commerce Cloud to give your business a welcome boost.

Why are most businesses currently using Salesforce Commerce Cloud reporting revenue boosts of 30 to 50 percent (with others posting even bigger numbers)? The answer lies in the platform’s wealth of built-in functionality. You’ll gain access to state-of-the-art campaign management, online management, SEO, and promotional tools right out of the box. You can use Salesforce Commerce Cloud’s out-of-the-box functionality to unify your message across all your digital marketing channels, resulting in higher conversion rates.

While the general public may only now be aware of breakthrough programs such as ChatGP, many business experts have understood for some time that AI and machine learning are the future — and Salesforce Commerce Cloud brings it to you today, in the form of its Einstein Embedded Predictive Intelligence feature. You can use AI’s data-based insights and recommendations to predict a wide range of business outcomes. you can then take the wisest revenue-boosting steps while still working inside the platform — even if you’re not a technological wizard. The platform’s next-generation AI also lets you create unique, personalized customer experiences.

How much are your current in-house IT operations costing your company? In-house IT departments can make a massive dent in a company’s bottom line, from the pricey hardware setups and software purchases to the salaries and benefits packages of all those skilled technicians. the more IT services you try to handle yourself, the more money you must spend and the less net profit you’ll show. If you’re tired of shelling out major expenses for infrastructure, security, application hosting, front-end licenses, and everyday maintenance, put those functions in the cloud. Salesforce Commerce Cloud can give you the data, system, and overall solution support you need without all the extra charges. Many businesses can slash their operational costs in half by taking this simple step. Maybe it’s time you joined their ranks.

This is the era of the nimble business — a business model that allows for maximum flexibility and adaptability in an ever-changing world. If you’re looking to add agility to your organization’s operations, look no further than Salesforce Commerce Cloud. The same out-of-the-box functionality noted above can help you make strong, profit-generating moves more quickly and competently than ever before. The more rapidly you can roll out site enhancements and promotional campaigns, the more easily you can grab and hold that coveted market share. At the same time, these features will take pressure off of your marketing team so they can work more effectively.

The time lost between the spark of a great new e-commerce idea and the rollout of a branded e-commerce site to sell that idea can make all the difference between success and failure. Salesforce Commerce Cloud can cut your time-to-market interval by one-third. Its e-commerce site development tools can get a new site to market more quickly than rival platforms, giving you the ability to beat your competitors to the punch and start earning revenue that much faster. Once you’ve got that new e-commerce site up and running, and can create and deploy a variety of other features to promote that online business in record time — and time, after all, is money.

If you believe that all B2B and B2c e-commerce platforms are created equal, you may wonder why your current e-commerce business keeps bleeding revenue due to unanticipated downtime. The brutal truth is that many online e-commerce services encounter regular spikes in traffic that slow them to a crawl or even go completely dark. Periodic and/or extended downtime means money lost for your organization. You can protect your business against these losses by choosing Salesforce Commerce Cloud as your e-commerce platform. Salesforce Commerce Cloud guarantees 99.9 percent uptime, even in the face of major traffic surges, for that “always-on” profitability you need and expect.

One of the reasons Salesforce refers to itself as “The Customer Company” involves its commitment to providing end-to-end support for its clients. If your B2B or B2C organization needs help providing the optimal customer service that wins loyalty, you can take advantage of a tremendously helpful resource from Salesforce Commerce Cloud. When you join the platform, you gain instant access to the Standard Salesforce Customer Success Plan. This plan features a variety of self-guided resources that you can use to train yourself and your team. You can soak in the knowledge from Salesforce Help, AppExchange, Customer Success events, the Trailblazer community, and other invaluable learning tools. If you so choose, you can then climb the education ladder by exploring the more deluxe Customer Success Plans, such as the Deluxe Plan and the signature Plan. The sky’s the limit when it comes to learning about topics ranging from international expansion to internal optimization. Best of all, you won’t have to pay an outside expert’s exorbitant consulting fees to obtain this specialized knowledge.

As you can see, Salesforce equips your organization with the tools it needs for greater profitability. In addition to the sheer convenience and efficiency this platform offers to B2C organizations, Salesforce makes an excellent tool for manufacturers. CLOUDSTREET has used it to implement B2B stores for manufacturers in the industrial, IT services, and consumer goods sectors. Contact us to learn more about how we can help your business take flight!

U.S. tech companies continue to lead the global race in AI development, with key and major tech giants leading the charge. And now, San Francisco-based Salesforce has pledged to invest $500 million in support of new startups through its Generative AI Fund. Paul Drews, the managing partner of Salesforce Ventures, made it clear in a released statement that the company believes the acceleration and development of AI solutions which will transform manufacturing is critical for these types of companies to remain competitive well into the future.

Salesforce has been a leader in CRM solutions since its launch in 1999 by a former Oracle executive. As one of the first Fortune 500 SaaS (software as a service) companies, they have been quick to take on emerging business technologies including Big Data, commerce cloud platforms, digital marketing and analysis, and now, artificial intelligence.

Salesforce is an excellent candidate to support these emerging AI entrepreneurs, since it has already acquired many business and technology startups that range from web conference service providers to the popular office messaging platform Slack Technologies. One of its most notable and recent partnerships has been with CloudStreet, a firm that has successfully implemented B2B stores for manufacturers in the industrial, IT services, and consumer goods sectors.

CloudStreet works directly with Salesforce users on best practices for implementation and optimization, while also serving clients that may have difficulty customizing the Salesforce system to meet their unique business requirements. CloudStreet also helps these same companies overcome the financial burden of hiring in-house developers, which can present extremely high overhead costs.

There are a number of different artificial intelligence platforms that have been successfully applied on the factory floor. For example, Reactive AI machinery is task-specific, and relies specifically on machine learning rather than on programmed memory. For example, self-driving cars and Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing AI system, are designed to respond to external stimuli.

Generative AI is driven by algorithms in the computer’s memory that can create new information. This can be political news content, audio and graphic simulations, and a host of other customer-facing solutions like ChatGPT, which is capable of quite human-like conversations in which the AI system independently generates answers to almost any questions, writes essays or high-level code, and can even compose the perfect email to snag the perfect job.

Generative AI unleashes creativity that rivals human imagination. For example, an AI-generated work of artwork entitled “Portrait of Edmond de Belamy” was recently sold at a Christie’s auction for a stunning $432,500 – giving recognition and value to AI-generated artwork. The technology used was the Generative Adversarial Network algorithm (GAN) along with a wealth of information from 15,000 portraits.

GANs use deep learning methods, that are similar to unsupervised machine learning. The algorithms can automatically discover (or create) patterns and regularities found in data inputs in such a way that it will generate new and plausible examples based on the information gleaned from the original datasets. It is truly a clever training model that can create new examples which can be adversarial or non-contradictory.

Salesforce has recognized the power that can be leveraged from generative AI, and when it comes to manufacturing, GAN-based AI goes above and beyond Reactive AI. By helping AI start-ups, especially those who are developing AI-based solutions for manufacturing, the company is expanding its own footprint into purpose-built AI technology that can support not only production and profit, but also sustainability and safety.

AI has already disrupted industrial markets, but it has yet to fulfill the old prophecy that robots can and will replace humans in manufacturing. And, generative AI is not projected to take the place of a human workforce, either. Instead, we’ve witnessed AI and robotics take on the most dangerous and toxic roles on the factory floor, to the benefit of both employees and corporations.

Generative AI is a transformative leap into AI-based industrial solutions, such as optimizing processes, detecting machine performance issues, forecasting the remaining usefulness of equipment, and predicting future needs such as inventory, personnel, and equipment. When manufacturers can maximize operational performance, they become more competitive, more lean, and more cost-effective.

Salesforce expects generative AI and its deep learning solutions will unlock new levels of economic potential and create exciting business opportunities as AI-based startups move from the collection, analysis, and selling of consumer or market data to optimizing and augmenting human potential.

Fundamental to investor concerns when it comes to AI VC, is whether the entrepreneur is solving an important problem, and is that solution one that business owners or their customers are willing to consider and pay for. Salesforce already uses sales intelligence and productivity solutions that can leverage AI analytics for sales forecasting by turning customer data into lead prioritization and generation.

While it may still be in the early stages of this burgeoning industry, Salesforce realizes that many factors must be addressed if these companies are to be successful. Mastery over their data, and generating data that has value, are two key investor concerns. The investor frenzy into AI start-ups have been led by tech giants like SalesForce, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft.

AI-based venture capital funding for start-ups reached approximately $9.3 billion in the U.S. in 2018. This outdoes the amount of capital expenditure for all 3 industrial revolutions of the past, which include mechanization, fossil and electric energy, and electronics/computers.

Today, for an AI start-up to secure the massive funding it needs to fulfill its business model, clarity must be at the forefront on how the technology will impact or disrupt manufacturing or the front office. In most all industries from healthcare to transportation, and from manufacturing to research, AI can increase efficiency, assist in recruiting, manage administrative tasks, optimize customer service, and promote safety and productivity.

The $500 million pledged by Salesforce will go a long way to helping entrepreneurs develop AI technology that works with manufacturing, and not against it.

How often do you go online for information, research, comparisons, or to purchase things related to your business? Probably quite often…right? And if you haven’t, you are missing out on an entire world of possibilities.

Did you know most business owners say that their consumers demand online experiences and purchases? Therefore, wouldn’t you say that B2B sales and interactions should mimic the B2C buying process?

Consumer behaviors have changed since the introduction and growth of digital technologies. Consumers prefer shopping online for convenience, access to more variety, and because they can get whatever they want whenever they want. And they can easily do so using mobile apps, e-commerce websites, social media, real-time suggestions, machine learning, and automation.

So let’s talk about making your B2B business a digital commerce business and the benefits of doing so. Then we will talk about Salesforce—what it is and how a manufacturing company could use it.

Transitioning your business to a digitally native system has some significant and distinct benefits.

B2B commerce is powerful. However, not having a digital presence will ultimately hurt your progress and your brand’s reputation. A digital transformation and transition plan are a must for B2B companies in today’s online world.

Here are a few tips to help you start transitioning your B2B business to digital.

Salesforce is a cloud-based software company that provides digital marketing automation and analytics. It helps solve B2B commerce complexities by using features that are specifically designed for B2B businesses.

Manufacturing companies thrive when using Salesforce because it’s specifically designed for manufacturers that are ready to transition their company to a digital sales channel. It will help you grow your B2B commerce channel, solidify your B2B commerce strategy, and help you identify ways to get started and get everyone onboard with the program.

If you want more information about taking your B2B business digital, please Contact Us today. CLOUDSTREET has implemented B2B stores for many industrial manufacturers, IT services, and the consumer goods sector and we’d love to do the same for you. Let us show you just how quick, easy, and cost-effective our services can be.

Long before technology became a part of our everyday lives, businesses sought solutions to manage and promote the experiences of their customers. Salesforce, Inc., transformed the landscape more than two decades ago after introducing a broad suite of customer relationship management (CRM) applications and software solutions. Tools available from Salesforce expand the potential of automating analytics, sales operations, customer service, marketing, business-to-business (B2B) transactions, and other processes.

Many businesses use and embrace the Salesforce platform. However, some managers may not be aware of two important business solutions that will allow their firms to expand the potential of these valuable tools: Salesforce Managed Services and Salesforce Staff Augmentation. Let’s learn more about these options, and how they may benefit your business.

Salesforce managed services allow companies to maximize the potential of Salesforce CRM applications and software. This occurs when a trusted outside managed services provider administers operational issues externally for a company’s Salesforce system. This entity helps you get the most out of Salesforce by handling updates, ensuring system security, and proactively addressing other systems-related administration matters.

Having a complex and powerful resource such as Salesforce but not using it to its potential is similar to having an airplane on the tarmac without a talented flight crew to navigate it. A reliable company you partner with that has the talent pool and resources available to offer managed services for the Salesforce system has the ability to guarantee your Salesforce system integrity and prevent disruptions or downtime.

When selecting a Salesforce managed services firm, you should consider the ability of their talented, specialized team to meet your needs in these six critical areas:

1. Consulting: You need customized solutions to your unique situation, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Consultants with certifications and specializations can tailor solutions to meet your needs.
2. Implementation: Services should respond to challenges you face and proactively prevent new ones from appearing.
3. Custom Application Development: You rely on a variety of applications and customized workflows, need a team to manage these processes, and create other company-specific applications.
4. Integration: Managed services professionals understand the importance of seamless and secure interactions with third-party systems.
5. Optimization: When Salesforce works at full capacity, it allows all facets of your enterprise — including your employees — to reach a higher level of productivity and success.
6. Support and Evolution: You want a managed services firm to provide the necessary level of support to keep it humming, while also proactively making modifications and updates.

When considering a firm that covers these six areas of Salesforce managed services, CLOUDSTREET offers the best option for you.

Augmentation is a way to expand your Salesforce capabilities without needing to hire additional technical support staff onsite. You may require an expert in a specific area of Salesforce for an extended period of time or, conversely, you may anticipate the need for a talented Salesforce expert to offer brief intensive team training. In either case, posting a job ad, reviewing resumes, negotiating contracts, and onboarding these talented experts is a timely and expensive process.

Staff augmentation offers an ideal solution. This process allows you to work with a firm that can immediately add Salesforce resources to your existing projects or teams with established leadership. This is a much better option than hiring someone who has the expertise you need today, but will need time away from the office in the future to maintain a rigorous awareness of Salesforce best practices.

Work with a company that already has a wealth of Salesforce professionals onhand. With this talent readily on demand, these professionals can assume a variety of information technology and staff training responsibilities that are tailored to your needs at that moment. They can work on short-term contracts that outline specific assigned duties or training responsibilities.

Salesforce staff augmentation works best when you partner with a firm that has a wide variety of certified Salesforce talent that can provide their expertise on a contractual basis without a long-term commitment. There are five important factors that make Salesforce staff augmentation a great alternative:

1. Salesforce Optimization: Acquire the Salesforce talent you need when you need it. These professionals can provide the professional development, training, and IT support you require on a real-time basis, so your commerce and B2B activities continue uninterrupted.
2. Cost-Effective Strategy: You get the professional talent you need at a critical time, without having to anticipate the long-term budgetary commitment required of adding employees. Get the skillsets you require without having to assume responsibility for the administrative costs, benefits, and overhead expenses one would incur if staff were added to the payroll.
3. Scalability: Having too few experts results in costly overtime; having more than needed on the payroll lowers productivity. Augmentation allows you to bring on the talent you need for the amount of time required and strike that perfect balance.
4. Salesforce Expertise: Most people do not keep a locksmith on their payroll, but they want one immediately when they forget their keys. Similarly, through staff augmentation, you can secure the Salesforce expertise you need on short notice, without losing precious time waiting for human resources to hire them.
5. Enhanced Flexibility: Benefit from needed talent without needing to pay for skill sets that are no longer a priority. With the internet, this talent does not have to relocate onsite to share their expertise. Indeed, offshore professionals who are employed by a reliable company can do the work you need.

When considering a firm that covers these five areas of Salesforce staff augmentation, CLOUDSTREET offers the best option for you.

Salesforce improves the customer management experience for businesses. Salesforce managed services allow you to partner with an external firm to keep your instance of Salesforce running smoothly. Salesforce staff augmentation provides talented experts to work with your present staff and teams. Consider these options to get the most from Salesforce.

What is Salesforce for Consumer Goods, and how can digital transformation help reduce business costs?

If you’re a brand looking for a better way to navigate the complex nature of the market, drive profitable growth, expand opportunities for selling and grow customer loyalty through connected data and automation, Salesforce for Consumer Goods can assist.

With digital transformation at the forefront of companies in the consumer goods industry, a large push for efficient and resilient infrastructure that can withstand any shifts in the economic landscape is needed. Salesforce for Consumer Goods delivers with one platform to help grow the business. This addresses many challenges occurring in the marketplace, such as global supply chain issues, cost increases, and tighter margins. Here’s where the software shines:

• Trade Promotion Management – Sales teams can maximize revenue with allocated trade funds and avoid overspending. Promotional plans can be effortlessly managed with an in-depth view of trade budgets, forecasts, and dynamic funding.
• Offline Penny Perfect Pricing – Sales reps of consumer goods need access to critical data while in the field. This offline app assists those reps, giving them the ability to take orders from anywhere. The exact price is calculated based on customer-specific discounts, current promotions, and other pricing variables. This solution makes upsells easier, inventory-related tasks flawlessly executed, and visits rescheduled. Once online, everything can be synced to a mobile device.
• B2B Commerce & Marketplace – Wholesale buying efficiency for consumer goods companies can be maximized with the new B2B Commerce Wholesale Retail App. Virtual showrooms, large cart ordering, and sales collaboration help unite the fragmented buyer and seller landscape with the new Commerce Marketplace. This creates new streams of revenue while allowing distributors and brands to expand their reach with inventory that can quickly get to retail partners.
• MuleSoft Accelerator for Consumer Goods – When it comes to critical data needed for trade planning, the MuleSoft Accelerator connects critical systems, applications, and data. Trade promotion management, product information management systems, and enterprise resource planning all come together to enhance the execution of trade and retail capabilities that leverage existing master data housed in traditional systems.

These components help drive customer loyalty by creating unified customer profiles to plan, optimize, and activate personalized engagement strategies more efficiently. A digital transformation strategy can help reduce business costs in all three critical business areas: operations, management, and strategy. The process starts with customers and the experiences being delivered. The better the experience, the more brand loyalty and investment from the C-suite to acquire new customers. Companies using the right digital tools understand that recurring revenue comes with maturity in digital transformation. According to a Deloitte Insights’ survey, there is a direct correlation between digital maturity and financial performance.

There are different ways a company can use digital transformation to reduce costs while keeping quality customer experiences, including centralizing software, using automation tools, cloud migration for storage and computing, IoT for enhanced maintenance, inventory management software, payments and collections management, administration, sales/leads management, team management tools, and shipping and logistics.

When used effectively, companies can realize a significant reduction in costs across the board. These are some major areas where recurring costs are lessened with digital transformation:

• Reduced errors – Human errors can cost the company thousands of dollars, if not more, in almost every area of the business. One of the biggest is advertising, marketing, sales, and promotions. With digital transformation, these errors can be reduced by up to 90%.
• Reduced downtime – Businesses suffer when machines are down, and employees cannot work. Productivity is increased with a digital transformation agency that automates maintenance, tech support, or customer care.
• Effective supplier negotiations – When there are problems with the supply chain, the business can be severely affected. Technology can help streamline processes for operational costs like work orders and purchases. With an organized database of supply chains and suppliers, negotiations are much better nationally and internationally.
• Reduced overhead – With maintenance schedules, systems, and equipment digitized, energy bills are reduced as conditions are optimized.
• Lessened personnel costs – Savings are quickly realized when multiple personnel management tasks are automated. This streamlines information and processes to save on manpower.
• Increased agility – As companies market their products and services, digital transformation plays a significant role in accelerated innovations, better delivery of products and services, projects are handled more efficiently, and customer satisfaction is higher.

Why use it?

1. Launch quickly – Companies can stay ahead of the competition and launch their businesses or new products and services leaner and faster.
2. Boost more revenue – When processes and systems are in order, costs are reduced while productivity and profitability stay high.
3. Collaborate more with your customers – There’s nothing better than providing a memorable customer experience that makes them want to do business with you. You’ll be able to form deeper connections and meaningful relationships to personalize engagement and build brand loyalty.
4. Tailor to industries – Your sales team will be able to streamline and tailor their sales movements based on real-time data to enhance their leads and expand selling opportunities.

Digital transformation helps reduce the cost for consumer goods companies, but it’s important to figure out the goals and objectives before considering the best route to take for implementation. Consider the processes that are costing you money due to a lack of efficiency and productivity. You must also consider how digital transformation will add to the customer experience. Once you figure out these elements, you will be able to identify where costs can be cut, and the type of growth you wish to see by implementing digital transformation tools.

Even in the midst of an economic shift, companies can continue to thrive with the right digital tools in place to manage operations, sales, and infrastructure. CLOUDSTREET offers salesforce optimization solutions to help businesses manage and realize more benefits from their sales, marketing, and other digital transformation goals. For more information, contact a team member today.