Salesforce Implementation

In today's hectic financial services industry, offering tailored wealth management services is crucial. Customer expectations include prompt responses, personalized guidance, and seamless interactions. There is a growing need for personalized service, thus wealth management firms need to use advanced tools and technologies to efficiently meet these demands. To achieve these goals, Salesforce Service Cloud offers a potent solution that can advance your wealth management business. Salesforce Service Cloud was purpose-built to enhance customer support across multiple industries, including wealth management. It provides a toolkit that enables wealth advisors to effectively provide tailored services. Salesforce Service Cloud allows wealth management companies to provide premium services while preserving operational efficiency and guaranteeing compliance. It does this by combining case management, omnichannel support, automation, and AI-driven analytics. Personalization of Client Communications Personalized client interactions are the foundation of effective asset management. Financial advisers would benefit greatly from a number of Salesforce Service Cloud features if they need to delve deeper into their clients' needs. Comprehensive Client Profiles By combining information from several sources, including financial history, investment preferences, personal milestones, and communication preferences, Salesforce Service Cloud enables the creation of comprehensive customer profiles. This enables you to anticipate their demands and offer tailored solutions and advice. For instance, you may better match your recommendations with a customer's financial goals if you are aware of their investment goals and risk appetite. Customized Communication You can communicate with customers via the channel that they feel most comfortable with, whether it be social media, chat, email, or phone calls, by using the omnichannel platforms support. Through automated communication technologies that deliver personalized messages, clients receive up-to-date information about their accounts, improving their entire experience. To build trust, for example, delivering tailored investment updates that remind clients of significant financial services milestones or notifications on market movements that can affect their portfolio would be quite helpful. Improving Operational Efficiency In order to successfully cater to clients' needs, one must be proficient in wealth management. Salesforce Service Cloud streamlines operations, freeing up financial advisors to focus on adding value for their clients. A Better Approach to Case Management Salesforce Service Cloud improves the efficiency of answering questions and managing cases. You won't miss a client call thanks to this platform, which makes it simple to locate and fix problems. AI-driven recommendations and automated workflows could both expedite case resolution. For example, when a client asks a question about recent transactions, the system ought to automatically identify relevant records and provide an immediate answer, reducing the amount of time wasted on human searches. AI Integration and Automation Automated systems are useful for streamlining mundane, repititive tasks. This eliminates the possibility of human error. Artificial intelligence algorithms analyze customer data to provide Salesforce consultants with insights and recommendations that help with strategic planning. AI is capable of identifying patterns in consumer behavior to recommend individual investments that complement objectives to improve the client experience as a whole. Data-Driven Decisions With Service Cloud Well-informed decision-making is critical to effective asset management. Wealth advisors can obtain insightful knowledge and make data-driven choices by leveraging Service Cloud's sophisticated analytics features. Advanced Analytics One has access to an advanced analytics tool that sheds light on market trends and client behavior. Salesforce Service Cloud analytics solutions facilitate informed decision-making by identifying opportunities and risks. For example, you can help clients reach their financial goals by identifying and advising them on upcoming investment possibilities based on your analysis of market data. Customizable Dashboards Create dashboards to track your goals' progress and keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs). A Salesforce consultant can assist you in this. These dashboards can have the appropriate analytics for a single consultant or your entire company. This makes it simpler to oversee activities and hold the right person accountable. A dashboard, for instance, can display the results of various investment portfolios, client ratings, and active client cases, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the business's operations. Maintaining Security and Compliance In the financial services industry, maintaining compliance and guaranteeing data security are crucial factors to take into account. Robust security protections and powerful compliance tools are built into Salesforce Service Cloud to guard against critical data leaks to unauthorized parties. Adherence to Regulations Features in Salesforce Cloud assist you in adhering to industry standards such as SEC, FINRA, and GDPR laws. These solutions offer the information handling standards that are required, which reduces the likelihood of penalties for noncompliance. Consider the automatically generated compliance reports and audit trails on the platform, which simplify the process of proving compliance with regulatory requirements. Data Security Because of the platform's strong security features, sensitive client information can't be accessed by unauthorized parties, protecting them from breaches. Salesforce Service Cloud uses strong encryption mechanisms, access controls, and regular security audits to protect data, ensuring that their client's financial services details are always secure and restoring their confidence in your service. Technology and Client Focus: A Wealth Managers' Winning Approach Wealth management companies face a difficult balancing act as they try to balance their need for cutting-edge technologies with a strict customer-focused approach. Salesforce Cloud embodies this dual strategy by offering solutions that maintain high levels of customer satisfaction while enhancing operational efficiency. Leveraging Technology to Enhance Efficiency Salesforce Service Cloud enables asset managers to streamline workflows and make well-informed decisions by integrating automation, AI, and advanced analytics into its platform. It allows wealth advisors to handle a larger clientele without sacrificing the timely and high-quality advice they provide. Preserving a Client-Centric Perspective Although technology makes things more efficient, the customer should always come first in wealth management. Salesforce Service Cloud, for example, offers advisers a range of capabilities, such as detailed client profiles, customized communication channels, and personalized service that fosters deeper relationships. This dual strategy of serving customer needs and addressing technology creates a strong base on which long-term success in wealth management can be established.   Best Practices for Implementing Salesforce Service Cloud Implementing Salesforce Service Cloud successfully requires meticulous planning. These are some recommended practices that can help wealth managers get the most out of Salesforce Service Cloud. Establish Clear Goals Clearly define the goals your wealth managers have for Salesforce Financial Services Cloud at the outset. Establish clear objectives, such as enhancing client engagement or streamlining operations. This will assist you in navigating the process of implementation and determining its success. Recognize the needs of the client Talk to your clients and gain a deeper understanding of their needs. To find out what matters most to them, do surveys or interviews. This will enable your wealth managers to better serve their clients by customizing the platform. Ensure Data Quality. Clean and arrange the data before transferring it to Salesforce Service Cloud. Check for accuracy and eliminate redundancy. Making wise decisions and offering excellent customer service depends on having high-quality data. Provide Thorough Training. Give all wealth managers thorough training. Verify that they understand how to take full advantage of Salesforce Service Cloud. They will feel more confident and be more inclined to use the new system as a result. Encourage User Adoption. Promote a positive outlook about adjusting to the new system. To help them adjust to the move, demonstrate the advantages of utilizing Salesforce Service Cloud and offer continuing assistance. Integrate with Existing Systems. Integrate Salesforce Service Cloud with current systems and tools. This maintains a comprehensive view of client data and facilitates data flow. Track Performance. Following setup, periodically assess how successfully Salesforce Service Cloud is fulfilling customer objectives. Track your progress and leverage KPIs to identify areas for improvement. Gather Feedback. Get wealth managers' opinions on the platform by asking them questions. Make adjustments and increase satisfaction by using this information. Prioritize ongoing Enhancement. The Salesforce ecosystem is always evolving. Keep abreast of updates and new features. Review wealth managers' usage of the platform on a regular basis and adjust as needed to improve customer service and performance. Conclusion Wealth management companies should use Salesforce Service Cloud to strengthen customer connections, increase operational efficiency, and make data-driven choices. The platform's extensive toolkit enables you to customize your wealth management programs and give your clients exactly what they desire. Adopt Salesforce Service Cloud to give your clients genuine value and to stay ahead of the competition in the cutthroat wealth management marketplace. To know more about how Salesforce Service Cloud can benefit your wealth management firm, talk to a certified Salesforce Development company today.

With the business landscape becoming very competitive, organizations are laying emphasis on customer retention and satisfaction. This is crucial not just for building lasting relationships but also loyalty, which boosts a company’s reputation. To drive profitability and growth in any industry, it’s critical to invest in high-end customer service training and implement effective strategies for delivering exceptional service. Salesforce, a trusted name in the Salesforce consulting and implementation space, offers tailored solutions that automate and streamline several customer interactions. By integrating personalized client data, tracking interactions, and gaining valuable insights into consumer behavior through Salesforce’s robust platform, organizations can efficiently handle queries, resulting in faster response times and satisfied customers. Salesforce’s comprehensive tools facilitate seamless collaboration across channels, ensuring clients receive consistent support.

In the rapidly evolving business environment, it is essential for companies to utilize state-of-the-art technology to stay competitive. Nowadays, forward-thinking businesses are incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations, particularly through the adoption of customer relationship management (CRM) software, to automate and enhance their CRM processes. Salesforce, a leading CRM platform, has consistently been a pioneer in innovation, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, Salesforce AI has transformed the way organizations handle their customer service processes. The integration of Salesforce and AI is more than just an augmentation. It has indeed opened new avenues in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Rather, it offers a smarter, efficient, and a highly custom-made customer interaction. To know more about Salesforce AI integration, businesses should consider partnering with a reliable Salesforce consulting partner. Salesforce and Generative AI: A Dynamic Relationship As a cloud-based platform, Salesforce is highly customizable and configurable and can be leveraged by organizations to meet their unique business needs by tailoring their services. By leveraging tools like Salesforce Flow, users can automate intricate business processes, create agile service experiences, while streamlining data management. The next phase of transformation will involve incorporating the capabilities of generative AI into a versatile platform using Einstein GPT. This integration holds the potential to transform the way businesses function and engage with their customers How to Leverage AI to Improve Customer Service? Listed below are ways how AI can help businesses provide better service to their customers:  Improved Customization: Utilizing AI will empower businesses to deliver personalized experiences by harnessing customer data and their preferences. This will pave way for tailored recommendations, quick support, and a deeper comprehension of customer requirements. Unified Omnichannel Support: AI-driven chatbots can integrate easily with several communication channels such social media, web chat and more. This guarantees uniform interactions across several platforms, offering customers a unified experience. Intelligent Automation: AI can be leveraged to automate repetitive and mundane tasks thereby saving a lot of time that can be used up by human agents to focus on more complex and strategic activities. This will boost productivity, quicken response times, and optimize cost for businesses. Sustained Learning and Development: AI systems will keep gathering insights from customer interactions, feedback, and real-time data, which in turn will foster continuous improvement. This continuing improvement will yield more precise responses, intelligent recommendations, and enhanced overall performance. What are the benefits of AI in customer service? AI in customer service offers several benefits that can improve the overall customer experience and streamline business operations. Some of the crucial advantages include: Increased Productivity: Leading IT players believe that AI can be adopted by organizations to serve their customers in a better way. Research conducted reveal that access to AI assistants and tools can increase productivity for support agents significantly.  Increased Efficiency: Carrying out tasks manually can be burdensome for service agents. This includes tasks such as navigating between different systems to access customer history, searching for relevant informative articles, sending field staffs to service locations, and manually inputting responses. These manual processes are usually prone to errors as they are executed by humans. The integration of AI in customer service can provide intelligent suggestions to service workers drawn from knowledge bases, and customer data. A more Personalized Interaction: When a customer interacts with a chatbot, artificial intelligence (AI) has the capability to retrieve vital details, such as the name of customer, location, account type, and language preferred. If the inquiry demands the involvement of a field service technician, AI can promptly convey all relevant information to the technician, allowing them to deliver tailored service as soon as they arrive on-site. Less Exhaustion and Enhanced Morale: AI empowers agents to do away with monotonous, time-intensive tasks, enabling them to focus on tasks that demand creative thinking, problem-solving, and intricate critical thinking. These activities significantly impact the overall customer experience. Consequently, it shouldn’t come as surprise that majority of IT leaders anticipate that generative AI will alleviate workload of teams, while reducing burnout. Scalability: AI systems can simultaneously handle a huge rush of customer queries making it simpler for businesses to scale their customer service operations without consistently increasing staffing levels. A Practical Service Experience: AI has the capability to draw information from contracts of customers, warranties, buying history, and marketing data. This ensures the identification of optimal actions for agents to pursue with customers, even post the conclusion of the service engagement. The future of AI in Customer Service: The future AI seems to be quite promising in the customer service industry. In the years to come, artificial intelligence is poised to gain prominence in workplaces given the ongoing advancements in technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). Besides handling routine tasks, these AI programs will offer significant insights into consumer behaviors and habits through big data analysis. Organizations can utilize this valuable data to optimize their return on investment in marketing strategies and branding initiatives. As technology evolves, AI is set to play a key role in uplifting customer experiences and boosting operational efficiency. Final Words: The fusion of AI and Salesforce is reshaping the CRM terrain, presenting matchless possibilities for organizations to elevate both their customer relationships, as well as their operational efficiencies. This integration when leveraged by businesses enables them to position themselves at the frontline of technological advancement, ensuring they stay competitive and in agreement to the ever-changing needs of their customers. In doing so, organizations can provide value to customers and stakeholders while future-proofing their operations in this quickly evolving digital era. Organizations should consider availing Salesforce implementation services if they wish to make the most of the integration of Salesforce and AI. 

Customer service has become the cornerstone of every business and to ensure superior customer service, businesses should leverage the capabilities of a robust CRM platform. One such robust CRM platform is Salesforce, which is a cloud-based platform that assists businesses to streamline workflows while driving digital transformation. However, implementing Salesforce isn’t easy and requires expertise to tailor the platform as per the specific needs of an organization. That’s where the need for a certified Salesforce Consulting company comes in. These companies are not just service providers but are certified by Salesforce to manage everything from system setup and customization to long-standing training and support. In fact, these professionals have the skill to translate the goals of an organizations into tailored solutions by leveraging the robust capabilities of Salesforce. What are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Salesforce Implementation Partner? Before engaging the services of a reliable partner, it’s essential to understand their roles and responsibilities to ensure seamless implementation. A reliable partner helps organizations to create effective strategy for utilizing Salesforce besides setting short-term, as well as long implementation goals. They are also responsible for setting up the system and tailoring it as per the needs of an organization. For ensuring seamless transition and improvement in workflow, a reliable partner will help organizations to integrate Salesforce with their existing systems. They also provide consulting services and end-user training after the accomplishment of implementation. Factors to Consider Before Shortlisting a Salesforce Partner Listed below are some crucial points to consider while selecting a Salesforce implementation partner: Assess Experience and Expertise: It is crucial to look out for partners who have a proven track record of several successful implementations. It’s crucial to verify their experience, as well as expertise of working on projects like yours, their industry knowledge, and the number of certified professionals in their team. It also makes sense to look at client reviews to get insights about their prior performance. Consider Certifications and Technical Skills: It’s important to ensure that the professionals you have shortlisted to work with are certified and possess the necessary Salesforce certifications. It’s also crucial to assess the technical proficiency through diverse project case studies. This will provide a better understanding of their practical experience. Evaluate the Cultural Fit of Your Partner: Besides the technology skillset, it’s crucial to evaluate whether the partner in question has the same company vision, language and culture for communication. A partner who shares the same values, culture, vision, and communication approach will accomplish all the tasks while offering valuable insights through the implementation process. This enhances collaboration and contributes to a more successful project outcome. Scalability: Before zeroing in the right engagement model for Salesforce implementation, organizations need to identify a partner who can provide the flexibility of quickly scaling up or down as their business evolves.  Besides having adequate manpower to meet the evolving demands of an organization, they should have the technical prowess to meet those demands. Ensure Transparency in Budget: While cost is a crucial factor, it’s equally important to focus on the value that a partner delivers. A partner that delivers results and aligns with the goals of an organization is worth the investment. It’s also crucial to ask for a cost breakdown to ensure there are no hidden costs besides getting an idea of market prices by comparing the pricing with other partners. Training Capability: A good Salesforce partner will offer training and support to secure a strong adoption within your organization. Whether it’s marketing cloud creating educational videos or offering after-training support, this aspect of the Salesforce marketplace is crucial for long-term success. Benefits of Engaging the Services of a Certified Partner Listed below are some of the benefits of engaging a certified and trained implementation partner: Real World Experience: One of the compelling benefits of engaging the services of a Salesforce implementation partner is the real-world experience and in-depth knowledge, which they bring to the table. In fact, they have years of practical experience of implementing Salesforce across various industries.  Customization Abilities: Certified partners understand that one-size fit all approach doesn’t fit with respect to Salesforce implementations. They have the know-how to develop solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of a business, which in turn is crucial for maximizing the benefits of the Salesforce system. Reduces Employee Downtime: Implementing Salesforce is taxing and time-consuming, which can divert employees from performing their core responsibilities. A certified partner does all the heavy lifting by allowing teams to focus on their everyday tasks. This ensures smooth business operations for organizations. Long-term Support: Reliable partners do not discontinue their support after the initial set up. Rather they continue to offer ongoing support to help businesses scale their system as their business evolves. Such an association is crucial for maintaining a responsive and agile business model. Increased ROI: Salesforce Implementation Partners with their in-depth knowledge can restructure the deployment process thereby reducing time for implementation while increasing their return on investment (ROI). With this their chances of costly mistakes are reduced significantly. Final Words: A Salesforce implementation partner serves as a strategic resource that enables organizations to optimize the benefits of Salesforce through the successful delivery of Salesforce implementation services while making the most of the benefits that come with it. Therefore, engaging the services of an implementation partner isn’t just a wise decision but also an essential one. Their expertise and ability to tailor solutions besides overall support to minimize the possible challenges while ensuring sustained growth makes them a must have asset for every organization.

In any organization, the sales team plays a pivotal role in business success. The sales department is under tremendous pressure to capture quality leads, create lead pipelines, track opportunities, close deals quickly, and manage customer relationships. However, attaining all these is easier said than done. This is where the need for a robust software system that can effectively achieve the aforesaid effectively arises. Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein can offer businesses with numerous features that every sales team can wish for while helping businesses stay competitive. The software solution is endowed with out-of-the-box AI capabilities that relieve sales reps of cumbersome and time-consuming tasks, allowing them to focus on core business activities. To make the most of this predictive analytic tool, it’s crucial to get in touch with a certified and experienced Salesforce consulting partner. What is Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein? Salesforce Einstein Sales Cloud is an AI module that drives precise lead scoring and powerful pipeline management. This sales engagement platform helps identify qualified leads, convert opportunities, and retain customers with ease while improving stakeholder relations. The platform helps in analyzing the data and provides proper insight to close deals. Based on the sales data, Einstein suggests actionable insights to close more deals. The platform offers some unique features that are designed to help sales reps involved in different stages: Lead Scoring: Though the contact details and other sales activities are automated, sales reps have to indulge in managing leads.  To track all the leads efficiently, automation is mandatory. With Einstein lead scoring, it is possible to apply the power of AI to analyze the power of lead conversions and figuring the right patterns in those conversions. Since Sales cloud, Einstein comprehends your opportunity data, it easily analyzes and understands patterns as soon as it is turned Einstein Opportunity Scoring: It becomes convenient to manage, track and follow up with leads and turn them into opportunities after leveraging Einstein Lead Scoring. However, Sales reps have to deal with another challenge i.e. closing deals even with organized lead data. Einstein opportunity takes note of opportunity scoring and other details to create a predictive model to provide a score for each opportunity. Einstein Opportunity Insights: This feature uses sentiment analysis and machine learning to close more deals. It provides quick analysis, anticipation, and follow-ups on various opportunities to help sales reps plan their next steps. Once the sales reps manage to close a deal, you can use Einstein insights and forecasting to manage your customers.  Einstein Activity Capture: Sales reps spend a lot of time categorizing Sales activities and contact data. this task is automated by Einstein, which saves a lot of time. By connecting their calendar and email to Salesforce their activities are added to the concerned Salesforce records automatically. Einstein Activity Capture also empowers your reps to view which activities are added to Salesforce and the people who can see them. They can also update those controls either from Salesforce or inbox at any time. Benefits of Salesforce Sales Einstein: Besides the aforementioned features, the predictive analysis tool allows organizations across the globe to scale besides offering several benefits: Collaborative Selling: Sales reps can easily figure out if an opportunity would match or exceed the size of the deal quota as the platform allows sales reps to analyze opportunities in real-time while sharing insights on the deals that are likely to close. Insight into the Pain Points of Customers: Organizations can leverage this platform to predict the behavior and actions of their customers. This insight can be useful in predicting the number of contacts that might be required for cross-selling. Email Alerts: With Einstein, Sales reps can receive reminders that are tailored based on their priorities. This feature also helps sales reps track pipeline activity and search deals.  Increased Sales Meetings: This tool tracks the research required for every opportunity during the pipeline stage. This would help sales reps to focus more on client meetings and spend less time researching sales data allowing them to close more deals. Improved Sales Performance:  With this feature, organizations can create a culture of competition where high performers will be rewarded and underperformers will be provided with requisite training. Sales reps have access to dashboards for viewing sales reports and the data they need to measure success easily. Quick Wrap-up: Salesforce Sales Cloud Einstein is an AI-powered tool that provides sales reps with necessary guidance, automation, scoring, lead prioritizing, and forecasting for managing your leads, customers, and opportunities. Endowed with multiple features, this tool empowers sales reps to close more deals quickly while augmenting the productivity of your sales team. To know more about this tool, it’s important to partner with one of the best Salesforce consulting companies.

In today’s business landscape, a successful enterprise must adopt a system that seamlessly integrates all departments and their respective business processes to enable them to interact and collaborate effortlessly. This is where Salesforce has established itself as the market leader in the CRM space.  Salesforce CRM sometimes popularly referred to as the Customer 360 platform, is a user-friendly solution with virtually limitless flexibility that connects teams across departments in an organization and drives growth. As a result, companies that use Salesforce see improvements in growth and efficiency. But to get the most out of what Salesforce CRM has to you need professional expertise. While most of the Salesforce products are centred around sales and customer service, Salesforce can be used for almost anything. And while the key Salesforce functions haven’t changed much – consultant, administrator, architect and developer, the specializations required based on the unique business needs of an organization have become quite apparent. One needs to have specialization on some of the key aspects of Salesforce to make the implementation count. Consultants don’t just bring in the necessary skills and experience for implementing the CRM platform. They also add significant value in being able to understand the customer. Not only in terms of business processes within the organization but also outside of that realm, such as the people who drive those processes. And they are an intrinsic part of the customer’s growth journey onwards of implementation. While businesses can provide the Salesforce implementation team with data and insight, certain things can only be understood by a specialist. This is where the Salesforce consultant role becomes important. They are trained with skills like attention to detail, analytical thinking and problem-solving along with hands on expertise on the platform. Why Is Salesforce so Popular? Salesforce upgrades its product offering three times a year. Which means every year they add new features and functionality to help existing and new business innovate rapidly. Salesforce is founded on a Customer-360 vision and promotes a collaborative work culture that brings people together and promotes productivity. The Salesforce online community provides help and support to the entire developer community to solve any business challenge The Salesforce platform has virtually limitless flexibility and businesses can create any number and kind of custom apps and integrations to support their business Salesforce allows you to automate routine business processes which frees up employee time to focus on core tasks. Salesforce is powered by an advanced AI engine which delivers qualified analytics on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of your business. Here's where Salesforce Consultants add value across various phases As Part of an Implementation Team CRM implementation is a time-consuming effort and requires coordinated team effort. It would be a wise decision for a business to hire a specialist with extensive experience in Salesforce implementation since the Salesforce platform is complex and offers virtually limitless customization possibilities. Consequently, Salesforce consultants are in high demand across businesses that need the Salesforce CRM implementation. Here are the phases that require the services of a Salesforce Consultant: The Pre-Implementation Phase Before preparing a draft of the Salesforce implementation plan, a Salesforce consultant needs valuable insight from within the company. Information on the type and number of employees, the working structure of the company, regular business processes and workflows, are all important to understand how the organization works and what are its vital parts. The consultant needs to work closely with the business leaders within the organization to understand goals and expectations and current challenges and workflow bottlenecks During the Implementation Consultants play a vital role during the implementation phase as well. They are the link between the technical team – architects, administrators and developers who install and configure the platform and build and deploy custom apps, and the company. Their role is to maintain good communication between the two groups and ensure everything is well captured. After the Implementation The implementation is not over until the customer starts seeing results. After all, the technical implementation is just side of it. Once the technical tasks are completed, the implementation team also needs to train the users on the platform. Typically, this is another key responsibility area of a Salesforce consultant. It requires good communication skills, teamwork and leadership skills. Businesses are evolving continuously. And the software that they use needs to keep pace with it. Businesses need to add and upgrade their apps and workflows on an ongoing basis to stay ahead of the curve. If you are already using Salesforce in your organization, the presence of a Salesforce Consultant will help you to upgrade rapidly by building and deploying apps in an agile framework. And do to that you need a strong team of specialists. Moreover, just like every other complex platform, Salesforce also requires maintenance time to time. This is another key responsibility area of a consultant. As part of the organization Salesforce consultants also work in organizations that don’t do implementation for others. They just have enough in house needs. These are regular businesses that use the Salesforce platform and a small team of consultants to oversee the implementation, upgrades and maintenance activities. In this context, a Salesforce Consultant’s function is to make sure system performs perfectly and the users are able to use it easily. On top of that, they also discover methods to further enhance the customer experience through the use of the platform and make sure teams continue to communicate with each other. Shortage of Salesforce Professionals Currently, there just aren’t enough people trained in Salesforce to meet growing demands of this ecosystem. One of the key reasons is that Salesforce isn’t your run-of-the-mill software. It’s a specialised and complex product and unless you're a service provider or you are a part of an organization that uses Salesforce, it’s unlikely that you know much about it. Many of the Fortune 100 companies use Salesforce. IDC published an article in October 2017 saying that over 3 million jobs are expected to be there in the Salesforce ecosystem by end of 2022 through its network of partners. Salesforce has been growing at a brisk pace year on year, and so are their customers, consequently driving up the demand for Salesforce professionals to support that growth. And the skills one acquires as a Salesforce professional are highly transferable in case one wants to switch over to another industry. Developing Salesforce Skills Irrespective of your available budget, there are multiple options available to help one get familiar with Salesforce and develop skills in a certain are: Developer organisations— Sign up immediately for a free developer licence and start practising Trailhead, which is a Salesforce powered only community where one can get hands-on exposure to Salesforce and learn the technical and business skills one needs to succeed from anywhere for free. Girikon is a dedicated Gold Certified Salesforce Partner. Our relentless focus on understanding the unique needs of our customers combined with our rich expertise and experience on the Salesforce platform allows us to deliver value driven solutions to our clients. Contact us today to know more.

Background The manufacturing industry is a vital cog of the global economy. Globally, manufacturing output exceeds $35 trillion across the 34 largest manufacturing regions. This sector is also on the verge of renewed productivity, innovation and efficiency as technology innovation heralds the next generation of manufacturing in an connected ecosystem powered by intelligent analytics. Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud was designed with an intention to help drive this transformation with a solution specifically designed for manufacturers to unify accounting and forecasting for greater transparency and collaboration across their entire ecosystem. This unified platform provides a clear view of customers with account-based forecasting solutions that enable them to precisely forecast, plan, and drive improved business outcomes. What is Manufacturing Cloud? Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is a new offering from Salesforce, specifically designed for manufacturers. It is an AI-powered, cloud-based manufacturing platform, built to take the industry to the next level of digital innovation. Unify customer-centric operations across the organization Prebuilt objects, frameworks and processes for manufacturers Unmatched innovation, including minimal-code tools and integrated AI Helping manufacturers align sales and operations One of the key success criteria in the manufacturing industry is building great products great products and meeting market demand with efficient production and fulfilment. The first step in that process is to ensure accounting teams have holistic visibility of the book of business for a customer. That includes ongoing business, business run rate and potential opportunities. This visibility translates to more accurate forecasting, more predictable outcome, and eventually, more revenue. Predictability is the top priority for all stakeholders in the manufacturing ecosystem. Customers want to be sure about pricing, availability and delivery; distribution partners need efficient delivery channels; sales teams need pricing based on real-time volume assumptions; and operations teams want to build and procure components based on the most accurate forecasting. To achieve all this, manufacturers must have a clear understanding of the entire shipment history of a customer, current production plans, and production forecasts. One of the key challenges most manufacturers face is information and data stored across multiple systems such as ERP, CRM and SCM. And with the involvement of various teams, the whole process faces resistance and makes the sales and operations process hazy. And to make things worse, those closest to the customer- sales and distribution partners are not accurately represented. In the current manufacturing ecosystem, there is gaping opportunity to link customers, sales teams and distribution partners to change the entire operational paradigm. Going forward, manufacturing leaders around the globe will set a new standard for connection and engagement with their customers. To achieve this would require complete access to previously stored data and to be able to extract insights out of that data. How Manufacturing Cloud works Manufacturing Cloud was created to align sales and operations, to improve the sales forecasting process for both current operations as well as new business opportunities, and to extend the new process to partners. Here’s how.  Sales agreements allow manufacturers to unify current business with data stored in external systems such as ERP with agreement terms so both accounts and operations teams have a 360-degree view of the customer. Sales agreements are automatically updated with changes, thus providing a single source of truth. Account teams can now manage the full sales agreement cycle with clear visibility into promised and actual order volumes. They can also view the performance of the agreement vis a vis the forecast and other metrics. Account-based forecasting provides insights across the business to allow operations, sales and finance teams to get more accurate forecasts. Account teams can easily update changing customer needs based on market demands, which in turn allows the productions team to adjust plans and estimates in real time, thus making transactions, profits, and revenues more predictable. Many manufacturers also sell their products through a fleet of distributors and dealers who have feet on the ground and true knowledge of changes in customer demand. Manufacturing Cloud integrates them into the forecast process with a pre-built collaboration driven community template.  With this revolutionary capability, manufacturers now have an opportunity like never before to get real-time insights into product and customer performance, and the agility to translate these insights into action.  That’s the hallmark of an agile business. Intelligence at the core Manufacturing Cloud is a key part of Salesforce’s design philosophy – Customer 360, which allows manufacturers to deliver smart field services, channel management, B2B Commerce, and much more, on a single platform across their business. One new feature of Manufacturing Cloud is Einstein Analytics for Manufacturing. Account managers can now get intelligent analytics with KPIs across important data sets like account health, market penetration, price information and demand insights. By unifying and analyzing these data points, account managers can proactively engage with customers to grow the relationship. Also, by identifying these key trends, account managers can recommend upsell and cross-sell opportunities. The analytical ability is integrated directly into the business process of the account teams that provides real-time insights into sales agreements, forecasted performance, and customer interactions to predict the overall health of the business relationship. In the past, account teams obtained this information in chunks from different sources and in various formats, and often outdated. With Manufacturing Cloud, manufacturers now can embed it into their entire business process. With Einstein Analytics the platform is flexible and adaptable to cater to changing business needs. The insights around products and customers, will drive forecasting accuracy. Manufacturers today need to navigate greater complexity and the disconnected manual systems of the past won’t work in todays connected world. Leading manufacturers are Manufacturing Cloud enables all manufacturers to do capturing, integrating, and analysing data from across their organization to drive better business outcomes. All that with a single platform for unifying, exchanging and acting on information. It’s the force driving digital innovation and the next generation of manufacturing leaders. How can Manufacturing Cloud help my business? Unify the digital journey on a single platform. Build a unified view of your entire business, transform service experiences, simplify partner engagement, and make data-driven decisions with Customer 360. With Manufacturing Cloud you can strengthen partner engagement, streamline and monetize service, unlock data for greater impact, and increase employee productivity and agility. MODERNIZE COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS. A unified platform will accelerate your sales cycles makes it easy for customers to do business with you: Manage recurring business on a single platform that is designed for manufacturers Track performance against sales agreements Forecast demand SIMPLIFY PARTNER ENGAGEMENT. Suppliers and partners are key elements of the manufacturing value chain. Improve performance with: Streamlined and collaborative business processes Shared visibility of agreements, orders, cases and forecasts Channel incentive programs TRANSFORM THE SERVICE EXPERIENCE. Manufacturers need to offer unified experiences to customers, partners, and employees. Transform your experiences by: Automated service processes and self-service to Improving satisfaction Improve field service performance while minimizing disruption Discover new service revenue streams on a unified platform ENABLE THE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE. Attract top talent and empower them by providing employees with the tools to do their work from anywhere: Deliver productive, collaborative experiences on a single platform Scale expertise through knowledge and information access, analytics, and AI Ensure compliance and drive efficiency with business process automation UNLEASH YOUR DATA. Unlock disparate data and make faster, smarter decisions with AI-driven intelligence: Deliver data when and where it’s needed across your business Acquire insights with integrated analytics and AI Transform insight into action by engaging on a unified platform Key Features of Manufacturing Cloud                 Forecasting Frameworks Get a complete view of predicted volumes and demand.   Sales Agreements Build a source of truth for your business.   Manufacturing Data Model Loaded with prebuilt objects, frameworks and processes for manufacturing.                   Embedded Analytics Make quick, informed decisions with out-of-the-box dashboards     Digital Process Automation Deliver manufacturing centric experiences and automation.     Rebate Management Grow trusted relationships with channel partners with powerful incentive programs.     Want to know more about Manufacturing solutions from Salesforce? CONTACT AN EXPERT