Taking your use of Salesforce to the Next Level

Salesforce out of the box is a powerful tool – using Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Maps, Marketing Cloud, CPQ etc. can help you to transform your business.

And all of these tools are radically configurable.  Salesforce can be transformed to fit almost any business need. But all of this transformation doesn’t render the base – most powerful features of Salesforce moot.  In fact, tools like activity capture, Chatter and Reporting and Analysis are made MORE powerful as a result of refining the various clouds.

Clicks, not Code

Many Simple processes can be built out in Salesforce with Simple configuration Options.  Salesforce gives users the ability to create custom Databases, Custom forms and Workflow processes that can automate many processes. For more complex needs, we can extend the tool to connect to external systems, automate record creation or extend the reach of Salesforce to other users and other groups.

Use your ERP data to Analyze Trends AND predict future needs

Continuing in our Repetitive Manufacturing Theme, I want to turn today to using Salesforce for forecasting product level demand. Understanding When and how much product to make, based on Sales Trends can have a huge impact on Cash Flow, Storage Capacity and Inventory Turn. And building a customized Product Forecasting Engine in Salesforce is not as hard as you might think.

In previous posts, we’ve talked about the power of ERP Sales integration. Understanding your rate of sale can help your reps and executives analyze trends, make promotional decisions and determine which products or categories to focus on.

And with some custom configuration, that same data can be used to help forecast demand. Consider this:

• If your Sales data is not overly “lumpy” at the Customer level, then you can analyze sales, by month or quarter to get an overall feel for demand
• Using that data, some configuration, and some programming, BlackIron can help you take that same data and turn it into a starting Forecast.

We built this video demoing one way this could be done…

But there are as many ways to build out complex processes in salesforce as there are – well – complex processes!

Hopefully this resonates with you – while it likely isn’t your unique use case – it is certainly unique!

Many Use Cases, Many possibilities

But maybe your unique use case involves sending out “Bids” for specific pieces of work.  We can do that. Or maybe your unique use case involves brokering product – buying from multiple suppliers and selling to customers.  We can do that too

Or maybe the way you process orders involves ensuring that Government regulations are satisfied for each order.  It’s all possible. Our point is, that overwhelming majority of unique use cases can be configured in Salesforce and the resulting product is so much more robust than a typical custom solution so…

Let us know how we can help.  We’d love to hear from you