Sales Reps expect a 360-degree view of a customer as part of the CRM rollouts. From an IT perspective, this includes retrieving data from multiple systems such as SAP, Salesforce, Business Intelligence Platforms, Rebate Systems, manipulating the data, and then finally presenting it in an easy-to-digest manner. The above steps can be complex and are often part of multiple projects that typically span a few quarters or more. The question is how can IT teams deliver innovation at a much faster pace to satisfy the needs of sales reps?
Over the last year or so, my team has been working on Salesforce Industries (Vlocity) and believes that the tools that SFI offer can truly cut down the cost of development and expedite the delivery of 360 Degree Dashboards. In this blog, we would like to share a few problems in delivering a 360-degree view and explain how it can be made a reality by using components from SFI.
Challenge #1: Data resides in multiple systems as stated below.
Consider the typical distribution of account-specific data in a B2B context that involves SAP (ERP) and Salesforce (CRM).
- Account
- Resides in Salesforce and SAP
- Contacts
- · Salesforce
- Activities
- · Salesforce
- Orders
- · Details (Data Shipped, Status, etc) of the Order typically reside in SAP and require complex integration patterns to synchronize the data between two systems.
- Invoices
- · Data resides in SAP and Sales reps need access to information such as when the customer is invoiced.
- Assets
- · SAP or Salesforce depending on the type of assets and implementation.
- Service Contracts
- · SAP or Salesforce depending on the type of assets and implementation.
- Events
- · Salesforce
- Rebates
- · SAP or other systems.
- Insights
- · Data Warehouse and BI platforms such as Tableau, Power BI, or others.
A solution to Problem #1: By using the concept of Integration Procedure(IP) in Salesforce Industries, data from different systems can be easily consumed without the need for complex or expensive integration patterns. They’re adaptable to use with all your data sources and easy to navigate.
Problem #2: Calculations need to be done before presenting the data in the UI.
Consider the need to display the “Customer Experience Score” for the select account based on certain parameters such as the ones mentioned below:
CX Score =f(Sales over the trailing 12 months, Assets owned, Most recent CX Feedback, Other parameters)
Normally, this would require some code to retrieve all the data from various objects and perform the calculations.
A solution to Challenge #2: We can leverage the “Data Raptor(DR)” to crunch the numbers without writing a single line of code. Not only for the calculations but also we can trim, map, restructure, and transform data in JSON, XML, or Custom Schemas.
Challenge #3 UI Components need to be developed to be able to display the CX Score in the above Example. Writing code can be cumbersome, error-prone, and expensive.
A solution to Challenge #3: By leveraging Flex Cards in Salesforce Industries, developers with minimal expertise can deliver beautiful interfaces that Sales Reps and other business stakeholders look for can be built quickly using drag-and-drop elements.
Challenge #4 Customers need to be categorized into different categories based on their revenues, which can be used to incentivize or apply any rules to recognize the most valued customers.
A solution to Challenge #4: We can incorporate a ‘Calculation Matrix’ with input of customer total revenues and output as categories they fall into and appropriate incentives as per the category with a simple lookup table.
This blog gives a very brief overview of some of the aspects of Salesforce Industries (SFI). There are multiple modules such as CPQ, OM, etc in SFI which are industry-specific and can drastically cut down the time for development.