Manufacturers are undergoing a digital transformation to keep pace with competitors. The challenge they face is that many still rely on legacy systems to operate their production model. Due to these outdated processes, valuable information is maintained in silos, costing businesses more money and preventing efficient customer demand forecasting. The realities of a transforming industry is that in order to keep up, companies need to adopt technology to fill the gaps within their operations.
Docker COO Scott Johnston stated that businesses spent as much as 80 percent of their IT budgets supporting legacy applications. The realization that a vast amount of resources are spent on these outdated systems is the primary reason to choose other options. Not changing with the evolving time when everyone else is doing so is a recipe to end up behind and do lasting damage to your business.
Manufacturers have sought technology to fill the gap but with so many solutions in the market making the right choice can be unclear. Off the shelf solutions can often be expensive and not fill the specific needs that you have. Custom solutions are ideal when it comes to smaller operations that don’t need a complete overhaul but have one thing they need to improve.
Those custom solutions work best for operations which are small, but when companies begin to grow, it can become a situation in which you’re duct taping a cracking wall. It won’t work long term, so other solutions need to be implemented. According to Amazon, GE Oil & Gas achieved a total cost of ownership savings of 52 percent by moving its legacy applications to the cloud. By adopting one, integrated system, like Salesforce, you can make your processes easier and less costly.
In late 2019, Salesforce released the Manufacturing Cloud that specifically addressed the functionality that is unique to the industry. Those include:
- Sales Agreements allows manufacturers to create unity for their run-rates with data that sits in their enterprise resource planning and order management systems. This feature allows for a 360-degree view of your relationship with any specific customers and alerts you to any changes that may need to be made to your agreement. These changes would then be immediately incorporated into your paperwork, creating a full sales agreement lifecycle. This gives you insight into committed and actualized order volumes, performance in relation to your forecasting and any time-sensitive customized metrics. In all, it simplifies any customer renewals, ensures that account teams are fully in-sync and increases revenue margins.
- Account-Based Forecasting provides a more holistic view of current business, alongside information that shows you any room for future account growth. This feature empowers your entire business, everyone from sales, to finance to operations can access and develop a more accurate forecast. No longer are there internal silos, instead account teams can update any changes in customer needs or market demands. It also allows for more team collaboration when you can adjust forecasting to be real-time. This ensures more efficient business transactions, and makes profit and revenue margins more predictable.
By adopting Salesforce, your operations are able save time, money and resources to address your specific business needs. Integrating Salesforce into your operations allow you to streamline processes throughout operations which enable continuous growth.
With no silos, customers would experience a single, connected view of their account with accurate real-time adjustments. This insight makes sales more predictive and efficient. Utilizing Salesforce to create more accurate predictions and accounting forecasts reduces field service costs. It also eliminates the slow, manual processes that are known to create barriers in delivering high-quality engagement with customers. Implementing changes that remove the systems that stunt growth, and recognizing that your needs may be fulfilled by custom solutions or for large operations, that solution may be Salesforce.
