Tag Archives: Salesforce CRM
SaaS Data Integration for SaaS Applications
It’s no secret that software as a service (SaaS) applications like Salesforce CRM, Eloqua, Workday, NetSuite and Concur, to name a few, often get their start in the enterprise through individual departments, divisions and subsidiaries. Known for their rapid deployment times, frequent feature releases with API updates and end-user ease of use, SaaS applications are typically much more dynamic than on-premise business applications. New fields and objects can be added with a few clicks by line-of-business administrators, analysts and operational roles. So when it comes to data integration, waiting for IT to redevelop and deploy mappings every time there is a metadata change typically doesn’t meet the expectations of business users and application owners, who are used to greater speed and agility in the cloud.
How Migrating Customer Data from Legacy CRM to Salesforce is Like Moving to a New Home
After returning from Dreamforce, I learned that two of my friends were moving to new homes. They used different approaches to moving their belongings and had vastly different experiences once they moved in. This made me think of the different approaches companies use when migrating customer data from a legacy CRM system to Salesforce and the impact these approaches have on their user experience when they go live.
One friend, let’s call her “Jane” is not the most organized person. Her goal was to get her family’s belongings into the new house as quickly as possible. Room by room, they packed all of their belongings into boxes and shipped them to their new home.
Mind the Gap: How Sales Operations Can Overcome Five Customer Information Gaps in Salesforce
Lockton is the world’s largest private insurance broker. Their goal is to achieve 95% client retention. The company, which operates in 60 countries, successfully adopted Salesforce to empower 4,450 associates to continually improve cross-sell and up-sell to existing clients.
To succeed, the director of operations at Lockton knew that the associates need to know who their customers and prospects are and which products and services they already have. When he investigated, he found several customer information gaps in Salesforce.
Below are five customer information gaps in Salesforce CRM that can impact sales:
Mind the Gap: How Sales Operations Can Overcome 5 Customer Information Gaps in Salesforcecompanies.
Gap #1: Which customer record can I trust?
Before reaching out to a customer (let’s use fictitious client Mark Niles), the sales rep needs to access Mark’s contact information in Salesforce. Chances are Mark Niles’ customer information is spread across multiple duplicate lead, account and opportunity records with inaccuracies, inconsistencies and incomplete information. For example, potentially four records exist in Salesforce for one customer 1) Mark Niles 2) Marc Niles 3) M. Niles 4) Mark. The customer information gap becomes worse when a company has multiple Salesforce orgs. Sales dilemma: Which Salesforce customer record can I trust and update?
Gap#2: Which products and services does my customer already have?
Before a sales rep can identify which product or service to offer Mark Niles, she needs to know which ones Mark already has and if he has any outstanding issues. Chances are Mark Niles’ product information is stored in enterprise systems such as SAP, Oracle or JD Edwards ERP, customer support systems and maybe cloud applications such as NetSuite and Eloqua that are not integrated with Salesforce. Sales dilemma: Why can’t I access all relevant customer information from my Salesforce customer record?
Gap #3: What is impacting my customer right now?
Sales reps want to be up-to-date before reaching out to customers. They may need to go outside of Salesforce to get information such as credit scores and news announcements that may impact the timing of customer contact and the conversation. Sales dilemma: Why can’t relevant third-party data be included in my Salesforce customer record? (more…)
Cloud Integration For The Insurance Industry
Today Informatica announced that, “an increasing number of insurance companies rely on Informatica to address their unique challenges of integrating disparate data from a multitude of channels including adjusters, brokers, service providers, underwriters and other related parties.” I thought that two points were worth highlighting here:
- The wide adoption of cloud-based CRM in the insurance industry. Just look at some of the customers highlighted by salesforce.com on their website.
- The wide adoption of cloud-based data integration in this industry. (more…)