I recently had a discussion with a potential client in a government department. Imagine my surprise when i found that they were using a cloud CRM platform to develop a app to monitor a recycling program. Why I asked? The answer, plain and simple, was built-in security, storage and tools to easily develop and maintain the app. And, of course, once developed, the app could be accessed anywhere and anytime.

Not long after this an enterprise client asked us to develop an app to manage their infrastructure. Based on our discussion with the government client, we suggested that the app be developed on the same platform.

Some of the entities in the government are thinking in innovative ways and we can learn from them.

I am guessing that if you are still in business it’s because of something that makes you different and even unique. Most of what you do may well be what everyone else does but its that final piece that makes you what you are.

Most of the enterprises I have worked with emphasize their differences when speaking to potential clients. Why would they then go on to implement a standard configuration of their cloud solution. Yet that is what we are seeing in the market right now.

You contact the names of implementation partners recommended by your cloud vendor. You ask for a quote and presumably take the lowest one after some due diligence on the internet. Few if any of these partners will ask what makes your business different and how that difference can be emphasised through the cloud technology to give you a competitive advantage. Most of these partners are doing multiple implementations of the same standard configuration again and again. They implement and move on completely forgetting you.

Don’t get me wrong. Most of what you implement will be standard. Maybe 80 percent or even 90 percent standard. But it’s that final 10 to 20 percent that will get you the bang for the buck.

We have been going in to fix some of these “quick” implementations. In one case, the implementation delivered by a global company did not even have any documentation. Not required the client was told to keep the cost down and to deliver quickly.

Getting what you need and getting it right will not necessarily be more expensive. It will take more time to interact with the vendor and may result in lower costs in the long run. It will certainly help you keep your business profitable and unique.

MYOB has been a accounting staple in many companies while Salesforce is seen as a vital new tool for business. So if you have MYOB, have decided to implement Salesforce and would like the 2 applications to work together what would you do?

Decide how and what you would like to interconnect. Next try and identify an already available connector app that can do either most or all of what you want. Your software implementor should be able to identify such an app and complete the interconnection for you. This is usually the easiest and most cost effective way forward.

However, if you are unable to find an app that meets critical areas on interconnect, you can get an app developed specifically for you.

To illustrate, we recently identified and implemented a MYOB connector for a client that did the following:

1. When a contact is created or updated in MYOB AccountRight, the app creates or updates the contact in Salesforce.
2. When a sales invoice is created in MYOB AccountRight, the app creates the Opportunity in Salesforce. Additionally, the Account will be created and the associated product(s) will be created in Salesforce.
3. For all products either created or updated in MYOB AccountRight, the app creates the products in Salesforce.
4. For all products either created or updated in Salesforce, the app creates the products in MYOB AccountRight.
5. When an opportunity is closed and won in Salesforce, the app adds or updates a Sales Invoice or Sales Order in MYOB AccountRight. Additionally, it associates the sale with the Original Customer or the Customer’s Organization or a single Online Sale Customer and creates the associated product(s) in MYOB AccountRight.
6. When an order is closed in Salesforce, the app adds or updates a Sales Invoice or Sales Order in MYOB AccountRight. Additionally, it associates the Sale with the Original Customer or the Customer’s Organization or a single Online Sale Customer and creates the associated product(s) in MYOB AccountRight.

Substitute MYOB for any other accounting package and the process is the same

Check out SFX our Salesforce Xero connector:

https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000EODsjUAH

Recently, I visited 2 companies that have just installed and launched new Cloud CRM solutions. One was Microsoft and the other Salesforce. Both had completed employee functional trainings. Guess what? Hardly anyone was using the CRM.

Now I am a champion user of the CRM whenever I work for any company. Leads, opportunities, contacts, interactions and more are all on it. I have even won company awards for this. Most of the other employees in business development and sales think I am a real mug.

As one colleague recently told me, the more you put on the more you will have management breathing down your back. Worse, management can use the fact that all your information is transparently available to get rid of you when they need to downsize. So the advise I usually get is put just enough on to keep the wolves at bay but not enough to make you redundant.

Trust is in short supply in these days of downsizing, offshoring and just plan “take care of number one.” The problem is much deeper than the CRM and I’m sure quite a few boffins are scratching their heads on how to solve it.

Speaking from where I stand, the answer is what I get personally from using the CRM solution outweighs the risk of using it. I like to have everything at my fingertips both in the office and outside. I like to plan my strategy, objectives, long-term and short-term goals and link them to my daily tasks. And that’s only the beginning. What about all those targeted marketing campaigns and analytics to help me along the way.

But this is a decision you will have to make for yourself.

Recently, we met a software entrepreneur who generates all his business through the internet and manages delivery through online tools. It was a real learning experience which we are trying to imitate.

He started out using Salesforce especially for the targeted marketing capabilities but does not do so now with some regret. The reason was very surprising. Salesforce storage costs.

As the business grew the number of documents and the size of the data stored grew with it. At one point, the entrepreneur started noticing the increasing costs and asked Salesforce for a solution. Salesforce would not budge. The entrepreneur moved off Salesforce and moved to another online solution.

Well for for those of you like everything Salesforce offers but are worried about the growing storage costs there is a solution. Look for an app that connects Salesforce to your favourite economical storage site like Amazon and Dropbox. Some of these even have a certain amount of free storage which could well be enough until your business gets on its feet.

Check out our Amazon connector on https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3000000B5jEuEAJ

We have been through the outsourcing routine. A consultant sits next to us to document each process, someone in management decides which processes can be outsourced, a standard operating process is created, and the process is outsourced.

Management sells the idea to shareholders, senior executives etc. as a way to cut costs, standardise and improve efficiencies. Employees are told that the unfortunate loss of some employees will result in a better work experience for those who remain. They will get to actually have lunch, go home on time and finally have the weekend off while all those people in the Outsourced Centre are working away 24 by 7.

My experience speaking to clients who have gone through this process has been, to put it diplomatically, mixed. In fact both the management and the employees in some case have experienced the opposite of what was promised and are wary to say the least.

Well for all you tired souls along comes the Robot or to use the correct terminology, the bot. Said bot is going to “perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone.” The bot will eliminate time and cultural differences, cost less, and may even be able to adapt to a changing environment.

Those conference calls with the OutSourced Centre where you are both speaking different and mutually exclusive versions of English will disappear. You will all be able to communicate to the bots via a standard programming language that you presumably all know. If not, you will communicate your desires and dissatisfactions to you friendly IT person who will in turn communicate with this new army of bots.

That is if you haven’t outsourced the IT person’s role already. In which case, you are, sadly, back to square one.