In our last post, we discussed the critical questions your organization should be asking to assess its readiness to implement an enterprise platform in order to manage complex business processes. Now, we’re going to explore the enterprise platform as a core technology as well as a strategic investment to build your organization’s future on. First, we need to understand the difference between point solutions and enterprise platforms.
Point Solution – Bag Check!
If you check a bag when you fly, it enters into a detailed process to get from check-in to the baggage carousel at your destination. The luggage system is a single critical component in the travel ecosystem; it is a point solution. A point solution is a tool that performs a finite set of tasks. An email marketing application (think MailChimp or ConstantContact) is another example of a point solution. Email marketing apps help you manage lists of your organization’s contacts, send out mass emails to specific groups, and track send, open, and click-through rates. What these apps don’t do is facilitate complex business processes or let you design your own experience – they work how they work and you don’t get to say much about it. When you need to be more prescriptive and customized with your business processes whether marketing, sales, operations, service, or something completely off the wall that no other point solution delivers, you’re flying into the territory of an enterprise platform.
Enterprise Platform – The Full Travel Experience
Of course there’s a lot more happening when you travel than what’s happening with your bag. There is an incredibly complex system in place to get you from Point A to Point B, most of which is unseen – an enterprise solution. An enterprise solution is a cross-functional software application with a core database structure that is set up for tailoring to your specific needs. Salesforce is an enterprise solution that includes CRM functionality as one of its key functions. The foundation of the Salesforce platform allows for scalability as your organization grows and changes, and gives you significant ability to customize it to your organizational needs. We’re standing by to help make it happen through collaboration.
Approaching enterprise platforms from the 30,000 foot perspective, we see they can change the way your employees think about technology. With an enterprise platform and the right ecosystem, technical limitations go away – the sky’s the limit. You’re given the opportunity to be creative and try things with limited risk because you have a solid core to work from. Also, your IT team has the flexibility, tools, confidence, and supportive Salesforce ecosystem to respond to business needs and be a strategic asset to your organization.
Elevation Solutions is ready to help you go from walking to flying by creating a culture of learning and continuous improvement surrounding your Salesforce enterprise platform. Are you ready to change the way you look at your work? Are you ready to be set apart?
Contact us for a free consultation today.
