Google Apps and Salesforce.com are two of the leading cloud computing software vendors in the world. We have partnered with both and customize these systems around the processes of specific businesses based on their requirements. As we advise our clients on technology, process and systems, we always want to keep in mind the questions about cloud computing and what these systems mean to an organization. The following will help you understand our approach and how Google Apps and Salesforce.com are strategic for your team.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing may be a techie term for some, but it has had widespread conversation and adoption. In a nutshell, it is software that runs on the web. You don’t have to install anything. Open your web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer) and you just login to your system. For an organization, you are working within an environment with your team, specifically.
The advantages are:
- You don’t have to maintain an IT person
- You don’t have to upgrade
- You don’t have to maintain uptime
- You can focus on getting things done
- Someone else manages the functionality and feature enhancements
As an advisor to your organization, we focus on strategies that help you grow your business. Cloud computing is strategic because:
- It gets you out of the IT business and reduces overhead costs – people, hardware and software.
- When you hire people, there is no installation. You can turn them on instantly.
- When you fire people, you own the data. You can turn them off instantly.
- You can hire people that live and work anywhere around the world.
- You can collaborate in real-time with people in one secure system.
- The system is secure. Your team has to have a login
- You pay a subscription. This helps cash flow. It’s a service like your cell phone bill.
As an overall strategy, you want to control everything, but own nothing. The headaches are outsourced, the expenses are amortized. The old model was that you had to build such heavy duty software yourself. Now you can use it as a service and let someone else spend cycles figuring out how to innovate and improve. The world moves so fast today and software obsolesces quickly. It’s a good strategy to use cloud computing as a service for your business goals.
Google Apps And Collaboration
We have a lot of content about how to use Google Apps specifically in our blog. We partner with Google to implement, consult and support our customers on this remarkable platform. There are millions of businesses using Google Apps from single consultants to Fortune 500 firms. In the old days, getting another person set up on email often meant downloading Outlook, hooking it into an onsite server or using a VPN connection. It all took time and infrastructure.
Google Apps changed this. You can do many things to grow your business now that are easy:
- Hire a person halfway across the world and have them running in less than five minutes
- Share out key sales and marketing collateral quickly and easily
- Collaborate on documents in real-time
- Use online documents instead of having to buy Microsoft Office for everyone
- Have a ready knowledge base to share out with new team members
- Chat in real-time with anyone from any device – computer, tablet or mobile – anywhere
Your team is connected. The software is continually being improved and you are using it to manage your business from anywhere, anytime. There is a simple annual user license fee of $50 per user per year which you order here. There is a massive amount of storage, so you can save everything.
We train and show you how to use the system strategically to grow your business and drive business processes. Furthermore, there are many other integrations, strategies and uses that can be extended as you continue to use the system to help you serve your customers better, drive speed in your company or make more money.
Salesforce.com Process Design
Salesforce.com is a system that can be customized specifically for your business. Though there are millions of users, everyone’s system is different. There are different fields, communication templates and records. The system can be programmed with logic and triggers based on rules that are defined.
Our team at AscendWorks works with clients to define the requirements, bring clarity to business processes and implement them elegantly in Salesforce.com.
Salesforce.com is a platform as well. It integrates with thousands of other applications. Thus, you can extend its use over time as you continually refine how you do business.
For your team, you have an effective way to manage what is happening in real-time. Everyone has access to customer, deal or custom records. As information is captured, you can see your sales pipelines, project work or inbound leads. Your team members can also execute from one common framework.
We help you to use Salesforce.com to increase productivity, make more money or support new business processes. It becomes a critical asset to your business as your team relies on each other and the information in the database records.
Integrating Google Apps And Salesforce.com
Not everyone integrates both Google Apps and Salesforce.com. We have various ways to bring the two together that help you align your team and grow your business. Your processes will be designed largely in Salesforce.com. Your knowledge and productivity happen in Google Apps.
Some of the ways the two systems can serve your organization are:
- Sharing Google Docs within a Salesforce.com Opportunity record
- Having a central FAQ section that is searchable and accessible
- Logging inbound and outbound emails in customer records
- Making appointment scheduling easier
- Supporting customers with ready knowledge
Your team members have a login for their Google Apps and Salesforce.com systems. They can be working around the world, at a cafe or in your office. Regardless, your business is running in real-time on the web. Your challenge becomes making it clear and easy for how you want to create the customer experience and get things done efficiently.
We hope the explanation helps to orient you and envision the possibilities for using these two powerful systems. The costs are subscription based – $50/user/year for Google Apps and Salesforce
You can also learn more about how I consult with clients on Salesforce.
Feel free to post any questions in the comments below. We want to help educate and enlighten. Thanks.
