Many of the companies I speak to have a patchwork of solutions, spreadsheets, and homegrown code to try and tie their channel information to the rest of their enterprise systems. The resulting time-consuming data collection, matching, and reconciliation make it nearly impossible to understand channel performance in real-time. However, as we have observed in this blog in the past, the cloud is beginning to simplify access to information. CRM is one of the first enterprise solution areas to benefit from this change, in no small part due to Salesforce.com.
Salesforce has brought simplicity not only in terms of the adoption and deployment of the application itself, but also in its ability to use the AppExchange and Force.com apps to quickly and seamlessly tie components together through the cloud. As a result, POS data can now be tied directly to CRM accounts providing channel visibility in Salesforce similar to that for direct sales. Even though these integrated solutions have been around for only a short time, users have already identified Best Practices for their use. Based on our research, here are some of the most important:
- Automated linkage of channel and direct activity to Salesforce accounts
- Presenting account “candidates” with comprehensive POS data for potential inclusion in managed account programs
- POS used to target cross & up-sell opportunities to increase revenue
- Improve efficiency and confidence in commissioning by providing transparency into transaction assignment and sales team management native within Salesforce.com
- Channel sales and inventory activity available for integration with other cloud-based vendors to deliver incremental functionality
Companies that have demonstrated these practices have consistently outperformed their peers in terms of revenue growth and gross margin from the channel. Is cloud-based integration to Salesforce then truly “the Force”? Well it’s certainly a key component. Of course you also need accurate, timely and complete POS data, but using Salesforce.com to view, analyze and act on that data definitely seems to have a “Jedi”-like impact on the ability to achieve best practice performance.
