These days, it appears like everything is happening ‘in the cloud’. Moving to the cloud, running in the cloud, stored in the cloud and accessed from the cloud. However, what exactly is the cloud computing concept?
UNDERSTANDING THE CLOUD
The cloud is something that is somewhere at the other end of the internet connection. It is a place where one could access services and applications and where data could be securely stored. The cloud is a huge deal for the following reasons,
- It is effectively infinite in size, thus there is no worry on running out of capacity.
- It doesn’t take effort on maintaining and managing it.
- Cloud-based apps and services could be accessed anywhere. All it needs is a device that has an internet connection.
The cloud is relevant because of the shift happening from work that is office-based work to on the move. The shift is reflected in computer hardware sales last year of around 270 million laptop and desktop computers sold compared to 325 million tablets and nearly 2 billion smart phones. This makes the cloud a great place for running business software, such as CRM or customer relationship management applications, software that users need for reliable access anytime, anywhere and on any device.
WHAT IS SALESFORCE?
Salesforce started in 1999 with a vision to reinvent CRM. It pioneered in using cloud computing that has revolutionized the way that company software is delivered and used and forever changing the industry. Ever since Salesforce launched its first CRM solution, the company products have entirely run in the cloud. This means that it is all online, with no hardware, no software. There are no costly setups, no maintenance and employees could work from any device that has an internet connection, including tablet, smart phone or laptop and with 3 free upgrades yearly. It is ideal for small and huge organizations alike. The revolutionary approach helped in making Sales Cloud the number one customer relationship management system in the world.
Salesforce ranks number 2 in Bloomberg Business Week 50 ranking and has been outpacing rivals in the software market business via exploiting the desire of the company to stop managing programs for thousands of employees and instead outsource the job. The stock of the company has climbed over 170 percent in the past three years. CEO Marc Benioff is expanding the portfolio of cloud computing software for customer service, sales and online marketing through branching into new areas such as human resources.
BENEFITS OF THE SALESFORCE CLOUD COMPUTING SOLUTIONS
On first look, the Salesforce based association management system may appear like a database that is stored in multi-tenant cloud, not much different from what most of the legacy AMS vendors are moving to. However, deeper below the surface, it would become very apparent that that benefits are huge.
BENEFIT 1 – Hit the Ground running.
It is truly a paradigm shift. Rather than delivering a set of development tools, Salesforce delivers business functionality set that’s ready to be applied to business challenge. It enables a business to hit the ground running. Nimble AMS isn’t just a blank database, yet predefined elements for relationships and contacts, workflow tools, commerce engine, visual tools and a very strong user interface. To go further, it requires using APIS as well as custom code within the Force.com environment to create specific needs.
BENEFIT 2 – Vast EcosystemNimble AMS on Salesforce AppExchange
The Salesforce AppExchange brings the technologies nearer to association customers. With more than 2,600 solutions in the AppExchange, companies could leverage a much wider range of vendors than any legacy AMS could provide. Typical AMS vendors provide one or two solutions to certain business requirements. With Salesforce and Nimble AMS, an organization could choose the vendor that has the most appropriate technology, feature set, service offering and price point which meets their need. Solutions vary from very simple to complex marketing tools that are used by Fortune 500 companies.
BENEFIT 3 – True CRM
Customer Relationship Management is vital to professional and trade associations. Knowing members and tracking interactions with them and get actionable business intelligence on membership trends are more relevant than ever. Insights into the membership could help make smart decisions as well as better customize offerings. Salesforce spent $627,000,000 on research and development of their cloud platform. Now, one could leverage the innovation investment to advance an organization’s critical mission.
BENEFIT 4 – Mobile FirstSalesforce 1 and Nimble AMS
Salesforce delivers mobile first approach. The product is designed to work via a typical desktop browser. Nevertheless, all apps are delivered to mobile devices with the use of Salesforce 1 for staff administrators could handle their organizations via SalesforceA.
BENEFIT 5 – Salesforce Business ApplicationSalesforce Sales Cloud for Nimble AMS
Salesforce was created for ‘sales’, which at times is a dirty word in the world of association. Nevertheless, associations are selling meeting registrations, corporate memberships, sponsorships, exhibit spaces, educational products and many more. Salesforce provides organizations the ability to scale and use some of the leading tools for automating sales, data management, customer service, marketing and business intelligence. The different application ‘clouds’ such as Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Analytics Cloud and Marketing Cloud are a natural progression path for businesses as they grow.
Undoubtedly, Salesforce has made its mark to a lot of organizations these days. Its marketing software is the next big growth area.