customer-focused strategy - Vertex Computer Systems

Using Salesforce to Drive your Manufacturing Growth

Posted on October 17, 2021April 19, 2023 by Sudip Nandy

You may already think of Salesforce as a powerful Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) application, but it can also help manufacturers to identify, prospect and track opportunities, customers, and cases to drive revenue and growth opportunities. Manufacturers who take advantage of the full breadth of Salesforce’s functionality realize improved revenues and growth margins – all while lowering their SG&A and Operations Costs.

How Can You Improve Your Revenue?

Vertex Computer Systems has helped manufacturers conduct B2B marketing campaigns that expand their ability to understand and respect their customers and ultimately contribute to the continued success of those valued partners. Similarly, Salesforce Sales Cloud can be utilized to attract and engage new customers before, during, and after the sale. If you’re serious about keeping track of your customers at every stage, Vertex has the Salesforce expertise to help you leverage customer relationships to grow sales and improve customer satisfaction.

Because Salesforce provides a true 360° view of the customer, manufacturers can get a clearer understanding of customer needs as well as their journeys through the sales process. Would you like to shorten the cycle from prospect to sale? Salesforce provides standard and custom pricing solution options to help manufacturers accelerate deals. The Partner Portal’s Community Cloud can also enhance collaboration with a manufacturer’s business partners for greater efficiency.

Key Salesforce Features That Help Manufacturers Grow Sales Revenue

B2B marketing campaigns
Lead scoring and automated assignments
Lead-to-Cash process optimization
Custom pricing solutions to accelerate deals and maximize gross margins
Partner Portal access via Partner Community for maximum collaboration
Streamlined/automated customer service experience
True 360° view of the customer providing revenues, returns, support costs, et al

The other side of the profitability equation involves the standardization, optimization, and automation of processes. If you’re interested in lowering your SG&A and operations costs, Salesforce can help. Did you know you can eliminate manual spreadsheets, replacing them with real-time processing, reporting, and alerts? Salesforce provides your Manufacturing team instant access to the same up-to-date detailed information. That’s just one way of many that Salesforce enhances operations.

Key Salesforce Features That lower SG&A and Operations Costs

Eliminating manual spreadsheets with real-time processing, reporting, and alerts
Demand Forecasting – both revenues and units
Contract management
Simplified order processing/ERP integration
MS Outlook/Gmail integration
Reduced customer service and support costs
Integrated, automated, and streamlined credit checking

If you want to leverage Salesforce to quickly move the needle for your manufacturing firm, give Vertex a call. You won’t be disappointed.

An Overview of Salesforce Security & Compliance Measures

Posted on July 8, 2021April 19, 2023 by Sudip Nandy

Salesforce has rightfully earned and held on to the title of the “World’s #1 CRM Platform” by going to great lengths to enable their customers to access to their data across all devices, all while ensuring the data is protected from unauthorized access. As the adage goes, “Security is only as strong or weak as the weakest link in the chain.” Salesforce, from its early days, recognized its part in its customers’ security chain and has taken all measures possible to protect customer data at every layer of the OSI model. They also offer powerful and flexible tools to their customers to secure their data exactly the way they want. Let’s look at the tools in each of these categories.

Infrastructure

Salesforce’s office sites, development centers, support, and data centers are secured by state-of-the-art technologies and are ISO 270001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 certified by an independent party.
Salesforce hosts multiple tenants on the same shared set of resources. Tenants are completely isolated from each other via an “Organization ID”.
In addition, the platform is HIPAA, FedRAMP, and GDPR compliant. A full list of Salesforce’s certifications may be found here.
These security measures are entirely under the control of Salesforce and have been made available to the general public for informational purposes alone. The ones below are more important to the Salesforce customer and require careful review, planning, and execution.

Encryption

All data is encrypted using TLS 1.2 the moment it leaves the user’s browser or mobile device. Data is always encrypted as it moves around within Salesforce’s own networks.
Salesforce offers the ability to encrypt data in sensitive fields at no extra cost, so they may only be accessed by authorized users
For an additional cost, customers may purchase Salesforce Shield, which encrypts all customer data, at rest.

Real-time Monitoring

Salesforce offers event monitoring at an additional cost for Enhanced Transaction Security and Threat Detection.
- Enhanced Transaction Security offers customers the ability to define policies around sensitive operations such as login, API access, and reporting.
- Threat Detection alerts customers in real-time to unauthorized access from session hijacking, credential Stuffing and other anomalies

Authorization

Salesforce offers a myriad of ways for customers to log in, ranging from traditional password-based logins to SAML or OAuth-based SSO.
In addition, users also have the option of a wide range of two-factor authentication mechanisms. The simplest one (which all users are enrolled in, by default) is through an activation code emailed to the user. Other options include text messages to the user’s registered phone, Salesforce Authenticator App, or a physical security key.

Application Security

The final and the most important piece of the security chain, from a customer’s perspective, are the security configuration options in the Salesforce app itself.
- System and Object access levels
  - Profiles control Create, Read, Delete and Edit access to objects as well as access to fields. They also dictate the scope of what the user can do on the platform.
  - Permission Sets allow additional permissions to be added to the ones provided to a user by their Profile.
  - Permission Set Groups are a recent addition to the platform that allows grouping multiple Permission Sets together. They have been introduced to simplify the metadata representation of a user’s access levels and are projected to make Profiles less relevant soon.
- Data access levels
  - For a user having at least Read access to an Object, access to individual records is controlled by a combination of Org-Wide Defaults, the User’s Role, the Object’s Sharing Rules, and Record Ownership. In addition, there are features like Sharing Sets, Queue Membership, Enterprise Territory Management, Manual Sharing, and Account/Sales and Case Teams that can provide a user access to certain records.
- Process execution contexts
  - Custom Screens and Automations designed on the Platform using Code or Flows may be run under the System Context or User Context. It requires careful planning and execution on the part of an admin or developer to ensure these processes always run with the least privileges necessary and don’t turn into attack surfaces, or inadvertently expose sensitive customer information

The features listed above are merely an overview. There are many intricacies to configuring and fine-tuning data security in Salesforce. Although most small-to-midsize customers start out with an “open” model, where access to data is pretty much unrestricted to all users, the approach may not be suited to all customers and can quickly prove inadequate as the user list starts growing.

Careful planning and execution, driven by an experienced Salesforce Consultant or Administrator can end up saving you a lot of time and money as you start to scale usage of the Platform. At the same time, a lack of proper planning and improper implementation can end up costing you time, money, and customer goodwill.

Vertex Computer Systems is a trusted Salesforce Solutions Provider with specializations in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Business Process Automation & Transformation. If you would like to schedule a Salesforce security audit or just learn more about Salesforce security, please contact us.

IT Sales Strategy 101: Put Your Customers’ Interests First

Posted on January 1, 2021May 11, 2023 by Rodrigo Fernandes

If your sales numbers aren’t what you’d like, follow Vertex’s IT Sales Strategy 101. Our customer-focused strategy will help you to become a trusted advisor to prospects and stay ahead of the competition.

Physical Versus Remote Proximity in the COVID Era

Being a sales professional is not a job for the faint-hearted, especially in the IT industry. Add the challenges of Covid-19, and the task becomes even more herculean. You have quotas to meet. Your customers have buying options. The difference between a sale and a disappointment may be as simple as staying in front of them so that when decision time comes, they think of you first. In today’s business climate, it is essential you ensure you’re working on your customers’ behalf, putting their interests first. You may not be able to stop by to chat with a client over a coffee, but you still need to be accessible – assertively reaching out to them with quality offerings and information.

If your sales numbers aren’t what you’d like, you need to create an environment so that when it’s time for your customers to spend a pretty penny on a sophisticated CRM, choosing you is natural. Do your customers have this kind of preference or trust? If not, what is your roadmap?

You need to be doing everything possible to make it easy for prospects to choose your service and for your current customers to remain loyal. Retain contact with customers after a sale so they remember your company’s value. Every Account Executive needs to maintain strong relationships and continue to create future improvements for their clients’ continued success. If you wait until contract renewal time to pick up the phone, chances are good it’s too late.

Provide new product information, keep in touch, send emails, phone with specials offers for early renewal, and provide all the extras that your competitors are trying to leverage. To become a trusted advisor, you must demonstrate that you understand their business pain points and industry challenges. Get noticed and stay ahead of the competition.

Underselling Today Could Cost You Tomorrow

Sometimes, a customer may think the cheaper option is preferable. However, a master salesperson will think like a chess player. What will the cheaper option be like near future? Will your client have outgrown the capability you recommended? If the system doesn’t allow for projected growth, you could be doing them a disservice – although well-intended. Do you really want to have to answer why your tool that they thought was “complete” is about to cost them more money? If you start with a future-proof platform, you will be setting your client up for success and offering value over the long term.

It’s important to take the time to explain all options upfront – and the details of what each will provide. Recommend something that will meet their needs and grow with their business. They won’t want to replace everything again in a short period. If your customer comes to you with an idea of what they’d like, make sure you understand what the solution will look like later. You’ll need to address things like integration, scalability, and performance. An entry-level price may sound good at first, but it could hamper them as they grow. Don’t make it easy for your customer to leave you because they feel they were misled.

Although a job in IT sales can be challenging, it is also one of the most satisfying careers. Being a trusted resource that helps companies improve their processes is noble work. You need to understand complex systems and apply them to real-world problems. You’ve worked hard to get this far. Let’s not be dissuaded during these times. COVID era or not, we need to keep putting our customers’ interests first.

Vertex Computer Systems Ranked #1 IT Staffing Provider for Fortune 50 CPG Manufacturer

Posted on May 30, 2021May 12, 2023 by Sudip Nandy

We’re proud to announce that Vertex Computer Systems was recently ranked the #1 IT Staffing Vendor for a Fortune 50 Packaged Goods manufacturer, besting 10 other IT firms in the company’s 4th quarter rankings. While this ranking is for IT staffing, Vertex has been a partner of the CPG firm for many years, delivering projects in Microsoft M365 services, Custom App Development, Data & Analytics, and Salesforce, among other technologies.

The ranking is based on several key factors, including speed to provide resources, regulatory compliance, candidate quality, fulfillment, rates and retention.

“Vertex Computer Systems prides itself on creating positive client relationships over many years of working together,” said Global Account Director Murali Swamy. “We look forward to additional work with this client and continuing to be a key part of their success.”