Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud: Enabling Manufacturers Drive Digital Transformation

There is a complex process involved in transforming raw material into finished goods. And that magical process is known as manufacturing. All products that you use, be it your mobile phone, air conditioner, laptop, and more have been manufactured somewhere in the world. But these products have to go through a lot of processes before coming to a consumer.

If you are on the manufacturing side, you must be aware of the hassle of a long chain of distributors and retailers, complex sales cycles, aligning your operations, marketing, and sales teams together, understanding the distributor and consumer requirements, and forecasting demands.

To top it off, fragmented data systems and internal data silos make it difficult for manufacturers to make smart decisions and deliver a connected customer experience. That’s where solutions like Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud come in. Used by companies like Kawasaki Engines, Hitachi Chemical, CF Industries, Mipox, GELITA, and more, it is helping manufacturers bridge the gap between their sales and operations teams while ensuring business transparency. But what exactly is Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud? In this blog post, we will discuss what it is, what its features are, and how it benefits businesses.

What is Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud?

Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud is an AI-powered, cloud-based manufacturing platform designed to meet industry needs. It facilitates collaboration and improves business visibility between sales and operations teams, and helps manufacturers streamline operations, secure data, and gain a 360-degree view of customers. It is enriched with features that help make accurate forecasts and drive predictable business performance.

Features of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud

Sales Agreements:

Most manufacturing companies run on a run-rate business model in which customers provide the commitment to purchase a certain product over a given period of time. These commitments may not be formal, however, it helps manufacturers establish a baseline expectation for future orders so that they can monitor and measure the actual deliverables during the agreement period. This is where Manufacturing Cloud’s Sales Agreements feature comes into play as it enables manufacturers to:

• Manage the agreement lifecycle by collaborating with customers on quantities and pricing for new agreements, modifications in existing agreements, and renewals for the next agreement period.
• Measure key metrics like planned and actual product quantity being delivered as well as product price and margins.
• Convert opportunities for new business into sales agreements.

Einstein Analytics for Manufacturing:

Analytics is one of the most celebrated features of any CRM solution. By analyzing key data sources, it helps account managers identify customers that are at the highest risk of churn. Also, by identifying key trends in an account, it highlights relevant upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud incorporates Einstein analytics to help manufacturers gain insights into key performance areas such as –

• Product Performance – It helps to understand how each product is performing in terms of revenue as well as its performance against the plan.
• Sales Agreement Insights – It helps in viewing how existing sales agreements are performing by generating a comparative analysis between the actual revenue generated vs. actual revenue for a given agreement.
• Account Performance – It helps monitor revenue realization against the forecast value for each customer account.

Account-based Forecasting:

It provides manufacturers with a complete view of their current business along with expected future opportunities. This allows sales, finance, and operations teams to develop accurate forecasts, break down internal silos, and add updates on changing customer needs. With account-based forecasting, organizations can:

• Generate a sales forecast with predicted volumes and revenue streams.
• Leverage data to forecast suggestions and reduce the time sales or account managers have to spend managing forecasts.
• Disaggregate forecasts to SKU levels to support operations and ease the burden of commercial teams.

Rebate Management:

This is the newest feature of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud. It helps meet the needs of organizations that need to plan and target financial payout incentives for their channel partners. It can help organizations build incentive programs within Salesforce that can be shared with channel partners. Also, it helps to validate the eligibility and attainment of incentive programs, allowing organizations to streamline the effort-demanding tasks of managing these programs.

Why is it Beneficial for Your Business to Choose Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud?

There are five important benefits you can leverage by using Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud. Here’s a quick look at them:

• Streamline Commercial Operations: Manage your complete book of business from the opportunity to order management and demand forecasting.
• Drive Partner Engagement: Drive partner visibility, performance, and engagement.
• Transform the Service Experience: Enable a faster and smarter service experience optimized from the contact center and field service.
• Translate Data into Actionable Insights: Make smarter decisions by translating data into actionable insights with the power of Einstein analytics.
• Make Yours the Workplace of the Future: Prepare your organization for the work-from-anywhere world and enhance your employee productivity with tools and features designed for a modern workplace.

Conclusion

Unlike other industries, the manufacturing industry has been slow to drive digital transformation. However, the adoption of Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud fills that gap and enables manufacturers to use modern solutions for their legacy problems. Manufacturing Cloud not only helps them make predictions, manage distribution deals and agreements, and serve their customers and partners better but also empowers them to work from anywhere.

Wish to Get Started With Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud? Let’s Talk!