Salesforce.com is remarkable for building your business process because of the ability to customize and extend your requirements. Kids experience this same effect in the LEGO universe. They often start with a specific kit. They soon realize that parts are interchangeable, and they are able to add other pieces or new kits to create their own customized work of art. All of this occurs with an understanding that the pieces work together.
Likewise, Salesforce.com is a platform. Your initial requirements will likely produce a preliminary business system which is usable. However, as you become familiar with how the system works, you have the flexibility to add other pieces via the AppExchange, a marketplace of third-party applications developed by other software companies. This affords you the opportunity to both discover and continue building without feeling limited by the initial pieces you start with.
Your Business Process Refinement Is Iterative
There are some amazing structures created by LEGO enthusiasts. They were not created by someone figuring out exactly what to build with their first purchase of a new set of bricks. The discovery of what could work and how pieces fit together was iterative.
Genius and clarity arise from the repetition of playing with the pieces.
You have flexibility in how to drive your business processes with Salesforce.com. If you find that the approach your sales team engages with needs to be changed because the market does not respond, you can remove fields, add new ones and add applications as needed. Perhaps an autodialer you implemented does not work for your business anymore. Instead, you may want to integrate an inbound marketing strategy with marketing automation. You can detach old technologies and plug in new ones, all the while retaining logged information in your data records for continuity.
The effect is that your system can continue to adapt to the change which is inevitable in your business. You can build continually. Salesforce.com is modular and able to be modified as your business model and clarity continues to change. It is much like building with LEGOs.
What are some things you can anticipate adding to your core Salesforce.com system?
