The manufacturing industry’s GDP in the United States is $2.18 trillion. If that number were taken alone, it would represent the eighth largest economy in the world. And in 2017, there was a $1.6 trillion foreign direct investment in the industry. But are individual manufacturers realizing business revenue that’s indicative of such promising statistics? They could be. 

There’s no doubt that manufacturing is a crucial sector of every global economy. The role of manufacturing in developing, producing, and shipping just about every product we know and love isn’t going away. But manufacturers are also prime to pivot, especially during this time of transition, to more streamlined workflows and modern technologies that all revolve around one key business objective: earn more money. 

Alyssa Suchy and Jim Nader, both manufacturing sales directors at Simplus, held a Q&A session for the manufacturing track of OwnBackup’s resilience.work event on July 15th. Together, they discussed how manufacturers can stay “lean, mean, and in the green” with Salesforce by investing in a unified internal experience, customer 360 processes, support for as-a-service, and additional forward-looking tools. 

Set the foundation: Create a cohesive experience for employees

M&A is one of the primary growth vehicles for organizations in manufacturing. As Alyssa said, it is an acquired or be acquire landscape. This means many manufacturers are approaching Salesforce with a need to unify what used to be many separate entities with their own ways of doing things into one unified organization. 

The key to creating this sort of company-wide unity through Salesforce, according to Alyssa, is process alignment. Once the processes are defined, and the ultimate goal is identified, the organization can begin to mature through streamlined processes. Those processes, embedded in Salesforce, function seamlessly for all acquired entities now operating as one.

Expand on Salesforce: Achieve a unified customer journey

On the customer front, the popular phrase is “customer 360,” meaning the organization has a complete view of their customer’s journey—each and every touchpoint. What manufacturers originally did with Salesforce five to ten years ago, according to Jim, was a good start: improvements around CRM and opportunity management. However, the most innovative manufacturers today…

Want to keep reading? Check out the complete ebook—”The Manufacturer’s Guide to Optimizing Revenue Recognition.”

Simplus is an industry expert when it comes to manufacturing and digital transformation. From our previous work with clients, we’ve learned the particular needs and long-term strategies of manufacturers approaching the new landscape of enterprise technology. Contact us today to get started.