The goal is simple. Set your company up for the economic rebound we all know will happen and be ready to unlock much-needed productivity gains, significantly create a competitive advantage, and at the same time deliver a better, exceptional customer experience.

So, if that describes where you currently are with undertaking a digital transformation for your company, let’s remind you of the numerous benefits you’ll derive from doing one, starting with these six:

1. Better Customer Experience

Technology advancements have helped companies to better interact with their customers, resulting in consistency for ensuring customer needs are met in a timely manner.

2. Employee Empowerment

With more and more companies going the digital transformation route, employees are embracing the need to update their skill sets to stay competitive. Companies also reap the benefits of better communication within departments and improved quality of work.

3. Promotes a Digital Culture

It is said that creativity leads to innovation and continuous employee learning in changing digital environments helps to develop that culture. And that promotes employees staying motivated and agile at all times.

4. Enhanced Data Collection and Analysis

With a digital transformation, the data collection and analysis process becomes easier to monitor your customer data, allowing you to make better business decisions.

5. Profits, Profits, Profits

Improving your customer experiences and engagements through digital transformation leads to loyalty. And that, in turn, makes customers stick with your company for more deals. In addition, you are opening your company to new sales channels and markets.

6. Stay Competitive

Make no mistake about it, your competition is transforming into a digital business. Your taking on a digital transformation will enable your company to remain competitive. It also ensures that you not only survive but thrive and outpace your competition now and well into the future.

At Ad Victoriam Solutions, our virtual consulting team helps companies with their digital transformation strategies every single day, and every step of the way. Our certified experts learn your business, connect your data, then help your company deliver the type of customer experience that taps into the preferences of your modern customer. Let’s put a plan together today. Just fill out the form below, or click here.

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Related Article:
Moving Your Business Forward with Managed Services

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The post It’s the Best Time for Digital Transformation: Here’s Why appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

From having the ability to unlock and analyze data to delivering better-connected experiences to their employees – who in turn can offer more personalized experiences for their customers – stakeholders who implement a unified CRM are making the decision to end their company’s struggles with data across teams and systems.

But how do you – as a dedicated and concerned employee – get buy-in to implement a CRM from all of your company’s stakeholders? Well, here are some thoughts on that…

Do Your Homework

The end goal is to make “the pitch” to your stakeholders about implementing a CRM a slam dunk. So, first, go about collecting as much evidence to support why this makes sense for your company’s future growth.

Start with your sales team. Ask them: What does your pipeline look like? Do you think you are doing a good job of tracking your current opportunities? Do you feel focused on your daily outreach efforts to close a deal?

Once you have those answers, it’s time to map out the specific features and capabilities you think your CRM should have.

From there, research companies that are already using the CRM you’re most interested in and solicit feedback from them on how that system is working for them. Quiz them on what they like, what they don’t like, and what results they’ve seen from using that system. It won’t be hard to find those companies. Just look at the CRM product company’s website for a “Customer” page and randomly pick a few of their customers and reach out to them.

Free Worksheet Download: Justifying the Need for a Sales-Focused CRM

Cost vs. Benefits

Some might say this is the biggest hurdle you’ll need to get over when presenting your case to stakeholders for a CRM implementation.

First, try to approximate how much your company is losing without using the CRM product you’re interested in. You can do that by going back to the “Do Your Homework” questions you asked the sales staff and do estimates from there. In particular, based on current sales data you’ve assembled, estimate a percentage of how much more a salesperson could close each month by using a CRM, and also estimate how much your company is losing over a month or a quarter by not using the CRM.

What Will Implementation Look Like?

As you begin planning how you envision your new CRM implementation would go – because your stakeholders are going to ask – start by being ready to answer the questions, such as:

• Does your company have an internal resource who will be your project champion? Will that person have the time and expertise to lead your CRM implementation?
• Do you have data cleansing or migration needs that your team has the skill set to address?
• If needed, is your team able to integrate your technologies (ERP or legacy system) with your new CRM platform to create a 360-degree view of your data?
• Should you consider adding a consulting partner to guide you through implementation? What are the costs involved with that?

D-Day

So, now that you’re armed with a plan of attack, it’s time to gather your stakeholders and make your case. How and when you do that can only be determined by your internal knowledge of the company’s culture, i.e. do you make your presentation in a formal setting or casually over a meal?

Our advice, don’t sweat the how and when. Just be sure you do your homework, weigh the costs vs. benefits, and have a well-thought-out implementation plan. And to help you with your plan, you can download our free “Justifying the Need for a Sales-Focused CRM” worksheet that will show you how to gather all the ammunition you need to convince your stakeholders. And remember: You’ve got this!

Adding a CRM can serve as a key driver of digital transformation for your company, and the Salesforce® consulting team at Ad Victoriam has years of experience implementing and integrating systems with great success. Perhaps we can help you make the case to your stakeholders about the benefits of a CRM? We’re excited to get you there! Let’s talk now!

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The post How to Convince Your Stakeholders It’s Time to Get a CRM appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

It’s essential to think about integration, especially when it comes to a CRM. That forms the backbone of your business and is the place from which a lot of seamless, efficient processes take place. What does that look like? This graphic explains it.

Click CRM Image Below To Enlarge

Via Salesforce

Did you know that Ad Victoriam Solutions, a Platinum Salesforce Partner, was just named a Top CRM Consultant?

Contact Ad Victoriam to learn how our team can help your company with a custom CRM integration solution.

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The post Rethink Your Approach to CRM Integration appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

Integrating your systems to connect your data puts business intelligence at your fingertips. It deepens your customer relationships and their experience with your brand. MuleSoft, one of the world’s leading integration platforms for building application networks, connects enterprise apps, data and devices across any cloud and on-premise. MuleSoft helps customers unlock valuable data from all of their systems—legacy IT software, cloud apps, mobile devices, and IoT.

Current and future MuleSoft customers are coming together at the MuleSoft CONNECT global integration conference in Atlanta next week. They’ll hear from expert speakers including Ross Mason, MuleSoft founder on Architecting for Innovation and Agility, as well as Frank Liberis, McDonald’s Former Global CIO on Leading IT Transformation.

Related: Check out a presentation from MuleSoft CONNECT 2018, Change Your Approach to Integration to Empower Digital Transformation, by Massimo Pizzini.

Here’s just a few of the benefits of joining the upcoming conference in Atlanta:

• Breakout tracks tailored to your MuleSoft journey
• Hands-on demos and an interactive developer zone
• On-site training and certification opportunities
• Networking with experts in cloud, APIs, microservices, IoT and security

Hear first-hand from customers on how they are building application network and accelerating innovation.

Whether you are evaluating MuleSoft or you are a long-time customer, join us to learn how leading brands are accelerating innovation using Anypoint Platform.  Ad Victoriam, a MuleSoft CONNECT Silver Sponsor and MuleSoft Partner, is happy to extend our sponsor code for 30% off your registration: CONNECT-ATL-30.

Register today and be sure to stop by the Ad Victoriam Solutions booth on the expo floor.

The post Why Attend MuleSoft Connect? Coupon Code Inside appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

Companies today, large and small, are using a mixture of on premise and SaaS applications to run their business.  Systems such as an ERP, POS, or a home-grown application will live within the company’s four walls, while services such as Salesforce, QuickBooks Online, and Office 365 will live in a cloud based environment.

One of the challenges that many companies face is integrating on-premise and cloud systems, so that data can flow between the two systems and prevent duplication or inconsistencies.

Introducing the Azure Enterprise Cloud Solution

Microsoft Azure, the cloud platform from Microsoft, provides what is called an “Integration Platform as a Service” (or iPaaS) to integrate across enterprise and cloud systems.  With Azure’s cloud based suite of integration tools and services, companies can connect disparate systems, automate processes, and integrate with partners using hybrid cloud solutions (on-premise to SaaS, SaaS to SaaS, PaaS to SaaS, etc.).  As with all of the Azure offerings, their iPaaS tools provide enterprise-class solutions with ability to scale up and down with the company’s needs, allowing companies to pay only for what is utilized.

Azure Logic Apps are part of the iPaaS tool suite, and makes integrating disparate data sources achievable, scalable, and affordable.  Many connectors are provided free of charge to allow the Logic App to connect different SaaS systems (list of available connectors), and you have the ability to create your own connectors as well.  These connectors provide the ability to trigger a Logic App to run, and they are also used to perform actions (or operations) within that Logic App.

Example Case Study

As an example scenario, let’s say that we would like to integrate Salesforce Accounts into an on-premise ERP system, and provide a two-way integration.  The first Logic App would be created using the Salesforce connector, with the trigger of “When an Object is created/updated” using the object class Account, and the action would be to send an API call to the on-premise ERP system to update the Customer record associated with the Salesforce Account.  The second Logic App would be created in the reverse order, listening for new/updated Customers from the ERP, and using the Salesforce connector to push that change to Salesforce.  This would provide near real-time integration between Salesforce and the ERP system for Accounts and Customers.

This real world scenario is just a simple example of how the Azure iPaaS can provide an affordable and scalable integration solution for on-premise and cloud systems.  For more information on hybrid cloud solutions and how they can solve your integration challenges, please contact Ad Victoriam Solutions, or call (77) 691-1642 and ask for Eric Philips.

The post Unlocking Affordable and Scalable Hybrid Cloud Integration appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

According to IBM, data integration is the process of combining “data from disparate sources into meaningful and valuable information.” The data gathered from one application can easily be translated to any other application instantly, connecting all of the software your business uses with one another in a way that keeps up with how businesses work in this day and age.

Faster Access

By utilizing data integration, every bit of data your business receives on a daily basis is available on all platforms instantly, eliminating the hassle of switching back and forth to view, analyze, and act on the data collected.

Faster Decision-Making

With the implementation of data integration, and the faster access mentioned above, comes the ability to make business decisions many times faster than was previously possible, letting businesses stay up to date with their market. Data that is integrated and viewable from all sources also offers a more holistic view of your business, allowing decisions to be made based on the whole picture – not just a piece of the pie.

Faster Adjustments

When one piece of data changes within one application, businesses no longer have to enter other enterprise applications to change the data manually. With data integration, these changes and adjustments can be taken care of in moments, making faster turnaround for your business the new reality.

Many say that the first step to efficient data integration is realizing its high importance in the business world. Luckily, Ad Victoriam Solutions offers many data integration options to help your business keep track of its data and maintain beneficial communication between applications. Contact us to find out how we can help your systems and applications communicate better.

The post Why Communication is Key: Integrating Your Data appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

Enterprise service bus (ESB) software works to help design and implement a line of communication across various programs that are a part of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) application solution. ESB applications are used most frequently as a part of enterprise application integration (EAI), which allows for the creation of heterogeneous and even complex application landscapes across the cloud. Additionally, ESB has become an important tool for application integration.

ESBs can be used to facilitate administration, deployment and runtime monitoring, as well as other basic integration functions. The biggest advantage that companies will find using ESBs versus a traditional framework is easier tooling because better tools leads to lower costs and reduced complexity.

There are numerous ESBs on the market, but the two best on the market are Microsoft BizTalk and MuleSoft.

Now that we’ve provided an expedited education about what ESB is and what it does, let’s explore these two popular ESB options a little bit…

Microsoft BizTalk

BizTalk was originally designed to help facilitate communication between businesses (thus the name). It works by storing any message it receives and converting it to a readable format for the user – from any format to any format. The advantage of using BizTalk rather than coding your own program is that it’s guaranteed to work without having to recode if you didn’t plan for a given language.

In terms of using an ESB for integration, BizTalk is tough to beat. It will allow any systems you have in place that don’t play nice with others to bridge together. BizTalk also makes it possible to create your applications in the cloud, making integration between SaaS (Software as a Service) and existing applications seamless. Additionally, BizTalk software allows you to extend the applications you use to mobile devices easily.

A downside of BizTalk that some businesses run into is the program’s size. In this aspect, MuleSoft picks up the slack…

MuleSoft

While BizTalk is a heavy piece of software, MuleSoft is lightweight. But don’t let the size of Mule’s ESB deter you. You can easily start small and scale MuleSoft up to meet your specific needs and requirements. MuleSoft also gives your business the benefit of communicating across applications regardless of whether they’re on the same machine or via the web.

Mule ESB offers adaptive integration, which means the program provides:

• Smooth integration across any existing infrastructure
• Ease of use with standing application servers or as a standalone
• Vender neutral
• Ability to build the system up with plug-in architecture

MuleSoft is increasingly gaining popularity and traction in the business world due to its scalability and cloud integration features.

Ask the Integration Pros

Here at AVS, we understand that integration is important to your business, and we’re happy to help! We invite you to contact us or browse our blog or for more information about our comprehensive integration, Salesforce® and cloud computing services.

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