Google Apps and Docs as well as Microsoft Office are in the clouds (so to speak). Salesforce.com, a CRM platform that we at WWWC have a great deal of experience with (see case studies at http://www.wwwcomm.com/projects/case/advancedsnow/,) is also an example of Cloud computing. I was reminded by our CTO, Kevin Gilper, that we’ve been hosting applications “in the cloud” for nearly ten years now.  Cloud computing, once a mystery, is actually very common and will continue to grow as a result of the time and cost savings of implementation and adoption.

• Reduced Cost
  Cloud technology is paid incrementally, saving organizations money.
• Increased Storage
  Organizations can store more data than on private computer systems.
• Highly Automated
  No longer do IT personnel need to worry about keeping software up-to-date.
• Flexibility
  Cloud computing offers much more flexibility than past computing methods.
• More Mobility
  Employees can access information wherever they are, rather than having to remain at their desks.
• Allows IT to Shift Focus
  No longer having to worry about constant server updates and other computing issues, government organizations will be free to concentrate on innovation.

According to Wikipedia, cloud computing is internet computing whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand similar to an electricity grid.

Cloud computing is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client-server in the early 1980s. Details are abstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet-provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet.

The term “cloud” is used as a metaphor for the internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagram as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online that are accessed from another Web service or software such as a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

Most cloud computing infrastructure consists of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers’ computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers and typically include SLAs. The major cloud-only service providers include Salesforce.com, Amazon and Google.

According to wikiinvest.com, a simple example of cloud computing is Yahoo email or Gmail. You don’t need software or a server to use them. All a consumer needs is an internet connection and you can start sending emails. The server and email management software is all on the cloud (internet) and is totally managed by the cloud service provider Yahoo, Google, etc. The consumer uses the software alone and enjoys the benefits.

Beneficial Bank is a full service bank that has been serving the Delaware Valley community since 1853. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, the company has 70 neighborhood branches and provides a modern work environment for over 1,000 employees.

Beneficial previously had an Intranet, but it was primarily made up of static HTML files. Every time Beneficial wanted to add or edit content it required the department managers to write tedious HTML code, which took a great deal of time. Consequently, the Intranet was not being kept up to date.

Another downside of Beneficial’s Intranet was that its look and feel had not kept pace with the bank’s branding so it looked out of synch with the public website and the bank’s marketing materials.

Beneficial Bank’s senior management decided to use Microsoft’s SharePoint server for the new Intranet. As SharePoint experts, we were chosen to customize the Intranet to meet the bank’s needs. Beneficial had learned about WWWC from management who had previously worked at Commerce Bank, whose entire Intranet, used by the bank’s thousands of employees on a daily basis, was developed by WWWC.

WWWC first set up the SharePoint portal server. Taking advantage of SharePoint’s built-in security, content management, and document management features, WWWC was able to establish sites specific to each department. This allowed department managers to maintain their own Intranet content without the need to know HTML or other programming technologies.

Beneficial’s new Intranet looks nothing like a traditional SharePoint website. With workflow, departments, and permissions in mind, WWWC started with a planning stage before the software was installed and followed the process all the way through configuration. By writing actual tutorial documents with screen captures, WWWC showed Beneficial Bank how it could configure departments by using the software. WWWC also set up a branded interface, which required the bypassing of the pre-made templates offered by SharePoint.

Some of the benefits Beneficial is now realizing with its new Intranet include:

• Customized and optimized employee-centric software for the company’s needs
• Improved standard template layouts and user-friendly, branded interface
• Accessible tutorial documents on configuration for bank employees for easy updating
• Improved and streamlined department collaboration for increased productivity

Salesforce makes it easy to set up new AdWord campaigns right from your Salesforce account. Salesforce also makes it easy to link your existing AdWords account to your new CRM program. This integration gives you even greater control over managing your ad campaigns and maximizing your leads.

While Google makes it easy to review each AdWord campaign and determine the most efficient use of your advertising budget, Salesforce gives you targeted feedback relative to your marketing campaign. With Salesforce, you can see the exact leads generated through each Google AdWord campaign, providing you with a thorough view of your marketing plan from the click point on a website to active clients.

Salesforce also gives you a comprehensive look at organic lead generation through integrated lead tracking software. Where Google AdWords helps you better organize your marketing campaign, the organic lead tracking programs help you visualize how individual clients found your site via search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Not only does this help you determine your company’s exposure online, you can use it to improve existing pages on your website to attract even more organic search hits.

The revenue tracking programs in Salesforce also help you determine the return on investment (ROI) for your marketing plan through Google. Salesforce gives you a complete overview of what’s working and what needs to be changed. Since the Google programs are incorporated into the Salesforce marketing model, all of your revenue statistics are recorded in real time, giving you even greater control over small and large changes for the immediate future. The Salesforce model also lets you fully customize your dashboards to track the success of your marketing strategy.

By integrating Google resources into the Salesforce package, Salesforce has created a streamlined process to help any business maximize the potential of profitable internet resources. This unique combination of programs improves communication with associates and customers, streamlines collaborations within your business, and provides immediate targeted feedback from online marketing campaigns. With Google applications, Salesforce raises the standards of business development and provides any company with the tools they need to build a successful future online.

Salesforce also lets you link these doc files to existing records or other Salesforce files, giving you greater ability to organize and crosslink clients and information. This integration also gives you the ability to search for Google Docs within the system and even helps you create quotes and proposals that you can post to Google Docs for use in collaboration with partners and associates. You can also use spreadsheets with this software feature, giving you even more flexibility for sharing information.

Google Calendar makes it easy to plan and organize important events and deadlines, and Salesforce helps you synchronize and exchange all your calendars through one convenient system. Simply update an event in Salesforce and set it to synchronize with a Google Calendar to share the events with others. You can also create timelines and deadlines for projects to help you visualize your workload.

Salesforce also allows you to customize your Google Start Page by displaying important dashboard components right when you open your browser. This feature gives you a fast, overall view of your Salesforce progress, deadlines, or task lists without having to open Salesforce separately.

Next article will discuss Salesforce and Google Adwords.

Gmail is one of the most trusted email programs available today. In order to maximize consumer and associate communication, Salesforce combines Google’s user-friendly system into the Salesforce business model. With this combination, you can automatically copy emails to your Salesforce sources to help you keep better track of important correspondence. Furthermore, integrated Gmail buttons make it easy to send emails from your business Gmail account from selected customer pages on Salesforce. These same buttons also appear next to any email address in the Salesforce system, making it even easier to keep in touch with important clients and associates.

Google Talk is just as easy to use as Gmail, and Salesforce has integrated this instant messaging system right into the Salesforce programs. You can assist clients, collaborate on sales calls, and coordinate with partners without leaving the Salesforce system. The Talk button appears right on the Salesforce page, making it easy to find your partners without leaving Salesforce.

Next article will discuss Google Docs and Google Calendar.

Salesforce provides internet partnership portals that you can customize to look and feel like your company’s website. You can use a single portal or tailor separate online portals to target and attract select groups of potential partners. These portals also allow individuals or companies to automatically register with your system, giving you time and flexibility to approve and build these partnerships at your own pace.

As part of the Salesforce system, the Channel Management options let you route incoming partner applicants to appropriate individuals or teams. Simply set up territories to accept incoming partner applications and assign these territories to designated team members. Once partners have been approved, your associate can provide them with targeted action plans and online marketing tools to help each partner drive more customers to your site. You can also add new programs and upgrade partners based on their performance.

The same Salesforce tools used to manage customers can also be used to manage partners. You can organize partners into territories and send out messages to one, all, or selected groups of individuals based on your marketing needs. Detailed tables, analysis, and data sheets let you evaluate the progress of each relationship and measure the performance of every marketing strategy.

With Salesforce’s network of data you can easily track your partnerships and develop milestones for future partner relations. With targeted tailored marketing relationships you’ll be able to reach a larger motivated audience and maintain happy partner relationships using the Salesforce system.

By giving managers the ability to group clients into territories, Salesforce makes it easy to redirect, move, and rearrange your business at any time. Each territory can then be moved as a whole, or your managers can select individual units to move separately outside of the group. By enabling your managerial staff to categorize customer data, you also give them power to assign different security preferences to specific groups of customers. This can help manage individual and team access to specific data and customer accounts.

This same tool makes it easy for managers to analyze customer groups based on demographics, regions, industry, and relationship with your company. By automatically assigning new leads to specific categories, managers can set up a system through Salesforce that directs new sales leads to the appropriate team member. This means that new customers will be automatically connected with a knowledgeable sales associate who can assist with relevant information about how your business can satisfy the customer’s unique needs.

By organizing clients and customer data into territories, Salesforce CRM gives your sales managers the ability to analyze and compare each group as a separate entity. This allows the managers to set unique goals and deadlines for each sales team and territory. The online Salesforce system also gives you access to real-time data so you can immediately analyze growth and redirect resources for the immediate future.

In combination with the territory management model, these forecasting programs let your company forecast and set goals based on region, territory, manager, sales representative, product, and more. You can compare, combine, and contrast all different sets of data in order to get the most accurate assessment of future growth. Salesforce also gives you access to currency conversions and customizable timetables so that you can tailor every sales prediction to your company’s needs. By implementing Salesforce in your business, you create an opportunity for maximum productivity from your sales team and the potential for unlimited growth.

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Whether you’re a big company with hundreds of employees or a new business with only a handful of sales associates, the Salesforce Activity Management programs help your team juggle large amounts of data with relative ease. CRM systems like Salesforce give individuals instant access to relevant customer and business data through multiple channels. You can easily set up these systems to work though email and even through mobile devices.

In fact these interconnected email and mobile programs are an essential part of the versatile communication channels available through CRM programs such as Salesforce. Some of these programs allow you to create a library of pre-approved email templates that your sales team can use to effectively communicate with customers. Not only will this give your team more time to spend with each customer, it also gives you more control over the online sales dialog. You can also use some of these same tools to track customer response to email notices and compile data to analyze the effectiveness of these online tools.

The CRM Communication Management tools in Salesforce also allow you to implement your own letterhead into online graphics and emails, giving your clients visual reminders of your business while maintaining consistency in the appearance of your emails. These same email tools give you access to relevant up-to-date customer data you can easily attach to each transaction.

In addition to communication tools that enhance company-customer interactions, Salesforce incorporates similar programs into tools that employees can use to communicate more efficiently with one another. For example, the time management tools in Salesforce integrate data, reminders, and alerts to help keep each member on task and focused on short and long term goals. You can set these Salesforce tools to automatically assign tasks to specific sales associates with activity templates to help the associate track progress. These same tools can be used to help sales members collaborate on projects and schedule necessary meetings at any time.

The Salesforce CRM is also set up to help your company schedule reminders and set appointments. Some of these tools work much like online calendar sharing in which you can post activities and permit selected individuals to view them. Unlike these online calendars, however, the Salesforce calendars are directly connected to the CRM tools and allow you to automate task and project deadlines by linking them through the Salesforce system.

Larger companies can use CRM tools to divide their sales associates into teams and designate tasks and representatives for each team. Each team can have representatives through the system and each member of the team can have separate security settings for specified access to data and information. In addition to security, the team management tools allow managers and executives to easily analyze the overall productivity of each team and detailed activity history, both of which can help in planning for future sales.

CRM programs such as Salesforce are ultimately designed to give you all the tools you need to run your business faster and more efficiently. By giving your sales team tools that promote better communication with the customers and each other, you help build a dependable, consistent system that can grow with your company. The flexibility of CRM programs is beneficial to both you and your employees. Easy tools means that sales associates can be more productive, and improved productivity means a more efficient business.

This is the fourth in a series of articles about CRM. Next week: The Advantages of CRM for Sales Managers.

The online format also gives you greater control over your Internet marketing and advertising plans. Salesforce CRM, for example, incorporates tools that allow you to manage Google Adwords, email marketing, organic web searches, and affiliates on a real-time platform, giving you easy and immediate access to ad management programs. These programs can also help you determine which ad campaigns were beneficial and which were not. You can also use these same tools to forecast campaigns and profits for future weeks or months.

All of the CRM tools can be used in small or large businesses since their applications can be tailored to fit the individual needs of your company. The interactions between all of the software tools make it easy to manage both clients and employees and provide any business owner with a user-friendly program designed to maximize efficiency and minimize costs. With an online versatile CRM tool like Salesforce, you can upgrade and add software tools from the same system as your company grows and evolves for years to come.

This is the third in a series of articles about CRM.  Stay tuned.

You are not alone. Chances are if your work environment is in this state so is your employees and coworkers.

These conditions are indicative of a company in an information sharing rut.

Symptoms
The symptoms of being in an information sharing rut are loss of time, company knowledge and the inability to quickly react to the needs of your clients.

Cure
Luckily an Information Sharing Rut can be cured with a dose of modern technology. The best cure is a well thought out Intranet, whose primary goal is to share various types of information within teams and organizations. Intranets typically have the following features.

Document Management System
Saving a document into a document management system makes it discoverable and accessible to all members of your team. A few other features available in document management applications are:

• The ability to categorize documents as proposal, plans, specifications, applications or other categories that you define.
• Ability to quickly search for documents using keyword searches.
• Ability for teams to collaborate on documents while maintaining version control.

Shared Calendaring
This allows you to see your co-worker’s schedules. It typically alerts you when your meeting is nearing and allows you to manage and track meeting invitations and disseminate meeting agendas.

Wiki
This is website that is editable by everyone. The most popular wiki is wikipedia. Imagine being able to structure your organization’s knowledge so that every employee can contribute. Wikis are searchable and quickly becoming a popular way to share information.

Blogs
Blogs allow a person to organize and share writings or posts with a public or private audience. Blogs are searchable and allow for categorization of content.

Finally, Information Sharing Ruts waste time, money and energy. An Intranet enables you and your co-workers to quickly find and view the information needed to make timely decisions.