A few weeks ago, we held a webinar to showcase the new features in the latest release of the Configero Grid.  [Missed it? View the recording and slides.]

Part of the power of the Grid is the vast variety of ways it can be used, so at the webinar, we talked through several client examples.  Here are a few of the top processes that the Grid can accelerate:  

1. Revenue Forecasting

Salesforce’s native forecasting has some significant limitations.  As a result, many organizations choose to download their pipeline data to Excel and then slice and dice from there to build the forecast they need.

This can be problematic. It increases the likelihood of error, it creates “multiple versions of the truth” when people are revising and passing around documents, and then when updates are made someone needs to go back to manually update Salesforce.

The Grid completely shatters the mold when it comes to forecasting within Salesforce. You can customize the Grid to accommodate any unique forecasting process and create views that simplify the workflow for your users.

Here’s one example that a customer recently built:

2. Pipeline Review Meetings

Traditional List Views and Reports are great at displaying a list of records.  What they’re not great for is helping users take action.  To edit a record you have to click the link, open in a new tab, scroll… you get the picture.

When you need your data in a single, personalized view, the Grid is your best friend.  You can quickly mass update records, toggle through related objects without losing your place in the list, and make notes all from the same screen.

Internally at Configero we use this for our sales pipeline reviews, and many of our customers do the same.  Having the ability to display related objects side-by-side in a single screen can be incredibly helpful – for example, to show things like Products tied to active opportunities: 

This kind of view makes pipeline review meetings a breeze.  You can see all the information you need without clicking into records, use inline editing to make updates, and take quick notes on opportunities – all in one browser tab!

3. Territory Re-Alignment

Territory re-alignment, transferring accounts when a team member leaves, or really any mass transfer of data is a great way to use the Grid.

Salesforce has record transfer tools baked into the product, but limits how many records you can edit at once.  The Grid can handle up to 50K records at once (so roughly 200X what Salesforce does natively.)

4. Industry-Specific Applications

Every industry has custom processes and unique technology platforms.  If you’re looking to integrate or move any of these functions to Salesforce, the Grid provides an excellent framework to build solutions and code-free integrations (at a fraction of a typical development timeline).

A few examples of industry-specific apps our clients have built include:

  • Transportation & Logistics – An app to manage a carrier network and quickly sort, filter, and update partners available to broker business to.
  • Media Company – App to manage worldwide media distribution including different versions, languages, legal terms, and release dates of their media assets
  • Professional Services – Processes to manage resource assignment, time logs, and project status.
  • Health Insurance – Managed claims processing / tracking and revenue cycle management.
  • Integrations with systems like SAP, Oracle, Sage, McLeod, and more.

5. Replacing Almost Any Spreadsheet

A good rule of thumb: if there’s a spreadsheet, there’s a use case for Grid.  If you or your users feel the need to pull data out of Salesforce to manipulate it to be “just so” or to take advantage of spreadsheet functionality, we can usually configure a custom Grid to address this need.

How can you put the Grid to work in your organization?

If you can’t tell, we are passionate about the Grid and opportunities to accelerate business processes.  We are always excited to explore new ways to put it into action in our clients’ businesses.

Do any of these examples strike a chord?  Are there other processes or data-intensive workflows that you’re hoping to streamline?

Drop us a line, or let us know in the comments!