Dreamforce 2014 Summary - 1 Word That Comes to Mind

After completing my first week long educational adventure at Dreamforce 2014, I am looking over the copious notes that I took in the 15+ sessions and countless keynote speeches, and sharing my attempt at summarizing what I have learned.

The already robust CRM/Cloud platform added many new features and products to make your business more efficient and more productive. The resources available in Salesforce.com (SFDC) are vast, so paring down exactly what your organization needs is a task in itself but highly necessary to extract the full power for your company.

A key point beyond the new features and functionality: CRM implementation and management is all about discipline.  I don’t know if one word can really summarize the week that is Dreamforce better than “discipline.” That word resonated with me throughout the event by addressing what is possible if you commit to the platform as well as commit to the work that it will take to make SFDC part of your company’s backbone.

Your organization must have the discipline to set clear goals for what you want to achieve. Salesforce.com can help get you there, but you have to set those goals, develop a strategy, and then decide what apps, resources, and features you need to make it happen.

One of the keynotes I attended summed up “how to be successful with SFDC” in three rules:

1. Scale as you grow
2. Outsmart your competition
3. Engage your customer

All three rules are simple but require discipline to focus on the analytics, watch trends in the market and continually give your customers an ongoing education to keep them engaged.

We all know that it is important to have top-down support, right? Well it will take a fair amount of discipline and persistence for an organization to gain acceptance from the top down that a CRM is going to help the individual employee excel as well as the company overall. Some companies have the misconception that a CRM is like “Big Brother” but in actuality it helps keep everyone accountable.  You will have team members that are hesitant to the change and this can be challenging, but it just takes a little education, and a little discipline

So what?

Digesting the information that I learned at my first Dreamforce has been enlightening.  The platform that SFDC has created reinforces what is possible for our clients as well as our own organization.  I am looking forward to using what I learned to help enhance my clients’ businesses and can’t wait for Dreamforce 2015!