Manufacturers across the globe are preparing themselves for the future and as part of the readiness, digitization has become the most important focus area.
While digitization initiatives at manufacturers are panning out across different functions and business areas, channel partner engagement has emerged as a very important aspect amongst manufacturers who are preparing for future readiness.
As per Salesforce’s Trends in Manufacturing Report^, Future Ready Manufacturers believe that channel partners’ contribution to adding value to products, driving market share and strengthening of their brands is very critical. Hence it is imperative for manufacturers to develop an ecosystem where they can engage and collaborate with channel partners to empowers them and make them part of the organization’s vision.
Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud delivers this platform with digital enablers that can fuel the need for effective channel partner engagement. Here are our top 3 picks of manufacturing cloud features and capabilities that can help manufacturers empower their channel partners and invest in stronger relationships:
1. Drive collaboration with Manufacturing Cloud Experience Site
Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud comes with a manufacturing industry specific experience portal template. The manufacturing cloud experience site provides all the necessary tools for effective collaboration and communication between manufacturers and channel partners. With manufacturing cloud experience site, the customers and partners are always aligned on common goals using sales agreements and are also updated at all times with two-way real-time updates. The experience site empowers the channel partners to work independently and respond in real time to the changing market dynamics.
2. Redefine partner loyalty with Manufacturing Cloud Rebate Management
With manufacturing cloud’s flexible rebate management capabilities, manufacturers can easily configure complex rebate programs and get a single view of partner’s performance across multiple types of eligible rebates. Rebate management provides a configurable framework for tracking actuals through different sources which enables easy to manage and accurate calculations of payouts. Manufacturing cloud rebate management enables a whole new dimension of partner loyalty by incentivizing the efforts of the partners and gives real time, transparent visibility of the incentives to partners and sales team alike.
3. Elevate Service Experiences with Manufacturing Cloud for Service
With the increased focus on partner relationship, it has become very important to provide high quality service to partners. Manufacturing cloud enables higher levels of engagement with partners at all levels and service is no exception to it. Built on the Salesforce service cloud platform, manufacturing cloud for service brings in advanced service capabilities designed especially for manufacturers:
- Digital Process Automation – Digital Process Automation (DPA) is a process automation engine powered by Salesforce OmniStudio. With DPA manufacturers are able to design and build service journeys across systems and deliver a unified experience to partners on the partner experience site itself. The DPA processes provide a contextual omni-channel experience to partners and agents ensuring faster resolution of issues.
- Service Revenue Forecasting – Advanced service revenue forecasting in manufacturing cloud helps manufacturers to plan the revenue for the partners and also plan the service parts demand in detail. This enables the manufacturer and partner to get a unified, accurate view of the service parts demand and the revenue forecast for the same.
- Get Relationship Insights with Partner Surveys – Manufacturers can better understand the mood and sentiment of their partners with partner satisfaction surveys. Surveys can be created using Salesforce surveys that can help get insights directly from the partners and bring out the issues, concerns and challenges their partners face. The partner surveys also provide an indication of how satisfied the partners are with the manufacturer’s services, how strongly they connect with the product line and also help uncover ideas to drive channel sales to new levels.
Manufacturing Cloud brings a whole new set of innovative tools to elevate partner experiences and build stronger relationships with them. With channel partner engagement turning into a necessity, it has become imperative to embark on this journey at the earliest. To prepare for the future and discuss how Manufacturing Cloud can transform your channel partner relationships, come visit us at Dreamforce 22 (Booth #1733). To schedule a meeting with our team of experts at Dreamforce click here.
