White Papers

The U.S. education sector has an undeniable staffing problem. Years of slow hiring and declining job satisfaction have culminated in a drastic K-12 teacher shortage. Per reports from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, approximately 36,500 teaching positions in the United States are currently vacant — and 163,500 jobs are occupied by teachers who are underprepared or underqualified for their roles.

The current retention problem is due, in part, to the fact that teachers are overstressed and undersupported. These realities naturally hinder schools’ abilities to perform their primary function: educating and preparing students for the future. However, if institutions reduce stress and take steps to boost job satisfaction, they may be able to improve public perception of teaching as a profession, stem the turnover tide, and efficaciously serve children. In this white paper, we'll consider how institutions can leverage digital collaboration platforms to reduce teachers’ nonacademic workloads, reduce burnout risk, and retain staff. This asset will further unpack:

• How faculty stress contributes to staff turnover in education
• Why implementing a digital collaboration platform can help alleviate teachers’ nonacademic work burdens and empower them to deliver better student experiences at scale
• A practical example: How a middle school might leverage Salesforce Education Cloud to navigate a complex student situation and avoid stressful miscommunications

‍

Over the last decade, “experience” has all but become a corporate buzzword. Years of research have confirmed that positive interactions and delightful customer journeys lead to strong relationships, customer loyalty, better business results, and faster growth. The importance of experience is universally recognized — and yet, good experiences are not universal.

In this white paper, we’ll consider the state of experience in the market today and define what it means to be a genuinely experience-centric business.

Then, we’ll further unpack:

• The subtle but crucial difference between “customer-centric” and “experience-centric” strategies
• A practical guide to designing, executing, and managing experience initiatives
• Why engaging an experience partner can be beneficial for innovation-minded businesses that want to maximize their digital transformation ROI

The manufacturing industry is changing, and businesses need to evolve with it — quickly. With the silver tsunami putting pressure on staffing, supply chain disruptions proliferating, and customer demand shifting, manufacturers can no longer remain successful by relying on the operational status quo. Recognizing the need to evolve, goods manufacturers seek to “do more with less” by encouraging innovative thinking and deriving maximum value from their processes.

Knowledge workers are the key to this initiative, leveraging their experience and creativity to drive innovation within their organizations. This white paper will explore why furthering the symbiotic relationship between knowledge workers and their organizations has become mission-critical for manufacturers.

To that end, we’ll discuss:

• The market factors compelling manufacturers to prioritize innovation and efficiency
• The crucial role knowledge workers play within their organizations and how the symbiotic relationship between the two is created and maintained
• Why empowering knowledge workers has become a competitive imperative for manufacturers

Online learning isn't a niche experiment — or even an optional offering — anymore. A decade ago, the suggestion that digitally-facilitated education would become a crucial strategy for colleges and universities might have been met with polite skepticism or dismissed outright. But in recent years, persistent enrollment declines have compelled some institutions to consider how they could leverage online channels to expand their recruitment efforts and strengthen their financial position.

In this white paper, we argue that online learning will become a crucial strategy for institutions seeking to tap into new learner pools and bolster education accessibility. However, to take advantage of the opportunity that digitally-facilitated learning modalities provide, educators need to be deliberate in how they design and deploy their online learning programs. Our experts consider:

• Why institutions may no longer be able to rely on in-person enrollees as their sole revenue source
• How colleges and universities might leverage online programs to tap into non-traditional learner pools
• What constitutes a “good” online program experience — and why institutions can’t apply conventional pedagogy when developing online offerings

In the fall of 2022, Salesforce debuted Automotive Cloud: a revolutionary CRM designed to provide industry-specific support to organizations in the automotive sector. The product launch was notable news for automotive organizations that previously lacked access to a specialized CRM solution. With Automotive Cloud at hand, dealers and original equipment manufacturers will no longer struggle to achieve visibility into their operations or waste time searching through silos for up-to-date customer information.

The solution promises to usher in a new era of personalized, loyalty-inspiring experiences, well-informed strategic decision-making, and efficient business operations. But for all the value that Automotive Cloud offers, implementing it can seem challenging — however, those of us at Gerent believe that taking advantage of Salesforce doesn’t need to be difficult.

This white paper will:

• Introduce Automotive Cloud and explain its potential value-add
• Unpack Automotive Cloud’s industry-leading features
• Explain how organizations can maximize their time to value with Gerent’s Automotive Cloud Accelerator: a product designed to help organizations achieve the functionality they need quickly and affordably

Electrical distributors have traditionally relied on low-tech tools to operate and struggled to compete as others adopt high-tech solutions. They want to surpass the industry-wide standard of DOS-based ERPs and Excel spreadsheets. However, digitalization provides a challenge, as distributors don’t want to change existing processes or struggle to learn complex systems.

Electrical distributors want to take a small step in terms of technology and have their tools produce a giant leap in value. Fortunately, there is no one way to digitalize “correctly,” and organizations can embrace (and receive the benefits of) a low-effort, high-value transformation.

This white paper will unpack:

• The low-tech industry standard, and how inefficiencies hinder distributors’ operations
• The benefits of implementing a CRM solution — and the minimal prep work needed to deliver results
• The advantage of integrating ERP systems, marketing software, and Salesforce into a connected whole

2022 was an undeniably good year for manufacturers. Despite lingering pandemic labor shortages, supply chain interruptions, and persistent market disruption, the industry reported strong performance. Notably, demand and production capacity both hit relative highs before the end of the year. These achievements prove the sector’s ability to thrive amid uncertainty and adversity. Positive projections are expected to continue into 2023; per recent reports from ISM, revenues and profit margins are expected to increase across most manufacturing verticals.

However, even the sunniest of predictions don’t preclude clouds. Manufacturers will undoubtedly weather challenges in the coming year — and at Gerent, we want to ensure that organizations are ready to handle adversity when it arrives. In this paper, our industry subject matter experts will provide context on the challenges and opportunities manufacturers faced in 2022 and offer insights into what they can expect to face in 2023. We hope that this exercise will allow manufacturers to proceed with confidence and build a solid foundation for success in the new year.

Our key takeaways include:

• In 2022, manufacturers pursued greater visibility into buying behaviors, stronger partner relationships, and improved pricing and quoting processes
• In 2023, manufacturers will face various ongoing challenges (e.g., supply chain disruption, raw materials pricing fluctuation, labor shortages) that may hinder operations if left unaddressed
• 2023 will be a banner year for digital transformation; now more than ever, manufacturers of all sizes and sub-industries seek innovative solutions to their business problems

Under new guidance passed by the New York State Department of Health on October 1, 2022, healthcare payers are now required to align with enrollees’ and beneficiaries’ specific preferences regarding coverage communications. The new guidelines represent a broader shift in the healthcare industry towards a more member-centered and empathetic model.

While this legislation — and other articles like it — represent a step forward in creating more personalized, attentive healthcare experiences, they also pose a challenge for payers throughout the country. Today, many healthcare organizations simply don’t have the advanced technology to store the information required to provide customer-centric communications. This white paper will explain the details of the new guidelines, as well as why they signal a bigger change in the healthcare industry.

Additionally, it will discuss:

• Why payers, even those located outside of New York State, should make personalized outreach a priority
• What member-centric care is and why it matters
• The potential roadblocks payers may face when switching to a member-centric model, as well as the consequences they could face if they fail to do so
• Why implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) platform should be payers’ first step toward providing customer-centric care

Today, claims processing is often confusing for policyholders accustomed to enjoying personalized and seamlessly supportive experiences in other industries. Insurers hope that by delivering more convenient and digital-forward policyholder experiences, they can boost satisfaction rates, inspire loyalty, and drive better business outcomes. However, incorporating digital tools as-needed isn’t the same as executing a value-add claims transformation.

If insurance organizations want to improve the front-end claims experience, they must also transform their back-office processes around claims adjudication. In this paper, we consider how insurers might reimagine their back-office claims approach in a way that makes full use of available technology.

We will further unpack:

• Why insurers need to think beyond front-end experiences if they want to boost customer satisfaction
• How manual back-office processes can undermine front-end digital experiences
• Transformative benefits: how insurers can accelerate claims processes, cut down on revenue and expense leakage, and facilitate better experiences with Salesforce

Banks and credit unions can no longer coast on the service conventions of yesteryear. Amid increased competition, rampant digital disruption, and the looming signs of oncoming recession, institutions throughout the financial services sector are under pressure to provide high-value service to their customers and members — or risk losing them to more appealing competitors.

That said, if institutions can deliver convenient, personalized experiences to their existing customers, they will be better positioned to cultivate long-term loyalty and distill more value from their account holders. However, many institutions face a critical hurdle: antiquated legacy systems.

In this paper, we will consider:

• Why banks and credit unions should make deepening their relationships with existing customers and members a priority
• Why user-unfriendly legacy systems often prevent institutions from accessing the timely data they need to provide top-notch service
• How banks and credit unions can leverage Salesforce Financial Services Cloud to unlock legacy system data, deliver more personalized experiences, and drive ROI investment

Today, manufacturers need to accurately forecast market demand to collaborate with their partners and remain profitable. Unfortunately, non-digitalized organizations rely on antiquated tools and siloed data and have limited pipeline and market visibility. As a result, these manufacturers cannot forecast accurately or respond to sudden market shifts; a disastrous combination that can lead to unpredictable financial losses.

Manufacturers need to expand their forecasting capabilities to remain competitive — and to do so, they must break down silos and improve their analytical capacity. Fortunately, Salesforce’s Manufacturing Cloud provides a digitalized framework that manufacturers can use to centralize data and deepen their pipeline and market visibility. This white paper further explores:

• How antiquated technology causes “just-in-time” manufacturing strategies to break down
• The roles pipeline and market visibility play in accurate forecasting, as well as the importance of reacting agilely to demand shifts
• How Manufacturing Cloud can provide value to businesses looking to expand their forecasting capabilities

Consumers are more stressed than ever before, and it's easy to see why. Inflation is rising, interest rates are skyrocketing, and market uncertainty has become a daily reality. Customers and members are understandably anxious about their finances — and when worst-case scenarios happen, they need well-informed, compassionate support from their financial services providers.

This white paper will explain how the banking industry can use Salesforce’s real-time CRM capabilities to operationalize customer data and deliver well-informed, empathetic service during the moments that matter most.

The asset will further unpack:

• Why the industry should care about providing well-informed service during uncertain economic times
• The value of a real-time CRM: how Salesforce for Financial Services empowers employees to deliver seamless, satisfying omnichannel experiences by integrating core banking systems and ensuring down-to-the-millisecond data accuracy
• A hypothetical scenario: how a call center representative might leverage Salesforce to help an anxious customer or member resolve a complex mortgage concern in record time

In the wake of pandemic-prompted supply chain disruptions, increasing demand volatility, and competition from digital-forward giants, distributors are struggling to remain competitive. Many organizations have launched digitalization initiatives as a remedy, hoping that by replacing their antiquated systems and manual processes, they will be able to drive better business results. However, some view digitalization as a “miracle fix” administered at implementation – a catastrophic mistake that leaves their teams virtually unsupported.

The purpose of any successful digitalization should be to support and “supercharge” the people on the proverbial ground floor. This white paper will unpack a step-by-step digitalization process that empowers teams to deliver stellar service. We’ll discuss:

• How to tailor the Salesforce CRM to company operations
• Why distributors should leverage Salesforce’s analytics to cement themselves as an “oasis in the desert”
• How sharing internal information with consumers through a Salesforce-powered portal builds stronger customer relationships

Customer expectations in the automotive sector are at an all-time high. Today, shoppers expect car buying to be as easy and seamless as purchasing a computer at Best Buy or an item from Amazon. However, the car-buying experience often falls short of those expectations, leaving consumers feeling confused, overwhelmed, and frustrated by their sales or service experiences.

This white paper will explain why experiences are inextricably tied to customer return rates and operational performance and make a case for why organizations should adopt an omnichannel approach to customer engagement.

It will further discuss:

• Where dealers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are falling short when it comes to customer experiences
• How those negative experiences can impact a company’s performance
• How utilizing a centralized data system can improve business outcomes and increase customer satisfaction
• An example of what a positive customer experience looks like when an organization is digitally transformed

The digital revolution is happening at lightning speed — and seems to accelerate more every day. However, businesses in the automotive sector have barely begun to scratch the surface when it comes to reaping the potential of a data-empowered, digitally-enabled world. While industry organizations may believe that they are providing supportive digital-forward experiences, their customers might beg to disagree.

This paper will consider why automotive companies' assumptions may not reflect their customers' lived experiences and explain why many businesses in the automotive sector are not set up for success in the digital world.

It will further unpack:

• How automotive companies are falling short of customer expectations — and why they may not realize it
• How these setbacks cause dealers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to lose out on profits and opportunities
• Why building a strong data management foundation is fundamental to delivering omnichannel service and elevating CLTV
• The opportunity first-person data poses to digitalized organizations

It's a simple reality of change management: leaders can't chart a path towards an ideal future state if they don't know where their organizations currently stand.

To execute a demonstrably successful omnichannel transformation, leaders must establish and track their strategic and operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Otherwise, they might spend thousands of hours and millions of dollars on innovation initiatives — and have no idea whether their efforts have resulted in net positive, neutral, or even negative change.

This white paper will provide an actionable, step-by-step guide on identifying and implementing strategic KPIs. It will further explore:

• Why transforming without clear KPIs is inadvisable at best
• Why organizations should avoid tracking all their KPIs at once
• How we help our clients to implement and execute effective KPI selection processes

Innovation initiatives have taken the insurance sector by storm. Over the last several years, insurers have raced to digitalize their sales, distribution, policy administration, and claims management processes. Despite this widespread enthusiasm, such investments often fail to provide the value insurers expect.

This white paper will delve into why improvement programs so often fail and provide insights into how change leaders can maximize their organization’s chances of success.

It will also:

• Explain why “going omnichannel” is the only way to ensure a value-add initiative
• Distinguish between multichannel and omnichannel programs
• Make a case for why engaging a strategic partner like Gerent can be beneficial to organizations that have struggled to reap value from their investments

Amid declining investor spending, specialty chemicals manufacturers have begun to recognize how siloization has negatively impacted their process flows. And while many are pursuing digitalization as a result, it isn’t enough to implement a centralized system – manufacturers must know how to utilize it.

In this four-step playbook on streamlining production and managing opportunities, we will demonstrate how specialty chemicals manufacturers can maximize the value of their Salesforce implementation. Specifically, we’ll discuss:

• How to build project lifecycles and develop concrete business cases with Salesforce
• How to develop effective marketing strategies that secure demand across all profitable markets
• How to address pricing complexities with Manufacturing Cloud

The case for claims transformation almost writes itself. Insurers can reap tremendous operational and service benefits from “going digital” — which, in turn, can provide a crucial advantage in a competitive market. High-caliber, digitally-empowered claims experiences have become a crucial point of differentiation in an industry that increasingly prioritizes convenient, empathetic, and timely experiences.

However, digitalization isn’t a turnkey solution, and improvement potential doesn’t always translate into real-world gains. Insurers need to approach the claims elevation process strategically or risk their investment falling flat.

This paper will consider:

• The back-office and customer service value that claims digitalization can provide
• How digital claims stand to raise the bar on insurance experiences — and why some improvement initiatives fall short of their potential
• How digital insurers can (re)design their claims experiences around modern consumer behaviors and preferences

In recent years, value-based care has become an innovative force within the commercial healthcare market. This proactive, outcomes-centric approach can deliver substantial value to payers, providers, and patients alike — if executed correctly. To reap the benefits of a value-based strategy, a healthcare organization must have exceptional insight into its beneficiary data and the ability to trigger timely, constructive outreach.

Attempting to manage patient journeys manually or with the scant support of an antiquated digital system is an exercise in futility. However, with the assistance of an advanced digital framework like Salesforce's Health Cloud, matters become significantly easier to manage. This white paper will:

• Overview the benefits a value-based strategy can provide to payers, providers, payviders, and patients alike
• Outline the process orchestration and data management challenges faced by a hypothetical payer-employed provider network
• Provide a practical illustration of how Salesforce Health Cloud can facilitate seamless care coordination for high-risk patients

In specialty chemicals, R&D teams have long struggled to deliver the results investors expect. Industry organizations have been hindered by legacy tech and data fragmentation; for many, the resultant data silos have caused internal miscommunication, undermined business case creation, and constrained profits.

Manufacturers have attempted to leverage solutions such as portfolio adaption to change the paradigm and recoup ROI. However, few are currently looking at the processes themselves and how they can solve the underlying problems caused by siloization. In this white paper, we consider how centralizing data through a CRM can address these pain points and help specialty chemicals producers regain their competitive edge. We will further discuss:

• The current outlook of the specialty chemicals industry, and how how data siloization impacts process structures
• How CRMs can break down data silos, facilitate interdepartmental communication, and empower manufacturers to leverage data-driven insights
• How CRM solutions facilitate a positive ROI for investors and customers alike

Amid a turbulent economy, digital-forward giants like Amazon have gained a foothold in the distribution sector, encroaching on market territory that more conventionally-minded distributors have long taken for granted. Conventional players have an advantage over these digital newcomers – after all, they have experience, industry knowledge, and long-lasting relationships that their competitors cannot emulate. However, many distributors cannot currently capitalize on that edge, constrained as they are by antiquated and silo-ridden infrastructures.

In this white paper, we explore how distributors can surmount the competitive challenge by embracing digitalization, eliminating operational silos, and elevating their customer experiences. We’ll further discuss:

• The siloization problems that prevent distributors from reaching their competitive potential
• How CRMs can expand a distributors’ capability to provide personalized, even “superhuman” service at scale
• How advanced marketing, AI, and integration tools can empower distributors to leverage data-driven insights and construct a seamless omnichannel customer experience

In recent years, value-based care has emerged to stage a full-on model revolution within the American healthcare system. Unlike fee-for-service arrangements — which reimburse providers based on the services they provide — value-based care contracts link compensation directly to care quality and patient outcomes. However, if a care organization lacks the means to collect, organize, and act upon its patient data, it will not be able to reap the full benefits of an outcomes-based strategy.

This white paper delves into the functional hurdles holding care organizations back from model innovation and considers how payers and providers might leverage innovative technology to overcome them. It further explores:

• The state of the value-based care revolution: how outcomes-based strategies are shaping the commercial healthcare market
• Why data management and process orchestration are the most significant barriers to value-based model success
• How payers and providers can leverage digital frameworks like Salesforce Health Cloud to deliver better patient outcomes and achieve cost-savings

In recent years and amid stiff competition, specialty chemicals manufacturers’ growth has slowed. Flawed process structures have undermined confidence in R&D, affecting investor returns and causing a hesitancy to invest in new products.

It’s a self-fulfilling cycle: manufacturers rely on outdated technologies and deliver R&D results that fall short of modern expectations — and as a result, investors lose faith in the process and pull their money, leaving manufacturers with even fewer resources. But R&D has more ROI potential than these investors realize; a more effective approach would be to look at why inefficient process structures are causing less-than-optimal returns. In this paper, we will:

• Examine the state of the specialty chemicals industry overall, including how much manufacturers invest in research and development
• Consider how obsolete technology and manual R&D processes can create data silos
• Dive into the many consequences of siloed data, including lack of faith in the R&D process, poor project investment, and damaged customer relationships

Improvement by way of innovation has always been at the philosophical core of Medicare Advantage. Since its debut in the late 1990s, the program has sought to provide beneficiaries access to more comprehensive coverage and coordinated care and turn managed-care efficiencies into significant cost savings. However, reaping this potential is often easier said than done.

This white paper turns a retrospective lens upon Medicare Advantage, considering how value-based care models have changed the way healthcare organizations approach high-risk patient populations — and posed new care delivery challenges and opportunities along the way. This asset will further unpack:

• Why applying a proactive, value-based care model is a critical cost-savings measure for Medicare's high-risk, high-cost patient population
• The research: value-based care's impact on patient outcomes, engagement, and expenses
• The growing popularity — and intrinsic potential — of payvider models and nonmedical service offerings

The insurance industry isn't known for its willingness to change quickly — but when it comes to digital innovation, organizations in the sector have made an exception. While insurers have flocked toward digitalization en masse, achieving value from such investments is often easier said than done.

This white paper will provide an actionable guide on how insurers can conceptualize and begin implementing a value-add omnichannel initiative.

It will encompass four major steps:

• Develop an omnichannel brand promise
• Establish omnichannel as a mission-critical necessity within your organization
• Design omnichannel processes that will deliver on your brand promise
• Continually review and refine your omnichannel processes

Everyone loves an underdog story — but in banking, entrenched players might wish that the upstarts weren't quite so compelling. Over the last decade, the emergence of digitally-empowered fintechs has left conventional banks scrambling to define their competitive advantage and meet their consumers where they are.

But banks already have an advantage over digital upstarts: empathetic service. This white paper will consider the state of the market and argue that if conventional banks can differentiate themselves through superior experiences, they can attract consumers who prefer personalized support — and even challenge fintechs on convenience.

The paper will further examine:

• How fintechs have shaped consumer expectations in financial services
• Why service poses a differentiation opportunity for conventional institutions
• The hurdles banks will need to surmount if they plan to deliver exceptional — and exceptionally convenient — experiences

In financial services, convenience is king — but a service coup d'état may be on the horizon. During troubling economic times, people don’t just want ease; they want reassurance. If institutions can establish themselves as accessible, empathetic partners in financial management, they could very well reimagine the conventional banking experience and seed lifelong loyalty among their clientele.

However, if banks are to meet consumers’ ever-elevating service expectations, they must empower their call center employees. This white paper will explain why conventional institutions need to adopt a digitally-enabled, human-driven approach to service.

It will further unpack:

• The strategic advantage of providing empathetic, digitally-facilitated service
• Why despite having a wealth of human resources, conventional banks often struggle to provide the compassionate, well-informed service experiences customers expect
• The crucial value-add provided by a digital contact center

Experience matters to modern insurance customers. Per a 2020 report from the interaction analytics firm CallMiner, price has declined in importance among surveyed customers by 15% since 2018. In contrast, emotional factors — ex., feeling fairly treated and rewarded for loyalty — have risen among the top four reasons why customers decide to switch insurance providers.

Insurers can no longer afford to overlook customer experience; to remain competitive, they must make it a priority. This white paper will consider how an omnichannel initiative can empower insurance organizations to attract and retain customers through superior experiences.

It will also:

• Consider how experience factors into insurance customers' purchasing decisions
• Explain why insurers need to do more than simply surpass their competitors' experiences
• Provide practical P&C examples of how an omnichannel approach to digitalization can result in better customer experiences

Making the executive decision to modernize sales operations is easy — but actually doing so is an entirely different matter. Manufacturers might opt into an innovation initiative in the hopes of driving efficiency, improving efficiency, and boosting profitability; however, achieving these goals can be challenging for organizations that have not undergone transformation before.

This white paper provides a high-level guide on how to modernize sales processes with Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud. It will offer actionable advice on how innovation leaders can:

• Establish a sturdy CRM foundation to uphold sales team operations
• Define automated workflows to ensure efficient daily work
• Find and eliminate process bottlenecks with Salesforce
• Achieve a clear understanding of sales relationships and transactions with CRM tracking and reporting

The talk track around sales digitalization is undeniably compelling. By “going digital,” proponents say, manufacturers can improve efficiency, elevate customer relationships, and bolster profitability. However, achieving that value can be challenging for organizations that don’t have experience in structuring or executing transformation initiatives.

This white paper provides a high-level guide on operationalizing a sales modernization plan with Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud. Readers will receive actionable guidance on how to:

• Establish a high-potential CRM foundation for digitally-empowered sales
• Define and digitalize sales processes via automated workflows
• Identify and alleviate process bottlenecks with Salesforce
• Make sense of ongoing sales “stories” with CRM tracking and reporting

It’s long past time for packaging manufacturers to set aside manual repricing processes. Amid unprecedented market disruption and uncertainty, many in the sector have struggled to keep pace with frequent pricing shifts, only to fall short — and experience costly revenue leaks. However, manufacturers don’t need to resign themselves to financial losses or inefficient repricing efforts.

This white paper will explain how packaging manufacturers can meet the repricing challenge head-on by digitalizing their processes with Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud.

It further explains:

• Why manufacturers need to eliminate their manual repricing processes or else risk revenue leaks and operational inefficiency
• How to design and enact effective, automation-empowered repricing processes with Manufacturing Cloud
• What a top-tier, digitalized repricing process looks like in practice

For years, packaging manufacturers have maintained an almost single-minded focus on supply chain optimization — and inadvertently deprioritized sales team innovation. As a result, sales processes have stagnated, leading to rampant inefficiency, poor communication, and subpar service.

This white paper will examine the consequences of an outdated sales approach and explain why “going digital” can help manufacturers drive efficiency and sales team results.

It will also consider:

• Why outdated “fiefdom cultures” inhibit collaboration, hinder pipeline visibility, and undermine sales team performance
• How organizations can leverage digital engagement platforms like Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud to eliminate silos and facilitate better sales team operations
• A practical example of how digitalized sales processes can give sales team leaders greater visibility into their pipeline and facilitate well-informed decision-making

Digitalization tends to be discussed in an abstract way, leaving business owners unsure of what it is and how to bring it about. This paper brings innovation initiatives down to earth, describing the simple steps hardware retailers can take to build a firm foundation for the future.

By using CRM solutions to target key growth areas — such as expanding digital commercial capacity and marketing to a segmented customer base — hardware retailers can digitally transform their process structures, thus preparing themselves to meet evolving customer needs.

This paper will go over:

• How implementing a CRM solution can help hardware retailers expand both their digital commercial capacity and ability to target and segment their customer base
• How hardware retailers can keep customers engaged while online shopping through site mapping and shadow cataloging
• How retailers can optimize their direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns by capitalizing on data already collected from customers

The student journey is often viewed as starting at admissions and ending at graduation, with institutions considering alumni outreach nonessential. But with this perspective, a vital aspect of the student journey — one that can benefit graduates and their alma maters in equal measure — is being neglected. Graduation is not the ending of the student journey; instead, it’s the beginning of a new chapter.

Concluding our series on journey mapping, this white paper addresses the post-graduate journey, why educational institutions should enhance how they view it within their institutional goals, and how it maximizes the value of the student experience. It will address:

• The current state of alumni outreach and why continuing to invest in alumni engagement is beneficial for educational institutions
• The cyclical nature of the student journey and how positive post-graduate journeys can support the educational ecosystem
• How educational institutions can create an infrastructure that supports the post-graduate journey

Repricing has become a significant source of stress and inefficiency for packaging manufacturers. Once, updating product prices was a once-or-twice-per-year affair wherein teams would set aside their time and resources to reprice manually. However, amid unprecedented market volatility and fluctuating raw materials costs, many manufacturers have needed to update prices monthly.

In this white paper, Gerent considers the factors that sparked this repricing sprint and further unpacks:  

• Why manual processes, rather than pandemic disruption, are to blame for the current repricing crisis
• The service, efficiency, and revenue toll manual process pose to a business
• Repricing resolution: why manufacturers should leverage automation and digital engagement layers to facilitate timely repricing

Relationships require people — but how involved should humans be in managing them? For years, distributors have relied on their sales reps to forge and maintain robust consumer bonds. The rationale for this delegation is intuitive; empathetic relationships are stronger and more lucrative than purely transactional ones. However, these efforts can backfire if teams are overwhelmed by the incoming communications and don't have the time (or attention) to spare for relationship-building.

This white paper unpacks the adverse outcomes that human-reliant opportunity pipeline management processes often deliver and makes a case for sales digitalization.

It further considers:

• Why human-managed distribution relationships can result in limited visibility, lost sales, and subpar service
• How digital frameworks empower distributors to cultivate stronger relationships and achieve their sales potential
• A practical example of how digitalization might empower a project-based distributor to expand its market share and achieve more strategic operations

There’s no question that the market is more volatile and unpredictable than it was two years ago. As the global pandemic continues to unfold, packaging manufacturers have found themselves scrambling to overcome production constraints and meet sky-high demand for their products.

In this white paper, we turn a retrospective lens on the factors that have undermined manufacturers’ production capacities and prevented them from taking advantage of recent demand spikes.

We will further consider:

• The industry context: why containers and packing manufacturers have found it difficult to regain their pre-pandemic production capacities
• Why labor shortages, consumer behavior changes, and variable raw material costs have led to drastic fluctuations in product pricing
• How these market factors have contributed to a significant repricing challenge

In a post-pandemic educational environment, students have struggled with the rapid shift to remote and hybrid learning environments. Negatively impacted by the distance between themselves and educators and having little to no previous experience learning online, students’ engagement is waning, enrollments are declining, and persistence rates are dwindling.

Amid these challenging circumstances, it’s become mission-critical for institutions to understand their students’ pain points and provide support precisely when, where, and how they need it. A one-size-fits-all approach to service won’t suffice; educators need to apply experiential practices that recognize and support students as individuals with specific goals.

In this white paper, Gerent considers how journey mapping can provide the framework educational institutions need to keep students on track. Exploring how administrators can construct a framework prioritizing student journeys, this paper covers:

• The growing problem of student churn, its underlying causes, and how the post-pandemic educational environment puts unprecedented pressure on students
• The importance of data collection and analytics in identifying student pain points, as well as implementing a tailor-made solution for different students’ journeys
• The importance of creating a process architecture for successful journey mapping

For years, manufacturers have put sales digitalization on the back burner and funneled their innovation budgets toward supply chain optimization. But now, that out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach is beginning to pose consequences. Left to stagnate with outmoded processes, non-transformed sales teams have become fragmented and inefficient.

This white paper will unpack the practical problems associated with manual sales and explain why “going digital” could be the key to unlocking much-needed operational improvements and strategic agency. It will further consider:

• Why old-school “fiefdom culture” restricts collaboration, clouds visibility, and hinders team performance
• How CRM tools like Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud can eliminate silos and ensure more effective sales operations
• A practical example of how “going digital” can give sales leaders more oversight of department operations and facilitate timely interventions to maximize revenue

Manufacturers can’t afford to keep “making do” with outdated repricing processes. Over the last two years, market volatility has turned semi-annual repricing into a near-constant struggle. Inconsistent labor pools, demand spikes, and fluctuating raw-material prices have caused enough price fluctuation to warrant monthly repricing. Unable to keep pace, manufacturers have resigned themselves to revenue leaks and rampant inefficiency.

But do they need to do so? As it turns out, this problem may have a ready solution: digitalization. The following white paper will unpack:

• Why all of the problems associated with repricing — from inefficiency to disorganization and logistical confusion — can be traced back to manual processes
• Why manufacturers need to digitalize their pricing approach as well as their repricing methods
• How to design and enact a realistic transformation with Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud
• What a fully-transformed repricing process looks like

Hardware retailers need a digital boost. In recent years, it’s become clear that businesses in the space can’t meet modern business demands if constrained by limited online functionality and data silos. The hardware retail industry needs modern-day tools to succeed — and without fully embracing digital transformation, retailers may struggle to address customer needs, combat supply chain issues, or attract a digitally-savvy, experientially-attuned customer base.

In this white paper, Gerent addresses how hardware retailers can better meet the demands of a modern market by expanding their digital presence and centralizing their data.

This paper covers:

• How data siloization and an inadequate online presence can result in widespread inventory shortages, declining customer engagement, and data inaccuracies.
• How digital transformation efforts can allow retailers to expand their influence in the digital sphere, register customer demand accurately, and connect with customers on the platforms they frequent.
• How businesses can create a framework that allows retailers to quickly and efficiently transform, creating a firm foundation for the future

Repricing used to be an annual endeavor. Every fall, manufacturers would set aside a few weeks to recalculate their production costs and reconcile their list prices and contracts to suit. Teams could handle the few weeks of overwork — but in a market made volatile by high demand and unpredictable production costs, repricing has become a costly and near-perpetual struggle.

In this white paper, Gerent explores how market volatility has compelled manufacturers into an unsustainable race against rising prices.

This asset unpacks:

• Why outdated manual processes, rather than Covid disruption, are to blame for manufacturers' current repricing crisis
• How manual processes can undermine a business's customer service, operational efficiency, and revenue intake — and why manufacturers can't afford to write off the loss
• Why manufacturers shouldn't resign themselves to outdated repricing processes when automation-forward solutions are readily at hand

The pressure prospective students face during the application process is undeniable. Candidates stress over their personal statements for months at a time, desperately trying to find the right words to convince their dream school(s) they deserve a place on the next term's roster. But once the application deadline passes, that burden reverses; suddenly, institutions must scramble to convince applicants to choose their programs over competitors’.

In this white paper, Gerent considers how institutions can use journey mapping to cultivate applicant allegiance and maximize the chances of a student picking their program over competitors’.

It will further unpack:

• Why popular recruitment strategies have increased the pressure on admissions teams.
• How admissions teams can craft pre-enrollment experiences that convince applicants to hold off on accepting other offers, enroll when given an opportunity, and stay committed during the lead-up to their program start date.
• Why institutions should consider parallel-tracking gamified loyalty programs alongside their admissions journey maps.

Cliché suggests that it’s impossible to have too much of a good thing — but in the construction materials sector, manufacturers might beg to disagree. Ever since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, producers in the industry have struggled to overcome production constraints while fielding unprecedented demand for their goods.

In this white paper, Gerent unpacks the market factors that have prevented manufacturers from reaping the benefits of high demand in the two years since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

We further explore:

• Why construction materials manufacturers have struggled to regain their pre-pandemic production capacity — and why that struggle has undermined producers’ abilities to take advantage of high demand
• How labor shortages, backlogs, consumer behavior changes, and raw material price shifts have resulted in variable, even volatile, product prices
• Why all of these factors have caused repricing to emerge as a costly challenge for construction material manufacturers

Challenges posed by the pandemic have redefined the future of the Financial Services industry. Customer behavior has shifted, and a new era of accelerated digital initiatives has taken the industry by storm. To stay ahead of the curve, financial institutions are considering the implementation of major tech-enabled initiatives — but they are quickly learning they have a lot of ground to cover.

A critical aspect in driving digital advancement is unlocking executive buy-in, which can prove to be a towering challenge. Obtaining executive approval hinges upon the ability to justify expenditure through a tangible, sound business case.

This white paper outlines how to itemize the elements of a robust CRM business case and demonstrates how to quantify them to arrive at the magic number — one that strikes a balance between driving positive change and being financially viable.

In this white paper, we explore the pitfalls financial institutions encountered in the first generation of digital transformation, how it has evolved in its new era, and how the Agile methodology makes transformation less risky and more efficient.

We will also unpack:

• How to calculate the details of operational cost savings
• Why revenue growth projections are crucial in weighing transformational projects
• Customer growth and retention, as well as growth value calculations
• The time value of money and how it helps to strengthen a business case

Evolving customer expectations, increased regulatory complexity, and cutthroat competition are accelerating the financial industry’s shift toward reinvention. In 2021, BDO’s financial services survey revealed that of the 100 C-suite executives polled, a whopping 97% had a digital strategy in place or in development.

However, technology is ever-evolving, and contemporary digital transformation is far from what it used to be. Financial institutions that transformed in the ‘90s and early 2000s often took a hurried, broad approach to digital transformation and found themselves with unwieldy, ongoing technical debt.

Unlike its predecessor, the new wave of digital transformation is not a sweeping, monolithic endeavor. It is targeted, speedy, and tactical, but most importantly — it delivers measurable results. New-age digital transformation follows the Agile framework, enabling institutions to learn big lessons in small strides.

In this white paper, we explore the pitfalls financial institutions encountered in the first generation of digital transformation, how it has evolved in its new era, and how the Agile methodology makes transformation less risky and more efficient.

Readers will also learn:

• Why Agile projects should be strategically aligned with high-value goals
• How unstructured data ends up being a costly problem in the long term
• How the Agile framework turns failures into lessons while mitigating financial risk

It is widely recognized that the healthcare industry lags behind other sectors when it comes to creating breakaway experiences. This lapse may seem odd from a high-level viewpoint — after all, invaluable consumer data has all but flooded the market in recent years. The emergence and widespread adoption of EHR systems, ICD-10 reference codes, wearable devices, and all-payer claims databases should have prompted a wave of experiential improvements in the healthcare sector.

But, to borrow a quote from Harvard Health writer Chris Orchard, "Customer-driven strategies have, in the healthcare industry, remained elusive." This paper will provide context on the current state of consumer experience in healthcare and provide practical insights on how industry organizations can operationalize better and more effective consumer interactions. It will further:

• Explain why consumer experiences represent a crucial opportunity for competitive differentiation
• Outline the defining features of a "breakaway" consumer experience in healthcare
• Consider how digitalization can empower care delivery organizations to design and deliver optimal experiences

Competition over students has reached a fever pitch. Amid a continued global pandemic, student enrollments have sharply declined, leaving recruiters scrambling to find new methods of convincing potential students to choose their institution over its competitors. Some institutions have waived their application fees and SAT requirements; others have forged partnerships with recruiting agencies in an attempt to overcome declining enrollments.

But will these short-term measures be enough to ensure success in an increasingly competitive market? A more sustainable solution may lie in improving the application experience. This paper will provide actionable insights into how recruiters can maximize their enrollments by making potential recruits feel welcomed and “at home” throughout every stage of the recruitment process. It will further explore:

• The current competitive state of the higher education and training market
• How to produce optimal recruitment journey maps in four steps
• Why competitive recruitment experiences require data management and journey automation

Cloud adoption has taken the manufacturing industry by storm. Before the pandemic erupted, companies had been slowly moving away from on-premises data storage for over a decade — but since its inception, this movement has been accelerated.

Today, a staggering 78% of manufacturing executives have either accelerated their cloud technology investment or fully migrated to the cloud. After all, cloud adoption enables businesses to achieve greater data security, expand existing operations painlessly, and save on hardware costs.

Nonetheless, migrating all of a company's data at once can be disruptive and overwhelming; a more practical roadmap to digitization involves investing in the cloud one system at a time. A good place to start is to invest in a cloud-based CRM system like Salesforce.

Some manufacturers may question the need to implement a modern CRM solution when an abundance of account information exists in their ERP. While an ERP is the heartbeat of their organization, it falls short when it comes to building relationships and driving operational efficiency — two of a CRM's towering strengths. This white paper explores these strengths and examines why an ERP was created to serve a different purpose.

Readers will also learn about:

• Why accounts within a CRM should reflect buying companies' business structures
• How a CRM fast-tracks customer service initiatives and delights customers
• How Salesforce can be used to measure the ROI of sales teams’ efforts

Every manufacturing company seeks to earn a profit — but to yield above-average returns, meticulous planning and rigorous execution are in order. Manufacturing companies that outperform their industry peers are typically inspired by a distinct company vision that fuels their data-backed strategy.

A vision statement is central to a manufacturing company’s success: it guides decision-making, motivates employees, and ensures strategic plans are executed in accordance with company values. When technology is incorporated, manufacturers can integrate commercial and operational data to effortlessly produce reports — allowing them to center their business strategy around current, up-to-date information.

We also explore:

• Key elements to include in a successful business strategy
• Making accurate projections and formulating better plans
• Increasing employee motivation and productivity

This white paper dives into why it is important for manufacturers to have a vision statement and a strategy, how they can implement these tools, and how data can be used to facilitate more effective planning to increase margins.

All educators share one goal: to deliver academic experiences that delight and benefit their learners. Too often, though, those same institutions lack a clear understanding of their students’ identities, goals, and pain points — a shortfall that can result in subpar experiences and lower customer satisfaction.

This paper will consider how higher education and training organizations can leverage journey mapping to provide more personalized, rewarding, and supportive experiences.

This paper will dive into:

• The business ROI for implementing well-designed student journeys
• A step-by-step guide for developing journey maps
• How Salesforce technology empowers educators to execute tailored communication strategies at scale and ensure that students receive personalized messages at critical milestones and via the right touchpoints

In 2021, countless manufacturers faced crippling financial losses in the US$ 100 million - 200 million range. Supply-chain constraints — especially from semiconductors and resins shortages — coupled with commodity inflation and logistics bottlenecks have wreaked havoc on the manufacturing industry.

According to a McKinsey study, only 50% of the supply-chain leaders surveyed cited understanding the location of tier-one (direct) suppliers and the primary risks those suppliers face. Nevertheless, manufacturers that have skillfully navigated supply-chain disruptions were 2.5 times more likely to have advanced supply-chain analytics in place.

Effectively managing supply-chain disruptions requires agile decision making and rapid course correction — and integration is the key foundational enabler for such capabilities. MuleSoft, a leading integration solution, empowers manufacturers to combine intelligence platforms, systems, workflows, people, and machine learning to get manufacturers back on track sooner.

Readers will also learn about:

• The difference between supply-chain visibility and transparency
• Concrete, actionable supply-chain insights to remedy unprecedented hiccups
• The five stages of integration evolution

This white paper delves into the supply-chain challenges manufacturers face in today’s inflationary environment, how data-backed visibility and transparency bolsters resiliency during trying times, and how a MuleSoft integration solution fuels business intelligence and agility.

Prior authorization is often an inefficient slog — but does it need to be? Emerging technology provides a means for healthcare organizations to jettison antiquated, burdensome authorization tasks that drive up costs and lessen patients’ ability to access appropriate care in a timely manner.

If stakeholders adopt digital approaches that automate time-consuming manual processes and streamline authorization requests, they can vastly reduce the time and resources they need to spend on administrative tasks, thereby increasing efficiency, expanding capacity, and reaping substantial cost savings.

This article will further consider:

• The financial and operational argument for adopting automated utilization management to digitize prior authorization processes
• How CareIQ, an innovative tool built atop Salesforce® Health Cloud, can facilitate more accurate authorization decision-making, improve authorization turnaround, maximize cost savings, and contribute to enhanced experiences for payers and their provider networks
• How a large global health services company leveraged a technology-driven approach to streamline and standardize 100% of its prior authorizations, even for complex cases involving chronic care and behavioral health
• Why payers and providers alike should collaborate with an implementation partner when undergoing a digital transformation

According to the Bank of America, credit and debit card spending leapt 40% for people receiving stimulus payments over a two-year period — causing manufacturers to experience an increase in factory goods orders. At the same time, the price of raw materials began to soar; experts predict the 2021 average price of raw materials will climb 10% higher than the average a year before. Increased consumer demand, coupled with a decrease in supply have set the stage for inflation in the manufacturing space.

Access to the most accurate financial facts and figures equips decision-makers with the tools they need to deal with the unexpected. Manufacturers can leverage VCM analysis and real-time data to gain invaluable, actionable business insights that enable them to remain agile and proactive during times of economic volatility.

We also explore:

• Negotiating lower prices with suppliers
• Nurturing genuine customer relationships amid price increases
• Using Salesforce to gather valuable data for critical sales meetings and insights

This white paper dives into the economic events that led to inflation in the manufacturing industry, how manufacturers can evaluate and increase profitability, and how to maintain mutually beneficial customer-supplier relationships.

The distribution space is a competitive trillion-dollar market with slim profit margins. On average, distributors generate 50% of the profit reported by industrial companies across the board; the average profit per dollar ratio has been about 0.8% for nearly a decade. Agile players in the space are rethinking operations and turning to technology to grow their bottom line.

Distributors are unlocking ground-breaking opportunities through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) — and using data to increase their confidence in these sizable transactions. What is more, distribution companies are leveraging data to fuel market positioning research, allowing them to remain nimble and seize opportunities as soon as they become available.

Readers will also learn about:

• Identifying and capitalizing on product and service gaps within the market
• Using Salesforce to assess how a potential M&A transaction would unfold
• How digitization benefits all parties involved in an M&A transaction
• The value-adds tech-savvy customers are looking for today

As the prevalence of data-driven practices continues to skyrocket in the manufacturing industry, the tech story ultimately becomes one of convergence; companies that do not innovate will get left behind. This is especially true because we are now at the dawn of industry 5.0 — the fifth industrial revolution.

Digital Lean — The fusion of digitization and the Lean methodology — is a robust combination of timeless principles combined with vigorous, tech-based solutions. By looking beyond internal operations and applying Digital Lean externally, manufacturers stand to reap considerable benefits.

When manufacturers place the customer at the center of their business, they can offer unmatched value, take advantage of their newfound ability to raise prices, and gain a deeper understanding of customer relationships.

Readers will also learn about:

• How a small business evolved into a prominent, international player in short order
• The surprising truth about where the majority of a company’s profit comes from
• Empowering staff to excel and provide better service with Salesforce

While the travel industry is being revived, the world in which it is situated has drastically changed. The logistics of crossing U.S. borders are extremely difficult to navigate for travel agents and tour operators, and global lockdowns have altered consumer behavior. After a trying pandemic period, more consumers are looking to book luxury vacations and wellness retreats — and they are looking for highly specific experiences.

In order to stay abreast of volatile regulations, improve communication amid endlessly changing restrictions, and provide vacationers with the personalized vacations they dream of, travel businesses are turning to technology. A CRM solution like Salesforce allows travel agents and operators to connect with travelers at critical junctures and gain a deeper understanding what the consumer of today is looking for.

Readers will also discover:

• How tour operator, Central Holidays, has skillfully navigated the pandemic
• Ways Salesforce can deliver vital updates across an entire agency in real-time
• What a robust IT solution like DeepQuest can offer small and mid-sized travel agencies at a modest cost

Education institutions have been in hot water for some time now. Although the pandemic seems to be waning, college enrollment for the 2021 fall semester fell by 3.5% — this shortfall is seven times greater than the decline seen a year before. At the same time, students are applying to more schools, which has led to more competition between institutions.

Interviews with students reveal that communication breakdowns are often responsible for their choice to not enroll with a given school. Advanced conversational chatbots can enhance communication with applicants and expedite the enrollment process at a modest cost. In fact, a public charter school network of a dozen schools in Cleveland saw a 50% reduction in application completion times once it incorporated a chatbot into its enrollment process.

In order to secure students before their competitors do, admissions departments should focus on providing students with an unparalleled and efficient enrollment experience. Applying the principles of the Lean methodology can shed light on problem areas that can be fixed, and turning to Salesforce can solve those problems — resulting in higher rates of enrollment.

Our white paper also delves into:

• How Miami University’s Lean implementation resulted in US$ 81.4 million in savings
• Various reasons why students fail to enroll after receiving acceptance letters
• The approaches institutions are taking to process applications faster

‍

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t a motto usually associated with the quality sector. If anything, professionals in the field believe just the opposite — they tend to be relentless in their pursuit of improvement. And to be fair, there are plenty of reasons to adopt a continuous approach to improvement; research indicates that better quality has a significant and positive relationship with business performance. Perfection might be just out of reach, but betterment never is.

However, a headlong race towards improvement at all costs can cause businesses to stumble. While quality initiatives can provide extremely valuable outcomes, it is possible to go too far in pursuit of an incremental improvement that offers limited returns. In this whitepaper, we’ll explore the seemingly blasphemous idea of “overdoing” quality by teasing apart the benefits and potential hazards of launching a continuous improvement initiative. This paper will also:

• Discuss the necessity of conducting value-add assessments on potential quality initiatives
• Illustrate the consequences of over-correcting in pursuit of quality improvements
• Outline the process for implementing a successful improvement initiative

The business benefits of digital transformation cannot — and should not — be understated. According to research conducted by Accenture and Oxford Economics, nearly 90% of insurers have a long-term innovation plan to incorporate technology into every facet of their organization. A full 40% of respondents said they believed their tech investments would bolster consumer loyalty, 37% thought it would create new revenue streams, and a third anticipated that the innovation would allow them to increase their market share.

However, these benefits cannot be realized without careful planning and implementation. Digital transformations need to occur within a context of organizational alignment and shared vision; otherwise, they will inevitably fall flat. This whitepaper will provide a comprehensive overview of digital transformation and its competitive value in the insurance space. It will also serve as a playbook on how an insurer can create a high-value innovation “roadmap” to pave the way towards a successful digital transformation.

This paper further considers:

• The competitive advantage that digital transformation provides
• How to define and derive Minimum Viable Products (MVPs)
• How to develop a high-impact innovation roadmap
• The tangible gains that executing such a plan can provide

As predicted, baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are retiring in droves. In the third quarter of 2020 alone, 28.6 million boomers reported their exit from the workforce, representing a 3.2 million (12%) increase from the same period in 2019. At the same time, the industry has been growing — 1.96 million new manufacturing jobs must be created by 2028 to support the industry’s expansion. To complicate matters even further, younger people are not particularly fond of the idea of working in the industry.

In order to overcome the talent shortage, manufacturers should focus their efforts on catering to and understanding younger generations, highlighting the positive tech-driven changes the fourth industrial revolution brings to the industry, and ensuring a smooth transfer of knowledge from the baby boomer generation.

Readers will also learn about:

• Reshoring trends in the industry
• Economic implications of the talent shortage
• Hiring younger people and their workplace values
• Using Salesforce to ensure a robust onboarding and training experience

‍

The travel industry is finally on its long-awaited road to recovery — U.S. travel restrictions are easing for vaccinated individuals and international travel is resuming in higher numbers. While leisure travel intent for this summer looks promising, less than one-third of travelers have solidified travel plans by booking their full trips.

Uncertainty surrounding vaccine coverage, infection rates in various areas, and quarantine mandates continue to keep prospective travelers vigilant. With a slew of trips still not fully booked, hotels and airlines can tailor their strategies to consumers’ preferences to influence their decisions.

This white paper explores what recovery looks like for the hotel and airline sectors, analyzes consumer trends and how to increase their comfort in travel, and examines the post-pandemic staffing situation in the travel industry.

Readers will also learn about:

• Consumers’ travel budget plans
• Why digital nomads are a lucrative market
• How Salesforce can assist with mitigating staff shortages and scheduling
• Features travelers appreciate in public and private lodging accommodations

‍

After 15 long months, the end of the pandemic is finally on the horizon; education and training providers of various types are resuming in-person classes this fall, and many students are gearing up for their return to campus life. Despite the country's fervent desire to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, students, parents, and stakeholders seem to be divided about what the future of education should look like.

As we are navigating through the messy middle of the pandemic’s conclusion, trends related to the future of online and in-person education are emerging. Irrespective of which avenue training and education institutions will choose to pursue, it is clear that tech-driven practices are here to stay. Leveraging a solution like Salesforce allows institutions of all types to flourish by boosting enrollment, student engagement, and retention more effectively than ever before.

This whitepaper considers how organizations can develop a strategic approach that acknowledges the “new normal” of education and provides a seamless, tech-enabled experience that suits the real needs of today’s students.

Readers will also learn about:

• Technology practices educators are choosing to keep in the long-term
• How to boost student engagement to drive higher success rates
• Retaining students past the drop/add period
• The rise of flexible offerings

The pursuit of quality is universal — however, optimizing for quality at the expense of other, equally important factors would be a mistake. The most effective quality management strategies also take into consideration ancillary priorities such as health, safety, and environmental sustainability. However, crafting a strategy that addresses all four can be challenging, as most enterprise quality management systems (EQMS) focus solely on quality to the exclusion of environment, health, and safety (EHS) concerns.

As a result of this siloing, companies often use a constellation of management platforms and services to conduct their operations. While technically functional, this approach is hardly efficient — and in some cases, it can actively constrain an organization’s potential. This paper will address:

• The problems posed by the fragmented EHS and EQMS management platforms
• How adopting a consolidated QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety, Environment) platform can facilitate greater operational gains and efficiencies
• Why QHSE platforms provide an invaluable competitive advantage to modern businesses.
• The competitive benefits that ComplianceQuest, a QHSE platform built natively on Salesforce, can provide to forward-thinking and quality-minded organizations

Today, technology underpins nearly every aspect of healthcare provision, from recording patient information to facilitating communication and even developing diagnoses. Every use case is crucial to modern medical practice — and yet, the incorporation of technology isn’t cohesive by any stretch of the imagination. The integration of digital tools into healthcare operations has so far been piecemeal, done with the intent to support rather than reimagine existing processes.

This isn’t to say these updates haven’t been extensive or effective; they have. But what if providers could take that innovative thinking one stride further? What if, rather than merely propping up existing processes, we used digital tools to reimagine the patient experience?

With Salesforce’s Health Cloud, providers can dare to envision a more ambitious future. In this whitepaper, Gerent will consider:

• How the healthcare-specific CRM framework can solve long-held industry concerns relating to interoperability, population health management, care coordination, and patient engagement
• The Health Cloud product set, its functionalities, and value proposition
• Why Health Cloud will, when applied within a “patient-centric” context, set the foundation for the “new tomorrow” of healthcare

Today, insurance agents manage their clients' financial assets in ways that would have seemed unthinkable even a decade ago. However, their success hinges on their ability to match the caliber of client service provided by other entities in the financial sector (i.e., banks, investment managers) and compete at scale.

The only way to achieve this goal is to conduct efficient, effective outreach across multiple channels — in other words, to deploy an omnichannel marketing approach that demonstrates an understanding of who consumers are, how they prefer to interact, and what they want out of their policies. Moreover, the consumer journeys that insurers design must be consistent across all channels to avoid frustrating, confusing, or otherwise alienating potential leads.

Implementing an omnichannel approach is a Herculean challenge for insurance and annuity providers — and, if they can overcome it, an opportunity to reap remarkable gains.

By reading this white paper, executives will have the opportunity to:

• Trace the insurance sector's transition into an omnichannel norm
• Evaluate the benefits of a consumer-centric, omnichannel approach
• Consider how insurance carriers can deploy cutting-edge Salesforce tools to stay competitive amid the shifting industry landscape

While the pandemic shattered most of the sectors within the travel industry, it allowed the recreational vehicle (RV) and campground sectors to flourish. The global RV market surpassed US$ 55 billion in 2020, a US$ 4 billion increase from the year before – and its growth is not predicted to taper off anytime soon. The latest report from Global Market Insights Inc. reveals the sector's market valuation is expected to surpass US$ 125 billion by 2027.

For the first time, the majority of RV owners are under 55 years of age and fall into generation X, millennial, and generation Z categories. As younger generations make up the primary demographic of RV adventurers, executives are taking note of new consumer expectations – which we have outlined in this white paper.

Readers will also learn about:

• The profitable glamping sector and glamping in an RV
• Road-trippers’ affinity for using apps
• Tech-enhanced resort experiences
• The advantages of an automated booking system

The pandemic has vigorously accelerated digital advancement in nearly every sector – and the distribution space is no exception. The steady growth of online marketplaces has shaken up brick-and-mortar distribution establishments in an unprecedented fashion.

With over $5 million sellers on its platform, Amazon Business reached $25 billion in annual sales at the end of its first quarter in 2021. Distributors are hyper-aware of consumers’ shift toward the e-commerce model; according to PwC, nearly 70% of all U.S. distributors believe incorporating digital transactions into their sales models is a top priority. To compete with the lower costs e-commerce businesses offer, brick-and-mortar distributors must focus on providing value-added services.

Readers will also learn how physical distributors can:

• Set themselves apart from online marketplaces
• Secure repeat customers by fostering loyalty
• Exceed patrons’ expectations by going the extra mile
• Expand their local reach

For educators, the time to rethink strategy is now. Covid-19 is finally waning, vaccinations are progressing, and demand for skills training is through the roof. The Fall 2021 semester is shaping up to be a game-changer — if, of course, institutions are prepared for it.

However, the strategies and models that captured student interest pre-Covid may not be as effective in post-pandemic times. The market has evolved, student priorities changed, and standards for e-learning have risen. Education providers must understand and adapt to the new industry landscape if they wish to make the most of the current upskill boom and, in the long term, remain competitive.

This whitepaper considers how organizations can develop a strategic approach that acknowledges the “new normal” of education and provides a seamless, tech-enabled experience that suits the real needs of today’s students.

This article will also conduct a deep dive into:

• The economic factors driving the upskill boom
• How organizations can adapt their strategic plans and offerings to suit new learner priorities
• Why digital transformation is a competitive necessity for higher education institutions and training organizations post-pandemic
• What Marketing Cloud can do to uphold and further educators’ marketing initiatives during the upskill boom

A robust quality management system (QMS) is merely a basic requirement – it affords a company the opportunity to exist and compete. However, when executives are presented with a quality cost report for the first time, they are often bewildered by how high their cost of quality is.

Quantifying quality-related costs can be a challenge, as they include a wide range of activities that involve many departments within an organization. To get the most out of their quality systems, executives should have a thorough understanding of the intricacies behind quality costs, and the ability to make data-driven improvement decisions. Readers will also learn about:

• Identifying the most significant quality problems
• Shifting from a paper-based system to an automated system
• Measuring the return on investment of a quality system
• Deconstructing quality costs to ensure resources are allocated strategically

The tours-and-activities sector is the third largest sector in the travel industry, preceded only by flights and accommodations. Although the sector was valued at US$ 254 billion in 2019, activity and excursion providers have seen bookings drop by a staggering 85% one year later. This decrease largely stems from the sector's focus on group travel – which is being avoided.

However, there is still cause for optimism. The sector has seen one of the highest growth rates of venture-capital investment in the travel industry, suggesting strong post-pandemic confidence in its profitability. In order for shore tour and excursion providers to rebound successfully, itineraries should be compelling and in line with the current travel climate.

Readers will also learn about:

• The types of travel consumers are currently interested in
• Ways to capitalize on the latest travel trends
• The benefits of personalized interactions with prospective travelers
• How operators can use technology to provide travelers unique experiences

The variable contribution margin (VCM) is a powerful tool – to unlock its full potential, manufacturers need to know how to use it.

VCM analysis is a different way of looking at profitability; it evaluates each individual product in depth to uncover fundamental business insights, including the amount of resources dedicated to a product, how much it contributes to overhead costs and the profit it generates. When VCM analysis is evaluated in tandem with the stock keeping unit (SKU), executives begin to develop a more accurate financial picture of their business, allowing them to make smarter, more strategic decisions. A tool like Salesforce’s Manufacturing Cloud can be leveraged to make the process of classifying costs and conducting financial analysis effortless - improving a company’s bottom line.

This white paper also explores:

• Critical considerations regarding how to proceed with an unprofitable product
• Considerations related to pricing
• Increasing the profitability of a product
• Negotiating less expensive raw materials from suppliers
• Identifying when to cut your losses

The insurance industry is learning that digitization holds the key to future business success. Acquiring new business and retaining existing business are how carriers can remain competitive – if they take a digital approach to those twin challenges.

In this white paper you’ll learn:

• Why carriers regard digital transformation as simply an IT project and why that couldn’t be farther from the truth
• How digitizing intake processes through to issuance can create lasting customer relationships
• What a fully digital, greenfield operation has done to transform one carrier’s business inexpensively and with great success

‍

For distributors, sales territories form the foundation upon which success is built.

However, many distributors go years – and sometimes decades – without analyzing their territories and target markets. This is due to the fact that they have been doing things the same way for a long, long time. And this makes sense – when things are going well, why change? But if you haven't changed with the times, you're likely missing out on growth opportunities. And if you don't capitalize on those opportunities, your competition will.

In this white paper, you'll discover how to calculate your total and served addressable market segments and use this data to grow your business.

Although the pandemic has affected every sector around the world, the hotel industry has been particularly hard-hit. Akin to many other industries, hotels and resorts will see significant shifts in the post-pandemic era. In order to rise from the ashes, hotels will need to pivot substantially and reconsider many elements of their operations.

An effective approach to keeping loyal customers satisfied is to modify the existing rewards programs available to them. A loyalty program that offers one free night after two bookings is not realistic with today’s travel restrictions, as people are traveling much less. A more reasonable program could offer a guest a complimentary massage, beauty treatment, or main course if they stay with you for four nights. The more likely rewards are to be used, the more likely you are to retain the customer.

This white paper endeavors to explore how hotels can continue to build customer loyalty, outline technological innovations the lodging sector has adopted and examine effective ways hotels can expand their reach to convert new audiences.

‍

Increased competition among online learning providers has been cited as a major fiscal challenge for organizations in the space. As the remote education and training sector has grown to be a highly competitive industry and today’s learners are more digitally aware, online education providers need to ensure their digital presence is optimal, so as to stand apart from their competition.

Several eLearning platforms have received unicorn valuations of over $1 Billion and massive investment is fueling the sector. Tech giants have taken an interest in the sector as well; Facebook has invested in BYJU'S and Microsoft has joined LinkedIn Learning. In addition to traditional education programs, hundreds of niche platforms now offer online learning courses in various fields, such as health, digital marketing and technology training.

This white paper explores why online education organizations’ digital presence must be differentiated in today’s competitive climate, why catering to consumers’ changing demographics and expectations is essential, and the profound importance of leveraging data to increase the recruitment and retention of learners.

‍

Student journey mapping – the process of mapping out the entire lifecycle of your students – is an invaluable tool for educators. By mapping the student experience, educational institutions gain a powerful decision-making toolset that lets them identify and amplify areas of the student journey that are strong, while discovering and improving areas that don’t meet students’ needs.

As educational resources increasingly transition online and students are met with more choices than ever, the ability to see into the student lifecycle and provide targeted, personalized experiences will be a key factor in determining which training organizations thrive over the next five years.

In Why Training Organizations Need Journey Mapping Technology to Succeed in a Post-COVID World, you’ll learn why most training providers may not really know their student journeys as well as they should and how to begin mapping an effective student journey. Finally, you’ll also learn how to leverage Salesforce to build a robust student experience that supports internal processes with technology.

The insurance industry has finally caught up with the march of technology and is going through a rapid transformation across distribution and processing channels. Property and Casualty insurers are seeing Managing General Agents (MGAs) and wholesalers in a new light. And so are the venture capital firms, private equity companies and hedge funds.

In this white paper, Technology Builds A New Bridge Between MGAs and P&C Carriers, we’ll dig into what’s behind the transformation.

You’ll learn:

• How technology innovation is helping carriers to reduce their expense ratios
• Why such technology is allowing MGAs to leverage their core strengths
• Where the smart money sees double digit ROI (hint: it’s NOT with the carriers)

To remain competitive and better serve their patients, healthcare companies are building cloud infrastructures that allow them to collect and store unprecedented quantities of data, develop and test applications on-the-fly, and provide remote collaboration capabilities for employees, all while hiring, training, and maintaining an IT staff that can keep the machine running smoothly.

But with the benefits of cloud infrastructure come several challenges, chief among them data security, backup and disaster recovery, and regulatory compliance. Failure to meet compliance standards such as HIPAA can result in fines of up to $1.5 million per year and can even result in jail time.1

This white paper explores the challenges faced by healthcare organizations that wish to leverage cloud infrastructure, as well as how they are overcoming them with the help of cloud-enabled CRM solutions such as Salesforce.

1 https://bit.ly/2ZIDukw

‍

Among the hardest-hit sectors of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic was education. The solution? Move online! But as most educators know by now, it’s not that simple. Most institutions’ first efforts to migrate their teaching platforms online left much to be desired. However, students were aware of the extreme circumstances and were therefore willing to temper their expectations.

In 2021, however, students will demand more. How Training Programs Can Ensure Success in a Post-Pandemic World with Salesforce aims to help educational training professionals understand the challenges they will face in a post-COVID world and how CRM technology such as Salesforce can help overcome them.

Digital change is transforming the insurance landscape. Much of the change is being driven by rapid growth in digital solutions that leverage third-party data and advanced analytics. Virtually every aspect of insurance is seeing the beneficial impacts, especially in the underwriting and risk management arena.

This white paper dives into the widespread adoption of digital technology in underwriting today.

We’ll explain:

• How power, speed, and agility can be achieved through harnessing digital technology
• How both Life and Property & Casualty underwriting is being positively impacted
• Why the need to embrace such change has never been greater today

Agility as a framework is particularly useful in weathering unexpected market conditions. A McKinsey study that looked at the financials of 1,100 publicly traded companies during the previous economic downturn found that 10% significantly outperformed the rest. The one commonality? Their access to correct, up-to-date data and ability to use it to adjust budgets and accrual accounts to free cash flow and reduce debt.

Given the advantages, it has become common practice among today’s manufacturing thought leaders to prescribe agility as a tool to adapt and thrive in un-forecasted market conditions. But for many, the advantages are ill-defined. The Impact of Adopting an Agile Framework for Manufacturers explores the consequences of failing to adopt an agile framework, the benefits of implementing one, and the steps manufacturers need to take to succeed with agility.

‍

Technological change is coming rapidly to the insurance industry. More and more traditional insurers are discovering the organizational agility and data security that can be found in cloud migration. In return, they get strong ROI from their investment in cloud technology.

In this white paper, you’ll learn:

• How to develop a strong digital roadmap for a successful cloud migration
•  What organizational areas to consider first in a migration
• Why data security in the cloud is superior to security on-premises
• How and why one rapidly growing U.S. insurer is conducting its own cloud migration

Traditionally, distribution in the insurance industry revolves around agents who sell insurance policies for a commission or fee. Until very recently, this made sense: insurance products are complicated, and customers needed professional advice when navigating all of their options.

But for the last decade, the insurance industry has been shifting to a digital distribution model.

For insurance organizations, the message is clear: those who want to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world need to transform their distribution models ASAP.

This paper is divided into three sections: In the first, we explore the three digital distribution models. In the second, we cover the benefits of a Salesforce-enabled digital insurance distribution platform. Finally, we’ll look at several digital distribution use cases.

It’s no secret that the travel and tourism sector has been one of the industries hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic. The original 2020 revenue forecast for worldwide travel dropped from $711 billion to $396 billion – that’s a decrease of over 45%.

Fortunately, the current state of affairs won’t last forever.

How The Travel Industry Will Recover in a Post-Pandemic World examines what that transition to a post-Covid world will look like, and how the cruise lines, airlines, and hotel businesses can adapt and thrive in the coming months.

Quality is critical to a company’s success. Whether it’s the quality of products, services or internal practices, a company’s long term future rests on quality. So why is quality often perceived to be an obstacle?

In this White Paper from Gerent, we explore the reasons why quality processes are critical to most organizations. We also look at how those very processes can create problems within companies. Finally, Gerent’s Senior Director of Enterprise Quality Management Systems explains how software-based technology solutions can streamline quality practices and eliminate the issues that give quality a bad rap.

According to a Deloitte report, if manufacturers don’t embrace digital transformation and an Agile  framework, “as many as 35 percent of today’s industrial companies could be out of business or significantly changed in 10 years.”

The message is clear: manufacturers need to move beyond the traditional, lean manufacturing model and embrace digital transformation and Agility if they want to compete in the 2020s and beyond.

In The Business Impact of Digital Transformation for Manufacturers, you will discover the direct benefits and applications of an Agile digital transformation – as well as the consequences of the “business as usual” model.

‍

Salesforce unveiled Manufacturing Cloud in September 2019. Its aim is to more closely align sales forecasting and production planning to achieve greater efficiency for manufacturers and their supply chains and heighten customer satisfaction.

In this white paper, we delve into how it works and why it’s solving a longstanding problem for manufacturers. This is a must-read for all manufacturing organizations, no matter how big or small.

Smaller travel companies like specialty cruise lines, rail and bus companies and small, boutique hotels often have an extremely difficult time competing in a space controlled by giant online travel organizations with enormous marketing and technology budgets.

That’s why Gerent developed and brought to market an affordable Salesforce-powered solution called DeepQuest. DeepQuest is module-based and each module serves a specific need. Whether it’s a powerful reservation system, a shore excursion booking platform or a marketing tool, DeepQuest offers Salesforce CRM power for the travel industry – at a fraction of the cost of other systems.

Learn how this remarkable product is driving productivity in travel.

Manufacturers must deal with many challenges from global competition and far-flung supply chains to the ever-changing landscape of regulations.

Many companies try to keep up with regulatory demands using a conventional spreadsheet Quality Management System.

But, often, it isn’t robust enough to manage the task. More companies are adopting the Enterprise Quality Management System (EQMS), from ComplianceQuest, based entirely on the Salesforce platform.

As ComplianceQuest’s implementation and consultation partner, Gerent has authored a White Paper, titled QMS and Salesforce: A Better, Faster Path to Compliance, to explain why this EQMS is superior to conventional forms and how staying compliant and in conformance is straightforward, thanks to Salesforce technology.

‍

Artificial intelligence can be a mystery to manufacturers. Yet, AI is what makes ‘smart factories’ smart. It's driving product improvement in everything from design to creation and generating cost savings in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Gerent has produced a white paper designed to de-mystify artificial intelligence and demonstrate its manufacturing applications.

Find out how AI is powering manufacturing.

‍

Manufacturers face enormous pressures every day. Customers are increasingly demanding. Global supply chains are straining under trade tension.

And then there’s all this talk about a “digital transformation journey”. Make no mistake:  digital transformation is powerful and it’s real.

Gerent has produced a White Paper that will give you a clear view down the road to begin your own journey with confidence by providing solid advice on where and how to start.

‍