Project Management Software for Nonprofits: Tools and Tips
Managing nonprofit projects comes with its own unique challenges. Limited budgets, volunteer-driven teams, the need to balance mission-driven goals with operational efficiency, and so on…All these make project management for nonprofits quite different from other industries. To solve these challenges, nonprofits need project management software. Many tools are already available today that are designed to help nonprofits achieve their objectives. In this blog, we will explore everything about these kinds of tools, including the top tools and tips. Benefits of Using Project Management Software in the Nonprofit Sector Here are some advantages of adopting project management software for a nonprofit organisation: Improved Resource Allocation: It helps you allocate budgets and personnel more efficiently by prioritising impactful activities. Enhanced Collaboration: It can centralise communication for your dispersed teams. They can easily share updates and track progress in real-time. Streamlined Reporting: It can simplify donor and stakeholder reporting with features to track project impact and fund usage. Ultimately, it can help gain donor trust. Increased Accountability: It helps in assigning clear responsibilities and deadlines. It also helps track progress and set reminders. All these help in timely task completion due to increased accountability. Simplified Event Management: It helps organise timelines, budgets, and communication for campaigns or events. This ensures seamless execution with reduced stress. Key Features Nonprofits Should Look for in Project Management Software If you are a nonprofit organisation, here are some key features that you must look for in your project management software: Task and Resource Management: Choose software that helps you assign tasks and set deadlines. The software must also help allocate resources. This will ensure your team stays focused on high-priority activities. Collaboration Tools: Features like real-time messaging, shared boards, and file-sharing will be useful for both your staff and volunteers. This is especially true for remote workers who want to stay connected. Reporting and Analytics: Robust tracking and reporting features will help you demonstrate your project impact and fund usage to relevant stakeholders. The insights collected will help maintain donor trust and secure future funding. Scalability: Select a tool that can grow with your nonprofit. Ideally, it should allow you to manage larger teams or more complex projects without needing a costly upgrade. Integration Capabilities: The software should integrate seamlessly with any of your existing tools. This will help avoid duplicating efforts. User-Friendly Interface: A simple and intuitive design will ensure even your less tech-savvy staff and volunteers can easily navigate and adopt the tool. Tips for Choosing the Right Project Management Tool For Nonprofits Identify your nonprofit’s specific needs. It could be grant tracking, volunteer coordination, event planning, or something else. The tool you choose should always support these functions. Consult staff and volunteers to understand their workflows and challenges. A user-friendly tool that solves the pain points of your staff ensures higher adoption. Look for tools offering nonprofit discounts or free plans. Opt for a free trial to see how well it supports your day-to-day operations before committing. Challenges Nonprofits Face with Project Management Software Here are some obstacles nonprofits might encounter while adopting project management software: Your staff and volunteers may resist switching from familiar manual processes to digital tools, fearing complexity or additional workload. This slows adoption and reduces efficiency. Premium tools with advanced features often exceed the financial capacity of nonprofits, forcing them to rely on basic or free versions that may lack essential functionalities. Nonprofits often have diverse teams with varying levels of tech expertise. Training both full-time staff and temporary volunteers can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. Many project management tools are designed for corporations and include unnecessary features. This makes the tools harder to navigate, reducing their usefulness for nonprofit needs. Volunteers or part-time staff may not use the tool consistently, leading to gaps in task updates, miscommunication, and inefficiencies in managing projects. How to Successfully Implement Project Management Software? Here are the steps you need to follow to implement project management software successfully: Step 1: Set Clear Goals for Implementation Define why you’re adopting the software and what you hope to achieve. Common goals include: Improving project tracking Streamlining communication Managing volunteers. Clear goals help align team expectations and measure success. Don’t forget to break down implementation into smaller milestones, like setting up the tool, onboarding users, and tracking your first project. Step 2: Select the Right Software Choose a tool tailored to your nonprofit’s needs and budget. Prioritise features like task tracking, collaboration tools, and integration with existing systems. Tools offering nonprofit discounts can help save costs. Trial different software options with a small team to test usability and relevance before making a final decision. Step 3: Build a Dedicated Implementation Team Assign a small team to oversee implementation. Include members who are familiar with current processes and enthusiastic about learning new tools. This team can drive adoption and act as the go-to resource for other staff. If possible, designate a project champion who can lead training sessions and troubleshoot issues during rollout. Step 4: Provide Comprehensive Training Train staff and volunteers on the software’s features. The training should focus on how it solves specific pain points in their daily tasks. Include practical sessions where users can practice creating tasks, assigning roles, and tracking milestones. More importantly, use a mix of live sessions, tutorials, and FAQs tailored to different tech skill levels in your team. Step 5: Customise the Tool to Fit Your Workflow Adapt the software to mirror your existing processes to make it feel familiar. Use templates for recurring tasks, set up dashboards for progress tracking, and customise notifications to reduce overwhelm. Start with the most critical workflows (e.g., grant applications or event planning) before expanding to less urgent ones. Step 6: Set Realistic Timelines for Rollout Avoid rushing implementation. Roll out the software in phases, starting with smaller teams or projects to identify and address any issues before full-scale adoption. Allow a transition period where your team can adjust to the new tool while still using older systems for backup. Step 7: Monitor
Understand The Business Process Management Life Cycle
Want your business to be competitive? Then you need more than just smarts strategies. You need streamlined and adaptable processes. This is where Business Process Management (BPM) comes into the picture. Now, BPM isn’t just about improving workflows. It’s much more than that. It’s all about creating a continuous cycle of optimisation. Think of it as a roadmap for you to design, implement, monitor, and refine your processes to achieve maximum value. In this blog, we’ll explore the key stages of a typical BPM life cycle plus a lot more. Business Process Management: What It Is? First, let us demystify what a business process is. It is a series of tasks designed to help your organisation achieve its objectives. An objective could be anything from boosting profitability to creating a fully inclusive workplace. So, BPM is essentially a structured approach to enhancing these series of tasks (aka workflows) so that your organisation can operate more efficiently and deliver business value consistently. BPM focuses on improving these tasks by Evaluating their performance Modelling potential scenarios Implementing necessary changes Tracking outcomes Refining them continually to achieve optimal results. As you would have guessed, BPM is a diverse and ever-evolving discipline. A successful BPM adapts to shifting organisational goals, roles, and strategies. Why It Matters? Plenty of reasons! Here are the top ones – Helps organisations streamline their workflows and improve efficiency Helps organisations adapt to changing business environments. Enables businesses to reduce the cost of operation by promoting better resource utilisation Minimises errors, leading to higher-quality outcomes. Provides a framework for continuous improvement, ensuring that processes remain aligned with organisational goals Enables organisations to respond quickly to market demands and regulatory changes. Different Stages in the Life Cycle of Business Process Management Here are the different stages in the life cycle of business process management: Stage One: Design – Mapping Out Business Goals The phase serves as the foundation for your BPM initiative. In this, you analyse your existing processes and plan the enhancements based on the business goals. The key stakeholders in this stage include business analysts, process owners, and subject matter experts. They typically evaluate workflows, identify inefficiencies, and determine processes that require adjustments to meet the business goals. Their goal is to ensure that the redesigned workflows address the needs of all stakeholders. For instance, the finance team would want faster approval processes, while customer service might focus on simplifying issue resolution. Developing tailored business cases for these teams with anticipated benefits and associated costs can help secure early support from leadership. Stage Two: Modeling – Crafting Scenarios for Success This stage builds upon the design stage by creating detailed visual representations of workflows. Stakeholders involved in this stage will test the workflows under different scenarios to identify opportunities for improvement. They will define the inputs and outputs for each step and use flowcharts or process maps to outline the sequential flow of tasks. This phase also explores automation opportunities for repetitive or rules-based tasks. It also identifies options to customise workflows to meet specific departmental needs. For instance, automating ticket routing in IT or streamlining approvals in HR. The goal of this phase is simple – Helping teams identify and address bottlenecks early so that processes are optimised before advancing to implementation. Stage Three: Execution – Turning Plans into Action This is the stage where your planned workflows are put into action. It majorly focuses on implementing processes and assigning responsibilities to ensure a smooth transition. You can always start with a small-scale pilot. This allows you to identify potential challenges and make necessary adjustments before rolling out the changes to the larger audience. Additionally, automation tools can be integrated and made to function to handle repetitive tasks. Customised dashboards play a crucial role in tracking task progress during this stage. You can use them to be mindful of deadlines and gain visibility over the process. During this phase, it’s important to observe how well employees adapt to the new workflows. You can always offer the necessary support where needed to encourage adoption. Stage Four: Monitoring – Keeping a Pulse on Performance This phase focuses on tracking the performance of workflows in real-time. It lets you identify inefficiencies and uncover opportunities for improvement. This step ensures that processes continue to align with business goals by keeping a close eye on key performance indicators. Common KPIs used in this stage include cycle time, error rates, throughput, and customer satisfaction. You can also gather feedback from employees and stakeholders for insights into roadblocks and potential areas for enhancement. To make this stage effective, you can use dashboards to visualise metrics specific to each department. It is also advisable to set alerts and notifications to address issues promptly, minimising disruptions and delays. Ultimately, this stage lays the groundwork for the final optimisation phase, where processes are refined for peak performance. Stage Five: Optimisation – The Never-Ending Quest for Efficiency The phase is dedicated to refining processes to achieve the best outcomes. This continuous improvement approach enhances efficiency and reduces costs. Ultimately, it makes sure that the workflows remain effective as your business needs evolve. Insights gathered during the monitoring phase will come in handy in this stage to implement targeted changes that address inefficiencies. Some of the key optimisation strategies include: Automating additional tasks to minimise manual effort Eliminating redundant steps that no longer add value Tailoring improvements to meet the unique needs of specific departments. For instance, finance teams may benefit from automated invoice tracking. Similarly, procurement workflows could be streamlined for faster approvals. BPM Tools and Technologies: A Game Changer for Modern Workflows BPM tools help you navigate all the stages with great ease. Among the plethora of BPM tools available today, Salesforce stands out. It seamlessly infuses advanced Business Process Automation (BPA) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) capabilities into your business ecosystem. Salesforce’s BPA capabilities, powered by tools like Flow and Omniscript, are designed to build end-to-end automated workflows. They can automate approval processes, such as sales
Carbon Offsetting: Opportunities and Challenges for Businesses
Want to reduce the impact of your GHG emissions? Carbon offsetting is the way to go. To the unversed, carbon offsetting involves compensating for the emissions generated in one place via equivalent reductions elsewhere. Businesses use carbon offsetting for one primary reason – to take responsibility for their carbon footprint. A carbon-offsetting process employed by an organisation typically involves the following steps: Determining the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions the organisation generates for that particular year. Purchasing carbon credits (It represents the reduction or removal of one metric ton of carbon dioxide). Credits can be bought from various offsetting projects. The emissions generated are effectively balanced by the reductions achieved through these projects. Ultimately, a net-zero or reduced carbon impact is created. Some common carbon offsetting projects include: Afforestation Reforestation Setting up renewable energy plants Repurposing methane emissions from landfills Benefits of Carbon Offsetting for Businesses Here are some unique benefits that businesses enjoy by adopting carbon offsetting: 1. Enhanced Brand Reputation: It’s a super-competitive market out there. To thrive as a business, you need a unique differentiator. Sustainability can be that magic factor. Businesses that adopt carbon offsetting demonstrate their commitment to environmental responsibility and position themselves as leaders in sustainability. This unique positioning resonates with most audiences. And that ultimately enhances brand reputation. 2. Meeting Regulatory and Compliance Standards: Governments worldwide are tightening environmental regulations left and right. Businesses are being asked to address their carbon footprints. Carbon offsetting helps these organisations in a simple way. It lets them comply with these standards while reducing the risk of fines or penalties. Additionally, proactive carbon management can future-proof businesses against ever-evolving policies. It also ensures they stay one step ahead of regulatory changes every time. 3. Attracting Eco-Conscious Customers and Investors: Modern consumers and investors love sustainability. They want to be a part of initiatives that involve them in giving back to the environment. Carbon offsetting appeals to these eco-conscious customers and investors. For investors, there is an added advantage. Such practices indicate the long-term viability of the business, and hence, they have reduced risk. 4. Reducing Environmental Impact: At its core, carbon offsetting is all about reducing environmental footprint. When you fund projects that reduce GHG, you contribute to mitigating climate change. These efforts, in turn, help preserve ecosystems. They also reduce global warming and support sustainable development. Opportunities for Businesses Carbon offsetting is more than a compliance requirement. It presents diverse opportunities for you to innovate and lead in the global push for sustainability. Here are some unique opportunities businesses can tap into: 1. Exploring Renewable Energy Investments: Investing in renewable energy projects reduces your carbon footprint while contributing to a sustainable energy future. This means your investments in solar farms, wind power, and hydropower initiatives not only offset emissions but also generate long-term returns. You can explore partnerships or even full ownership in renewable energy ventures. This will enhance your energy independence and secure cost savings in the long run. 2.Innovating in Green Technology Solutions: Carbon offsetting encourages businesses to innovate and adopt green technologies. Opportunities in this sector include developing energy-efficient construction processes, adopting AI-driven solutions for resource optimisation, and deploying carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Innovation in these areas also drives competitive advantage by reducing operational costs. 3. Building Stronger Stakeholder Relationships: Carbon offsetting initiatives help create trust and collaboration with stakeholders. This includes employees, customers, investors, and communities. By integrating sustainability into your business model, you demonstrate accountability. This can lead to stronger partnerships. Engaging stakeholders in sustainability goals, such as co-funding offset projects, can further deepen these relationships. Challenges for Businesses The process of carbon offsetting is not an obstacle-free journey. You will encounter the following challenges en route: 1. Leveraging Technology for Monitoring and Verification: Believe it or not, it’s not easy to accurately track and verify your carbon footprint. Yes, implementing advanced technologies like IoT sensors, AI-driven analytics, and blockchain can solve this. However, integrating these solutions into your existing systems is complex and resource-intensive. 2. Partnering with Trusted Carbon Offset Providers: There are a plethora of carbon offset providers out there. Ensuring partnerships with credible organisations that deliver measurable, impactful results is not easy and requires deep research. Finding providers adhering to recognised standards, such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) or Gold Standard, is again difficult. 3. Educating Teams About Sustainability Goals: Creating a culture of sustainability in your organisation involves more than sharing a simple flyer or email covering sustainability-related information. Your employees will lack awareness about sustainability practices or the importance of carbon offsetting unless they are properly educated. Structured training programs and workshops should be conducted to address these gaps. However, rolling out such initiatives across diverse teams can be challenging. 4. Aligning Offsetting Efforts with Core Business Objectives: We have seen businesses struggling to integrate offsetting programs into their strategic framework. Why? Because balancing cost-effectiveness with meaningful impact while ensuring alignment with brand values and long-term goals requires careful planning and stakeholder buy-in. This obviously demands time and resources. Overcoming Challenges with Technology Technology can play a pivotal role in overcoming the above challenges. It offers the necessary features to measure and manage carbon footprint effectively. Among the leading technology solutions, Salesforce Net Zero Cloud is the most powerful platform that helps organisations streamline their offsetting process. Here’s how they do it: 1. Centralised Carbon Accounting and Reporting: Salesforce Net Zero Cloud simplifies the process of tracking emissions across operations. It does this by offering a centralised system for carbon accounting. It collects, stores, organizes, and analyses emissions data in real time. This helps you maintain accurate and transparent sustainability records. 2. Enhanced Monitoring with Real-Time Data: Manual data collection often leads to inefficiencies and inaccuracies. Net Zero Cloud addresses this issue by leveraging real-time data management. It facilitates automated data capture and also offers built-in analytics. This way, you can continuously monitor your progress toward net-zero goals. More importantly, you can analyze the pathway for course correction. 3. Streamlining Regulatory
How Generative AI Is Reshaping Business Processes?
Process automation…Predictive analytics…Personalised customer experiences…Strategic decision-making…Technology has indeed revolutionised business processes today. However, unlike the linear growth in the past, technology has a hockey stick growth today. On one hand, we understand it might not be possible to keep up with every advancement in tech. But we also know that one cannot ignore critical ones. Unless, of course, you want to be left behind in the modernisation race. One such technology that is reshaping business processes is Generative AI. In this blog, we will delve into how this modern piece of tech is transforming internal processes, particularly in areas like sales, marketing, and post-sales. Reshaping RevOps with Generative AI RevOps has always been riddled with challenges. Data silos, misaligned priorities across teams, and complex integrations are some of the top ones. For instance, data silos can prevent a unified view of the customer. This makes it difficult to track revenue performance and make accurate decisions. Similarly, teams are also struggling to identify and address inefficiencies in processes. It is hindering growth and resource optimisation. But with GenAI in the picture, things turn around quickly. Its ability to generate predictive models based on large datasets can help make faster and more informed RevOps decisions. Furthermore, generative AI can identify inefficiencies in your existing RevOps processes. It can even suggest improvements to workflows that can enhance resource allocation and streamline operations. Pricing is another complex area where Generative AI is making an impact. By analysing market trends and competitor pricing, it can recommend a dynamic pricing strategy. This keeps you competitive while maximising profitability. Long story short, generative AI is revolutionising the way RevOps teams operate and making more accurate revenue predictions, leading to enhanced business outcomes. Benefits of Using GenAI for Sales When it comes to sales, one of the biggest benefits offered by GenAI is its ability to generate and qualify leads accurately. GenAI can analyse vast amounts of data to identify high-potential prospects. This will allow your sales teams to focus on leads most likely to convert. It can even highlight which leads are ready for outreach. Such targeted engagement accelerates the sales cycle. Automated proposal and contract generation are other sales areas in which GenAI has made inroads. Sales reps often spend a lot of time drafting proposals and contracts. GenAI can automate these tasks by quickly generating customised documents. This reduces the time spent by reps on administrative work and also ensures consistency in communications. Benefits of Using GenAI for Marketing In marketing, GenAI stands out for its content creation capabilities. GenAI can generate everything from marketing copies to product descriptions. It can even execute full-scale campaigns with little human input. As a result, your team can produce high-quality content at scale. GenAI can also make automatic product recommendations, create targeted advertisements, and build tailored offers. This improves customer engagement and increases conversion rates by delivering relevant content at the right time. Additionally, GenAI can improve A/B testing outcomes. It can optimise campaigns by running simulations that predict how different approaches will perform. By automating the end-to-end process of testing and tweaking campaigns, marketers can achieve higher ROI. Benefits of Using GenAI for Post-Sales If there is one area where GenAI has made a profound impact, it has to be post-sales. GenAI can instantly improve the efficiency of your customer support team via AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants that can handle common post-sales queries. It can even provide troubleshooting guidance and resolve basic issues in real time. This reduces the need for human intervention. GenAI can also handle nurturing your customers. It can automatically generate personalised follow-up emails and make product recommendations based on customer interactions. It can also identify patterns in customer feedback and usage data to suggest product improvements. Additionally, GenAI supports proactive customer retention by predicting potential churn. It can even generate personalised outreach to re-engage at-risk customers. Best Generative AI Tools for Modern-Day Businesses The power of GenAI is realised through the myriad of tools available that facilitate automation and personalisation across various functions. Salesforce Einstein GPT stands out in this space. Einstein GPT is Salesforce’s generative AI tool that enhances CRM by automating content creation, generating personalised insights, and streamlining workflows. It helps businesses improve customer engagement by creating tailored emails, messages, and recommendations based on customer data. Integrated with Salesforce products like Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud, Einstein GPT also offers AI-driven predictions and insights, boosting productivity and driving better outcomes with less manual effort. Similarly, ChatGPT by OpenAI enhances customer service with human-like conversational capabilities, while Jasper AI and Copy.ai streamline content creation for marketing efforts, allowing teams to focus on strategy rather than execution. Wrap Up From automating routine tasks to providing valuable insights, GenAI is inventing new levels of productivity across business processes. As more and more companies embrace GenAI solutions like Salesforce Einstein GPT, it’s crucial to have the right guidance to harness its full potential. Brysa, the UK’s leading Salesforce consultant, specialises in integrating AI solutions like Einstein GPT into your ecosystem, helping you optimise your Salesforce investments. Ultimately, you will achieve sustainable growth in an AI-driven world. To know more, contact us now.
Tools to Design Seamless Customer Journeys – From Prospects to Brand Advocates
Customer is king’ is a cliched but highly relevant statement in today’s world. Why? For starters, customers are spoilt for choices. For every product and service they seek, there are at least 10 solutions available in the market. As a business what do you do to beat the competition? Simple, make them feel special. And how do you achieve it? By carefully designing a successful customer journey. In this article, we are going to dive into this popular term often used in the sales and marketing world. Plus we are going to highlight some of the popular tools useful in streamlining different stages of a customer journey. What is a customer journey? In simple words, it is the complete experience a customer has with your brand. It typically includes interactions across all the channels, devices, and touchpoints. From the time they come to know about your brand till the time they recommend it to others, every step is part of a customer journey. In other words, a customer journey encompasses an entire customer lifecycle – from awareness to loyalty. Key stages of a customer journey (Customer POV) There are 5 stages in a typical customer journey, and we are going to classify them into the following 3 categories – Before purchase This phase starts with the customer looking to improve their business. They may face a pain point such as a lack of productivity or efficiency in their team. Initially, they do not know how to solve these pain points. But then comes a trigger where they discover an opportunity to solve them. It could be sales numbers going down or customer complaints surging. This is also the stage where the customer starts searching for a solution to their problem. In this initial search, they will come to know about the best solutions to their problems, including yours. This is often called the awareness stage of the customer journey However, this often leads to a “long list” of potential solutions. During purchase In this phase, the customer converts the long list into a shorter one by doing a thorough brand review. They will consider your service as a potential solution to their pain point. This is called the consideration stage. They will contact you and the other shortlisted vendors to give a demo. Post-demo, the solutions will be reviewed and if you have succeeded in convincing them, your solution will be chosen. This is called the purchase stage. The implementation process begins officially. Post-purchase This is the phase where implementation is complete and the solution is up and running. For you, this stage involves training all the users and giving them access to an account manager for support (when they need it). You continue to follow up and help the customer reach their goals and ensure that they continue to partner with you. This is the retention stage. If you have succeeded in offering the best experience to the customers, they will become loyal to your brand and become brand advocates. This stage is called the advocacy stage. Challenges in designing a customer journey Here are some of the key challenges typically encountered by businesses while designing a customer journey – Challenge #1 – Unable to accurately map how customers move through the journey It is not easy to collect and interpret customer data. This is true when you do not have the right tools at your disposal. Most businesses lack clear insights into how their customers will behave. They also do not know their preferences and pain points. Without such information, it becomes difficult to craft a journey that aligns with business needs. Challenge #2 – Unable to create a consistent experience across all channels Your customers will interact with you via social media, websites, stores, and customer service. It is not easy to ensure consistency in messaging, tone, experience, and quality across all these touchpoints. Lack of consistent experience across all channels will impact the brand recall and you might miss out on key opportunities. Challenge #3 – Unable to personalise the journey It is important to personalise the journey for different types of customers. However, scaling this across a large customer base can be overwhelming, particularly for small businesses. Most businesses struggle to implement effective segmentation. They also fail to adopt personalised content due to limited resources or a lack of right tools. Challenge #4 – Unable to track the effectiveness of the customer journey Most businesses are able to identify relevant KPIs and use them to measure success. However, they struggle to connect these metrics back to the specific stages of the customer journey. They consider it complex, especially with fragmented data systems. This is particularly true, when they do not have the right tools at their disposal. If you carefully notice these challenges, you will find the common thread linking all of them is the lack of right tools to design the customer journey. To help you in this regard, we are going to take a look at different tools in the Salesforce SSOT ecosystem that can not only overcome the above challenges but also streamline the whole customer journey. Marketing tools used to streamline customer journey Here are some of the key marketing tools you can adopt in the Salesforce ecosystem to streamline the ‘before purchase’ phase of customer journey – Salesforce Marketing Cloud This is the most important tool you would need in the before purchase phase. It lets you effortlessly manage customer engagement across different channels including common ones like email, mobile, social media, and ads. With this tool at your disposal, you can also personalise your marketing campaigns and automate workflows. The best part – you can gain deep insights into customer behaviour allowing you to create tailored, data-driven campaigns. The following tools can be integrated with Salesforce to streamline the customer journey in the before purchase phase – Demandbase Salesforce Integration: It is a popular Account-Based Marketing (ABM) platform. Using it, you can target high-value accounts. It is adept
Net Zero Cloud: The Ultimate Tool for Green Tech Businesses
Today’s businesses are increasingly held accountable for their environmental impact. In other words, the need for sustainable practices has never been more pressing. Enter Net Zero Cloud (Formerly Salesforce Sustainability Cloud)—a powerful tool designed to help businesses measure and reduce their carbon footprint. So what exactly is Net Zero Cloud? Why should green tech businesses adopt it? Let’s find out the answers to these questions (plus a lot more) in this blog. What is Net Zero Cloud? Net Zero Cloud is a Salesforce tool that is designed to help organisations manage and improve sustainability efforts. It was previously known as Salesforce Sustainability Cloud. It is a carbon accounting platform for businesses that are most concerned about climatic impacts, such as green tech businesses. Interestingly, the platform goes beyond mere data tracking. It empowers companies to: Make informed decisions Align with global sustainability goals Build a future where business success and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. Net Zero Cloud offers tools for tracking and measuring environmental impact and also facilitates reporting the changes in compliance with sustainability standards. Key Features of Net Zero Cloud for Green Tech Here are some of the most unique and useful features of Net Zero Cloud platform that are popular among green tech companies – Automated Accounting Analysing carbon data can be a daunting task. In fact, it can become quite overwhelming for even the best of green tech companies to do it right. The Net Zero Cloud has a solution for this. It offers automated reporting facilities that have pre-loaded datasets. This helps in meeting the various requirements of regulatory bodies such as the IPCC. Green tech companies can directly use the datasets to account for their carbon footprint and present them during audits. Key Performance Indicators Net Zero Cloud allows green tech businesses to set and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) related to sustainability, including carbon emissions, energy consumption, water usage, waste generation, and social impact. This gives the businesses owners a better understanding of how near or far they are from their sustainability goals. Circular Economy Management The platform facilitates the shift towards a circular economy by helping green tech businesses optimise resource utilisation and enhance recycling. It also enables them to monitor the lifecycle of the company’s outputs and explore opportunities to measure the environmental benefits of adopting circular practices. Integration with ESG Standards The Net Zero Cloud supports integration with emerging Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting standards including GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), and TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures). These integrations help green tech companies to streamline their ESG reporting processes, improving transparency and accountability. How Green Tech Businesses are Leveraging Net Zero Cloud? Here are the different ways in which green tech businesses are leveraging Net Zero Cloud to improve their operations and reduce their carbon footprint at the same time – Real-Time Data Tracking: Net Zero Cloud enables green tech companies to track carbon emissions across their entire value chain in real time. In other words, it allows for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of their environmental impact. Automated Data Collection: The platform automates the collection and reporting of sustainability data, reducing the administrative burden and increasing accuracy. This helps green tech businesses stay compliant with evolving environmental regulations. Predictive Analytics: Green tech companies use Net Zero Cloud’s predictive analytics to model different carbon reduction scenarios. This allows them to forecast the impact of various strategies on their emissions. This then helps them to make informed decisions on the most effective paths to achieving net-zero goals. Goal Setting and Tracking: The platform supports setting science-based targets for emissions reduction. This enables green tech companies to track progress against these goals in a structured manner. Streamlined Reporting: Net Zero Cloud simplifies the creation of sustainability reports, including frameworks like GRI, CDP, and TCFD. This transparency is essential for green tech businesses to communicate their environmental efforts to stakeholders, including investors, customers, and regulatory bodies. Investor Confidence: By providing accurate and detailed reports, green tech companies can enhance investor confidence, showcasing their commitment to sustainability and their progress toward net-zero targets. Supplier Engagement: Net Zero Cloud enables businesses to engage with suppliers and other stakeholders to reduce emissions throughout the supply chain. Green tech companies can assess the carbon impact of their suppliers and collaborate on sustainability initiatives, driving down emissions. Sustainable Sourcing: The platform helps businesses make more informed decisions about sourcing and logistics, prioritising suppliers with lower carbon footprints and improving overall supply chain sustainability. Wrap Up Net Zero Cloud is an extremely robust platform for green tech organisations who are on the lookout for advanced sustainability management solutions. However, to unlock the full potential of the Net Zero Cloud, it is necessary to partner with a Salesforce expert like Brysa. We are UK’s leading Salesforce consultant with expertise in managing Salesforce for Green Tech companies. To know more about us and how we can help you, contact us now.
Right Tech to Run Hybrid Work Effectively
The hybrid work model has emerged as a real game-changer in today’s times. On one hand, a hybrid workplace offers unimaginable flexibility and a much better work-life balance for employees. On the other hand, it maintains the necessary productivity required by businesses. But to truly unlock the potential of a hybrid work model, having the right technology in place is critical. The tools you choose not only bridge the gap between your remote and in-office teams but also ensure strong collaboration and streamlined workflows, no matter where your employees are working from. In this blog, we’ll explore the essential tech solutions that can help you run hybrid work effectively, but first, let us understand what is a hybrid workspace? What is a Hybrid Work Model? It is a flexible work model where you can find in-office, remote, and on-the-go employees. Under most circumstances, the employees will be allowed to choose to work wherever they want as long as they are productive and complete their tasks. It is a people-first approach with a strong focus on addressing the drawbacks of individual work models. For instance, it addresses the common challenges of remote work, such as isolation and lack of community as employees can come to the office whenever they want. Benefits of the Hybrid Work Model Aside from the fact that hybrid workspaces eliminate all the drawbacks associated with different work models, they offer the following benefits to the employees – Better employee satisfaction Hybrid mode working allows team members across all levels to decide how, where, and when they work. This automatically boosts employee morale and fosters a positive, empowered workforce. In fact, hybrid models allow employees to align their work schedules with their personal lives rather than the other way around. By cutting down on commuting time and costs, individuals can dedicate more time to family, friends, and personal interests, leading to better mental health outcomes. Put simply; respecting individual preferences and work styles enhances overall well-being. In a survey, it was found that 78% of employees think that hybrid and remote working has enhanced their overall well-being. Improved productivity According to McKinsey, 58% of employees find their productivity increasing due to hybrid work. This is understandable because happy employees are also productive employees. A hybrid model allows individuals to work to their strengths during their peak times, leading to greater efficiency and higher-quality results. While some business leaders worry that remote work may lead to laziness and reduced productivity, the reality is quite different. Many managers report that employees maintain comparable productivity levels whether working from home or in the office. In the hybrid era, the main challenge has been encouraging employees to set clear boundaries and disconnect at the end of the day to avoid burnout. While hybrid work has its challenges, decreased productivity is rarely one of them. Access to a wider talent pool By offering flexibility in where and how employees work, companies are no longer restricted to hiring talent within a specific geographic area. This opens up opportunities to attract top candidates from diverse locations, including those who might not be willing or able to relocate for a traditional office job. The ability to tap into a broader talent pool not only enhances the quality of hires but also fosters a more diverse and inclusive workforce, which can drive innovation and competitive advantage. Essential Tech Tools for Effective Hybrid Work In a hybrid work environment, technology plays a crucial role in maintaining collaboration and productivity across dispersed teams. Unfortunately, many businesses have not invested in the right tools to manage a hybrid workplace. In fact, in a survey, it has been found that over two-thirds of companies who have adopted hybrid work have not set up the right tech yet. Key tools you must consider investing in to ensure a successful hybrid work model include: Video Conferencing Platforms: These tools provide face-to-face interactions and keep your teams connected regardless of location. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet are popular choices among businesses. Project Management Software: These tools help teams organise tasks, track deadlines, and manage projects. They offer transparency and accountability, enabling effective collaboration even when working asynchronously. Tools like Asana, Trello, and Monday.com are common examples. Cloud Storage and File Sharing: These tools ensure all team members have access to essential files and documents from anywhere. They facilitate real-time collaboration and keep everyone aligned with the latest information. Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are the preferred choices among companies adopting a hybrid work model. Instant Messaging Platforms: These tools allow for quick and efficient communication. They enable group discussions, immediate responses, and informal chats, mimicking the ease of in-office communication. Most businesses pick either Slack or Microsoft Teams as their preferred IM platform. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: CRM tools like Salesforce and HubSpot are vital for managing client interactions and sales processes across teams. They provide a centralised database where team members can track customer interactions, share updates, and collaborate on sales strategies, ensuring a cohesive approach to customer management. How Tech Enables Seamless Collaboration? Technology is the backbone of seamless collaboration in a hybrid work model. It eliminates the barriers of distance and differing work schedules. For instance, video conferencing and instant messaging tools allow teams to communicate as if they were in the same room. Similarly, a CRM system like Salesforce centralises customer data and communication, enabling sales, marketing, and support teams to work together seamlessly, regardless of location. Salesforce also ensures that customer interactions are consistent and informed, which is vital for maintaining strong client relationships in a dispersed work environment. By supporting asynchronous communication, technology allows employees to contribute according to their schedules, accommodating different time zones and personal commitments. This flexibility enhances productivity and supports a healthier work-life balance, which is critical in a hybrid model. Long story short, technology bridges the gap between remote and on-site work by creating a unified, efficient, and collaborative workspace – a space where everyone can contribute effectively. It ensures
Salesforce Implementation Guide: Step-by-Step Instructions
Salesforce is undoubtedly one of the best CRMs in the world. It is used by thousands of companies across the world to streamline their sales processes. But is it easy to implement Salesforce? No. Because Salesforce implementation typically involves a lot of complicated tasks such as data migration, customisation, configuration, to name a few. To help you with this, we have come up with this handy Salesforce Implementation Guide that will give you step-by-step instructions for a successful set up. What is Salesforce Implementation? In very simple words, it means the process of setting up different Salesforce products for your business and ensuring that it is available for your users. A successful Salesforce implementation requires careful planning, collaboration among stakeholders, and adherence to best practices to ensure that the system effectively supports the organisation’s goals and processes. And after a successful implementation, you will enjoy better productivity, streamlined operations, and gain access to valuable insights for informed decision-making. Step-by-Step Process of Implementing Salesforce Let us now understand the different steps a business must follow during a typical Salesforce implementation – Step 1: Identify Stakeholders Start the whole process by determining who will be involved in the project. This could include the project sponsors, business leaders, department heads, and, most importantly, the end-users. Once identified, assign clear roles and responsibilities to each stakeholder. This clarity ensures accountability and effective communication throughout the project, setting a solid foundation for successful implementation. Step 2: Define Objectives Setting high-level objectives is an essential part of a Salesforce implementation roadmap. It is very important to set up measurable objectives that the entire implementation aims to achieve. Common objectives include improving sales efficiency, enhancing customer service, and streamlining marketing efforts. Ensure that these goals align with the overall business strategy, providing a clear direction and purpose for the project. Step 3: Assimilate Project Requirements Next, collect detailed requirements from all the stakeholders. Best ways to do this include conducting workshops, interviews, and surveys to understand their specific needs and expectations. Document these requirements comprehensively to eliminate confusions later. This thorough understanding of requirements ensures that the Salesforce implementation will meet the unique needs of your business. Step 4: Sort Requirements Based on Priority Once requirements are gathered, prioritise them based on their potential business impact. Evaluate each requirement’s importance and urgency and rank them accordingly. This prioritisation helps in focusing on the most critical features first, ensuring that the implementation addresses the most pressing business needs and delivers maximum value. Step 5: Develop This step has multiple sub-steps. First and foremost, develop a detailed Salesforce implementation plan outlining timelines, milestones, and resources. Next, customise Salesforce to meet the gathered and prioritised requirements. This may include setting up workflows, creating custom objects, and integrating with other systems. If needed, you may also have to develop custom applications or features to address specific business needs. This step transforms the gathered requirements into a functional Salesforce system. Step 6: Test Perform user acceptance testing (UAT) to engage end-users in testing the system in a controlled environment. Gather their feedback on the functionality and usability of the system. Based on this feedback, make necessary adjustments to refine and enhance the Salesforce system. This iterative process ensures that Salesforce meets user expectations and functions correctly before going live. Step 7: Prepare for Roll Out This step is all about developing a change management plan to manage the transition. Your plan must include communication strategies, training programs, and support structures to ensure users are ready for Salesforce. Conduct training sessions to ensure all users are comfortable with the platform. Keep all stakeholders informed about the changes, timelines, and what to expect during the go-live phase, managing expectations effectively. Step 8: Roll Out While launching the system to all the users in your company, it is important to closely monitor user adoption, particularly during the initial phase. This enables you to address any issues promptly to ensure a smooth transition. Provide ongoing support to users, addressing any questions or concerns as they arise. Ensure that there are mechanisms in place for ongoing training and system improvements, supporting continuous improvement and user satisfaction. Why Implement Salesforce? Here are the different reasons to implement Salesforce in your organisation – Customisation and Scalability Salesforce offers a high degree of customisation, allowing businesses to tailor the platform to meet their specific needs. Its scalability ensures that the system can grow with the business, accommodating increased data volume and complexity. Automation Capabilities Salesforce automates repetitive tasks and business processes, such as lead management, sales forecasting, and customer support. This automation saves time, reduces human error, and allows employees to focus on more strategic activities. Enhanced Collaboration Salesforce provides tools for improved collaboration among teams. Features like Chatter, a social network for businesses, enable employees to share information, collaborate on projects, and stay updated on company activities in real time. Advanced Analytics and Reporting Salesforce offers powerful analytics and reporting tools that provide insights into sales performance, customer behaviour, and market trends. These insights help in making informed business decisions and identifying areas for improvement. Integration with Other Tools Salesforce easily integrates with various third-party applications and systems, such as ERP software, marketing automation tools, and social media platforms. This integration ensures seamless data flow across different business functions. Security and Compliance Salesforce provides robust security features to protect sensitive customer data. It complies with various industry standards and regulations, ensuring that businesses meet legal and compliance requirements. How long does Salesforce implementation take? Determining the time required to implement Salesforce can be challenging, as it varies widely based on several factors. For instance, one company might take over a year to fully implement Salesforce due to progressively migrating away from multiple legacy systems with complex sales rules. They might also have a smaller team for Salesforce implementation. Another company could have a more specific problem to solve with Sales Cloud and might have access to a larger team dedicated to the implementation, potentially speeding up the process.
How a Salesforce Consultant Can Elevate Your Business?
Running a business is not easy. This is despite having the best of the technology like Salesforce in your arsenal. You need a strategic approach to leverage Salesforce effectively. This is where a Salesforce consultant comes into play. A Salesforce consultant is more than just a tech expert; they are a strategic partner who can transform your business processes and drive growth through Salesforce’s powerful suite of tools. In this blog, we’ll explore what a Salesforce consultant does and how they can elevate your business and unlock new opportunities for efficiency and innovation. What is a Salesforce consultant? A Salesforce consultant is an individual or a business who specialise in helping organisations set up and manage Salesforce, the world’s leading customer relationship management platform. As you would have rightly guessed, a Salesforce consultant will have expertise in various aspects of the ecosystem and would have managed a variety of Salesforce tools. They may hold certifications in Salesforce to validate their skills and knowledge. They will also know all the current trends in the CRM space. What does a Salesforce consultant do to upgrade CRM Upgrading a CRM might typically involve migrating data, configuring the new system to meet business needs, and training users to fully utilise the improved features and capabilities of the new CRM. Here are the different tasks a Salesforce consultant will typically handle to upgrade your CRM – Evaluating Your Current CRM System Before starting the upgrade, a Salesforce consultant will thoroughly assess your existing CRM system. This involves examining how the system is utilised, identifying areas for improvement, analysing data, reviewing workflows, and engaging with team members to gain a comprehensive understanding of your current setup. Planning the Upgrade Using the assessment findings, the consultant will collaborate with you to create a detailed upgrade plan. This plan will outline specific areas that need attention, estimate required resources and budget, and set a timeline for the upgrade process. Executing the Upgrade With the plan in place, the Salesforce consultant will oversee the upgrade implementation. This includes configuring and testing the new system, migrating data from the old CRM, and training your team to effectively use the updated system. Providing Ongoing Support After the upgrade, the consultant will offer continuous support to ensure the new system operates smoothly and efficiently. This support includes troubleshooting any issues, offering guidance on best practices, and assisting with future updates and enhancements. Long story short, they help future-proof your business. Why should you hire a Salesforce consultant? A Salesforce consultant offers more than just basic guidance. They conduct market research, analyse your competitors, and evaluate where your company is placed with respect to other leaders in the industry. They also assist in achieving your business goals while optimising your budget. By pinpointing your needs and recommending automation opportunities, a consultant can significantly contribute to your company’s growth. If you are a small or medium sized business, consultants can evaluate whether your IT infrastructure supports your business goals effectively. Finally, a qualified consultant can advance your Salesforce implementation, ensuring smooth installation and rollout. Their external perspective offers an unbiased assessment of your company’s needs, providing customised solutions that internal teams might overlook. Benefits of Hiring Salesforce Consultant Services Here are the different benefits of opting for Salesforce consultant services – Effortless Migration to Salesforce from Other CRM Platforms If you’re transitioning to Salesforce, you’ll need to transfer all your existing data and set up the platform effectively. A professional consultant will offer migration services, ensuring a smooth setup. They will keep your data organised and accessible, helping you leverage Salesforce’s full potential. By utilising the best Salesforce products and integrations, a consultant ensures that you make the most out of the platform’s ecosystem. Customising Dashboards and Analysis Custom dashboards are essential for maximising your CRM’s value. Salesforce offers extensive options for dashboard customisation, but setting them up can be complex. A Salesforce consultant can design dashboards tailored to your business needs, enhancing data analysis and streamlining access to critical information. They will help you identify pain points and create user-friendly systems that complement your business processes. Training and Support Salesforce frequently updates its platform, and keeping up with these changes can be challenging. A consultant can guide you through necessary upgrades, ensuring you capitalise on the most beneficial features for your organisation. They also provide comprehensive training for your employees, boosting their productivity and confidence in using the platform. This support minimises the need for help tickets and ensures a seamless experience. Maintaining an Organised System To keep your Salesforce system functional and effective, regular data organisation is crucial. Salesforce consultants can perform periodic audits, clean up disorganised records, and prevent data issues. They can also create custom wizards to ensure consistency in data entry, improving overall data quality and simplifying the quoting process. Enhancing Lead and Customer Acquisition Effective collaboration and communication within your sales team are key to finding new leads and customers. A Salesforce consultant can set up systems that facilitate team collaboration and create checklists for managing large accounts. They can also implement gamification techniques, such as leaderboards, to motivate sales representatives and improve performance. Additionally, consultants help integrate Salesforce with other platforms to enhance customer engagement and lead management. Tailoring Reports for Insightful Analysis Standard reports may not always meet your specific needs. A Salesforce consultant can design custom reports that provide relevant insights for different roles within your organisation. These tailored reports allow you to extract valuable information, making Salesforce not just a data storage tool, but a powerful platform for strategic decision-making. Conclusion Partnering with a Salesforce consultant can be a game-changer for your business. They can help you unlock the full potential of your Salesforce investment. This, in turn, leads to improved efficiency, enhanced customer satisfaction, and increased profitability. Brysa is the UK’s leading Salesforce consultant offering consulting, implementation, and maintenance services. We can be the ultimate key to elevating your business to new heights and staying ahead of the competition. To know more
Salesforce vs HubSpot: Which is the Right Choice for You?
If your business operations involve managing sales and prospects on a regular basis, then you definitely need a CRM or Customer Relationship Management software. No second thoughts there. A CRM helps in tracking your prospects, nurturing them into customers, and developing a long-lasting relationship with them. It achieves this by offering data-driven insights that you’d typically miss without a CRM. Now, the market is flooded with a plethora of CRMs, but if we have to pick two, it will invariably be Salesforce and HubSpot, the two market leaders. But which is better of the two? Let’s find out as we take you through a detailed comparison between the two platforms and help you pick one for your business. Salesforce: At a Glance It is a cloud-based CRM software useful for finding prospects, closing deals, and connecting deeply with customers to turn them into loyal advocates of your business. Salesforce offers a complete product portfolio that includes CRM apps for sales, service, marketing, and commerce. Artificial intelligence is ingrained in the entire Salesforce technology stack so that it becomes effortless to deliver personalised experiences to your customers. One of the reasons why most people prefer Salesforce is its customisation and integration capabilities. These two features are a necessity for most modern businesses looking to drive their sales. HubSpot: At a Glance HubSpot is another popular CRM software with a focus on inbound marketing. Some of the core functions offered by HubSpot include activity tracking, pipeline visibility, real-time chat with customers/prospects, and a repository for contact information. Like Salesforce, it operates in the cloud, so all your customer data is always in sync across devices and can be accessed even on the go. One reason for the immense popularity of HubSpot is its simplified user interface. The platform is quite user-friendly and can offer value from day one without much training. Hubspot vs. Salesforce: Key Differences With that basic introduction about HubSpot and Salesforce, let us now compare the two platforms on different key parameters. Salesforce vs HubSpot: Pricing HubSpot is one of the few CRMs in the market to offer a free plan. While the features are quite basic, this plan might still suffice for very small businesses with limited customer management needs. HubSpot also offers a handful of affordable plans starting from $15 per user per month. There is also a free 14-day free trial on all the paid plans. On, the other hand, Salesforce does not offer any free plans but has a more extensive free trial for 30 days. The paid plans start at $25 per user per month and can go to $500 per user per month. Winner: HubSpot, mainly because of its affordable plans. Salesforce vs HubSpot: Dashboards & Reporting HubSpot’s dashboards are intuitive and powerful, but they are no match to the advanced and more capable dashboard of Salesforce that covers real-time sales analytics, trend analysis, predictive analytics, and customer segmentation. It is covered in all the plans except the Starter Suite. HubSpot, on the other hand, offers more basic reports related to sales activity, sales forecasting, website activity, and individual email performance in their paid plans. If you want advanced analytics capabilities, you need to sign up for their Enterprise plan, which could burn a hole in your pockets. Winner: Salesforce, thanks to in-depth and comprehensive reports that can give a much deeper understanding of your sales performance and customer behaviours. Salesforce vs HubSpot: AI Capabilities The market is already flooded with a variety of AI productivity tools. This can make it harder for most platforms to keep up with the top ones. Thankfully, both Salesforce and HubSpot have taken on the challenge and integrated some of the most advanced AI features into their platforms to decrease time spent on administrative tasks. Salesforce’s AI engine, Einstein offers many of the GenAI features such as forecasting, text generation, and conversational bot creation. There is also a useful prediction builder that enables you to generate custom forecasts based on user data. Even HubSpot is not lagging behind, as you will see plenty of prompts to interact with a built-in AI chatbot that can suggest workflow enhancements, provide data-based insights, and dive into predictive analytics. Winner: Salesforce. While HubSpot’s AI capabilities are more integrated into its platform, Salesforce’s AI capabilities are slightly more advanced and customisable, giving it a slight edge. Salesforce vs HubSpot: Onboarding & Ease of Use Both platforms have great onboarding processes, plenty of tutorial guides, and a thriving community to answer any query. HubSpot displays your onboarding journey in the form of milestones, highlighting what you need to do to get going. The best part about HubSpot is how its apps and features are built right into the platform. The layout is also pretty neat and easy to navigate, even if you are new to CRMs. Salesforce, on the other hand, has a more hands-off approach. It walks you through the platform with the help of pop-ups and pre-created demos as you explore its different functions. The layout is also slightly complicated, and your team might need initial handholding from Salesforce experts. Winner: HubSpot. While Salesforce might have a strong onboarding experience, it is slightly difficult for newbies to navigate because of how its dashboard and features are laid out in the system. Salesforce vs HubSpot: Customisability In Salesforce, you can add specific new features with the help of standalone apps. If that’s not enough, you can also access their custom coding function to tailor any component that you want. This is extremely beneficial for those businesses that operate with very specific business processes and want a single source of truth for all their operations. Salesforce also has the Code Builder to allow users to develop from anywhere without any additional software. HubSpot’s features can be customised to a good extent too through a no-code process. You can even create custom objects, modify properties, and associations to manage specific data models within HubSpot. Winner: Salesforce, because of its more robust coding capabilities
