The uncertainties of the current economic climate are worrisome, to say the least. Manufacturers and energy/utility providers, who were just finally unlocking the immense power behind digitally transformed operations, are now tempted to retreat and put these types of projects on perpetual pause yet again to weather the storm.

But it’s the opposite approach, in fact, that will not only prepare your business for uncertain weather but also make it stronger than before. Investing in transformative innovation now will help business leaders in the manufacturing, energy, and utility sectors deliver stunning self-service capabilities, simplify legacy tech stack problems, and, most importantly, finish what you started with next-gen transformations in operational efficiency. And here are three industry-based stories to prove it:

Holcim

Industry: Manufacturing

Simplus Solution: CPQ Implementation

Streamlining operational efficiency was precisely Holcim’s objective when they first reached out to Simplus seeking a partner to transform quoting. Having successfully optimized one product line at Holcim in the past, Simplus was prepared to do it again for Holcim’s Aggregates Construction Materials (ACM) line. Rather than simply implementing CPQ functionality and calling it a day, Simplus worked hand-in-hand with Holcim to ensure the CPQ solution was a fit that would yield results: we made the proper quote configurations to cater specifically to the ACM product line’s demands, developed a mass quoting and mass edit tools for the Holcim ACM sales cycle, and built out a forecasting tool specific to Holcim’s reporting needs. Quote creation time after implementation was slashed in half, and the increased sales efficiency is a weight lifted for Holcim’s operations.

sPower

Industry: Energy

Simplus Solution: Data Cleansing, Training

sPower is the largest owner of utility-scale operating solar assets in the US and reached out to Simplus to help wrangle its various tracker spreadsheets and reduce technical debt surrounding its business data archives. Simplus immediately got to work importing and cleansing the data from the tracker spreadsheets and created a central repository or SSOT for sPower. Now all information regarding contacts, including clients, landowners, utility contacts, CAISO engineers, and legal representation, is dependable. To make the platform more functional for sPower, we also created custom workflows, objects, and triggers to support its unique sales model. In addition, we worked with sPower to provide Salesforce-specific training to its admin and general user groups.

Komatsu

Industry: Manufacturing

Simplus Solution: CPQ Implementation, Strategic Managed Services

Komatsu was looking for additional talent to join its existing Salesforce CRM development, admin, and support team, particularly for assistance with CPQ. Komatsu was impressed with our team’s focus on people, processes, and products. We landed in the environment and delivered a guide for CPQ operations and maintenance, as well as best practices to govern the work to be done. This included questions and answers about processes between environments, sandbox management, refresh frequency, and updates from Salesforce. Furthermore, our work prioritization approach helped to decrease case handling time and increase the velocity of enhancements and innovation, including having the Managed Services team support larger implementation projects to improve speed and accuracy.