Big data and the IoT have been long-standing buzzwords for trends in manufacturing, and for good reason: they both help manufacturers connect employees, processes, and customers more closely together. Thirty-four percent of manufacturers currently have plans to incorporate more connectivity to their processes, and another 31 percent already have production processes with connected devices or intelligence involved. And manufacturers leveraging Manufacturing Cloud for their demand planning will be pleased to hear there’s more advanced functionality coming with the latest Salesforce update to create even more connected selling. The spring release update from Salesforce is sure to move the hottest industry initiatives forward and yield the desired results quickly for organizations using Manufacturing Cloud. 

We wanted to take a moment to dive deeper into the spring release and what it entails for manufacturers, including more connected selling, customer 360 features, and—most notably—rebate management. 

More connected selling and Customer 360 functionality

First up is a crucial API update for Manufacturing Cloud: The Sales Agreements Connect REST API. This API is built to convert quotes and opportunities directly into sales agreements, speeding up work time for account managers and sales reps with increased automation and more guaranteed accuracy. This addition reflects an increasing interest among manufacturers to leverage CPQ for sales automation and tracking overall company demand. 

Additionally, the Customer 360 Guide for Discrete Manufacturers is a new addition with the spring release. Using this, discrete manufacturing organizations can discover multi-cloud solutions that connect marketing, sales, and service for more cohesive customer experiences—all tailored to the particular industry needs of discrete manufacturing. 

Other smaller updates that assist with a more connected selling process are the ability to include opportunity quantity or product schedules in account forecasting and more complex reporting across individual books of business. You can read the full notes on these functionality enhancements here. 

Rebate Management

Rebate Management is the highly anticipated and sure-to-impress star of the spring release, particularly for manufacturers with involved distributor networks determining a bulk of their business. The run volume-, revenue-, and growth-based rebate programs that come packaged with Salesforce’s Rebate Management feature are meant to…

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