| | June 20169CIOReviewto conduct during each sales and service interaction. We've seen successful companies empower their workforce with robust solutions that can be tailored to meet differing needs by looking at process, behavior, prediction, and adaptation as an intersecting set of scenarios.For example, consider the differing needs among various industries to support sales activities. A large beverage manufacturer we work with needed a sales engagement tool that it could easily implement globally, but that also meets some of the unique the needs of individual local markets. Built upon Microsoft's Dynamics CRM Online platform, we helped them deploy a state-of-the-art mobile sales force solution to streamline selling, merchandising and quality monitoring activities among their various B2B channel outlets. However, this tool didn't exactly meet the needs of a global motorcycle manufacturer, whose sales teams needed to provide highly personalized B2B customer experiences within individual retail stores. For the motorcycle manufacturer, we leveraged user design to craft workflows and interfaces atop Microsoft Dynamics CRM that would solicit the highest use among sales, service and other teams. Both solutions leveraged the same core CRM platform but also utilized other Microsoft and third party hardware and software solution to build differentiated capabilities. Considering a Portfolio of Interoperable Tools is KeyHaving the various tools at hand to help your employees provide customers with a tailored, personally relevant experience is great, but only if the tools work well together.Enterprises are learning that the appropriate solution to their needs will likely require integrating multiple hardware and software components into a smooth, seamless process flow across customer touch points. We've seen companies that leverage an ever-increasing amount of data, analytic processing and the resulting activity orchestration throughout sales and service interactions ultimately develop strong loyalty from the customers. The solutions are anchored by traditional software components such as CRM or ERP while other elements leverage hardware device capabilities such as cameras/scanners on tablets or phones, Internet-enabled sensors, smart consumer devices and even hardware robots and intelligent software "bots." Additional solution components help gather, store and analyze all of the internal and external, structured and unstructured data and other content that make each sales or service action different from any other.This is where interoperability comes into play. When considering digital tools for sales and customer service, IT buyers must consider options that are interoperable, not only with each other, but with the company's larger IT portfolio and overall direction. An array of tools is only valuable if they integrate seamlessly for the end users.In summary, the future of IT buying is about rapid integration of multiple hardware and software components to meet the ever-changing expectations and competitive actions of the digital customer. The best solutions providers possess a comprehensive, ever-expanding portfolio of offerings that offer flexibility, interoperability and comparative cost advantages. At the heart of any IT purchase decision should be an understanding of the business goals and tasks to be accomplished, coupled with a search for a connected ecosystem that maximizes business value by integrating all the relevant pieces at the right time. The future of IT buying is about rapid integration of multiple hardware and software components to meet the ever-changing expectationsDave Nelson
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