Legacy applications are so slow to modernize, and building them on a low code, cloud based, enterprise software development platform like Salesforce may be the best decision you ever make!
I have been a CIO for over 20+ years, and an Enterprise Technology Advisor, and almost every organization I initially work with are so burdened by their legacy applications, it is very challenging to be nimble/agile and meet the business/market needs. It takes so long to get enhancements from their applications because it requires lots of analysis and definition/design, and then developers to write heavy code, test it and deploy it.
About eight years ago, as the IT Executive for a large healthcare provider, I had a revelation as we were able to implement an Innovative Sales and Service enterprise solution on the Salesforce platform in 4 months for over 4000 users! I realized that Salesforce is not just a CRM, it is a full development platform on which you can build virtually any business application/solution in record time that is:
Fully Cloud Based
Eliminates the very expensive costs of maintaining your own Infrastructure/Data center(s), software tools/licensing, database licensing, security licensing, etc.
Completely Mobile
Anything you build is automatically mobile enabled, with 24/7 anytime/anywhere access on any mobile device (smart phone, tablet, laptop, desktop)
High Availability, Performance and Scalability
Many redundant cloud data centers maintained in the AWS Cloud, constant management/monitoring and enhancements for high performance, and has scaled from small startups to the largest companies in the world!
Secure
The platform has the highest levels of security, you name it ….SOC, ISO, PCI, HIPAA, NIST, HiTrust, etc. (42 in total) Maintaining this level of security in your own platform is very expensive and hard to keep up with!
Low Code / Quick to Innovate
The data model and base features for your industry comes with the platform, and most business specific features/components and workflow automation can be developed with declarative configuration vs. code in days, not months, by non-programmer business analysts
When code development is necessary like with Integrations to other systems/data sources and complex backend computing modules or highly complex/dynamic UX pages, it comes with a full set of rapid software development tools (Lightning Web Components and Apex) with reusable object classes for common operations
There are many other benefits, but I feel these are the most significant from the eyes of a CIO that has to maintain the expensive IT Infrastructure and is struggling to get business application enhancements out at the speed the business needs them.
I became so much of a believer, I changed my career path and became a Chief Innovation & Transformation Officer, consulting in the Salesforce eco-system, because I wanted to help more organizations realize their Digital Transformation goals by implementing the Salesforce platform. It has been exciting to help all kinds of organizations from Healthcare, Financial Services, Retail / Commerce, and all kinds of Service Organizations.
NOTE: This is my own transformation and revelation story as a CIO, and in no way was I asked to do this by any organization.
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