Top 4 advantages of having an Enterprise Quality Management System on the Salesforce.com platform
Tags: Salesforce, Quality Management, Change Management, Document Control

What difference does it make to build and run an Enterprise Quality Management System (EQMS) on Salesforce.com (Force.com) platform?

In brief? A lot.

You see, as in Genetics, the qualities of the parent platform are bound to reflect on the apps built on it. That is why an EQMS built on Force.com will deliver to its users all the advantages of the parent platform which, incidentally, are the very same benefits that EQMS providers aim to offer their users.

What are the characteristics of a good EQMS?

While the market is full of tools that promise to manage quality, very few manage to do so effectively. They are either technologically behind, expensive or resource intensive. Buying such a solution adds to the complexities rather than simplifying the operational challenges. A good EQMS, on the other hand, will turn each and every member of the organization a stakeholder in the organization’s quality through an intuitive interface that facilitates collaboration and delivers insights for continual growth.

1. It should be technologically advanced

Those investing in technology should be aware of the risk of increasingly short lifecycles of technological innovations. That is why it is critical to invest in technologies that not only address the current challenges but have the inherent scalability to adjust to the requirements of the future.

Greg Goodwin, on his post on LNS Research says: “Increased automation, mobility, Cloud solutions, the Internet of Things (IoT), enterprise manufacturing solutions, etc. — as these trends and technologies take hold, manufacturers are able to collaborate more effectively, forecast and respond to demand more accurately, gain better visibility into internal and external processes, and measure their performance more precisely.”

The Salesforce Edge: The Salesforce® platform is built using some of the most advanced technologies, including the ones mentioned above. In fact, Salesforce is the cloud platform of choice for over 4 Million businesses worldwide. Salesforce1, its mobile app, makes solutions accessible to everyone at any time, at any place and on any device. Salesforce rolls out at least three updates every year without causing any downtime to its customers so that latest technological developments and innovations integrate seamlessly into their operations, without causing a single blip.

The Salesforce® platform is built using some of the most advanced technologies, including the ones mentioned above. In fact, Salesforce is the cloud platform of choice for over 4 Million businesses worldwide. Salesforce1, its mobile app, makes solutions accessible to everyone at any time, at any place and on any device. Salesforce rolls out at least three updates every year without causing any downtime to its customers so that latest technological developments and innovations integrate seamlessly into their operations, without causing a single blip. An EQMS platform built and run on Salesforce would therefore not become obsolete in near future. It would be supported by some of the most robust and relevant technologies around. It would also be supported by one of the most dependable support teams in the world.

2. It should not be resource intensive:

An effective EQMS is one that incorporates measures to integrate quality in all organizational operations without making great demands on organizational resources, namely: the IT Team and of course, the organizational budget. It should also be able to operate in the background without interfering in any operations and without causing any downtime. An effective EQMS would help the organization become leaner and more efficient instead of acting as another hurdle to be overcome or another box to be tick-marked.

The Salesforce Edge: Any EQMS built and run on Salesforce would, by default, be on a modern cloud and hence be much more scalable and cost-effective as compared to an on-premise solution. The drag and drop functionality of Salesforce Force.com enables even non-coders to take ownership of process flows. As a result, people driving the business on the ground are able to translate their requirements and their vision into process flows themselves instead of depending upon the IT Team. Reduced cycle time, greater ownership and reduced workload create a win-win situation for all.

3. It should be pocket-friendly

Quality is a mandate for organizations of all sizes. Then why should quality management tools be priced such that they can be afforded only by large enterprises? Labels such as ‘enterprise-level security and scalability’ are somewhat misleading because any business, irrespective of size, would want to secure its data and need the comfort of scaling up or down as directed by the market.

The Salesforce Edge: An EQMS platform built on Salesforce is a highly configurable set of solutions that can be implemented at once or as the company grows per business’ requirements. This results in three kinds of cost benefits. First, cloud infrastructure drastically cuts down investment for in-house infrastructure and its maintenance. Second, the legendary support of Salesforce ensures that your business does not suffer any downtime. Third, customers can pay on a monthly subscription basis. By not having to commit to a pay for all user licenses and modules upfront businesses using an EQMS built on Salesforce can justify their total cost of ownership each year.

4. It should be highly flexible

A good EQMS adapts itself to the business in question rather than forcing the organization to alter its processes in order to implement it successfully. It should also be able to get integrated with legacy or any modern cloud-based ERP solutions so that it may draw relevant data for analysis. In other words, the EQMS would be an asset, not an obstacle, on the route to achieving quality objectives. That is why it is imperative for an EQMS to be easily configurable.

The Salesforce Edge: An EQMS built and run on Salesforce, would make use of the drag and drop functionality of the Salesforce platform. While such an EQMS would have pre-developed processes for common functions such as Audit, CAPA, Change Management, Document Control, etc., it would also encourage users to go several steps further by configuring the solution to solve their unique problems. For instance, it would enable users to tailor the interface to their liking, define the metadata that must be captured, configure workflows, personalize language translations and deliver useful insights that propel business growth. It would also give users the freedom to explore more applications through Salesforce AppExchange, the world’s leading business application marketplace.

Salesforce has been recognized as a leader in the Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Platform as a Service, Worldwide 2016. In fact, industry experts are of the opinion that Salesforce doesn’t really have competition in its league. With organizations and manufacturers, especially the ones operating in highly regulated industries, conducting their business across geopolitical regions, the management of quality demands a platform as nimble, reliable and cost-effective as Salesforce. In fact, I don’t think there are any drawbacks whatsoever to having an EQMS on Salesforce. Can you think of any? Do comment below!

The vision at ComplianceQuest is to transform quality and compliance into a strategic advantage for our customers through experience, expertise and passion. ComplianceQuest is an innovative, 100% cloud based Enterprise Quality Management System solution company. We provide an enterprise grade solution that streamlines quality, compliance, content and collaboration management initiatives and strategies across diverse, globally based supply chain networks.

For more information, or to request a demo with a ComplianceQuest expert, contact ComplianceQuest today.