23 Apr Signs You Need to Overhaul Your Legacy System (i.e. that custom software you had built over 5 years ago)
We see it all the time: a company has a long-established software system that's either fully custom or has been customized to fit just right. It's perfect, or as nearly perfect as software can be. And then the company grows. It evolves with the changing marketplace. Little by little, that perfect fit starts to pinch here and sag there. You know you'll need to do something about that legacy software eventually, but not now. When does "eventually" become "now"? How can you tell when it's time to overhaul your legacy system?
Sooner or later, in the Salesforce ecosystem, you will find yourself writing code to customize a Salesforce organization. There are plenty of references about the Apex programming language, which is Salesforce's Java-esque proprietary language for controllers and triggers. Of course, you'll follow general programming best practices. You'll also want to keep a few things top-of-mind about Salesforce coding.
If you carry inventory, you need efficient, effective inventory management software. Since it's such a critical part of your infrastructure, it's important to select the right tool for your needs. Should you choose a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) package, or do you need custom inventory management software? 
The basics are in place: you've set up your Salesforce org, and you've customized it enough to let your sales team work pretty efficiently. Now your users are asking for more. They want more automation to streamline their work, more customization to tailor their experience to their needs, more built-in business logic to improve the quality of report data. How much of this can you realistically do in-house? Is it time to outsource Salesforce work for your organization?
For any organization led by a board of directors, communication is vital. Board members need a great deal of well-organized information in order to perform their duties. Staff members have traditionally prepared board books and meeting documents, assembling and organizing possibly hundreds of documents for each meeting. While it's possible to cobble together a solution using existing software like project management systems and online document sharing tools, these DIY systems don't offer the efficiency or features of a dedicated board of directors portal. These portals provide several features to help boards work efficiently and effectively. 
In today's connected world, consumers want to interact with service providers on their own schedule and receive individualized information and experiences. The same principles apply to citizens, who are the "customers" of their government. Citizen-centric government using public portals is a growing trend. These portals offer citizens secure, convenient, and personalized channels to interact with their government and offer civil servants greater efficiency and deeper insight into the needs of their citizenry. 
More and more health care providers are using web and mobile applications to communicate with their patients. In 2016, for example, the American Hospital Association reported that 
Now that you've implemented Salesforce and your team is reaping its benefits, it's time to step up your game. You're already rocking the CRM, streamlining the sales process, and using rich reports as feedback to keep on fine-tuning your sales machine. What's next? Your business processes. Here are some ways you can use Salesforce automation to improve business processes.