Legacy Databases to Salesforce

I believe Julie stands out as one of the best entrepreneurs I have ever met. In just eight years, she built a $10 million business in an extremely competitive food distribution vertical. When the pandemic hit and everything shut down, she created a consumer-facing e-commerce website. Not only did her business survive, but it thrived.

When she launched her business, managing inventory, customers, orders, and deliveries required a reliable application. Although the market offered numerous options, Julie faced multiple challenges. Bootstrapping her business made it difficult to afford existing solutions, and she wanted to differentiate her business by running it differently. Julie needed something unique. One characteristic that defines a brilliant entrepreneur is being crafty, industrious, and imaginative. She hired a coach to teach her how to use and customize Microsoft Access.

Fast forward to 2023, and her 24/7 business still successfully operates on her homegrown MS Access database. To enhance accessibility, she placed the server on AWS, allowing the application to be accessed from multiple locations, with each computer connecting to the server via a remote desktop.

Following the recent 2 am server crash, Julie sought my assistance in exploring options for a system overhaul. She provided specific directives:

1. Business Scalability: The solution should accommodate the booming business.
2. Zero Maintenance: No more 2 am phone calls from the warehouse.
3. Flexibility for Tweaks: Julie wants to retain the ability to make small tweaks on the fly.
4. Bonus Request: Julie envisions packaging and selling her software application to other businesses.

While previous suggestions focused on migrating from MS Access to Microsoft SQL Server, this would entail transforming the user interface to a web-based .NET app and reporting to Reporting Services or Power BI, jeopardizing Julie's ability to make minor changes herself. Moreover, the cost of packaging the solution into an application would likely outweigh the ROI.

Often, successful businesses running operations on MS Access, FileMaker, QuickBase, or similar platforms face a similar situation requiring a complete technology overhaul. The primary reason organizations resist change is the fear of losing the ability to make small tweaks and changes themselves. If you share this mindset, keep reading!

To meet Julie's requirements, particularly points 3 and 4, I proposed considering the Salesforce Platform. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it's the right solution for anyone seeking an upgrade path from early PC-based customizable database applications.

Here are some key arguments:

1. Affordability: The price is right at $35/user per month.
2. Customizability: Fully customizable to suit specific needs.
3. User Empowerment: Power users can easily customize Salesforce.
4. Low Maintenance: Salesforce is a cloud-based system, requiring no maintenance.
5. Extensibility: The platform is infinitely extensible.
6. Integration: Easy integration with 3,000+ applications.
7. Community Support: Supported by a large community of Salesforce experts.
8. Built-in Reporting: A comprehensive reporting engine is built in.

Just like, you can fairly easily package your internal application into a "managed package" that you can sell to other businesses via Salesforce AppExchange.

There's more to it, but I believe you get the picture. For more information on the company please visit ECHO Technology Solutions .