I got started with Salesforce when my company, Design Within Reach, was looking for a single, cloud-based solution to replace several server-heavy, siloed systems that were in use at our call center. Not only were we working on that issue, but at the same time, we were forming a new B2B sales division and needed a solution to help manage leads and sales opportunities. Salesforce gave us all of the above, plus the flexibility to find new and innovative use cases.

Saying yes! Salesforce has allowed me to transition our IT department into an innovation driver who gets to say "yes" more than "no" to new requests for features and functionality. With Salesforce I can now dream big and deliver ways to work better, smarter, with more collaboration and visibility. Salesforce has allowed me the glory of sleep. I sleep better not having to worry if the order entry system will die in the middle of a major sale event!

Let me count the ways! By creating a single source of truth for customer transactions and interactions, we are improving customer interactions with our sales and support teams. We've streamlined the ability to respond to both internal and external support requests by linking all relevant data together. By providing management visibility to the work volume, we are able to better plan staffing needs, QA responses, and identify trends to get to root cause analysis and resolution. We've also been able to free our employees to work from anywhere on any device, boosting productivity and employee satisfaction.

Not being afraid to take chances and fail. Thinking outside of the box. Dreaming big, then transforming those dreams into reality using the tools and resources available to you. Believing in the power of innovation. Not being satisfied with the current state, questioning the status quo, and living for continuous improvement.

The more I learn, the more my head spins with ways to improve how we use Salesforce here at Design Within Reach, and the more I'm able to think holistically through implications of a change in one area affecting another. Trailhead is easy to use, easy to learn, love the hands-on practice scenarios which help tremendously.

We don't require a technical background or Salesforce expertise for folks coming into our support roles, so Trailhead is a great way to provide a self-paced learning tool with hands-on practice scenarios. Specifically, in our systems help desk team, we've used Trailhead to help the team learn administration skills. I've also recommended to folks in the Operations team who are interested in learning more. The more our employees learn, there is a chance they'll come up with new use cases or tweaks to make everyone's job easier.

Jump in! You've nothing to lose. If you don't have a lot of time to dedicate, start with 20-30 minutes a day. You'll be surprised how much you can accomplish with a slow, but steady, pace.