The most acute moments of COVID-19 pushed financial services institutions to the brink — both because of pandemic-induced volatility and the operational challenges of processing an overnight deluge of PPP loans. More recently, the rise of digital money, finance apps, and higher consumer expectations has shown financial advisors what’s possible in their industry — that is, if innovators are ready to reimagine customer connection and financial operations management.

Salesforce for financial services can help you capitalize on a platform to create advanced solutions that align with regulatory compliance and security standards. The rapid digitization of the industry has also created troves of data; Salesforce for financial services can harness that data and churn out insights you can leverage in all sorts of ways to improve your business, plus 360-degree customer view, which is really the lynchpin of personalized, relevant marketing.

Salesforce cut its teeth — and grew its reputation — on Sales Cloud. With robust automation and intelligent analytics, financial services institutions can benefit from a Sales Cloud implementation, or from talking with a Salesforce consultant to determine if it’s the best solution for their business.

But a Sales Cloud implementation isn’t the only answer, and it’s not a solution that’s specific to the financial services industry. Depending on your needs and workflows, it may require significant customization to get the most out of the platform — from aligning dashboards and reports to your workflows to tailoring client pages with high-touch information your investors rely on every day.

It might not be that complicated, though. Salesforce consulting may point you towards Financial Services Cloud, equipped with out-of-the-box specializations like comprehensive visualizations of customer households and AI-fueled data analysis that meet the challenges of financial services head-on.

Financial Services Cloud offers tools that can benefit firms of every size, from investment banks, mutual funds, wealth management and asset management companies, and other large financial institutions to mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, and retail banks.

It’s easy to take it for granted if you’re already familiar with the Salesforce ecosystem, but the dynamic features of Salesforce Lightning, including predictive AI tools and flexible UI, make it robust enough to handle process challenges, yet nimble enough to accommodate the particulars of your business. What’s more, Salesforce for financial services puts you in the driver’s seat, allowing you to customize the platform in a way that supports your employees. For example, you can customize alerts, icons, and roles for person and household accounts.

Given the appealing UX and options for customization, buy-in from stakeholders isn’t usually a problem, but you should still make it your first goal of any implementation. Be sure to make it clear, from the get-go, how Financial Services Cloud will automate routine processes and declutter users’ desks (and desktops).

Apps for streamlined document creation. Apps for security compliance and training. Apps for wealth management and asset management. Apps for just about everything that can make you work better. The flexibility of the Salesforce platform grants you and your employees the ability to work the way you want, using the systems you already know. And if you’re not sure which integrations will give you the most utility, there’s always Salesforce consulting services — yet again! — to point you in the right direction.

Customers have options when it comes to their financial services providers. Unlike large, generally B2B financial institutions — think Fidelity Investments or Blackrock — smaller B2C financial services providers tend to be customer-facing. What customers expect from financial institutions now is a digitally-enabled, accessible, and customized experience from any device. With Salesforce, you can build chatbots and digital service stations to improve the customer experience and address user demands wherever they’re accessing your product or service.

Plus, the increasing prevalence of data breaches has made customers ever more careful about where they put their personal information. By unifying data and removing silos, Salesforce makes it easy for financial advisors and consultants to ensure a secure customer experience. And if that doesn’t go far enough, you can always tap into one of the many security-minded app options in the AppExchange for a Fort Knox-style integration.

Financial services come with a lot of moving parts. A slowdown at any point in a process can delay progress — and profits — significantly, but customizations can be made to Salesforce to ensure the solution moves at the lightning speed you need and always provides the information and insights most relevant to your team.

The financial services industry is under pressure like never before. Disruptors and data breaches are eating into the once rock-solid reputations of businesses in the industry. Meanwhile, customers are demanding more transparency and better experiences. In such a complex and competitive environment, it’s more important than ever to have flexible, adaptable customer relationship management, the kind that can help you meet these challenges head-on through powerful analytics, increased productivity, and secure money management.