The Power of Workflows

If you are on Enterprise edition or above, you have access to a powerful feature - workflows.  With workflows, you have the ability to automate key business processes when certain things happen on a record.  For example, you could:

• Have an email sent to your Contract Administrator when an opportunity is marked as closed by your sales team.
• Have a task reminder logged for a sales rep when they enter a contact to touch base with that contact again in 3 months.
• Have a field update made automatically, either immediately or a set timeframe thereafter, when a record is changed.  For example, you could have SalesForce automatically mark opportunities as closed lost if there is no edits on them in 6 months

With workflows you can do so much once you know how to use them effectively.  Furthermore, in the next release, you will have the ability to leverage Flows (https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=vpm_designer_overview.htm&language=en_US) and launch them by way of workflow rules.  The power is endless and all of this doesn't require you to write any code!