Implementing Salesforce solutions into your business makes sense because the entire philosophy behind Salesforce applications is simplifying and making clear sense of the data available. These solutions and software bridge the gap between your services and consumers by producing business wisdom, equivalent to that attained by a traditional business that has served its clients for many years and knows innately what they need, but in minutes.
So in a time where a pandemic is barricading businesses and making them scale from their garages, it won’t matter how many hands you have on the deck. The deciding factor would be an efficient embracement of digital transformation backed by agile analysis, thorough planning, and measured actions.
But if it’d be that simple, just implementing Salesforce would become the singular cornerstone of building a successful business. The system does make things simple, but it is not an easy or linear process to implement it.
9 Things to Consider During Salesforce Implementation
So once you’re convinced and aware of the potential growth Salesforce can inundate in your business, the next step is to implement it the right way.
Here are 8 things you must keep in mind for successful Salesforce implementation:
1. Plan your process through and through
The most important aspect of Salesforce implementation is planning. Since Salesforce is inherently a broad solution that can be modulated and built according to your requirements, it becomes important to analyze what type of outcome can help you simplify and manage your processes and how it can nudge your business’s growth in the right direction.
Instead of nose-diving right into integration, hash out your goals, and reverse engineer the solutions that can bring you closer to them. This will demarcate a dependable timeline and allow you to manage your resources effectively and reduce liabilities.
2. A balanced dream team
The implementation will be as good as the implementers. Pool in a team that knows their way around these roads and understand every facet and fickles attached to it. The capabilities of this team will decide whether or not you can make do without a consultant or certified implementation agency.
Ideally, the team should be a good balance between the professionals experienced in educating and building these systems and the professionals or users who will then use them. This ensures that the system developed is both usable and resourceful from the point of view of people benefitting from it. Including a project manager in the team will keep things on schedule and makes sure the process does not lose sight of the goal.
3. Importance of end-users and customers
What good is a sports car with manual transmission to a driver that has driven automatic his entire life! The entire ideology of implementing Salesforce is to simplify the management and proceedings across your business’s data points.
Since your employees or your clientele will first use or benefit from these systems, their experience and requirements should be incorporated extensively in the testing phase to ensure maximum ROI.
4. Choosing Project methodology – Opt to build sequentially and iteratively
The key to choosing the right project methodology to follow is understanding where your existing systems stand. Implementing Salesforce for the first time requires an iterative and cumulative approach so that each phase of development fits the jigsaw of your requirements perfectly. One wrong piece and it could throw the momentum off the key. This approach is called the “scrum” or agile methodology and is said to minimize failures to a very great extent, especially when you want your development phase to be fluid.
On the other hand, the “waterfall” methodology is a more traditional development method that sticks to a sequential schedule to achieve the assigned goals. This methodology can be beneficial for upgrades or when development requirements are strictly rolled out and are to be followed religiously.
5. Data maintenance
Salesforce can make your data handling better but it is your development choices and continuous maintenance that will keep this data compartmentalized and relevant. Seamless data integration and migration will do no good to your users if the data itself is outdated and repetitive. Hence, it becomes increasingly important to screen and analyze the data that flows in your systems. A strong cloud interface backed with thorough security and timely maintenance will ensure your Salesforce solution does not crumble on itself.
6. Train-Test-Execute-Repeat
Deploy maximum testing and training during the implementation period so that by the time the CRM is developed, the users are well versed in operating these systems. This not only hones the user to get familiar with the upgrade and increase their productivity but steers the development stage by reducing practical errors. Conduct timely training seminars after every upgrade to ensure your users make the best use of the upgrades and available resources, bringing value to your customers and profit to your business.
7. Investments Required in Terms of Time and Money
Another point in your implementation checklist should be the time it takes to execute the full implementation of the requested features. Time is an invaluable resource and should not be wasted unnecessarily. Our Salesforce experts predict that a basic implementation of your leads and opportunities could take up to 30 days, but if you want further customization, it would demand more time. A clearly defined scope at the onset helps reduce the time spent in the long run.
The second-most valuable resource is obviously money which again requires a clear-cut budget at the start of the project. The budget will also vary depending on the features and customization required. For example, if you want to implement Sales Cloud only, it could cost you anything between $25-300 (user/month). Other factors that influence cost are:
- Number of potential users
- Cost of consulting
- Cost of data migration
- Cost of customization
- Cost of training user
- Cost of after-launch support
8. Don’t go on a spree. Invest tactically.
While Salesforce houses many solutions and modules that help build a strong CRM suite, your investment must be born out of practical and analytical judgments essential to boost your business. Also, revamping and implementing large changes, even those that can benefit you, should not be undertaken as it changes the status quo followed by existing systems which can then overwhelm your users and become greatly redundant. Integrate derivatively by rolling out timely and conscious implementations in phases.
9. Importance of consultation
Salesforce has a big menu of solutions and software that can tend to the hunger of different businesses. The question here is, what are you hungry for? While most of you can still stick to your “usuals,” to relish newer and better tastes, one has to try different dishes and hope they make your mornings worthwhile.
Cloudiate emerges in this scene with a knack to recommend specials according to your taste and deliver that soothing dish without any hassle. Analogies aside, Cloudiate holds the talent and expertise to make sure that your Salesforce integration implements each of the practices stated above in the article so that all you have to do is sit down and reap its benefits.
To know more about our services, get in touch with us today!
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