Best strategy & industry practices for Salesforce implementation
Introduction
The process of integrating Salesforce CRM into an organization’s system to advance operations and boost income through Salesforce Services is known as Salesforce implementation. Salesforce implementation is a complex procedure that needs to be managed only by experts. A team of Salesforce Consulting understands the current figures of a business in terms of sales and revenue. After alignment of the current processes with goals, the implementation of Salesforce gets started without hindering the current ongoing operations.
“Salesforce Economy is likely to generate $66.4 Billion in New Business Revenue by 2026”
How is Salesforce Implementation is performed?
To implement Salesforce, a company must recruit a team of Salesforce developers and consultants. It should designate internal managers at various levels to offer and maintain informational data. Salesforce implementation is divided into three stages: pre-launch, launching process, and post-launch.
Pre-launch is choosing the right implementation partner, planning, setting up the team, and allocation of the budget.
During the Launch: Configuration, Customisation, Integration, and Data Migration are carried on.
Post Launch: Salesforce training for internal organization members and post-implementation assistance.
1) Pre-Lunch Implementation:
Teams are formed to understand the client’s business needs, which includes determining the cost and timeline of the implementation project.
2) During the Launch:
A. Customisations and Configuration:
- Salesforce configuration involves developing the existing salesforce setup. This allows the company to configure salesforce based on its own needs.
- Sometimes configuration isn’t enough as the company might need a different set of operations to perform which might be limited within the existing sets of salesforce capabilities.
- To design a system that matches with requirements of the business, salesforce customization is carried on by extension of the APEX code.
B. Integration:
- Salesforce must be integrated with the current entities of the organization as well as the third-party applications that the organization utilizes.
- The integration of salesforce with the company's existing systems will facilitate the internal transfer and sharing of data.
- Integrations are typically performed using REST APIs, SOAP APIs, and APEX web services, allowing Salesforce and other applications to run smoothly and effectively, hence improving corporate operations.
C. Data Migration:
- For optimal operations, salesforce CRM must access the data stored in the company's systems.
- If the business still uses an outdated CRM, all of its data should be moved to Salesforce to be used in future data operations.
- No present business operation should be hampered by the data migration.
- Workflow should not be affected and no loss of data should occur.
- No harm should be done to the data's quality; it should either stay the same or be improved.
- The data migration is carried out to make the data more insightful and useful for CRM's subsequent processes.
3) Post-Launch:
Even after the successful launch of Salesforce, there are still many items on the Salesforce implementation checklist that need to be completed.
A) Salesforce Training:
- Following the effective implementation of Salesforce, the internal staff of the business should receive training on how to use CRM most effectively.
- The implementation of a new system could be challenging for the system's staff and could lead to conflict.
- Salesforce implementation service partners undertake numerous training sessions to teach the staff of that particular organization about Salesforce's basic usage and tasks to remove this type of barrier.
B) Support:
- Once salesforce is live within the system, complete care of the system is taken at utmost priority.
- Any unforeseen bugs that occur post-launch are addressed with urgency by the support team.
- This is called after-launch support.
Salesforce Implementation Strategy
1. Understanding of the client’s business:
One of the foremost steps before the launching of salesforce implementation is to learn about the business requests of the clients.
You need to learn about the reason for stakeholders indulging in salesforce implementation and their goals aligned with the implementation.
To understand this completely, you need to look at the following things-
- Industry of operation
- Brand identity and industry trends
- Competitive analysis
- Market research
- The persona of the customers of the client
- Scope of scalability of the business
2. Define stakeholders:
Stakeholders are individuals or teams apart from developers and consultants that will handle the implemented systems, project managers, and decision-makers.
3. Define Goals:
Define goals, and key performance indicators to completely understand the need for salesforce implementation.
4. Testing:
Testing of the required processes and systems in between the launch related to salesforce configuration, customization, and data migration.
5. Strategizing:
Prepare a strategy that involves the risks associated with each stage and perform accordingly.
6. Time and Cost:
- Before the implementation, both sides agree on the cost and time needed to successfully implement salesforce in the system.
- The scope of the project and the level of customization will determine the costs.
- The project has a predetermined time frame, and the project manager or allocated team members oversee that it is followed correctly.
7. Post-launch support:
Salesforce isn’t limited to its launch as there are proper strategies applied to take after-launch care. Training programs for employees to understand the complexity of salesforce are carried out post-launch.
Dos and Don’ts for Salesforce Implementation
Pre-launch Dos
- The entire Salesforce team should be divided into a variety of jobs, including developers, particular cloud specialists, consultants, product managers, and analysts.
- The finest salesforce implementation partners closely collaborate with the business, its stakeholders, and analysts to define a set of goals for them and examine the sales and operational data already available.
Pre-launch Don’ts
- Although Salesforce is a CRM that is simple to use, an experienced team must carry out procedures that can only be managed by them in order for the deployment to be successful. For this reason, do not implement Salesforce on your own.
- As professionals are the best at doing it, the internal team is unable to foresee the risks associated.
- In-house teams may lose time, data, business processes, and money if the right budget and time frame are not allocated.
| PRE-LAUNCH | DO’s | Don'ts |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Do… hire an expert team for Salesforce implementation |
Don’t… perform Salesforce on your own |
|
2 |
Do… Pre-set the goals of implementation |
Don’t… Start without planning and strategizing |
|
3 |
Do… set a realistic time frame |
Don’t… ignore deadlines |
|
4 |
Do… set your budget |
Don’t… ignore extra costs if incurred |
|
5 |
Do… prepare a risk management strategy |
Don’t… ignore implementation risks |
During the Launch Dos
- The company would ensure that no data is lost and the workflow of the company is least affected while carrying out the customization, integration, and data migration.
- The implementation strategy makes sure that the company remains within the budget and can meet a set of goals. Both parties agree on predetermined time frame.
During the Launch Don’ts
- Implementation of customization before testing may put running systems in to a halt.
- Risks are involved with data migration.
| LAUNCH | DO's | Don'ts |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Do… take care of the existing customers of the system |
Don’t.. ignore end-users |
|
2 |
Do… Customize |
Don’t… settle on default features |
|
3 |
Do… prepare a set of data before migration |
Don’t… ignore risks involved in data migration |
Post Launch Dos
- Implementation of Salesforce strategy alone, is not just limited to development, design, configuration, customize, and integration but also lies in the essence of an important thing known as “Support”.
- Once the salesforce is live within the system, complete care of the system is taken at utmost priority.
Post Launch Don’ts
- Errors should be fixed either by configuration and customization or by troubleshooting.
| POST-LAUNCH | DO’S | DON’TS |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Do… focus on post-implementation support |
Don’t… think it is over after Salesforce is live |
Conclusion:
Salesforce Implementation is done to boost automation and increase the revenue of a business. . It also minimizes the manual load on all the employees. Thus, a team of professionals must be consulted to strategically go about the complex task of Salesforce implementation, while not interrupting the ongoing operations.
