Does this story sound familiar? The company did a Salesforce implementation a few years ago. The original implementation may well have met the initial ROI metrics. But now, a few years later, the CFO is looking at the size of the check for licenses every year and asking questions about whether or not the company is seeing commensurate value. Various BU teams who use Salesforce think they probably see the value, but really aren’t sure.
Somewhere, there are some people still “doing stuff” in Salesforce from an implementation perspective. Some leaders are hearing complaints about the system getting slow. The people doing implementation give seemingly high estimates to make what should be minor changes because customization done in the initial implementation is getting in the way.
Unfortunately, the story is all too common.
The solution is having a comprehensive CRM Strategy.
Often, the initial decision to move to Salesforce is made by a single part of an organization and/or and the business case is based on a set of specific needs in the moment. However, much of the power and benefit of using Salesforce comes when it is used as a true enterprise platform and the core system for customer interactions. When implemented this way, the reusability of functions, data, etc. drive significant ROI across the broader enterprise.
A cohesive CRM Strategy is needed to align brand experience, employee experience, business objective, IT execution, etc.
Value-based Roadmapping and Prioritization – Once the initial implementation is complete, how does your organization ensure that there is a continued focus on gaining additional ROI from the use of Salesforce?
Defining Resource Requirements – Based on a wide range of factors (number of users, personas, user stories, integrations, change velocity, etc.), what is an appropriate level of staffing to support Salesforce in your company?
COE Definition and Mechanisms – Does your organization need a Salesforce Center of Excellence? Is your COE model based on the legacy “tollgate” model of pre-Agile IT days vs a COE designed for an Agile organization?
M&A Assessments – Assuming your customers are really important to your business, wouldn’t it make sense to prioritize understanding how each part of the organization interacts with the customer, and stores and uses customer data?
The AI “Arms Race” – As the frenzy around AI increases, it can be really tempting to throw huge sums of money at “experts” for some kind of traction.
Blue Sky Consulting can help you with all these questions and more.