Nathan Altadonna
With businesses constantly seeking resources to make their processes more efficient, Salesforce has risen to the top in terms of a high-quality, effective CRM platform.
Many businesses view Salesforce as the top platform for streamlining and creating successful marketing and sales. However, a successful Salesforce strategy requires proper planning and implementation, as poorly planned Salesforce can actually backfire. Here’s everything you need to consider before you implement Salesforce:
To begin with, you’ll need to understand all of the costs associated with using Salesforce.
This isn’t limited to just your license costs. You’ll need to take every potential associated cost into consideration, such as whether or not you’re going to need to hire a consultant, if there will be additional implementation costs and the costs for ongoing support.
Large enterprises sometimes focus only on the licensing costs and don't realize that to get the full value and a return on the investment in Salesforce. You need to plan for the right support resources and tools as well.
When you implement any new enterprise software that you will want to make sure the benefits are going to outweigh the financial costs. The best way to determine this is by understanding your business’s particular goals for your Salesforce implementation. What business goals or problems do you want the CRM to solve? Potential goals include:
You’ll need to establish the success metrics of your Salesforce implementation so you can plan how to both measure and execute those goals.
When implementing Salesforce, the cleanliness of your data matters. If you have a bunch of data that is outdated, repetitive, or unneeded, it’s going to hinder the way that the platform works. In fact, if your data isn’t clean, any issues that you experienced with your old system will carry over to Salesforce.
Check out your customer and sales data to make sure that they’re free of superfluous data. If data isn’t clean, you may not want to migrate it to the new system. You need to ensure that your data is going to conform to the Salesforce data model so that it works well and enables accurate reporting.
Salesforce experts are key for successful implementation. These are people who know the platform inside and out, who will be able to assist you in seamlessly integrating and implementing Salesforce.
Your Salesforce expert will help you map out your implementation strategy ahead of time and to execute it. They will continue to assist you as you train users and through any and all future changes or upgrades to the system.
To build your team of Salesforce subject matter experts in your organization, you’ll need to decide if you can rely on existing staff, hire new employees or pay for outside consultants.
While Salesforce has numerous tools and features, it will still need to function cohesively with your business’ other applications. Not understanding how to ensure seamless integration of Salesforce with other systems and platforms will cause challenges and could potentially hinder your organization instead of help it.
Properly integrating Salesforce with your other tools will create a seamless, effective flow of processes, including efficiency, visibility, and data.
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Having an in-depth understanding of Salesforce is necessary for ensuring proper implementation. In fact, without that understanding, it becomes quite tricky to use. Figure out which Salesforce features will best support your business and craft a plan for using them.
With so many incredible current and upcoming features included in Salesforce, it’s important to keep your unique business and plan in mind. Your implementation strategy should reflect the goals and KPIs you’ll use to measure the success of your Salesforce adoption.
Salesforce has a ton of moving parts. Not only that, but the platform needs to be properly understood in order to be effectively implemented. You’ll want to have a plan for quickly onboarding your users to Salesforce as a part of your implementation plan.
As you begin to make Salesforce a part of your regular business processes, you’ll want to make sure that you have the support you need to keep things running smoothly. Consistent implementation of an effective Salesforce strategy means having a team you can turn to for optimization, automation, and modifications. Salesforce experts can provide you with continual support, training and retraining your team when needed, customizing and streamlining your business processes, and ensuring that you have an ongoing, top strategy.
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Guidance, Content, Onboarding
Make complicated software simple with custom in-app and on-screen guidance. Give your employees the content they need, when they need it-without writing a single line of code.
Validation, Workflows, Compliance
Prioritize business goals by taking an active approach to process compliance. Deliver improved workforce productivity across departments ensuring better software ROI.
Analytics, Insights, Recommendations
Gain greater visibility into your transformation initiatives with robust tracking and analytics. Consistently improve your process through informed, data-driven decisions.
Automation, Integrations, Cross-platform
The platform is lightweight and flexible. And with robust automation features you can scale your digital adoption strategies across your entire organization in days, not months (or years).
Here’s how each of the “Four As” can help you improve your Salesforce implementation and increase user efficiency and proficiency:
Providing onboarding and training to all the Salesforce users in an organization is no small task. Many Salesforce implementations run behind schedule or over budget due to issues with user onboarding and training. Here’s an overview of the Salesforce adoption challenges companies can solve with assistance from Apty:
| Challenge | Symptoms | Causes | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unproductive User Training | Users can’t complete basic tasks in Salesforce without assistance Large number of support tickets |
Ineffective Training Methods Traditional training methods such as video or classroom sessions aren’t effective. Employees don’t want to learn that way, and as a result, most fail to retain the knowledge from traditional training sessions. The average person forgets 75% of what they learn in less than a week. Complex Configurations Even if an employee has used Salesforce before, they haven’t used it the way your company configured the application. Employees need help learning how to complete processes in your Salesforce environment. |
Apty simplifies Salesforce with on-screen guidance and replaces the need for traditional training methods. Apty allows employees to learn by doing. Apty walks users through your process and systems step-by-step inside Salesforce. Apty introduces users to the application while they’re completing their work. |
| Sluggish User Onboarding | Behind-schedule rollouts Greater ramp-up time for new employees (beyond 3 months) |
Overwhelming Training Not every user will use all the features in Salesforce. This is especially true if you’re using multiple modules like Service and Commerce clouds. If you’ve designed an onboarding program that covers all of Salesforce, users will struggle to get through it all when large parts aren’t relevant to their job. Training Logistics Training hundreds or thousands of employees across multiple time zones and locations is a logistical headache if you’re using live video or classroom training methods. Large enterprises need modern digital training tools that are easily scalable. |
Apty makes it easy to develop and deliver custom-tailored training and onboarding with on-screen guidance so users can quickly learn the parts of Salesforce that are most essential to their roles. Apty also makes it easier to deliver training and onboarding across multiple locations - including to remote workers. Apty’s tools are always available so employees can learn on their time and at their own pace. |
| Overwhelmed Support | Increased number of support tickets High Support Costs |
Ineffective Training and Onboarding As a result of Salesforce onboarding and training challenges, users will get stuck and start reaching out to their IT teams for help with relatively simple tasks. |
Apty’s self-service support allows users to solve their own problems with on-screen guidance without the need to open a support ticket. Apty can decrease Salesforce-related support tickets by 70 to 80 percent. |
Data quality is the top complaint most companies have about their Salesforce implementations. In fact, several surveys have confirmed that Salesforce administrators rank data quality and management as their most pressing issues. According to a recent Salesforce study, on average, a company’s contact database has:
The driving force leading companies to adopt Salesforce is a desire to improve decision-making and visibility about sales, marketing, and customer service. That’s impossible with poor data quality. When a customer or contact record is incomplete, your sales team wastes valuable time researching instead of closing a deal. Here’s how Apty can help with your compliance and data quality challenges:
| Challenge | Symptoms | Causes | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missing Data | Invalid reports Incomplete information or data entries |
Extraneous Fields CRM systems include forms with multiple fields. New Salesforce users can easily input essential information into the wrong field or forget to input it all. Not Knowing What Data is Needed Unless you’re completing a process multiple times each day, it can be hard to remember what to do. Employees often struggle to remember what information is required when they’re only completing a task on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. |
Apty offers custom validations to make sure your Salesforce data is accurate and complete. Apty’s validations will stop users from moving on to the next screen unless they’ve completed all required fields. Another advantage to Apty’s validations is the ability to create conditional validations. For example, Apty could require certain fields based on the size of a deal. |
| Poor Data Quality | Inaccurate reports | Company-Specific Rules Large organizations often have their own business rules that need to apply all the data going into their CRM. Ensuring compliance with custom business rules is often impossible. Human Error Most employees want to do a good job. But it’s easy to make a mistake when you’re busy or simply forget what’s information is required. This creates a headache for business leaders who are relying on the CRM data for accurate reporting and forecasting. |
Apty’s data validations alert users to any mistakes. Apty’s on-screen guidance can then show them how to fix the errors. With Apty’s code-free editor, it’s easy to customize your data validations to match your company-specific requirements. For example, many Apty clients use the validation feature to enforce naming conventions. |
| Process Compliance | Low completion rates Missing Data Use of shadow IT or manual processes |
User Difficulties If users think Salesforce is too difficult, they’ll revert to old processes. Many times sales people will be reluctant to log calls or interactions and instead keep tabs on a prospect in a notebook. Or some teams might start investing in alternative SaaS solutions because they don’t realize the full functionality of Salesforce. |
Apty makes Salesforce easier to use, so users more quickly adopt your new processes. Apty’s tracking also allows you to see how different users or teams are utilizing Salesforce so you can quickly identify who isn’t properly using the system and address it. |
Companies implement Salesforce to increase their visibility into their sales pipeline and customer relationships, but often fail to realize those benefits due to poor tracking and insights on their implementation. Here’s how Apty can help you gain a better understanding of your digital adoption and adjust your strategy for success:
| Challenge | Symptoms | Causes | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measuring Adoption | No visibility or benchmarks for Salesforce adoption | Unhelpful usage data Just because someone logged in to Salesforce, doesn’t mean they completed their work. Most in-app analytics can’t give insight into how people are using your CRM to know if they’re successfully adopting both the software and your processes. |
Apty tracks more than just how your users interact with on-screen guidance. Apty tracks and analyzes how people are using your software even if they don’t use Apty’s help tools. Apty’s advanced platform provides insights on where users are struggling so you can deploy additional in-app support to overcome any adoption challenge. |
| On-Time delivery | Missed deadlines Delayed roll outs |
Slow Implementation Onboarding and training users with traditional methods like classroom or video training is slow, hard to scale and not effective. No Monitoring Keeping to your implementation schedule requires knowing when you’re about to miss a deadline. Salesforce implementations can easily run behind schedule because enterprises lack a system for identifying potential bottlenecks or delays. |
Apty helps companies adopt Salesforce 2-3 times faster thanks to intelligent on-screen guidance that quickly onboards new users. Apty also enables Salesforce admins to get a better understanding of their adoption with advanced usage analytics and insights. Apty can alert stakeholders if their implementation is at risk of failing or running behind schedule. |
| Process Conversion and Optimization | Low process completion rates Poor overall adoption |
Outdated Processes Many companies waste valuable time trying to customize Salesforce to fit their existing or outdated sales processes. A successful Salesforce adoption needs to include modernizing your processes to best utilize the features of your new CRM. Difficult Processes If a process is too hard, users are more likely to make mistakes or abandon the process. Salesforce only works when people follow your process and input data. |
Apty simplifies Salesforce processes with on-screen guidance and automation. Apty also allows admins to track custom business processes so you can quickly identify what steps are causing the most problems and address them with on-screen guidance. |
Apty can help large organizations overcome the challenges of rolling out Salesforce to multiple teams. In fact, Apty helped onboard more than 3 million users in what was both the largest Salesforce implementation and largest DAP deployment. Here’s how Apty can help your business with a smooth and quick enterprise adoption:
| Challenge | Symptoms | Causes | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT Utilization | Increased IT costs or hours | Over Customization Too many unnecessary configurations can quickly overwhelm your IT team. No Business Unit Support Sales teams shouldn’t need to rely on IT to make updates when processes change. |
Apty is an overlay on top of Salesforce, allowing you to customize processes or user experiences without making complex configurations to your Salesforce instance. Apty also business owners to manage and create on-screen guidance content without using IT resources. |
| User Productivity | Poor process completion rates Low employee output |
Confused Users It’s impossible to get the full value out of Salesforce if your users don’t know what to do. Mundane Processes Users tend to neglect or avoid repetitive processes with convoluted steps. |
Apty helps users get more done in less time by making any process easier through on-screen guidance and automating mundane processes. For example, Apty can make logging a call or updating an opportunity as simple as using a chatbot without even opening Salesforce. |
| System Integrations | Siloed processes | Cross-Application Processes Most enterprise employees may use three to five applications to finish one task. If users find it difficult to use Salesforce with other business applications, your adoption won’t be successful. |
Apty supports cross-application processes by deploying on-screen guidance across any web-based application. For example, Apty could walk users through a process that begins in Salesforce and continues with your ERP. Apty would guide them to complete whenever the processes take them to another application. |
Here’s how each of the “Four As” can help you improve your Salesforce implementation and increase user efficiency and proficiency:
Providing onboarding and training to all the Salesforce users in an organization is no small task. Many Salesforce implementations run behind schedule or over budget due to issues with user onboarding and training. Here’s an overview of the Salesforce adoption challenges companies can solve with assistance from Apty:
Challenge #1: Unproductive User Training
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #2: Sluggish User Onboarding
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #3: Overwhelmed Support
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Data quality is the top complaint most companies have about their Salesforce implementations. In fact, several surveys have confirmed that Salesforce administrators rank data quality and management as their most pressing issues. According to a recent Salesforce study, on average, a company’s contact database has:
The driving force leading companies to adopt Salesforce is a desire to improve decision-making and visibility about sales, marketing, and customer service. That’s impossible with poor data quality. When a customer or contact record is incomplete, your sales team wastes valuable time researching instead of closing a deal. Here’s how Apty can help with your compliance and data quality challenges:
Challenge #1: Missing Data
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #2: Poor Data Quality
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #3: Process Compliance
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Companies implement Salesforce to increase their visibility into their sales pipeline and customer relationships, but often fail to realize those benefits due to poor tracking and insights on their implementation. Here’s how Apty can help you gain a better understanding of your digital adoption and adjust your strategy for success:
Challenge #1: Measuring Adoption
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #2: On-Time delivery
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #3: Process Conversion and Optimization
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Apty can help large organizations overcome the challenges of rolling out Salesforce to multiple teams. In fact, Apty was helped onboard more than 3 million users in what was both the largest Salesforce implementation and largest DAP deployment. Here’s how Apty can help your business with a smooth and quick enterprise adoption:
Challenge #1: IT Utilization
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #2: User Productivity
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
Challenge #3: System Integrations
Symptoms:
Causes:
Solution:
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