Salesforce is a powerful tool, but its implementation can be complex, especially when integrating with existing systems, customizing fields and workflows, and ensuring data quality.

That’s why companies need to hire a strategic advisory team. Strategic advisory is crucial when implementing SFDC (Salesforce) because it ensures that implementation aligns with your business objectives and goals. 

When time and money are quite literally the difference between surviving a cooling economy and thriving despite it, hiring a strategic advisory team will help you get the most value and functionality from your Salesforce system. 

Whether your goal is improving CX with a customized CRM or you’d like to integrate specialized revenue management applications with existing processes, here are five functions where strategic advisory can add value to your Salesforce system: 

 

Business Process Mapping

Some of the most successful digital transformation projects begin with the end result in mind. What are your goals? Budget? Long-term infrastructure plans? A strategic advisor can map your business processes and workflows to identify areas where Salesforce can be implemented to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

 

Solution Design

Your IT team can handle new system updates just fine. But for larger projects, a strategic advisor has experience working with various systems with industry-specific functionalities. 

When you discuss your company’s business goals, objectives, budget, and timeline, a strategic advisor can suggest tools and strategies that have been successful for other customers with similar goals or challenges. 

 

Integration Planning

A strategic advisor can help you plan to integrate Salesforce with other systems, such as marketing automation tools or customer support platforms. A great example of customized and often complex integration occurs with our manufacturing-industry customers. 

Our longtime partnerships with these customers introduced our advisory and delivery teams to the unique needs and new possibilities that custom integration provides. Here’s an example:

“Generally manufacturers will enter and process orders in ERP. If that information is coupled with CRM and Manufacturing Cloud, sales and service professionals can now see exactly how customers are performing against commitments in one place,” Jon Shea, Principal Strategist at Simplus, said. “This provides incredibly valuable information to manufacturers in terms of increasing data visibility and managing customer relationships.” The diverse experience of an advisory team with unique objectives and goals for their digital transformation is a terrific resource for you.  

 

Thoughtful Change Management

An experienced change management team knows how to push the technical success of your digital transformation forward with training, communication, and adoption strategies. But they also invest in your people.

At Simplus, we leverage emotional intelligence to put the people’s side of change first, ensuring eventual adoption and long-term acceptance are strong so you retain valued talent even through the most significant transformations. 

 

Data Management

A strategic advisor can help you develop data management strategies that ensure the integrity of your data, such as data quality rules and data governance policies. Implementing an automated data management system is especially strategic for companies in the healthcare industry, where data is the foundation for improving infrastructure and aligning long-term goals. 

Around 30 percent of the world’s data volume is generated by the healthcare industry.

“. . . As physicians move to EHR patient records, with standardized patient data fields, healthcare stakeholders can access this valuable information and coordinate to develop personalized and potentially global care strategies,” Jayneel Patel, SVP of Industries at Simplus, said. 

And strategic advisory plays a pivotal role in this process to ensure companies are optimizing their data.

“With data as the foundation and digital transformation building the roadmap through innovation, more and more healthcare companies plan to improve their population management process with data as the driving force for improving their infrastructure and aligning their long-term goals with changing needs.” 

Whether you provide healthcare services or high tech or hope to compete in the manufacturing or financial industries, strategic advisory is essential when implementing SFDC as it ensures that your implementation aligns with your business goals, improves efficiency and effectiveness, and maximizes the tool’s value. 

By working with a strategic advisor, you can ensure that your implementation succeeds and you get the most out of your investment.