Salesforce is a big beast and one that can (and should) impact and improve all areas of your business operations and customer engagement. However, it is easy to get lost in day-to-day use with a vast range of features and a marketplace full of enhancements.

Therefore, monitoring usage like any significant investment after launch is essential. This continual monitoring will ensure that business and customer goals are being met and help plan for future enhancements.

We’ve collated some valuable tips and tricks to ensure your implementation and ongoing Salesforce use is successful:

Open lines of communication

Post-implementation planning should focus on the end-users. Resources need to be in place to answer their questions and concerns ensure prompt action on any feedback. Failure to do so will quickly kill enthusiasm for the system and your feedback loops.

Virtual Communications

Information sharing between experts and users is best facilitated through virtual communities, as users can share experiences, and frequently asked questions can be dealt with efficiently.

Feedback

It is crucial to ensure that feedback is not only easy to give but that it is quickly captured, prioritised and actioned. Furthermore, once actioned, communication to the end-users needs is essential to keep positive reinforcement of feedback. 

Regular Stakeholder Engagement

We also recommend regular weekly meetings with key stakeholders so minor issues can be addressed before they impact deployment or usage.

Clear Project and Stakeholder Roles

Like any project team, roles need to be clearly defined and understood to ensure the team understand responsibilities. If each team member knows their specific tasks, there is less unnecessary communication, and the pace of task completion will be that much quicker. Whilst every project and organisation is different, the key roles you need include:

  • Executive Sponsor
    The Executive Sponsor sets the project budget and resources and is responsible for ensuring the project aligns with the organisation’s strategy and goals. They can be used to eradicate large roadblocks and should be included in milestone reviews and status updates.
  • Product Owner/Manager
    This role is the main contact point for your digital partners, and they should be empowered to make decisions on features, task priorities and delivery approaches.
  • Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
    SMEs are experienced experts in specific fields that can supply important information and criteria that others would not know. They should be consulted when undertaking initial discovery and feature sessions and should be involved in user acceptance testing. Time should be spent early to get the SME to understand Salesforce capabilities as this will influence their decision making.
  • Administrator
    The Administrator manages daily project activities and keeps track of changes and requests from SMEs. The administrator is responsible for Salesforce settings like permissions, creating users and minor changes. This role can be internal or provided by your digital partner.

Recognise and Reward Early Adopters

Once your Salesforce instance is in use, user adoption is key. To ensure staff have the right mindset and embrace change, we recommend putting KPIs in place to recognise and reward frequent usage. Login rates, number of contacts added or number of reports viewed are all ways to achieve this. Leaderboards around the office can also create a sense of healthy competition and drive up usage rates.

Conclusion

This article provides you with a good first start, however, If you need dedicated, specialised advice, we recommend you contact us today. We take the time to understand your organisation and industry and recommend best-practice solutions to your business challenges. Contact Etica today to learn more about a better way to digitally transform.