How Does a Salesforce Consulting Partner Drive Business Transformation?

What is a Salesforce Consulting Partner?

A Consulting Partner is a Salesforce-authorized company that provides their business knowledge and extensive expertise to help businesses get the most out of their Salesforce investment. From developing custom solutions to project implementations, and integrations, these companies are trained to lead the innovation phase and help businesses connect with their customers in new ways. 

Think of them as an extension of your team, bringing the latest strategies, best practices, and tailored solutions to your business’s specific needs. Certified Salesforce Partners demonstrate this expertise by keeping their Salesforce certifications current and by displaying the portfolios of their successful projects. 

In case you’re wondering, the certification process for Consulting Partners is rigorous, involving various areas of expertise such as:

• Salesforce Education Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce Community Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce Einstein Analytics and Discovery Consultant
• Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce Service Cloud Consultant
• Salesforce Field Service Lightning Consultant

Simply put, these partners are not just experts in the technical aspects of Salesforce but also in business analysis, strategy, planning, and execution. In this way, they help you break free from siloed structures and enable your business to achieve its true potential.

Ways in which a Salesforce Consulting Partner Drives Business Transformation

A Salesforce Partner does the following: 

1. Performs a Diagnosis to Identify the Bottlenecks in the Implementation Process

As a rule of thumb, for any business to level up, it must first diagnose its operational inefficiencies.  This is where a competent Consulting Partner comes into play to conduct an in-depth analysis of your current Salesforce implementation. This diagnosis phase aims to pinpoint hitches or bottlenecks in your current setup that could be hindering business processes and adoption rates. An informed diagnosis is crucial as it allows the Consultant to craft a targeted Salesforce digital transformation plan that addresses specific issues. 

Here’s How It Might Look:

For a company that is experiencing poor user adoption of its Salesforce system, a Consulting Partner would analyze its user experience, system customizations, and training practices to identify the root cause. Perhaps a complex user interface or inadequate training could be the problem. This is where a tailored solution, such as simplifying the UI or delivering customized end-user training, can catalyze user adoption by a Certified Salesforce Partner. 

2. Sets up the System to Align With Your Business Needs

Aligning the Salesforce system with your specific business goals is a step often overlooked by many companies. This is a crucial step where a Consulting Partner offering Salesforce consultation ensures your system doesn’t operate in a silo but integrates seamlessly with your daily operations and overarching business strategy.

A Situational Example:

Suppose a company that recently onboarded Salesforce but failed to integrate data from existing systems efficiently. A Salesforce Consulting Company would propose setting up data synchronization tools or customizing objects and fields within Salesforce to align with existing data models, ensuring a holistic view of customer data across the organization.

3. Carries out Effective Configurations and Customization

One size rarely fits all, especially in business technology. However, effective configuration and customization are the keys to ensuring that your Salesforce system is uniquely tailored to your business, streamlining your processes, and providing a rich, targeted user experience. 

Customization For Business Transformation:

Consider a healthcare organization that needs to comply with industry-specific regulations. In this scenario, a certified Salesforce Partner would customize the system to track and manage patient care in a manner that’s compliant while still being intuitive for medical staff, leading to better outcomes and enhanced patient care. 

4. Stays up-to-date to help you achieve your goals efficiently

The beauty of working with a Consulting partner is their constant monitoring of Salesforce updates, best practices, and industry trends. This vigilance is crucial to keeping your business ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. 

Keeping Pace with New Features:

New features like Lighting Experience or AI-driven analytics can dramatically enhance your Salesforce platform. A proactive Consulting Partner will always be on the lookout for such features and facilitate their integration to bolster your system’s efficiency and user satisfaction.

5. Enables you to meet deadlines while minimizing setbacks

It is no secret that transitioning processes can be fraught with unanticipated challenges and delays. A Consulting Partner, with a wealth of experience in managing Salesforce transformations, can help ensure smoother transitions with minimal setbacks.

What does Effective Project Management look like?

For instance, if you’re a retail business looking to implement Salesforce ahead of a critical sales season. The Consulting Partner ensures timelines are met by employing robust project management methodologies, effective resource allocation, and proactive issue resolution strategies.

6. Implements new Strategies to Increase Return on Investment (ROI)

Your Salesforce system’s ROI is a pivotal metric in analyzing your business’ success. In case your company is experiencing high customer churn. A Salesforce Consulting Partner can offer strategies that not only improve system efficiency and user adoption but also directly amplify the financial benefits of your Salesforce deployment. This would include implementing Service Cloud to enhance customer service and reduce churn. Service automation tools like chatbots and knowledge bases could provide instant solutions, improving customer satisfaction and, in turn, ROI.

7. Provides Continuous Support Throughout the Transition Process

Transformation is not a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process. A dependable consulting partner will provide support not just during the initial implementation phase but also in the days and months following to ensure that the system continues to evolve with your business needs.

Post-launch support would look like: 

Following a successful launch, ongoing support might involve regular check-ins, user support, system monitoring, and training refreshers. This support ensures that your system remains an agile and responsive asset, adapting to your business’s changing dynamics and objectives.

Role of a Salesforce Consulting Partner Among Various Industries

How do you know if you need a Salesforce Consulting Partner?

Realizing the need for a Partner providing Salesforce consultation services can come in various forms. It could be a stagnation in system usage, unmet business objectives, or a large-scale organizational change that necessitates external expertise. 

Here are a few indicators that you might relate to signal the need for a Consulting Partner in your Salesforce journey:

1. Low user adoption rates, where your employees might be resistant to using Salesforce and not engaging with it as you had hoped.
2. Inaccurate data and reporting challenges, which might be due to a lack of system optimization.
3. Complexity of system customizations that might not match your actual business needs.
4. Your system is not keeping up with business changes, and you are struggling to incorporate new business processes.
5. Lack of in-house expertise to develop a long-term strategic plan for your Salesforce platform.

If any of these challenges sound familiar to you, it might be time to start considering a partnership with a  certified Salesforce Consulting Partner.

The Way Forward!

Remember, selecting a Consulting partner is a significant step, one that requires careful consideration and due diligence. Look for a partner that not only has technical prowess but also shares your business values and objectives. The right partnership can make all the difference in harnessing the true potential of your Salesforce platform and ushering in a new era of business success.