10 Key Things to Consider Before Choosing a Salesforce Consulting Firm

 

Every organization looks to stay ahead of its competition and get closer to its customers by leveraging a robust CRM system. So, while you are looking to deploy Salesforce, it is extremely important to choose the right Salesforce consulting partner. Whether you are looking to implement a Salesforce CRM or looking to upgrade, it is important to select the right Salesforce Consulting partner for your digital journey. But how do you select the right partner and what are the areas to probe? Let’s find out!

• Relevant Experience: This has to be thoroughly assessed before you sign up for your Salesforce consulting firm of choice. There has to be demonstrable expertise across similar industries and business contexts. Naturally, they should be up to date with their certifications and also exhibit strong domain consulting skills.
• Cultural Alignment: Success with large-scale digital transformation initiatives requires tremendous focus on culture and change management. It is extremely important to work with a Salesforce consulting firm whose values and ideals resonate with yours. Fostering a positive work environment, receptivity to feedback, and above all a strong vestment in your journey to success can only be ascertained when there is alignment.
• Customization Capabilities: Every organization is unique and therefore leveraging Salesforce, which is also a highly customizable platform, makes it challenging to get the right fit. Ensuring the Salesforce consulting firm, you choose understands the intricacies of Salesforce’s customization is important. They should be able to not only understand your requirements but also be able to translate them into actionable phases. They should be able to translate your business requirements into customized features, workflows, and automation within Salesforce. The right firm with expertise in customization will ensure that they use the right tools and datasets to maximize the platform’s potential and create a CRM system that perfectly aligns with your aspirations and requirements.
• Integration and Data Migration Expertise: A successful Salesforce consulting firm needs to be able to do a seamless job of integrating its existing applications with Salesforce but also be able to migrate data. They should be able to understand complex technical situations as well as be able to manage plugins, and APIs besides data clean and migration techniques. This expertise will help prevent data inconsistencies and ensure a smooth transition to Salesforce without operational disruption.
• Continued Support and Maintenance: It is a very rare situation when Salesforce implementation is a one-time event. In all other situations, it is important to have a Salesforce Consulting partner work with you throughout your journey. Salesforce comes up with multiple releases in a year with a number of features that enable organizations to become more agile. It is important therefore to work with a partner who understands that the situation requires dynamic support. The support model should be consistent with your financial goals and be dynamic so that every relevant update is patched to your system in a timely fashion. This level of support from the Salesforce consulting firm ensures that your Salesforce implementation remains optimized and creates a seamless experience for the user.
• Growth with your partner: A good Salesforce consulting firm will recognize your need for growth. As your organization evolves, so should your Salesforce partner. Make sure to select a Salesforce consulting firm that can accommodate your future needs and understand your urgency for scale. Your current and future architecture should incorporate the need for growth and therefore they should recommend scalability and flexibility in their solutions to you. This kind of future planning will hold you in good stead as you can avoid potential delays and pitfalls in future implementations.
• Client References: Client references and testimonials are a great indicator of the kind of success you will see with the implementation. These testimonials, whether written or oral, will give you a chance to understand how the success of your transformation journey may evolve. Be sure to ask your Salesforce consulting firm to share relevant contacts who may be willing to spend time with you to share their journey and feedback from it. You may want to ask specific questions about their management capabilities, expertise in diffusing complex situations, culture, and other relevant areas. Their feedback would be a good indicator of your future with the Salesforce consulting firm.
• Roadmap & Milestones: It is important to ensure that your Salesforce consulting firm has the right tools to identify key milestones in your journey as well as having a strong grasp of how to move on the journey post-implementation. Some of the steps in planning the roadmap and milestones include- Planning the integration, creating a timeline, defining the strategy, determining the core client team, data transfer strategy, communication and change management, rollout phases definition, and post-implementation follow-ups to name a few. You must ensure these milestones are well-defined in your firm’s plan.
• Value for money: Select the partner who brings optimal value without burning a hole in your pocket. For seasoned firms, the ability to use templates, have a strong employee base in client locations, and bring in similar use cases, and frameworks to apply while creating the roadmap and journey is critical to keeping costs manageable. Make sure you understand how they are costing out the initiative so that unwanted costs are kept out.
• Leadership Team: As you select your partner it is important to understand whether you will have access to their leadership team. Will they be willing to entertain your doubts and anxieties as you undertake the journey. A strong and reliable leadership team is critical to the success of any project as they lay down the ground rules of engagement which are then followed by the rest of the team.

Choosing the right Salesforce Consulting partner can ensure your journey is smooth and hassle-free. Even though it’s a bit of work, it is worth investing your time and bandwidth to ensure you make a wise choice while selecting your Salesforce consulting firm.

About Marlabs

Marlabs designs and develops digital solutions that help our clients improve their digital outcomes. We deliver new business value through custom application development, advanced software engineering, digital-first strategy & advisory services, digital labs for rapid solution incubation and prototyping, and agile engineering to build and scale digital solutions. Our offerings help leading companies around the world make operations sleeker, keep customers closer, transform data into decisions, de-risk cyberspace, boost legacy system performance, and seize novel opportunities and new digital revenue streams.

Marlabs is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices in the US, Germany, Canada, Brazil and India. Its 2500+ global workforce includes highly experienced technology, platform, and industry specialists from the world’s leading technical universities.

Marlabs Inc. (Global Headquarters) One Corporate Place South, 3rd Floor, Piscataway NJ — 08854–6116, Tel: +1 (732) 694 1000 Fax: +1 (732) 465 0100, Email: contact@marlabs.com.