Success is based on understanding momentum, the best way to stay successful is to use it outright. Salesforce has established itself as the industry’s leader in customer relationship management (CRM) systems. From streamlining a company’s entire sales process, delivering solid marketing campaigns, and providing top-notch customer service; it’s easily the strongest tool for driving growth.
However, as powerful as the Salesforce platform is, to effectively manage it isn’t easy. Many businesses will buy Salesforce with all the gusto in the world, but coming to find maintaining, updating, and optimizing it on your own is a bit of a pain. Finding a full-time Salesforce administrator, developer, or consultant is going to add a lot of expenses to your balance sheet. And, just to make things worse, Salesforce probably doesn’t realize how expensive hiring full-time resources is, which is why they deliberately update their application three times a year and usually add more features and compliance requirements to keep the industry entertained! Without a full-time Salesforce resource, these updates create inefficiencies, downtime, and much to the delight of my lawyer, possible compliance issues.
In comes Salesforce Managed Services. Businesses often require more than single implementation partners or managed service partners that on-board and leave you hanging. Salesforce has made the use of their application so robust that many companies will have limited utilization of this valuable company asset.
Consider using an MSP for Salesforce that provides continuous Salesforce support services, business optimization, proactive monitoring, and strategic recommendations. By integrating managed services for Salesforce you will enable business continuity by adding certified experts on-demand, proactive support and business-level solutions that not only keep your CRM functioning well, but also properly evolve it.
What Are Salesforce Managed Services?
Hire Salesforce Managed Services is an ongoing support, administration, and optimization offered by a team of certified Salesforce experts. It is not a single engagement, such as a one-time setup or project. Managed Services is your insurance policy that lets you know that your Salesforce environment will be managed with ongoing attention, updates, and improvements as your business evolves.
It’s like an omni-channel support, on-call Salesforce team looking after you, without the overhead from the cost of maintaining an internal team.
Here’s how it compares to other models:
- In-house Salesforce Team: In-house Salesforce Team – Many companies simply hire Salesforce admins or Salesforce developers to try to cover the CRM. This can give direct control but it can come at a very high price and often limited to the capabilities of the individuals on your team. In addition, when they leave you are not only faced with a rehiring challenge which takes time, but you will also need to retrain someone new related to your Salesforce environment.
- One-Time Salesforce Implementation Partner: Some companies engage with partners to assist with the initial setup or configuration or customize the Salesforce environment. Although these companies are helpful it is a short time period as once the engagement is complete you are left to keep things updated, fixed, and optimized on your own.
- Salesforce Managed Services Provider (MSP): Managed Services Provider offers end-to-end support services for Salesforce for as long as you require on-going service. This includes administration, dedicated developer, integration, user training, security monitoring, fine-tune performance, etc., The difference from one-time partners is that they are walking with you to build a long term relationship.
In summary, managed services for Salesforce provides you with more than just “keeping the lights on” – it aligns you with a consultative partner that helps you maximize the use of your investment in Salesforce and structure the system to ensure the process is aligned with your long term strategies.
The Challenges of Managing Salesforce In-House
While Salesforce is a phenomenal CRM, there are a multitude of challenges that are inherent in managing it in-house that can slow productivity, efficiency, and growth.
1. Constant Platform Updates & New Features
Salesforce issues three major releases per year. Each release becomes progressively more intricate and includes new features, bug fixes, and compliance changes. Without expert interpretation, businesses risk becoming out-of-date, not leveraging innovations, or experiencing system failures/hiccups.
2. Rising Hiring & Training Costs
Developing an internal Salesforce workforce requires significant financial investment. Certified Salesforce administrators and developers are in high demand, and salaries tend to reflect that demand. There are also additional expenses associated with their maintaining current training, which is an ongoing requirement. For many organizations, the costs of building, maintaining, and keeping current any type of internal Salesforce workforce is not affordable.
3. Data Security & Compliance Risks
When thinking about Salesforce it’s important to remember it is a very large customer data repository. Those repositories come with added responsibilities to ensure customer data security, regulatory compliance like GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, and building solutions to do so is expensive. Many in-house teams simply don’t have the expertise to keep systems compliant, putting the business at risk of penalties or breaches.
4. Lack of 24/7 Monitoring & Support
Downtime or technical failures impact revenue, and in-house teams typically cannot afford, or are not able, to monitor Salesforce systems round-the-clock. Without proactive monitoring, companies are typically in a reactive state of dealing with things as they happen, rather than putting themselves in a position to avoid potential issues.
5. Business Scaling Needs
As businesses grow, so do their requirements for Salesforce. It can be costly and complex to scale an in-house team quickly. Without flexibility, companies risk running into bottlenecks regarding their CRM activity.
These challenges are just some of the reasons Salesforce Managed Services are necessary, not just a luxury, for success in permanent fashion.
Key Benefits of Salesforce Managed Services
Using a Global Salesforce Managed Services provider has many benefits over and above simply saving costs with in-house resources. Let’s go through the top benefits of Salesforce Managed Services:
1. Cost Efficiency
Managed services are a much more economical choice than hiring a full in-house Salesforce team. A business pays for a team of Salesforce experts for a known flat fee monthly, instead of incurring recruitment, training, and staffing costs for turnover.
2. Continuous Optimization
Most providers of managed services will not only keep your CRM, they actively optimize it. Periodic audits, engagements, and alignments with performance and enhancements ensures that CRM performance is optimized to meet business goals.
3. Expertise On-Demand
When you use on-demand Salesforce support services, your business has immediate access to Salesforce certified consultants, developers and administrators, with specialist skills and knowledge in each of the Salesforce clouds, functions and capabilities. When you have on-call ‘experts’ your organisation can get the help it needs, without having to wait weeks to hire or train staff.
4. Scalability
Whether you are just starting with your product or across the globe in a growing enterprise, managed services for Salesforce lets you add or reduce resources to match your demand, all while keeping you in control of your services. Our managed service capabilities ensure that your CRM scales at the same pace as your business.
5. Proactive Monitoring
A proactive approach of monitoring in Salesforce managed services means there won’t be wasted business hours trying to sort issues out. Instead of waiting for some occurrence to interfere with your business operations, most providers monitor your platform for uptime and proactively resolve problems on your behalf.
6. Data Security & Compliance
As regulations continue to evolve and expand, more businesses have to adopt data governance processes. Managed services providers are able to fulfill compliance obligations of industry-related regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2. So, it helps them maintain the security of the customer’s most sensitive data.
7. Focus on Core Business
When internal teams outsource management of Salesforce to third parties, they can focus on what they do best: Selling, marketing the brand, and serving the customer. This gives the organization the ability to focus on growing the customer base by trusting the technological side to experts.
They have all the benefits required to put together a long-term success strategy with Salesforce focused on incremental value and continuous innovation for the business.
Section 4: Long-Term ROI of Salesforce Managed Services
Investing in Salesforce Managed Services is not only about overcoming connectivity issues today, but about ensuring the long-term, sustainability of the return on your investment, whether it is in time, resources or money:
- Improved Customer Experience: Customers will benefit from better workflows and automation and will love the uninterrupted experience they will have with your organization.
- Faster Adoption of New Features: They will be able to realize the latest updates and features in Salesforce much faster, resulting in a competitive advantage.
- Better Decision-Making: Clean, accurate and real time data will help your business be better at putting your strategy together.
- Consistent Growth Support: Salesforce will grow and change with you as your business scales, and you will not be limited or constrained by a system that is outdated.
In other words, the return on investment is not limited to how much it will save you in cost; it is the overall improvement in efficiency, relationships with your customers, and continued growth of your business.
How to Choose the Right Salesforce Managed Services Provider
There really is no easy way to find the perfect Salesforce managed services provider. In order to be successful in the long run, companies have to find a provider they trust and who understands what the goal is. Some key features to look for when looking for a Salesforce managed services provider are:
- Certifications: A preferred Salesforce partner (Gold or Platinum) will have verified competency because they receive a scorecard annually by Salesforce.
- Industry Expertise: Managed providers that know your industry well will be able to address your challenges in a more meaningful way.
- SLA Guarantees & Support Models: Make sure they offer 24/7/365 support, and what their defined SLA’s are for response and resolution time.
- Transparent Pricing: Stay away from providers who charge hidden fees. Find a managed services provider that has a Flex Pricing model which will lead to savings.
- Case Studies & Client Success Stories: There is no better proof of the ability of a potential provider to deliver than to see demonstrable results.
It is really important that whoever you choose as your Managed Services partner allows your company to unlock all the great benefits of Salesforce Managed Services!
Conclusion
Salesforce is an incredibly robust CRM solution but, managed poorly or not at all, it can be more of a headache than a benefit. Businesses relying solely on internal teams for all their Salesforce needs, are vulnerable to heightened costs, compliance exposure, and slow to realize the benefits of new features or offerings.
Leveraging Salesforce Managed Services enables businesses to create a cost-effective, and scalable solution with Salesforce experts who ensure Salesforce meets their growth journey, including its value proposition. Managed Services provide proactive monitoring and ongoing optimization, and the ability to accelerate the value of the software development services through its use as an actual long-term success strategy.
If you’re looking for ways to accelerate your investment in Salesforce, connect with us today to learn more about our services programming for Salesforce Managed Services for your business.
FAQ About Salesforce Managed Services
What is Salesforce Managed Services?
Salesforce Managed Services are ongoing support and monitoring and optimization. A team of certified Salesforce professionals is managing your account, guiding you through your Salesforce journey, and ensuring your CRM continues to evolve with your business.
How much do Salesforce Managed Services cost?
Costs depend completely on the scope of the service, but they are typically lower than hiring a full in-house team. Many providers offer flexible short-term or longer-term monthly plans.
Do small businesses need Salesforce Managed Services?
Yes! Small and midsized businesses can experience many of the same benefits by working with a managed services provider as large businesses, but simply do not incur the cost of building an internal team.
What’s the difference between Salesforce consulting and managed services?
Consultants will typically deliver at least a one-time project, like an implementation, or a smaller project, like a specific solution, whereas managed services are ongoing support, monitoring and optimization, with an eye to long-term growth strategy.
