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From 20 Communities to One: Salesforce Community Strategy That Cut Costs & Boosted Engagement
August 1, 2016
Girikon
Business Context: Scaling Employee Engagement in a Large Healthcare System
The client, a major hospital in the USA with 1500+ staff members, use the Salesforce Platform to manage their day to day activities. The client’s objective, to enhance employee engagement and with a plan to implement 20 Salesforce communities for the organization’s multiple departments. The requirement included access to customized content access ensuring engagement and collaboration with individuals, groups and cross departments.
Strategic Approach: Re-Engineering Salesforce Community Design for Scale
Girikon conducted discovery workshops to understand the details behind the requirements. The requirements included a high number of communities which Salesforce Community cloud could not handle at the time with consideration on the high licensing cost to proceed with the initial requirement.
Girikon’s discovery phase yielding a better understanding and was better equipped to propose a solution. Girikon proposed a solution with a complete re-engineered design including a plan to redesign the Salesforce data setup and recommended the concept of a single Salesforce community implementation to reduce the cost of licensing and each department handled with the introduction of a custom attribute.
Girikon’s solution for the Salesforce Community Cloud enabled the clients to manager customized content through this method for each group and individual. This would ultimately achieve the objectives set out by the client, add value and reduce the licensing cost.
Business Impact: Reduced Costs, Improved Adoption, and Cross-Team Engagement
The client was supportive of the changes proposed by Girikon. The solution designed and developed enabled each department to be assigned to a customized attribute hence all employees individually and at a group level would be re-directed individualized home pages with customized content and specific access-based links.
The home pages also accommodation posting of ideas, case management and knowledge articles to ensure collaboration across individuals and groups.
Question and Answer sections ensured engagement between management and staff and assisted with the overall effectiveness of the employees
Salesforce Community Manager was a key feature for managing community specific content and access levels and restrictions
FAQs
Why was a single Salesforce Community recommended instead of multiple communities for this healthcare organization?
Implementing multiple communities initially appeared to align with departmental needs, but it introduced significant scalability and cost challenges; particularly due to licensing constraints within Salesforce Community Cloud. By re-engineering the architecture into a single, unified community with custom attributes, the organization achieved the same level of personalization without unnecessary duplication. This approach enabled department-specific experiences, role-based access, and tailored content delivery; all within a centralized framework. The result was a more cost-efficient, scalable, and easier-to-manage solution that aligned with enterprise governance and long-term platform sustainability.
How did the redesigned Salesforce Community improve employee engagement across departments?
The transformation focused on delivering highly personalized user experiences within a unified platform. Each employee was automatically directed to customized homepages based on department, role, and access level; ensuring relevance from the first interaction. Features such as knowledge sharing, idea posting, case management, and Q&A forums created a collaborative digital workspace that encouraged participation across teams. This not only improved internal communication but also broke down silos between departments, leading to stronger engagement, faster information flow, and a more connected workforce.
What measurable business impact can organizations expect from optimizing Salesforce Community architecture like this?
Organizations adopting a similar approach can expect both immediate and long-term value across cost, efficiency, and user adoption. From a financial perspective, consolidating multiple communities into a single instance significantly reduces licensing and maintenance overhead. Operationally, centralized management simplifies content governance, access control, and platform administration. Most importantly, improved user experience drives higher adoption rates, better collaboration, and more effective knowledge sharing; resulting in increased productivity and stronger alignment across teams. This kind of strategic Salesforce optimization turns the platform from a tool into a true engagement and productivity engine.