Today, Salesforce is the world's no 1 CRM platform, and for good reason too. Companies all around the globe are moving their business applications to the cloud and the world’s no1 CRM platform provides the power, flexibility, and intelligence that businesses need to drive productivity, efficiency, and growth. Salesforce not only eliminates the erstwhile need for maintaining expensive development and support teams but also the cost of outages due to failure at the hardware, software, or application level.
And while there are thousands of organizations (whether for profit or not) who have benefited immensely from the deployment of Salesforce apps, the reality is that a high percentage of them are not getting the most out of the CRM platform. In fact, a substantial number of these projects fail.
Having said that, there is one thing that all the successful ones did right. And that was choosing the right Salesforce Consulting Partner.
And this is precisely what we are going to assist you with today. How do you get maximum value out of your investment into Salesforce? How do you choose the best Salesforce Consultant? And how good a fit is that choice of partner for your business? With hundreds of partners listed on AppExchange, how do you decide which one is perfect for you? These questions and many more are at top of the minds of all new adopters of the world’s no1 CRM platform.
Our teams of experts have shortlisted top 8 qualifiers that will answer these questions for you and guide you on how to choose the right partner for your business.
Identify needs and expectations – Let’s get one thing straight. Before looking for someone to solve your problem, you need to very clearly identify what that problem is. And once you have done that, you need to set your expectations. Identify very clearly the support goals you want to fulfill and what qualities you are seeking from your partner. Very clearly spell out the key variables – budget, results, scope, and timelines. Collaborate with your teams. There is no point in implementing a new solution if your teams are not inclined to use it and or they haven’t been involved in the whole decision-making process. Once you have your needs and expectations worked out, and your teams on-boarded, start looking.
Experience – This is the most important criteria for shortlisting a prospective partner. After all, you are expecting them to re-invent your business, or at least a part of it. Find out if they have a great experience not only in the salesforce domain but have they worked with customers like you. From your industry. Solving problems and challenges like the ones you currently have. Are they Gold Partners? How long have they had a dedicated salesforce practice? How have they grown? What size are they today? Understand their journey as a Salesforce Consultant.
Reviews and Feedback – A partner is doing great work if their customers are saying great things about them. There is no greater testament to success than genuine customer feedback. Salesforce AppExchange is a great place to find such reviews on prospective partners. Besides reviews, you will also get to know many other important aspects about the company like key people, experience, certifications, areas of expertise, awards, etc.
Implementation Methodology
Implementation Methodology – When you are looking to work with a Salesforce Consultant, it is important you understand the consultant’s implementation approach. Look up their website, go through white papers and case studies and understand how they approach the problem. Choose a partner who adopts a collaborative approach with customers and is not afraid to get creative with them. Ask them specifics like what tools they use, their familiarity with the latest updates in the salesforce platform. What training approach do they adopt? And very important- What is their collaborative review and iterate methodology? Do they have a Customer-Centric Culture?
Involve your key team members and request a demo of their experience and approach.
Support – Like any other software, Salesforce implementation is not a one-time affair. Businesses evolve, and particularly in today's context, they are ever so dynamic. Software needs to keep up with these changing times. And your Salesforce Implementation Partner needs to stay on top of all updates. Before you sign on a Salesforce Consultant, discuss with them about how will they support your business post implementation? Your business needs a partner that can support you 24/7. Someone who treats your business like his/her own.
Understand how they are providing post-implementation support to their existing customers. Ask them to share case studies. Make sure they don’t prioritize larger projects over yours. Work with someone who has a Salesforce Managed Support Program as part of their implementation methodology.
Pricing
Ensure that you have a clear understanding of their pricing structure. Ask them questions like
What are the charges for understanding your needs and recommending a solution and designing an appropriate implementation strategy?
Do your hourly rates include all charges or are there separate charges /extra fees on top of that?
What are the itemized support fees?
What is the fee structure for the different consultants deployed on the project? Or is it a blended tariff?
Make sure the overall pricing fits into your budget and keep sufficient margins for spillovers.
Passion
This is a little hard to come by and perhaps even harder to quantify, but it’s important. You want your Salesforce Consultant to treat your business like their own. You want them to work in close collaboration with your teams to work towards achieving common goals. After all, once you sign up, you are all on the same side of the table. Make sure the partner is passionate about technology and believes strongly in its ability to drive performance, productivity, and growth. In short, they must see your success as their own.
Location
Borders are almost non-existent in the digital landscape today, especially so in today’s context where physical business meet-ups are the last resort. The world has moved to online collaboration across continents. However, providence may be in working with a Salesforce Consulting Partner that is geographically close to you. Not only will this eliminate the challenges of communicating across time zones, but it will give you the opportunity to work more closely with the consulting team.
Once you have identified the right partner, work on developing a long-term engagement strategy. Collaborate actively involving your teams to exchange creative ideas and unique experiences you both have. Talk about what direction you want the business to take. Like in any other relationship, trust your partner to identify risks, establish possibilities, and envision potential.
At Girikon, we strongly believe that technology is a very potent driver for growth. Using the tools and features available to us through the Salesforce platform, we can help your teams transform not only the way you manage your business but also the way you look at it.
As a robust cloud-based platform, Salesforce enjoys a wide adoption rate by businesses across different industry verticals. This is primarily because of this platform’s wide array of features, functionalities, and components. Irrespective of whether you wish to implement a new system or upgrade an already existing solution, you would require the assistance of a certified Salesforce consulting partner who would help you in every step of your Salesforce journey.
The network of Salesforce consulting partners has been growing over the years and ranges from individual partners to global agencies. They offer expertise across Salesforce products, industries, clouds, and system integration capabilities. However, before shortlisting a reliable partner, make sure you avoid committing the following mistakes:
Disregarding the pain points and Goals: Before going ahead with any product implementation, organizations should have a clear vision regarding the usage of this solution, the problems it would address, and the goals it would achieve. Without assessing all these aspects, organizations may waste time and money on an underutilized system that cannot be utilized to its full potential.
Lack of Salesforce Knowledge: To interact with their consulting partner, organizations should be familiar with standard Salesforce terms and technical aspects. To acclimate themselves with basic knowledge of Salesforce, users should watch explanation videos, product demo, etc., on Salesforce.org and Salesforce.com. Disregarding this aspect can prove to be is a mistake that should be avoided.
Placing Price over Quality: It is easy to get tempted to engage with partners ready to offer services at a low price. However, if you prefer saving some bucks at the cost of quality, you may spend higher costs than planned initially. You may also decide to invest in Salesforce developers as it might seem to be a financially wise choice at the onset. However, you will get a well-developed solution but not evaluated holistically, which results in low adoption rates.
Undervaluing the Power of Reviews: The portfolios of all the companies look great on their websites. However, this is one side of the coin. It is essential to visit independent review platforms to seek unbiased opinions. For instance, customer reviews on AppExchange enable you to measure customer satisfaction rate much better than survey responses published there.
Making Hasty Choice: When selecting a Salesforce partner, making a hasty decision can make you repent later. So, make sure you take time to make an informed decision. Seek references from business networks or Salesforce platforms like AppExchange and Trailblazer community to choose from a larger pool of Salesforce consulting companies. Only after you have carefully studied their case studies and portfolios should you select a partner for your project.
Overlooking their Experience: While it is vital to look for relevant technical knowledge and proper certification in your partner, you should not ignore their industry expertise. Since Salesforce doesn’t provide out-of-the-box solutions, you should look for partners to create customized solutions to meet your unique business needs. You should also look for companies with enough resources and use a similar business model to yours to handle a business of your size.
Final Words:
Investing in Salesforce is a big decision requiring proper planning and implementation to leverage all the benefits. By avoiding the mistakes mentioned above, it is possible to choose the right Salesforce partner. By having the right partner by your side, you will be able to make the most of this platform and take your business to new heights by following the ideas and best practices.
Like any other industry, organizations that are a part of the healthcare industry are focused on augmenting health outcomes and driving efficiencies. However, most of them depend on legacy systems that fail to provide a 360-view of the consumers, thereby hindering collaboration and innovation. On the other hand, healthcare consumers have high expectations for personalization and easy access to medical resources.
To drive change, healthcare providers adopt robust and innovative solutions that can help them manage various processes in a more secure, seamless, and intuitive way. With an integrated CRM like Salesforce, healthcare processes can be optimized, costs can be minimized, and performance can be enhanced. Compliance systems can be developed, and a secure healthcare environment enabling 360-degree views to connect and engage every stakeholder can be created.
Studies conducted reveal that a significant percentage (about 83%) of healthcare administrations use cloud-powered solutions, while 9.3% aim to do so shortly. Since the release of Salesforce health cloud, healthcare providers can work more efficiently and collaboratively, which not just leads to better patient and provider relationships but also better health outcomes. It makes sense to get in touch with one of the reputed Salesforce consulting partners to know more about it.
Let's understand the reasons why healthcare providers should leverage Salesforce:
Connect Siloed Systems: Like any other industry, data siloes are created due to disparate systems. Hospitals use multiple disparate systems in the healthcare industry, including EHR, insurance claim systems, billing and marketing details, lab reports, and more. Since this humongous amount of data is scattered across multiple systems, it isn't of much use. A cloud-based CRM like Salesforce can help integrate all the systems so that data can be securely integrated into a single place. This allows healthcare providers to work more efficiently, make informed decisions, and focus more on patient care.
Make Use of Data Intelligently: Salesforce can be leveraged to improve health outcomes. Tools like Tableau provide actionable insights that healthcare providers can use to anticipate and fulfill patients' needs. In other words, Salesforce allows healthcare providers to make data-driven decisions that will lead to greater patient-provider satisfaction and better health outcome.
Augments Collaboration of Care Team: Salesforce health cloud allows healthcare providers to create 'Care Teams' as it is built upon the capabilities of the service cloud. Care teams comprise household caregivers, physicians, specialists, or anyone involved in a patient's healthcare journey. Depending on their positioning in the team, participants can view a care management plan; allocate tasks while sending messages to and from any device. Care teams promote collaboration, which increases productivity, which is a win-win situation for patients and providers.
Personalized Experiences: Consumers expect personalized experiences and Salesforce can be leveraged to personalize the healthcare journey of people at every step. By consolidating clinical and non-clinical data in one place, personalized plans can be created. Patient communication can be managed based on patients' preferences through texts, calls, or the Salesforce community’s portal.
Ensure Data Security: One of the major concerns for healthcare companies is data security, as a breach in security can put patient safety at stake. Salesforce allows healthcare organizations to stay in compliance while ensuring data security. Using Salesforce health cloud and Salesforce Shield, electronic protected health information can be encrypted, which is only accessible to authorized users.
Quick Wrap-up:
As the world continues to deal with the pandemic, healthcare providers require operating as efficiently as possible while providing high-quality care. Salesforce Health Cloud aids this in several ways, but it all boils down to one advantage, i.e., providing a 360-degree view of the patient. By enabling intelligent usage of data at various stages of the patient care journey, healthcare companies are empowered to provide the level of service that patients expect. To implement Salesforce health cloud, it is important to get in touch with one of the reliable Salesforce consulting companies.
Salesforce Community Cloud
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October 22, 2018
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Uditi Jain
Salesforce Community – A branded space for your employees, customers, and partners to connect.
Different business encounters different problems and consequently in order to fulfil the varied business requirement we need a hundred different solutions.
Salesforce is the most commonly used CRM tool around the globe, introduction to the community helps business users collaborate among staff, funders, members, volunteers and other supporters. The launch of such platform has made business users connected with all the customers on a single place as per their shared interest. Some businesses have also adopted this platform as a standalone platform in managing their client relationship.
What is Salesforce Community Cloud?
Community Cloud is a social platform from Salesforce.com that is designed to connect and facilitate communication among an organization’s employees, partners and customers.
For example, if your customer wants to know how many different products are there for choice, he doesn’t have to wait for your team to respond, he can see all the list on the community portal. If the company had a million customers and had to face a million requests a month its satisfying to present the customer with an updated database.
The solution to the problem is given by Salesforce in form of Community cloud that gives all the customers access to the Salesforce data so that they themselves can reach the product list and can also filter them as per their significance.
Apart from this, the business user can manage the access level of all the customers as per their association with the business. This is all taken charge by the Salesforce in order to maintain specific information visible to the users as there may be millions of customers and all they have the different type of involvement with the business.
It is an awesome way to share information, collaborate internally on projects/tasks, or communicate with customers in a more personalized way. Salesforce community cloud is accessible with Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions of Salesforce.
Communities can serve a business by,
1. Driving more sales by connecting your team with your distributors, resellers, and suppliers.>
2. Delivering world-class service by giving customers one spot to get all their solutions within least time.
3. Managing social listening, content, engagement, and workflow in one place.
The use of community cloud may vary business by business, however, in the nutshell, it’s a way to share information accumulated in Salesforce without building costly users. There are many features on the community cloud and many tricks on how it can help drive your business smoothly.
Communities allow creating user ID and Passwords, or access for the users. However, instead of manually creating access, a business can leverage Salesforce’s Social Sign-on features. This allows access to the community through different social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google, or even leverage Salesforce, Amazon, or even Azure Active Directory to permit login. Salesforce also supports OpenID Connect standard.
It also has some pre-built templates for business use and also gives the advantage to create front-end templates for community portal. For most simple use-cases, the user can customize it little for specific needs. However, giving it better look and feel business users prefer designing it via custom Visualforce force pages.
The custom template allows the customized way to log-on users to the community. The login and logout screen can be customized to match your website or brand UI. It also enables users to register themselves for a community through self-registration pages.
We as a Salesforce Consulting Partners has observed how our clients get profited after practising Community.
Who is a Salesforce Consultant?
A Salesforce Consultant is a knowledgeable, experienced person who helps in utilizing your CRM qualities to the fullest which will benefit your business.
Finding a suitable Salesforce Consultant who can be fit for your business is never an easy task. You need to have confidence in their Salesforce experience, knowledge, problem-solving abilities.
So, you have been using Salesforce for quite some time now and have tons of data that you plan to leverage! You are definitely ready to ahead and grab Salesforce Einstein Analytics, the Salesforce based cloud platform that connects with multiple data sources, creates interactive views of the same providing insights and contexts to take business decisions and actions based on them.
With the volume of data rising dramatically, manual analysis has become a remote possibility. The platform brings about advanced analytics capabilities powered with artificial intelligence to the fingertips of CRM users. Thanks to Einstein Analytics with AI, they are now well-equipped to take much informed decisions, faster.
How specifically does Salesforce Einstein Analytics help your Business?
Once configured properly, customer’s entire data, including social & activity data (from email, Chatter, calendar etc.) can be fed to Einstein which will churn out customized models for each customer using its strong AI engine. With relevant insights and easily interpretable visual representations using Dashboards etc., business users now have access to Descriptive analytics, Diagnostic analytics, Predictive analytics and Prescriptive analytics. Using these, some of the immediate benefits (but not limited to) can be listed as below:
Devise customized marketing strategies for each customer
Plan best next steps for any client
Devise better customer service and engagement roadmaps
With significant patterns available, based on business users’ data, clients can be given better recommendations
Personalized interactions with each and every vital account provides business growth avenues
Assist with Measuring, Optimizing and Modifying the Campaigns run by the organization & so on…
Works with several data sources – so consolidated insight available
The possibilities are immense if rightly implemented and configured with the business specific customization done.
Salesforce Einstein Analytics – Points to note
Einstein Data Discovery is now Einstein Discovery
At the moment Salesforce offers the Einstein Analytics apps in three out-of-the-box modes:
The Salesforce Einstein Analytics Sales app has pre-configured KPIs for roles. This allows collaboration between managers and executives. This can be well used to manage forecasts, gain pipeline visibility, track team performance and close deals with opportunities from anywhere, at any time.
The Service Analytics app is for for call center managers. It offers relevant insights for channel optimization and boosting agent efficiency.
The B2B Marketing Analytics App provides insights on engagement, pipeline, and campaign performance, for marketers engaged in Business to Business dealings.
The Einstein Analytics comes with certain limitations which are good to be aware above. The same can be referred to here: https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=bi_limitations.htm
How Girikon, as a Salesforce Consulting Partner Helps
Organizations looking at implementing Salesforce Einstein Analytics Cloud can reach out for value loaded services including:
Salesforce Licensing Consulting & procurement
Salesforce Einstein Analytics Solution Design
Salesforce Einstein Implementation & customizations
Data Migration from Legacy/Other Systems
Salesforce Einstein Analytics Training
Salesforce Einstein Analytics Support
Salesforce Consulting Services
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Girikon is a one of the top USA based companies offering salesforce consulting services, helping businesses streamline, customize, and maximize the benefits from Salesforce platform. As one of the leading Salesforce consulting companies in the USA, we deliver end-to-end consulting, implementation, AI-optimization, and managed services for Salesforce.
Are you looking to draw the most out of your Salesforce Instance? At Girikon, we empower businesses of all sizes implement, tailor and optimize Salesforce by leveraging our expert Salesforce consulting services. Our custom made solutions align with your unique business objectives to increase operational efficiency and profitability.
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Unlock the full potential of Salesforce with Girikon – one of the best Salesforce Consulting Partners. From strategy to support – we have got you covered. Our team of experienced and certified experts are here to power your success by seamlessly implementing, customizing, and integrating Salesforce to meet the unique needs of your business.
Why Opt for Our Salesforce Consulting Services?
As an expert Salesforce Consulting Company in USA, we strive to elevate your Salesforce Experience through our end-to-end services.
End-to-End Salesforce Implementation Consulting
Our Salesforce implementation consulting covers everything from discovery and solution design to deployment and post-launch optimization. We follow best practices to ensure faster go-lives, higher adoption, and a Salesforce setup that delivers long-term business value.
Tailored Salesforce Consulting Solutions
As a trusted Salesforce consulting company, we deliver tailored Salesforce consulting services designed around your business goals, industry needs, and growth plans. Our consultants configure, customize, and optimize Salesforce to align with existing workflows, improve user adoption, and drive measurable efficiency across sales, service, and operations teams.
Salesforce Data Migration
Our Salesforce data migration and management consulting services ensure a secure, accurate, and disruption-free transition from legacy systems. We prioritize data integrity, compliance, and continuity while managing historical and active data so your teams operate confidently on Salesforce.
Salesforce Integration Consulting Services
Our Salesforce integration consulting experts connect Salesforce with ERP, marketing automation, telephony, finance, and third-party platforms to eliminate data silos. This creates a unified ecosystem and delivers a consistent, real-time, and improved customer experience across every touchpoint.
Salesforce Managed Services Consulting
Our Salesforce managed services consulting helps businesses continuously optimize, secure, and scale their CRM investment. From proactive monitoring and enhancements to user access management and real-time issue resolution, we ensure Salesforce runs reliably as your business evolves.
Salesforce AppExchange Consulting
Our Salesforce AppExchange consulting and development specialists build Lightning-ready scalable applications, optimized for performance, security, and marketplace success. We help businesses design, publish, and grow AppExchange solutions that meet Salesforce standards and buyer expectations.
Why Select Girikon as Your Ideal Salesforce Consulting Partner?
AI-Driven Salesforce Consulting: Smarter, Faster, Future-Ready
At Girikon, our Salesforce AI-certified experts elevate your CRM with AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and seamless customer experiences. From smart chatbots to predictive forecasting, we optimize workflows and enhance decision-making.
Certified Experts
Our team of seasoned Salesforce consultants help organizations successfully implement and leverage Salesforce. They offer best practices and strategic guidance to ensure a seamless Salesforce adoption.
Comprehensive Services
Our extensive range of services as one of the leading Salesforce consulting firms help businesses maximize their Salesforce investment.
Agile Approach
Our experts follow Agile methodology throughout the stages of development, ensuring quality control, flexibility and a robust solution that provides desired business outcome.
Affordable Engagements
Our adaptable models cater to businesses of all sizes, offering maximum value throughout every stage.
Faster Innovation
We help you draw the most of latest Salesforce advancements to accelerate digital transformation while staying ahead of the curve.
Rapid Results
Our experts bring your vision to life by focusing on your long-term success.
Industries We Cater to
As one the leading Salesforce consulting firms, we guarantee our Salesforce consulting expertise and in-depth industry knowledge leads to a the successful execution of Salesforce initiatives across various sectors, including
Healthcare & Life Sciences
Retail & E-commerce
Manufacturing
Energy
Education
Government