Managed Services for Salesforce – A Gamechanger

Salesforce Managed Services is a subscription-based support and maintenance service that keeps your Salesforce CRM in top shape and in step with your business’s changing demands. It’s like having your own dedicated Salesforce staff at your fingertips, but at a fraction of the cost and without the headaches of hiring, managing, and retaining them. Salesforce Managed Services provides you with a scalable, cost-effective way to maintain and maximize your investment without having to depend on overworked staff. Managed Salesforce services automate your business and data, allowing you to focus on business rather than mundane tasks. The incorporation of advanced analytics, AI, and voice technology has made Salesforce Managed Services much easier to use and more effective.

What Does it Include?

• Consulting: This entails conducting a business and process study in order to develop a long-term Salesforce strategy. 
• Implementation: Service providers use additional Salesforce Clouds and apps to expand your Salesforce environment’s capabilities. 
• Customizations: It includes the creation of personalized dashboards, reports, and campaign configurations, among other things. 
• Integration: To assist you in developing a connected environment, your Salesforce environment is integrated with third-party systems such as ERPs, accounting packages, and e-commerce solutions, among others. 
• Data management: It involves creating an architecture for data gathering and flow that meets your needs. 
• Training: Service providers hold training sessions to provide technical guidance on how to use the Salesforce platform effectively. 
• Miscellaneous assistance: This includes system inspections, bug fixes, and issue resolution as needed throughout the term.

How will Managed Services Boost my Business?

Salesforce managed services are a set of actions that range from deployment through support and evolution. It functions with the goal of preventing system problems before they affect users through a number of approaches.

Strategic Planning

From road-mapping to long-term value realization, Salesforce managed services can help you with everything from executive goal-setting seminars to business process reviews.

Salesforce Optimization

Even if you are concerned about underused capabilities and multiple missed chances because you were late in implementing Salesforce managed services. You can unify your business operations by merging new and old features and get the best out of your integration.

Get Expert Advice

You may relax knowing that you have the knowledge of experts on your side. A provider can alert you to important changes that you might not be aware of otherwise. Plus, working with a Salesforce managed service provider means receiving a complete team of professionals rather than just one well-rounded developer.

Flexible Plans

Many Salesforce Managed Services companies provide contracts that allow you to pay only for the hours you use. You have the flexibility to use these services only when you need them and can afford them. You save money as you no longer have to pay a customary monthly retainer or pay an employee a full-time wage.

Quick Migration

Managed services work in tandem with your company’s objectives. It is not necessary for the migration to MSP to be disruptive and time-consuming. You have the option of keeping the level of MSP expertise small and expanding it as needed.

Real-Time Updates and Support

MSP keeps track of your existing integrations, checks for changes, and ensures that your technology keeps up with you. Things happen when you’re working with two separate tools. MSP assists your team in identifying the issue and implementing a strategy to prevent future problems, as well as working together to fix any issues that arise.

Analytics and Dashboard Access

With the click of a mouse, you may get a bird’s eye view of your company. You’ll have access to custom-built reports and dashboards that show you the stats that actually matter.

Administration

Process development, data migration/management, 3rd party tool setup, continuous optimization analysis, visual force, triggers, and process flow are all covered by advanced admin. Because you can access exact data, enhanced administration aids in the simplification of company processes and the generation of quality leads.

Available 24/7

You’re signing up for round-the-clock support when you deal with a Salesforce Managed Solutions provider. Even the most dedicated employee takes a sick day now and again or plans a trip and is unavailable. But, a complete management partner is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Simply submit a support request online or over the phone, and an expert will go to work on a solution for you immediately.

Additional Benefits

• Automation, specialized dashboards, real-time reports, and data transfer and cleansing activities are all used to optimize processes.
• Early detection of vulnerabilities and the avoidance of system downtime are the goals of security inspections.
• Hiring and retaining IT resources is no longer a problem because you may now hire resources based on your needs.
• Keep your staff focused on their primary tasks.
• Assists in adhering to industry requirements.
• Scalability and quick response to changes in the business environment.
• Boost the return on your Salesforce investments.

Outcomes of Integrating MSP

1. Corporate & Retail Banking

The focus was to build a 360-degree view & KYC approach for sales & services organizations. Applications were built for assisted banking services in virtual, physical branches & call centers – across 70+ countries. All this, in a multi-year outcome, led to managed services, including migrating and supporting a large digital transformation, viz. Migrating legacy & In-house CRM to Salesforce Financial Services cloud.

2. Healthcare (non-profit)

The organization’s Salesforce-based solution was further customized to deliver ‘trust’ with continuous improvements in field service operations and partner with people of all ages and their families. The transformations included extending an out-of-the-box appointment scheduling mechanism to cater to scheduling group activities involving multiple citizens. A blueprint managed to set up the field service requirements of the new care initiatives with separate work types, service resources, access controls, etc., and operationalized their field service processes with out-of-the-box crew scheduling functionality.

3. B2B Insurance

To differentiate itself in the insurance space, the company embarked on a multi-year program built on various technology platforms. CRMIT conducted extensive discovery workshops to understand consumer drivers, unmet needs, and success criteria for digital experience and extend boundaries. The multi-year managed services included transformation in areas of customer services, account portal, partner central, and prebuilt solutions within the Salesforce customer360 platform.

How to Choose the Best MSP for your Company

It can be challenging to decide whether to create in-house or hire an MSP, especially if Salesforce is critical to your business. Take some time to consider your short- and long-term objectives, present, and prospective resources, and what matters most to you. If you’re considering integrating an MSP, there are a few crucial characteristics to look for during your interview:

• Expertise: What types of projects have the MSP previously worked on? Do they have a thorough understanding of your field? What percentage of their personnel is Salesforce certified? These can be some of the critical questions and validate if the MSP gets sponsorship from Salesforce and how to measure the same would be how they have grown their partnership with Salesforce over the last few quarters.
• Business Vision: Are they culturally compatible with your company’s culture and values? It can measure how to deliver a change implementation strategy. Check out the presence of the following four steps. Are they communicating the expected results of the exercise across the organization? Secondly, do they know who the specific people should participate in, drive, and sponsor the change? Thirdly, do they formulate the sequential flowchart of change implementation, and finally, do they build buy-in from necessary entities, i.e., business, customer, auditors, HR, etc.?
• Customer Success: As the managed services customer has visibility into service development and delivery all through the process, they can provide timely feedback and suggest appropriate alterations. It enables better alignment between service delivery and customer expectations, not to mention enhancing the customer’s engagement with the MSP organization as a whole. Are they proactive in coming up with ideas that show that they understand your business strategy and sector and that they believe in the vision?
• Actioning Continuous Improvements Through Integrated Technologies: CSI is a complex process with several moving parts. It can have outsized impacts on existing processes and architecture, also giving birth to new people’s requirements. And since it isn’t a one-off initiative, it requires ongoing costs, efforts, and involvement from both the MSP and the customer organization. An integrated technology delivery hub or workbench can cut through this clutter. Do you see them collaborating and positively interacting with your team?

Blog Credits & Inputs 

    

Arvind Mehrotra

    

Vinod Reddy

    

Dinesh Poduval