Over the last twelve months, I found myself evaluating if I should move from ownership of a system for a Salesforce client to a consulting role. Consulting would be a big change – moving from project to project, not building the same relationship with customers as business partners, and costs of projects. Working for a customer of Salesforce costs is really the amount of time my team takes to build something but now being a cost to a client is a perspective. Working to ensure the project stays on time is critical to the cost to a client and the business.

The years leading up to this decision I had built my career having migrated companies to lightning, implementing effective change management practices, and building really great tools on the platform. Along the way, I have met many great leaders and worked with many great consulting partners. When it came time to accept a role as a consultant in the Salesforce ecosystem I evaluated job opportunities with three basic requirements for a future employer – a place where I would be encouraged, defended, and supported. I think these same criteria should be applied when looking for your implementation partner.

Encouragement

As an employee I want to be encouraged to try new things, take risks, and live passionately. As a partner, the client should be encouraged to look at new perspectives. These perspectives are partially because Salesforce is a tech platform like no other. Salesforce platform may be able to do anything but that doesn’t mean it should do everything or will do it all on day one. We want clients to take on amazing projects that have risks involved but through a good partnership, we can mitigate those risks, figure out timelines, and process. We are passionate about Salesforce and the amazing things we can build on the platform – your consulting partner should be as excited about your solution as you are.

The beauty of Salesforce and consulting on the Salesforce platform is that every customer addresses the same challenges differently. If United Airlines and Southwest Airlines were both Salesforce clients one may use the platform for customer reward programs and the other may use it to address partnerships with online travel agency partnerships. These dramatically different ways to use the platform are what is incredibly exciting about consulting with Salesforce because there is no one size fits all way to achieve a customer’s need.

Defense

As an employee I want my management to defend me if things go wrong. As a customer, I want a consulting partner that will defend the platform – help ensure the right use of the platform is being made. Part of this work is ensuring that yes is not the only answer a client hears – sometimes things are not a fit for the platform or project and setting realistic expectations with clients is important. Will the partner defend the project – keeping us on time and on budget. It is also important for the consulting partners to defend a solution – if they are going to take pride in the solution they build and want to show it off every chance they get then is that the right partnership? It may not be feasible to show off your project but the excitement for your project is still critical.

Support

As an employee I want my management to support me as I do more things like the Lightning Champion program, taking certification beta exams, or enhancing my professional development. An implementation partner should support your process, stakeholders, and vision. If you have special requirements for when deployments happen, who should be part of the process this should all be supported in the process. Consulting partners should ensure a proper timeline so that after go-live there is time to support issues found, teaks to the system, or other needs. Some clients may not have the ability to have a staffed Salesforce Admin position within their company so a company that can provide sustained post-deployment support with an easy transition to a Managed Services team is important.

After many months of looking at potential companies that I would feel supported, defended, and encouraged I chose Roycon. In those few months, I worked part time on some incredible projects with Roycon really getting to see how they support clients and make decisions. In just a few months we were able to wrap up projects that integrated with JIRA, built a Configure Price Quote (CPQ) application, and moved clients off of legacy systems into Salesforce. These projects range in difficulty while ensuring our ability to ensure the client was supported, defended, and encouraged. During these projects, they were staffed with a Project Manager, App Builder, Solution Consultant, and Architect. This may seem like a lot of resources for your project but they all have very specific skills and abilities that differ by role. Having these resources available to clients make a really great team to support clients.

At Roycon, here’s how we manage projects:
We support our clients need throughout the duration of the project and can provide post-go-live services to provide additional support during the transition. We encourage our clients to look at new ways to do business on the Salesforce platform to create greater efficiencies and better processes. We defend our projects and the platform – not always saying yes but always finding a path to a successful project. This starts with the way we build our teams to the passion we bring to projects. We hope you’ll want to look at our team and process for your next project or help to manage your account if you don’t have the capacity for an in-house system admin. If you’d like to talk to us about working together feel free to contact us here.

About Roycon
We’re an Austin-based Salesforce Consulting Partner, with a passion and belief that the Salesforce platform’s capabilities can help businesses run more efficiently and effectively. Whether you are just getting started with Salesforce or looking to realize its full potential, Roycon specializes in Salesforce Implementations, Salesforce Ongoing Support, and Salesforce Integrations, and Development. We’re the certified partner to guide the way to increase Salesforce Adoption, make strategic decisions, and build your Salesforce Roadmap for success.