In the past two months, I have encountered two major companies that still need to deploy Salesforce CRM to deliver value to the business. One company had only implemented Service Cloud Voice for 20 users. The other had an application created that wasn’t functioning correctly and only had 12 users. Both had purchased over 1,000 Enterprise licenses each. One stopped their project in its tracks after 12 months. The other is endeavouring to bring in a boutique Salesforce partner to reset the platform and deploy to 50 users in year 3 of a 5-year licence commitment.
The ‘no software’ label that was Salesforce’s vestige at its inception has followed the same path as the original modular software packages of yesteryear. The license types are almost incomprehensible, and the sales techniques are to stuff as many licenses into a deal as possible for the maximum period. This has advantages for both buyer and seller.
Buyer Beware!
Buying software is easy. Deploying it requires planning. If you are going to transform your company digitally, ensure you have the internal resources to dedicate the time to defining the build requirements and the expertise to undertake your commitments to the build cycle. This will enable the Salesforce consulting partner you have engaged to implement your requirements and ensure timely deployment.
Sellers Beware!
License stuffing is robbing Peter to pay Paul; it’s a short-term gain. You must ensure that the software is successfully deployed to avoid action for compensation on unused licenses.
Set the Cadence
As the saying goes, you have to learn to walk before you can run. Work with your Salesforce partner to break down your transformation vision into steps to deliver incremental business value. This may mean parallel running of systems as you build out the functionality of the new solution. Some of the deliverable metrics might be minor improvements, but continuous improvement can be achieved at a pace that can be managed. Beware of large delivery partners flooding you with resources on the promise of reduced delivery timescales. Dependencies can sometimes hinder parallel working so resources might sit idle waiting. How fast your expert internal resources can move will determine the project pace.
It’s About Commitment
Resources are your most expensive asset
Your most significant commitment is to invest in internal and external resources to deliver your vision. As you must align your projects to your resources, so does your delivery partner. Take the time to do your discovery as a single unit of work. Based on its outcomes, you can then commit to the build phase. Refrain from being pressured by the delivery partner to maintain a contiguous flow of work between discovery and build to secure the same resources. If you have documented your discovery well, onboarding new resources will not be laborious as the work is now building the defined requirements, supported by the documentation.
Stage your software requirements
Only commit to buying licenses once you know how your solution will be built. Do your discovery, check the estimates and then commit to the build. Buying software is best purchased at the end of the vendor’s financial quarter and, better still, at the end of the financial year. Having completed your discovery, you’ll know what you want, giving you negotiating power. The lead time on cloud software provision is determined by the length of your purchase cycle and the order processing time of your vendor. So, purchase at the end of your discovery phase, and even then, try and stage the purchase of the licenses based on your written commitment to the final volume.
