Now more than ever, companies of all sizes are realising that in order to deliver superior, real-time service and offer the best experiences for their customers and employees, they need to ensure they are maximising the contribution made by the digital technologies at their disposal–cloud, mobile, social, and most importantly data. After all, in today’s competitive market, data is your customer and the most valuable asset in delivering exceptional customer moments.
Business opportunity vs. business reality
Deploying cloud CRM platforms, like Salesforce, are an obvious first step to uniting the data a business holds and extracting value. However, misconceptions about the risks and complexity of migrating to the cloud persist in companies of all sizes.
For mid to large enterprises, concerns over lengthy deployment cycles loom large. These businesses often have legacy, on-premise and inflexible CRM systems that keep them ‘locked in’ to particular ways of working. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often encounter the challenge of ‘keeping the plates spinning’ for both business and customer demands, which can delay the development of new technology systems that offer a greater competitive edge.
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As a result, implementation of new solutions often proceeds with caution, with significant time expended determining whether the new solution’s success can be guaranteed, if the transition can be achieved without interruption to the business, and what ROI will look like.
The consulting landscape presents few options, particularly for SMBs. This often results in them implementing cloud solutions by themselves, based on limited experience, skills and expertise, or using their budgets to partner with smaller, potentially less experienced consultancies. Either route can result in delayed delivery of features and the failure to adopt industry best practice.
So when looking to transform a business, the key questions for its leaders are: Do you attempt to implement a solution such as Salesforce yourselves, or partner with a consultancy? If you take the consultancy route, what is their experience, and do they know how to prioritise your customer’s experience at the core of every engagement?
Delivering rapid Salesforce implementation
As Salesforce’s longest-standing consulting partner, we felt such questions and challenges couldn’t be ignored. Our newest service, Bluewolf Go, delivers rapid Salesforce implementation to get companies live on Salesforce in just 30 or 60 days. With frameworks based on more than 16 years of proven expertise on the Salesforce platform, Bluewolf Go can move customers through their digital transformation at a faster rate and achieving desired results at high tempo. Companies already familiar with Salesforce and with well-defined objectives for their solution are able to go live in 30 days, whilst those who are less familiar or are looking for a guided approach can go live in 60 days.
Our smart delivery model–for SMBs, as well as enterprises with smaller, departmental needs–reduces direct client involvement, and ensures all decisions, timetables and expectations are clearly defined upfront so our client’s attention can remain focused on their business and outcomes. With fixed pricing, timeline, and deliverables, the balancing act between the needs of now and developing for the future then becomes a lot easier to manage. Questions about success and ROI are resolved, with risk kept to a minimum.
This approach is already proven. The first companies we’ve taken through the Bluewolf Go process are already seeing huge benefits from implementation. For example, Bluewolf implemented Salesforce for Diener Precision Pumps, a Swiss manufacturer of precision gear and piston pumps, in just six weeks. Diener’s sales reps are now saving an average of 5-10 hours a week after shifting from manual data entry to automated reporting, and the company now has real-time access to all of its global order information, including shipments, pending orders, and scheduled deliveries.
When we think about innovation at Bluewolf, we start with a business outcomes approach with the customer at the core. The benefits of insight and efficiency through deploying the latest cloud services can be delivered with certainty in weeks, rather than years, if a relentless focus on employee and consumer experience is applied through the process.
Peter Ryan, Head of UK Beyond at Bluewolf, an IBM Company.