Salesforce Customization: Overcoming CRM Limitations for Growing Companies

Salesforce CRM has a complex, multilayered structure that can be adaptive to many business scenarios. Unfortunately, businesses can sometimes face Salesforce limitations (during business scaling, diversifying, or M&A). 

In this article, we'll explore edge cases where Salesforce limitations can threaten business competitiveness and growth. We definitely won't leave you without solutions. What can you do when Salesforce doesn't cope? The answers are in the article. 

Now, let's consider a few cases of Salesforce customization for digital banking to understand how business deals with changes. 

Salesforce Customization Case 1: Organisation Merge after an Acquisition

Let's consider a scenario where our company, which operates in the financial services domain and provides digital banking services, acquires another similar business. They also use Salesforce there. As Salesforce is a complex construct, the two organizations use it differently, depending on their needs and preferences. Among the other processes related to M&A, one of the most painful is consolidating data from two companies in one place. For this, a shared Salesforce infrastructure is required. Creating such an infrastructure is a complex and multi-stage process that requires meticulous work. 

Sparkybit Salesforce developers recommend to conduct a Salesforce Organization Merge according to the following plan:

1. Analysis

• Analyze whether merging is rational in this specific case. Under certain circumstances, this may not be the best option. For example, suppose there are strict requirements for data storage, which were previously provided by Salesforce. Let’s say one company falls under GDPR requirements - European standards, and the company acquiring this company is in the USA, which has different standards and restriction rules. In that case, merging is not the best solution. Instead, you should choose a different way of interaction between your companies.
• Decide which company to merge into: company A or company B, or create a new Salesforce organization and merge everything there. The third option is the simplest but also the most expensive, as during this process, all three Salesforce organizations will need to be paid for. If we choose one of the two organizations, then we should compare the complexity of implementing the functionality of each to decide which one to merge into.
• Check what licenses and features the chosen organization has (to see if we'll fit within the license limitations). And also, calculate how many end-users will be there, as this affects the choice of license and system load.
• Analyze the roles that users have after the merge. Some organizations may have public sharing, while others may have private sharing. In this case, a security issue could arise.
• Compare data volume and required storage size. Usually, this is not a problem, as Salesforce provides plenty of storage space.

2. Preparation

• Plan steering committee work and determine stakeholders.
• Plan migration steps, merge, cutover, and decommission.
• Plan development, technologies, toolset, merge operation-s, dev testing, and User Acceptance Testing.
• Prepare a proposal document.

3. Decision, Negotiation, and Approval

Now, it is important to obtain clear and distinct approval from the steering committee.

4. Implementation

• Create sandboxes, configure features, and all needed connections (e.g., multi-currency, territory management).
• Merge metadata
• Merge data and move files

Don't forget to check out: Experience Salesforce Customization Services With Experts

5. Validation

In this case, regular dev testing is not enough. It is important to check everything from the business perspective. Sparkibit Salesforce developers recommend to conduct testing according to the following plan:

• Dev test
• Functional tests - make sure that nothing is affected while merging
• Ensure that there are no deployment errors
• User Acceptance Testing

6. Delivery

This stage involves deployment, data migration, configuration, as well as user training and support - actions that will ensure the system functions.

1. Pre-deployment actions
2. Roll changes to production
3. Post-deployment actions: additional configuration, user activation, role assignment, etc
4. Validate delivery
5. Fix issues
6. Support users. Sparkybit recommended conducting training on the UAT sandbox

7. Finalization

It's a good practice to leave the old organization for some time, reducing the number of users but leaving the data and infrastructure. Perhaps, due to connected third parties, some data will come to the old organization. And also, if there is a need to reconfigure something, then developers will have the initial organization in front of them.

Salesforce Customization case 2: Digital Banking Business Scaling & Diversification

Business Scaling

Fortunately, we are ahead of the game in our business. The success rates show that we have scaling capabilities, and our services' suit has the potential to grow. 

So, how does business scaling work for those who use Salesforce CRM? Some problems businesses can face while scaling are the following:

1. Need for Configuration: The Salesforce platform has many configurable parameters that can be a hard task to understand and set up. 

2. Data Security and Confidentiality: With increased data volumes, new data security and confidentiality challenges arise. Digital banking businesses must ensure effective data access management, protection against information leaks, and data recovery after potential accidents.

3. Integration with Other Systems: As businesses expand, there may be a need to integrate Salesforce with other systems or applications. This can be challenging due to the variety of systems and the need to maintain compatibility and ensure data integrity.

Your technology stack should evolve with your business growth. That’s what Salesforce provides:

• Users can leverage Salesforce Lightning, a low-code platform, to develop tailored applications;

• Salesforce offers access to the repository of ready-to-use applications and integrations via Salesforce's AppExchange;

• Developing on the Lightning Platform, you can use Visualforce and Lightning components.

Business Diversification

What if we decide to expand the range of services provided by our company? After the research, we are ready to add an insurance service to our suite. How do you start selling insurance with a Salesforce CRM? We recommend Salesforce CPQ as a solution.

CPQ for Insurance

There are so many factors in health, car, and travel insurance, and so many variables that affect rates. That's why CPQ fits here. The point is that we need to satisfy the needs of all groups you work with. Create custom fields to collect data about the age of an insured person, chronic diseases, duration of travel, car model, etc. An account executive can select different plan options to include within a quote, e.g., select add-on dental services. Salesforce CPQ also offers advanced approval; send your results on approval to superior management. Last but not least, CPQ could be set up so managers can see all expiring contracts and kick off the renewal process with one click.

While Salesforce CPQ can be implemented and used without writing code for basic functionality, there are scenarios where coding is required for advanced customization, integration, or leveraging additional features provided by managed packages.

Check out another amazing blog here by Sparkybit here: Salesforce Service Cloud Handbook: Field Service Lightning, Omni-Channel Support, Einstein Bots, and more

Conclusion

Salesforce CRM is a powerful tool, but it has limitations, especially when businesses face significant changes. Today, we explored scenarios in which Salesforce might struggle to keep pace with evolving business needs. However, there's no need to despair! We've provided solutions to overcome these challenges.

The article offered a roadmap for complex situations like merging Salesforce organizations after an acquisition. We also explored how Salesforce can adapt to business scaling and diversification, highlighting features like Lightning for custom applications, AppExchange for pre-built solutions, and CPQ for managing complex products like insurance.

Remember, Salesforce is a flexible platform. By understanding its limitations and leveraging its strengths, you can ensure it supports your business growth and success.