In principle, when we talk about large Salesforce
implementation projects, most of them fall into the category of the
Transformation projects. This inherently means that client is going for large
scale transformation and is sitting with legacy systems to be replaced by
Salesforce deployments. This can present some unique challenges in a number of
ways.
Old, traditional, large global enterprises looking for
transformation projects have tons of legacy applications with disjoint and
disorganized data. This data comes out from numerous siloed departments which
have to be accommodated in the new world along with the localization
challenges. To add to that, after years of working with on-premises back-office
systems, the transition to the cloud itself is challenging. At few occasions, I
personally experienced that few client departments didn’t want to let go the
control they had on the local servers hosting their application and data!
To handle all this requires a very precise and neatly
crafted plan backed by efficient program management. I don’t want to touch upon
the basic day to day program management stuff that has to be put in place to
manage and govern such a program. What I really want to put focus is on some
not so obvious thoughts which if taken care will help a lot in the successful
rollouts.
1. Till few
years back, process decisions were taken locally. But with cloud and multi
country rollouts, these decisions have to be global in nature. This essentially
means, that processes/practices have to be tweaked to bring in a more
centralized approach. At times, this really becomes a challenge as users want
to stick to their old processes which if accommodated will lead to further
complex solutions and will achieve only proxy global rollout. This should be
avoided through top-down approach from client organization and getting the
right attention of the business side. SI Program management team should
collaborate with business in bringing the domain expertise and help streamline
the business processes.
2. In large
first time implementations, sufficient effort should be spent in ensuring
customizations are avoided as it will hurt the implementations in long term as
business grows and makes changes. Starting with customizations early in the
game will warrant for further implementation complications, not to forget the
additional cost. Go slow, stick to basics OOTB features and then build on it.
SI program management needs to bring in expertise and experience to educate
business on the merits of this approach.
3. The
above point leads to another interesting point of keeping Global Design intact
from the beginning itself, even if it means spending more time in the design
first and having a late start of the build. This is one of the most complex
aspect to achieve in a large multi country rollout, but if taken care of in the
beginning, can solve so many problems. Once delayed, getting back on track can
become a whole project in itself adding to the heartburns and bad name as well!
Again, collaboration and constant review of this orientation is a must for SI
program management team.
4. With all
this happening, eye on Organization Change Management (OCM) is a must. Though
in most of the cases this is handled by the client organization, but it is
always in SI partner’s interest to ensure and check from time to time if
onboarding of users in the new world is on track or not. Educating users on
where to seek help – though onsite teams, in-house tech team or Success teams
at salesforce, is also a must.
5. Last, but
definitely not the least, Data Migration as per the target data model has to be
very meticulously planned. This becomes complex in large transformation
programs because of multi country and siloed departments. Though this is always
part of the plan in any large transformation program, but key is to ensure the
right participation and having an agreed strategy in place. This activity
cannot be completed without active participation of business and program
management needs to ensure this for a successful release.
Essentially, Cloud based Salesforce platform in itself does
away with quite a few headaches of hardware management, infra, hosting, etc.
The success of Salesforce transformation program really depends on how the
larger aspects of business processes are kept in control and Program Management
team can play a vital role in it by being part of the program’s governance and
design assurance group. So watch out for the above in the next large
implementation!
