StarrData’s Salesforce Managed Services helps companies turn Salesforce from an expense into the asset it was meant to be.
But how do you know if Salesforce Managed Services is right for you?
We’ll give you a broad hint: if you value proactive solutions, you should most definitely consider using managed services.
To get more specific, we’ve put together a list of 7 questions to ask when determining whether Salesforce Managed Services is a good fit for your company. Let’s dig in.
#1 Does Your Company Need Regular Help With Salesforce?
Yes, Salesforce offers a free support plan with a 2-day response time, and you can find some training resources like Trailhead and user communities on their site. But these tools aren’t designed to directly fix issues. They’re intended only to help guide users to the right solution— and only after the problem has arisen. This is known as the break-fix model.
This just isn’t enough for most companies; they find that without better support options, they risk facing big issues that could cause major disruptions in their business.
With the managed service model, companies can avoid these pitfalls entirely. Because systems signal issues as soon as they develop, and identify risks before problems develop in the first place.
Think of it like this: when you notice you’re thirsty, it signals not that you’re about to get dehydrated but that you already are. Once you notice something isn’t right in Salesforce, you’re already vulnerable to management interference and disruptions in sales pipelines.
The better solution is to avoid the problem in the first place, which is exactly what Salesforce Managed Services does.
With a break-fix model, employers often end up paying salespeople and other highly paid employees not to follow leads, close deals and otherwise perform the actual important tasks they were hired to do, but instead, to be their own defacto IT support. It just is not an effective approach.
Plus, user adoption rates go way down with this model because your salespeople get frustrated with having to solve technical problems themselves.
#2 Are You On Enterprise Or Professional Edition With At Least 20 Users?
Many companies with more than 20 users who need regular, proactive support are turning to Salesforce Managed Services, and there are even companies with as few as 10 users who use managed services if they’re bumping up against particularly complex issues.
Smaller companies with relatively simple Salesforce requirements can sometimes get away with one manager doing 80% of the work, but larger companies tend to have management layers or hierarchies in place; the roles are more specialized and need more focus on specific tasks.
Salesforce Managed Services helps to formalize the company’s processes related to Salesforce which ensures that data is being handled in a uniform fashion, regardless of where the user stands in the corporate hierarchy or which department they work for, which promotes both data security and integrity.
The basic gist is that Salesforce Managed Services is a good, proactive solution for a mid-size to a large organization that employs a number of Salesforce users, especially since companies with 20 or more users often require a higher level of data security, which managed services can also address.
#3 What Reports Do I Need?
Larger companies with more users likely find themselves struggling to stay on top of reporting— Salesforce Managed Services ensures that the right people have access to the most up-to-date information required to foster growth and uncover potential problems before they spiral out of control.
Perhaps most importantly, Salesforce Managed services gives management a huge advantage since reports are identified and created even before management itself knows they’re needed. Again, this is a proactive model for managing Salesforce, which is why so many companies are implementing Salesforce Managed Services.
#4 Is My Company Too Large For Salesforce Managed Services?
Some companies can become too large for Salesforce Managed Services to make sense.
If a company has 200 or more licenses, for example, it’s probably more concerned with having unilateral control over its Salesforce functions than in the cost savings Managed Services can provide.
At that level, they’re likely considering bringing in full-time Salesforce administrators. However, a professional Salesforce consulting firm would have the specialized knowledge they need and be able to fill in gaps should special projects arise. (As a bonus, the company would probably find that using a consultant is cheaper than paying the salary and benefits for another full-time employee.)
#5 What Types Of Companies Are Currently Using Salesforce Managed Services?
Fast-growing, evolving and dynamic companies take advantage of Salesforce Managed Services, as well as those who frequently add employees or have a high turnover rate.
Change is inevitable in a fast-paced world, but if you’re not managing it, change is a threat.
For example, Managed Services offers consistency of support. When an employee leaves the company or is promoted, you’re not left scrambling to fill their Salesforce knowledge gap.
This access to consistent support also ensures crucial deals don’t get lost when your team changes. It’s a way to ensure you’re always ahead of the curve even when things get bumpy.
A company without access to this type of service probably also lacks a good process for re-assigning leads, opportunities and accounts. It’s not hard to imagine how big deals can fall through the cracks, and when you think about losing $20K deals or more, the benefits of Managed Services far outweigh its cost.
Companies with a lot of tools use Salesforce Managed Services to integrate them with Salesforce for a consolidated view of important information, all in one place.
Companies with the need to scale carefully also take advantage of the flexibility Salesforce Managed Services offers because it allows them to maximize use and function more efficiently without having to add to headcount.
#6 How Streamlined Are Your Processes?
Companies that want to give their sales managers the ability to do their job effectively know how important it is to maximize Salesforce’s robust tools and features to streamline processes. But in many cases, they just don’t have the time or expertise to get it done and to get it done consistently.
Salesforce Managed Services can customize and configure tools and features on a regular basis to promote a proactive, standardized environment where processes are streamlined and everyone is on the same page.
#7 Do You Have Strong Partner Or Customer Communities?
If so, that’s a good thing. But bear in mind that this also means an added layer of complexity as well as benefits to using Salesforce.
As their communities grow, many companies find that before long they’re having to manage more and more external users, which increases the amount of data being stored and the need for better data security.
Salesforce Managed Services can handle all of these issues to keep strong, growing partner and customer communities in the asset— not the liability — column.
These communities will update their information at some point, which presents a challenge if you haven’t properly configured your user access levels.
For example, you may want to allow only some users to edit data while limiting others to view-only access. Otherwise, communities can become easily overwhelmed with too much information or garbled, off-message communications.
What a lot of companies don’t realize is that Salesforce can be customized to help you manage user access on a granular level, and Salesforce Managed Services offers companies the ability to do that easily and efficiently.
Using Salesforce Managed Services Could Be The Best, Most Strategic Decision Your Company Ever Makes
With Salesforce Managed Services, you gain a competitive edge with better, more proactively managed processes and an ability to make data-driven decisions based on accurate reports and more meaningful custom-configured dashboards.
You leverage as many tools and features as you need because Salesforce Managed Services can seamlessly integrate those tools and features on an ongoing basis without the headaches.
Salesforce Managed Services eliminates the hidden costs associated with the break-fix model because instead of paying employees or contractors by the hour (and not necessarily for their expertise) to solve problems only after they’ve caused disruptions, they’re making a reasonable investment in a solution that guarantees ongoing, proactive support.
Your team can rely on our team of experts to provide the right support whenever it’s needed so issues are prevented before they happen, and salespeople aren’t frustrated trying to be their own IT department.
If you’re ready to explore even more benefits of using StarrData’s Salesforce Managed Services, we invite you to fill out this simple form, or call (510) 984-3648. We look forward to hearing from you!
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