Context
IIn an effort to elevate customer engagement and streamline operations across multiple business functions, a leading manufacturing company in Finland embarked on an ambitious Salesforce multi-cloud project. The goal was to integrate and optimize their processes in marketing, sales, field service, and customer service, ultimately creating a seamless experience for both the company and its customers.
How I helped
As the Business Lead, I had the responsibility of guiding this project from its earliest stages through to the Discovery and Design phases. My role was all about collaboration—working closely with stakeholders across different departments to ensure that the solution would meet the specific needs of each function within the organisation.
Over five months, from May to September 2022, I led the team through several key activities. We began with a thorough As-Is analysis, diving deep into the existing processes and systems in marketing, sales, field service, and customer service. This groundwork was crucial for understanding what was working well and where improvements were needed. From there, we moved on to defining the To-Be state, where we carefully outlined the desired future capabilities through detailed Epics and User Stories.
One of the most important tasks was mapping these future processes to Salesforce’s capabilities, leveraging tools like Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud (including Field Service), Experience Cloud, and CPQ. This alignment was critical to ensuring that the technology would effectively support the company’s transformation goals. Finally, we developed a strategic implementation roadmap, which provided a clear, phased plan for deploying Salesforce across the different functions.
Results
The project culminated in a detailed and actionable implementation roadmap, tailored specifically to the manufacturing company’s unique needs. By aligning their current and future processes with Salesforce’s solutions, we set a clear path for their digital transformation. This roadmap laid the foundation for a successful Salesforce implementation, expected to drive significant improvements in efficiency, customer engagement, and service delivery.
Lessons learned
Throughout the project, I learned several important lessons. First, the early and continuous involvement of stakeholders from all relevant functions proved crucial in ensuring that the solution truly met the business’s needs and gained the necessary buy-in. Additionally, conducting comprehensive As-Is and To-Be analyses was fundamental in identifying gaps and opportunities, ensuring that the final solution was both effective and efficient.
Maintaining clear and consistent communication among all team members and stakeholders was another key takeaway. This helped manage expectations and address any issues promptly. Finally, I discovered the value of having a flexible roadmap—one that allows for iterative development and deployment, making it easier to accommodate evolving business requirements and unexpected challenges.
This project reinforced the importance of a structured and collaborative approach when implementing complex multi-cloud solutions, laying a strong foundation for future digital transformation initiatives.