Benefits, risks and alternatives to hiring a Salesforce consultant
Salesforce Partners: Your Expert Navigators to Success!
As a business person, you know how crucial it is to have the right guidance and expertise to steer your company towards success. That’s where Salesforce Partners come into the picture! We are experts who team up with businesses like yours to navigate the Salesforce ecosystem unlocking the full potential of this powerful platform.
In this article, we’ll delve into the world of consulting and integration partners. Professionals who offer a fresh perspective on your business, bringing valuable insights and unbiased opinions that can help you identify untapped opportunities and innovative solutions you might have overlooked.
Whether you are new to Salesforce or already using it, consulting partners are here to make your journey smoother and more rewarding. It’s our job to introduce you to the platform’s features and benefits, helping you cut through the complexity and tailor Salesforce to your specific business needs. From analysing your business strategy to optimizing your processes, we ensure you make data-driven decisions and achieve your long-term objectives.
And if you’re not quite ready to engage a consultant, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with some alternatives to consider, from building an in-house team to empowering your current employees through training and workshops.
Get ready to harness the full power of Salesforce and take your business to new heights of success! Let’s dive in!
Understanding the Importance of a Salesforce Consulting Partner
Salesforce has a ton of content out there on all of its products, and as a result, it can be difficult to see the big picture and distil it down to your business.
At the outset, we help in an advisory capacity:
Advice for If your business is considering implementing a CRM for the first time.
If you’re new to Salesforce, advisory partners are your go-to guides. We introduce you to the platform’s features and benefits, helping you navigate through the many solutions Salesforce offers. With years of practice and expertise, complex concepts will be explained in a way that relates directly to your business needs.
By analysing your business strategy, we can offer optimization advice and recommend which Salesforce clouds and features to implement first. Our experience allows us to handle your business demands with ease, to deliver a competitive edge by choosing the right platform and path forward. Moreover, we can estimate the resources and time requirement, creating a realistic roadmap for your implementation.
Advice For Companies Already Using Salesforce:
Your Salesforce consultant’s goal is to align their recommendations with your long-term business objectives and existing Salesforce strategy. Experienced partners will possess refined methodologies and niche expertise. They can act as subject matter experts on multiple clouds or niche apps, extending the platform’s out-of-the-box functionality.
At Prodigy, we take the time to deeply understand your business, helping you digitize and automate processes. Our team break down solutions using an economical approach for short, medium, and long-term projects. When your team lacks the bandwidth, we can offer speed, focus, and up-to-date knowledge, driving innovation and efficiency.
Learn more about the consultants at Prodigy
A Salesforce Partner such as Prodigy can play a crucial role in optimizing your sales operations. From lead management solutions to sales forecasting and reporting, providing tailored solutions that align with your specific business needs. Our expertise in optimizing sales processes helps eliminate manual tasks and reduce administrative overheads, allowing your sales team to focus on what they do best.
What are the benefits of using a Salesforce Consultant?
- Expertise and Specialized Knowledge: Consultants bring a wealth of expertise and specialized knowledge to your business challenges. They provide valuable external insights and skills that their internal teams lack[1]. Experts can offer fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to complex problems, leading to better decision-making.
- Cost Savings: Engaging a consultant can be cost-effective in the long run. Research by Forbes indicates that hiring a consultant on a project basis can reduce overall costs by avoiding long-term employee expenses like benefits and training[2]. Additionally, consultants often work remotely, reducing overhead costs associated with workspace and equipment.
- Flexibility and Scalability: Consultants provide the flexibility to scale resources according to your business needs. In a Deloitte study, 81% of executives highlighted flexibility as the key benefit of utilizing external resources[3]. Whether you need short-term support for a specific project or expertise for a limited period, consultants offer adaptable solutions.
- Time Efficiency: Consultants streamline project timelines. 74% of businesses hire consultants to access skills and expertise they don’t possess in-house, which accelerates project completion[4]. This efficiency ensures that projects meet deadlines and stay on track.
- Objectivity and Unbiased Insights: Consultants offer an objective viewpoint. External consultants bring unbiased opinions, free from internal politics and biases, which can help in making unbiased decisions[5]. This objectivity is especially valuable when dealing with sensitive issues or major strategic decisions.
- Access to Best Practices: Consultants are well-versed in industry best practices. This access ensures that your business operations are aligned with the latest trends and industry standards.
- Focus on Core Business Functions: Hiring consultants allows your internal teams to concentrate on core business functions. According to a survey by MIT Sloan Management Review, 88% of respondents said that consultants helped free up internal resources for other tasks[7]. This focus enhances productivity and supports growth initiatives.
- Risk Mitigation: Consultants help mitigate risks by offering insights into potential pitfalls and challenges. Consultants are often used to manage risk by providing contingency plans and crisis management strategies[8]. Their experience helps businesses navigate uncertain situations effectively.
- Knowledge Transfer: Consultants contribute to knowledge transfer. A study by McKinsey & Company found that 85% of executives believe consultants effectively transferred skills and knowledge to their internal teams[9]. This transfer strengthens your team’s capabilities and ensures that the benefits of consultancy persist beyond the engagement.
- Competitive Advantage: Engaging consultants External consultants can help organizations stay competitive[10]. Leveraging consultants’ expertise can lead to innovative strategies and improved market positioning.
Collaborating with consultants brings a host of advantages that can significantly enhance your business operations, decision-making processes, and overall success.
Objective Decision-Making
As external advisors, we can provide an objective viewpoint. We are not influenced by the business’s internal politics or biases, thus enabling our team to make impartial recommendations based on data and analysis.
Prodigy solves first. We are masters of process and process automation. That’s why we are different.
What are the risks of using a Salesforce Partner?
Advisors can help you navigate potential risks and uncertainties. Their experience in handling similar situations allows them to provide risk assessments and strategies to minimize potential pitfalls, safeguarding your business’s future.
Partnering with a reputable Salesforce consultant can bring significant benefits, but it’s also essential to consider the risks:
- Choosing the Wrong Partner can lead to wasted time, resources, and money. It’s crucial to thoroughly research potential partners, checking their qualifications, certifications, and client testimonials to ensure they have the expertise and experience needed to meet your specific business needs.
- Overlooking Business Specifics: Some Salesforce partners might offer a one-size-fits-all approach without fully understanding your business processes and objectives.
- Integration Challenges: Complex integrations not done properly may cause disruptions in your operations.
- Lack of Ongoing Support: Your business may need continuous support and updates after the initial implementation. Ensure that your partner has you covered.
- Misalignment with Business Goals: Salesforce partners must fully grasp your long-term business goals, to support your growth plans
- Budget Overruns: Without proper planning and clear communication, a Salesforce project can go over budget, leading to unexpected expenses and financial strain on your business.
How to mitigate against these risks
Take the following steps to mitigate these risks and ensure a successful partnership with a Salesforce consultant:
- Conduct thorough research and due diligence on potential partners.
- Clearly define your business goals and expectations from the partnership.
- Choose a partner that offers tailored solutions aligned with your unique business needs. Whether it’s in finance, marketing, technology, or operations, their specialized knowledge can provide valuable guidance and strategies to address specific challenges and drive growth
- Prioritize partners who provide ongoing support and training for your team.
- Have a well-defined project scope and budget in place before starting the implementation.
- Regularly communicate with the partner to address concerns and ensure alignment.
By being proactive and diligent in your selection process, you can minimize the risks and enjoy the full benefits of a successful partnership with a reliable and experienced Salesforce consultant
Learn how Prodigy ensures you never have to take these risks https://weareprodigy.com/approach/
What are the alternatives to using a consultant:
If you are unsure whether engaging a partner is the best option for your business, you could also explore:
- Hiring internally
- Building your own in-house team
- Invest in training and development programs to upskill your existing employees.
- Conducting internal workshops and brainstorming sessions with your team to foster creativity and innovative problem-solving.
- Hiring externally
- Hiring contractors or freelance admins and developers
What are the downsides?
Hiring internally – committed capital – slow ramp-up periods; talent shortage; expensive recruiters etc.
External: siloed freelancers and consultants; lack quality and/or specific salesforce experience matching your needs. Hiring a great official Salesforce partner mitigates this.
When deciding on alternatives to consulting partners, consider the complexity of the task, your team’s expertise, the required level of support, and the time and resources available.
Prodigy is a master of process and process automation. That’s why we’re different!
Click here to schedule your meeting with our team and embark on an adventure towards unmatched growth and efficiency in the aviation industry. The sky’s the limit with Prodigy by your side!
Curious about the transformative impact we’ve made?
In part two we shine a spotlight on why hiring a specialist can be your trump card
Explore our real-life success stories from leading aviation companies. EirTrade harnessed our expertise to unlock the potential of Salesforce, AvSight, and Accounting Seed, boosting efficiency and tapping into volumes of data for strategic insights. STRADE revolutionized its financial operations, automating high-volume transactions and ensuring data security with our innovative solutions.
Discover our modular solutions designed to bridge gaps in out-of-the-box functionality. From automated invoice processing using OCR technology to tracebacks for selling parts, we create simple yet impactful solutions tailored to your needs. Projo, our native Salesforce project management and HR solutions elevate your data-driven decisions and business efficiency.
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references:
[1]: Source Global Research, “The evolving role of consultants”
[2]: Forbes, “Hiring Consultants: A Guide For Small Businesses”
[3]: Deloitte, “2019 Global Outsourcing Survey”
[4]: Source Global Research, “The evolving role of consultants”
[5]: Harvard Business Review, “When to Hire Outside Consultants”
[6]: Consulting Success, “The State of Consulting 2021”
[7]: MIT Sloan Management Review, “How to Make the Most of External Consultants”
[8]: Business News Daily, “When and How to Hire a Consultant”
[9]: McKinsey & Company, “The $112 billion captive consulting market”
[10]: Robert Half Management Resources, “CFO Sentiment”
