Has this happened to you?
Your boss calls you into her office at 7:30 on a Monday morning. Your Grande-Extra-Shot-Skinny-Caramel-Macchiato-in-a-Venti-Sized-Cup has not yet kicked in as you sink into the chair at the front of her desk.
The conversation goes something like this:
“Morning Albert! I just wanted to let you know, we’re starting a new project later today. It’s something called “Salesforce-dot-com”…(I think)…I don’t really know what it is about – but Bill just sent in the request to me so I am assigning you as the project lead for a possible Salesforce.com implementation. I know you’ve been working on the new ERP release, but this should only take about an hour of your time each week. There’s a meeting at 2:00 in the Endor Conference Room – I’ll send you an invite. Good luck…”
Let me be the first to say I hope that has never happened to you (other than a perfect start to a Monday with the Caramel Macchiato). Unfortunately – some Salesforce.com and CRM projects start just that way. Not surprisingly, most of those do not end well.
But fear not- your project neither needs to start that way nor end in heartbreak. So whether or not you are new to the Saleforce.com ecosystem or you have done many projects before, knowing what to expect can help ensure you start your project on the right track – and keep it there!
This should be a great thing
Being part of a Saleforce.com implementation team can be a game-changer for your company (not to mention your career). Since most of these initiatives have your customers and employees at the center of them, you can quickly improve and delight the most important people in your organization. That is – if you do it right.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a virtual journey through the entire experience of a Salesforce.com project. I’ll share some dos and don’ts (and a few REALLY don’ts) from our own client experiences as well as what Bridgenext(formerly Wave6) is witnessing in the marketplace.
Considering I have implemented Salesforce a number of times as a customer, I will be able to share personal stories as well. Along the way we’ll cover the most important things you’ll need to know for your Salesforce.com project journey.
Such as:
- Why the first question you ask at the start of the project is the most important question!
- The value of determining the why before the what (followed by the what before the how)
- Selecting your team and defining the guardrails to keep your project on the road
- Struts and frets of Project Stages: Plan, Design, Deploy, Test and Deploy
- One word: Data
- Once the project is complete – what’s next?
- And…much, much, more
