Digital transformation is not just a trend – it’s an absolute necessity today for businesses aiming to compete and succeed as the pace of change accelerates and consumer expectations evolve in the digital economy.
The need for change is clear and inevitable. But CGI’s Voice of our Clients (VOC) survey shows that while more than 90% of executives we polled say they have digital strategies in place, only 30% are seeing expected results for their organization.
The race to digital transformation is on
Forward-looking businesses are wisely embracing technology, data and diverse digital connections to meet the needs and preferences of today’s wired consumers. This includes:
- Cloud computing: Businesses are increasingly adopting cloud-based solutions for their flexibility and scalability.
- AI and Machine Learning: AI-driven insights are transforming customer interactions, making them more personalized and efficient.
- Omnichannel customer experience: Companies are increasingly delivering a seamless customer experience across multiple touchpoints.
- Data-driven decision making: Organizations are investing heavily in improving data quality and governance to derive actionable insights.
- Insights from CGI’s VoC data
Our timely research reveals how businesses are responding in order to keep pace with today’s endlessly evolving environment, including:
- Digital strategies and ecosystems: According to the latest CGI research, 31% of executives say they extend their digital strategies to include their organization’s external ecosystems – including partners, suppliers and customers. This broader approach can enhance customer experience and drive better results.
- Data strategy: With one in five executives extending their data strategy across the value chain, improving data quality and governance becomes crucial. Salesforce’s robust data-management tools can help achieve this.
- Business-model agility: CGI’s findings show that organizations with high business-model agility are three times more likely to achieve their digital-strategy goals. Salesforce’s flexible and scalable out-of-the-box solutions, as well as its customization features, can deliver the agility that businesses need to succeed.
- Salesforce is driving digital transformation to reshape customer experience
The inevitable need to reshape and personalize today’s customer experience is driving organizations to embrace a comprehensive – and unprecedented – digital-transformation journey. And Salesforce is at the forefront of this shift to help businesses reach their digital destination efficiently. Salesforce is investing heavily in advanced technologies and innovations to help businesses streamline operations and engage more effectively with every customer.
With significant investments in artificial intelligence (AI), Salesforce has introduced Einstein AI, which provides predictive analytics, personalized recommendations and automated workflows that combine to dramatically enhance the overall customer experience. Additionally, Salesforce is continuously improving its Customer 360 platform, offering a unified view of customer data across all touchpoints. This integrated approach positions you to deliver more personalized and efficient services.
Furthermore, Salesforce's commitment to innovation is unmistakable thanks to its ongoing acquisition of cutting-edge technologies and partnerships – bolstering its capabilities in areas such as data integration, security and mobile accessibility. Through these strategic initiatives, Salesforce empowers businesses to meet and exceed customer expectations – ideally ensuring a seamless and engaging customer journey in the digital age.
Meeting challenges in your Salesforce implementation
Implementing Salesforce can significantly enhance your CRM capabilities. But beware – effective implementation can pose challenges. Here are the top three challenges that businesses often face as they turn to the power of Salesforce:
Data migration and integration: Migrating existing data to Salesforce and integrating it with other systems can be complex and time-consuming. Ensuring data accuracy, consistency and completeness is critical – any errors during migration can unleash significant and costly issues down the line. At the same time, integrating Salesforce with other enterprise systems such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), marketing automation tools and third-party applications requires careful planning and robust technical expertise.
User adoption and training: Even the most-advanced system is ineffective if users are not well-versed in its functionalities. Ensuring high user adoption can pose a major challenge requiring comprehensive training and ongoing support. Resistance to change from employees accustomed to familiar systems and processes can further hinder successful implementation. Developing a structured training program and demonstrating the tangible benefits of Salesforce can help in overcoming this challenge and positioning teams for success.
Customization and configuration: While Salesforce offers a high degree of customization, configuring it to meet specific and often unique business needs can be challenging. Balancing between standard features and custom development to avoid over-customization is crucial. Over-customization can lead to increased complexity, higher costs and potential maintenance issues. Properly defining business requirements and relying on Salesforce’s experts for guidance can mitigate these risks.
Maximizing the value of Salesforce
CGI differentiates itself from other partners. How? By looking beyond technology to include a sharp focus on business outcomes and value. We provide strategic guidance and proven thought leadership to initiate change that will deliver effective results and meet your business objectives. As a partner for over 12 years, with thousands of successful Salesforce implementations and high customer satisfaction, CGI has a clear perspective on all aspects of transformation success, from planning and execution to ongoing managed services as a trusted long-term partner.
Success begins with a clear vision and strategy regarding what the future state will look like, followed by effective execution to ensure rapid integration, comprehensive training, timely data and seamless customer engagement.
- Clear vision and strategy: Define a clear digital transformation strategy that aligns with your organizational goals and objectives. This should include specific outcomes you aim to achieve through Salesforce implementation.
- Comprehensive integration: Ensure Salesforce integrates seamlessly with your existing systems and processes. This might involve integrating with ERP systems, customer-service platforms, marketing automation tools and more to create a unified ecosystem.
- Customization versus configuration: Leverage a configuration-first approach to introduce features and capabilities that tailor Salesforce to your specific business needs. This includes built-in settings, features and workflows, even building custom applications using Salesforce tools. This approach allows for easier user adoption and training. Customization involves changing out-of-the-box Salesforce components or adding newly developed tools to adapt precisely to your unique business needs.
- User adoption and training: Invest in comprehensive training programs to ensure that your employees fully utilize Salesforce’s capabilities. This will maximize efficiency and effectiveness across different departments.
- Data-driven decision making: Utilize Salesforce's analytics and reporting tools to gain valuable insights from your data. This can help in making informed decisions, improving customer experience and optimizing business processes.
- Customer experience enhancement: Use Salesforce to improve customer engagement and satisfaction through personalized experiences, efficient customer service and targeted marketing campaigns.
At CGI, we believe in onboarding users to Salesforce’s flexible system as soon as possible and, as part of any implementation, we work with our clients to build a strong governance structure that ensures a true feedback loop from the user community. Adoption is enhanced when users have a voice that is heard – and responded to – as the business evolves.
Continuous improvement and strong sponsorship are a must. To ensure and sustain improvement, embed an innovative approach into your culture, regularly reviewing and optimizing Salesforce configurations, processes and workflows. This ensures that Salesforce evolves with your business needs and technology innovations.
Don’t underestimate the need for executive sponsorship and support. Doing so will help to drive Salesforce adoption and transformation efforts across the organization. This ensures alignment with strategic goals and adequate resource allocation.
CGI and Salesforce are delivering what today’s smart, forward-looking organizations need to shape an exciting new era of customer service and brand loyalty. In today’s consumer-centric digital economy, catering to customer needs with modern technology and strategies has become indispensable to competitiveness and success.
CGI can help – contact us to find out if Salesforce is the right fit to solve your business challenges and position your business to compete and succeed in the consumer-centric digital economy.
CGI’s modern work experts
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