SALESFORCE® ADMINISTRATION
Salesforce ®
Administration:
WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
BY: ERIC WILLIAMSON
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP Management
(CRM) programs—especially Salesforce,
the #1 CRM in the world—are
simultaneously easy to use and powerful
when managed correctly. While the
software is meant to improve efficiency,
it still requires top-down administration
to ensure processes are working properly
and are being automated efficiently.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find a
qualified individual to fill that top-down
role, much less know the right path to
choose (that is, determining whether
you need to hire an administrator or if a
managed service partner is the correct
choice).
For large companies, promoting an
employee to fill that role may be a good
option. Hiring from outside can be costly
(sometimes in the six figures) and qualified
personnel are in high demand. The search
can be more difficult than you would
expect. Here is another issue that business
leaders don’t often consider: if you don’t
already have a Salesforce® expert, how
do you know who the right candidates are?
Hiring a Managed Service Partner is a
very attractive option. By outsourcing
administration, you remove the overhead
of creating a new position within the
company. You can also try different
options without having to hire someone
else. The risk of losing administrators to
the competition is also gone. When you add
up the removed risk, the reduced costs,
and the avoidance of hiring headaches,
outsourcing is an option that shines not
only for smaller companies but also for
many larger ones as well.
When you subtract out all other factors—
money and everything else—you are
still left with one large issue: hiring. Even
companies who intend to hire internal
Salesforce® administrators will still have
to go through a lengthy hiring process and
devote all of the resources necessary to
that search. That means time, money, and
(most importantly) the expertise to know
who the right candidates are. Anyone can
make themselves look good on paper, but
it takes a while to learn whether someone
is effectively handling administration
properly. If they aren’t, the time it takes
for them to attempt to do the job could
spell disaster. To make matters worse,
these administrators are often in such
high demand that, even if you were able to
find a great one, it is likely they would be
headhunted by the competition and the
process would have to start over.
At the end of the day, outsourcing
Salesforce® administration is a very
appealing decision for most businesses:
less training, less overhead, and a
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Eric Williamson
Eric is an Experienced Customer
Relationship Management Adviser at The
Fury Group with a demonstrated history
of working with sales and relationship-
driven businesses to improve processes
and systems. He is skilled at envisioning
the possibilities of a systematized business
that allows leaders to propel their business
to the next level.
significant reduction in risk. Outsourcing
means hiring a company that won’t leave,
won’t suddenly skyrocket in cost, and has
the expertise to do the right thing every
time. It removes the variables and leaves
the essentials of the role intact.
How is your Salesforce® being managed?
Do you have an administrator? Thinking
about getting one? Give us a call at:
800-375-3879 and we can walk through
your options for your situation.