Salesforce is well known as the world’s #1 customer relationship management platform. It’s also well known that the platform only is useful if it has high quality data. CRM is one of the key drivers in finding customers and keeping them as happy repeat customers. Dependable customer data in a Salesforce is critical to meeting those goals.
In addition, Salesforce data can help with strategy formulation and decision making. This is true for all levels of a business, from leadership on down.
However, don’t overlook the fact that Salesforce’s versatility also is useful for managing non-customer-facing, internal functions in an enterprise. Or put another way: The people working in the business also could be viewed as “customers,” who need to be found and kept happy. So their relations need to be properly managed as well, if the business is to be truly successful.
“What we found challenging, and what I find in my discussions with a lot of my counterparts that is still a challenge, is finding the set of tools that enable organizations to efficiently generate value through the process.” — Ruben Sigala, former EVP, Caesars Entertainment.
Certainly, generating revenue is one of the primary objectives of a well-run organization. But only a minority of that revenue is actually profit. Most revenue is used to run every function in a business—administration, finances, general management, human resources, marketing, production, public relations, and purchasing. So it’s important to maximize return on the Salesforce investment by optimizing the platform’s data.
To do internal functions well, processes backed by high quality data are absolutely necessary. Incorrect, incomplete, or invalid data as well as duplicate data should be prioritized. Unfortunately, businesses can struggle to address these sources of problematic data:
As previously mentioned, when the topic of Salesforce comes up, most people immediately think of customer relations. Therefore, the Salesforce Admin is vital to the success of that effort. However, the Admin must also be a valued contributor to how well internal functions operate.
From the Admin’s perspective, both share one common need—actionable data. Because the Admin is ultimately responsible for the overall health of the Salesforce platform, the Admin is tasked with status off data quality on the platform (often a thankless task).
Deploying certain best practices could help. In addition, these practices should ideally involve the Salesforce users to empower them and create shared responsibility for data across the business—Admins can’t do it alone.
The free Salesforce-native app, Data Quality Helper from Passage Technology, can help tighten up internal processes, leading to improved data quality and the business running at higher levels. Expanded Salesforce functionality puts Admins in control of how processes are optimized. This leads to empowered users who can play necessary roles in creating and using better data. The app offer two solutions:
Enhanced Validation Rules — Salesforce data validation rules are inflexible and not customizable by Admins. The app allows creation of special data validation rules for creating or updating records. More uniform processes can be implemented to achieve higher quality for data. Admins can custom-set each rule’s triggering criteria, running the rule before or after a save, or preventing or allowing a save. Admin-customized warning messages are displayed when rules are not followed. It’s completely in the Admin’s control. The result: the notifications empower users to properly create or update the records based on the established data guidelines. Learn more >
Duplicate Data Identification and Resolution — Salesforce’s data duplication resolution function doesn’t offer the Admin much control to optimize outcomes. The app allows for eliminating and/or merging duplicate records, according to easy-to-use settings. Admins are offered greater flexibility and customization for resolving the problem of duplicates. They can adjust the sensitivity matching for duplicates and set the criteria triggering duplicate identification. Notifications help users to pick and merge the correct data from any of the duplicates into one updated record. With a better data set, users leveraging the data avoid confusion and errors. Learn more >
All of the identified issues can be seen with a Lightning Web Component set up to provide an org-wide view of data improvement opportunities. The app is available on the Salesforce AppExchange.
Internal processes plagued by poor data quality hurt business in a number of ways—lower productivity, extra costs of time and money, and depressed morale for people. Can your business afford to let the problem of poor data quality go unaddressed? Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Learn more about Data Quality Helper or schedule a demo/consult today.
Upgrade to Data Quality Helper Premium Edition for unlimited enhanced data validation rules, unlimited duplicate resolution rules, and priority support, plus all of the features in the Free Edition.
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