What is Customer 360?
Spend some time in the Salesforce ecosystem and you’ll hear the term “Customer 360”. A lot. It dovetails nicely with the platform’s commitment to providing one single source of truth across your organization and your relationship with your customers but, unlike Salesforce’s other offerings, Customer 360 isn’t a product — it’s an organizational goal.
So what exactly is Customer 360 and how do you achieve it? Let’s dive in!
In simple terms, Customer 360 is the interactive web of platform tools you and your organization need to give you a single, shared view of your customers and provide tailored, best-in-class service at every step of their journey — whatever that looks like in your unique business-case.
Salesforce has come a loooong way since the early days of simply helping sales teams qualify and convert leads into opportunities, and opportunities into closed-won deals. With the advent of Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, Commerce, Analytics, Integrations, Artificial Intelligence, etc… Salesforce has made it possible for everyone from small, Mom n’ Pop shops to the largest companies in the world to more operate more efficiently, more intelligently, and on a unified collection of data in ways that was never possible before.
But, because every business is different, there’s not a one-size-fits-all, plug-and-play solution to instantly improved procedures and operations. What works for the State of Illinois is different than what works for Chuck E. Cheese is different than what works for Taylor’s Hardware. Salesforce Customer 360 is the combination of the product collection, implementation, and integrations that work specifically for your organization and operations.
So how do you find the right combination for you? The secret is scoping.
Well, you can start off on Salesforce. They have a handy Solution Finder that will help steer you towards the products that similar organizations use based on industry, role, size, and vision. But, if you’re wary about taking purchasing advice from the people doing the selling, your best bet is a Salesforce partner.
Salesforce implementation partners (like MK Partners) are experts at translating your unique business needs, operations, and procedures into platform-executable operations to boost your business. And, because we don’t make any money off of your platform licenses, there’s no incentive to steer organizations into products that won’t help them fulfill their goals.
Every one of our client relationships starts with a scoping call to codify the organizations’ existing processes and workflows, their goals and vision for the future, and identify the gap between the status quo and the ideal. From there, and based on our extensive experience with Salesforce products and similar projects for similar clients, we can make recommendations about both products and execution moving forward.
We help identify what’s possible through configuration and customization, new app-development, or only possible with the purchase of an additional piece of the platform. In that way, you’re ensured that you won’t be shelling out every month for something you don’t need and that you’ll be making the most of the licenses you do buy.
Partner scoping is one of the best ways to capture ROI, ensure a smooth rollout, and drive enterprise-wide adoption. And, most importantly, deliver Salesforce’s Customer 360 experience. That’s why it’s step one on every single one of our projects (and should be no matter which Salesforce Partner you bring in to help).
So, if your organization has “improved customer relationships”, “improved platform adoption”, or “improved business processes” on the 2021 agenda — start with scoping and you’ll be well underway to hitting your annual goals. If you’d like to set up a scoping call with us, feel free to drop us a line — of course, we’re always happy to help.
And until then, keep working hard, smart, and happy. And we’ll see you in the cloud.
