Achieving a unified 360-degree view of the customer with Salesforce

For years, customer centricity and how to have a better overall – or 360-degree – view of the customer has been an important topic. The complexity of 360 has origins in scattered systems and databases. Still, the most likely reason for scattered user experience and customer 360-degree view is that different parts of the organisation have different views of the customer.

One of the key benefits of having one platform like Salesforce is to have one system that breaks down silos across the organisation and enables one 360-degree view of the customer. But unfortunately, even Salesforce is not a silver bullet for this view. In the worst-case scenario, Salesforce is implemented and customised for the company, but from the internal end-user perspective, it can be challenging to get all the benefits. 

The first and most obvious way to break down silos with Salesforce is to design and build a data model so that all user groups have a relevant view of the customer data. In the ideal world, sales can see open customer service cases, and customer service is always aware of sales status and can sell more. For the end user and consumer, there is one company, and they don't have to care about internal politics or departments. 

Unfortunately, this often feels like a dream. 

Conway's law states that the system architecture follows the internal communication structure of the organisation and, more specifically, the structure of the development team. Unfortunately, in many Salesforce projects, this can cause that Salesforce is implemented in pieces that follow more Salesforce's product lines than the actual business needs of the client. 

Three steps to a unified view of the customer

1. Understand your customers' journey

First, when building a new Salesforce system, we must understand business needs and draw the customer’s journey. The Customer Journey Map is an easy-to-understand tool for mapping customer journeys. In the Customer Journey Map, we can identify when data about the customer should be stored somewhere. 

Knowing when customer data is created is the starting point of the Salesforce project: who owns the customer data? Customer data is not only stored in the system but will also be provided to other teams and systems. From the technical point of view, providing data for other systems or businesses can be an API or an internal view that end-users can easily use.

2. Start small

Second, start small and pragmatic. It might sound like a good idea to start implementing all of the processes simultaneously. My recommendation is to start building the first baseline of the system from one point of view - it could be sales or service, but there should be only one stream at first. Within this stream, your (and our) responsibility is to build a base for the customer data and related processes. When the basis is ready, developers can implement other features more quickly. The first stream should be the one that creates users in the system. In the B2B context, this is the sales process, and in the B2C ecommerce context, it is when integration brings new customer data from the ecommerce platform to the system. 

When the baseline for the customer data is built, the business and developers can start building other needed features. For example, this can be a customer service solution, a more complex sales tool, a marketing automation system, or a portal for external users. Building these functionalities should be pretty easy when the basis for customer data is ready. 

3. Communicate clearly

The third thing to remember is that people are building the system. Even if you think business requirements are precise, those can be unclear to your developers or consultants. Communicating is the best way to ensure that everyone knows what to do.

When the implementation team is small, this is easy. You or the project lead can invite everyone to your daily or weekly and information is shared quickly. However, if the project team is enormous, the meeting can be long and expensive. Some team members might be needed only at some point in the project, and some are so essential that their presence is always significant.

Outside of official communication channels and structures, team members communicate directly. There might be one team member who knows everything and can solve any problem quickly, so asking directly from that person sounds like a good idea. However, that team member might have a lot of stuff on the table, and frequent questions can cause extra stress.

The answer to that problem is to think about how teams are structured and the best ways to communicate internally and cross-team. When everyone knows what each team is doing, it gives a possibility to focus on the right stuff. So, for example, team A can take care of customer data in general, team B is building the portal, and team C is working on marketing automation. Quite soon, there will be some overlapping issues to consider and clear communication is needed.

Salesforce can enable a comprehensive view of customers

In today's fast-paced and highly competitive business landscape, gaining a comprehensive and unified view of your customers is essential. However, achieving a 360-degree view can be challenging and complex, requiring effective coordination and communication across different departments and systems.

As we have seen, Salesforce can be a powerful tool for breaking down silos and enabling a 360-degree view of the customer. However, implementing Salesforce effectively requires careful planning, attention to detail, and effective communication between all stakeholders.

To achieve success with Salesforce and a comprehensive view of your customers, it is essential to start small and build a strong foundation based on your business needs and customer journey. By starting with one stream and gradually building out from there, you can ensure that your Salesforce implementation is tailored to your specific needs and requirements.

Effective communication and collaboration are also critical components of a successful Salesforce implementation. By fostering clear lines of communication and establishing clear roles and responsibilities for each team member, you can ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and that there is clarity and communication along the way.

Ultimately, achieving a 360-degree view of the customer is a challenging task. Still, it is essential to stay competitive and meeting the needs of your customers in today's fast-paced and rapidly changing business environment. By following the best practices outlined in this article and leveraging the power of Salesforce, you can build a strong foundation for achieving a comprehensive view of your customers and delivering exceptional experiences that drive growth and success.