The importance of finding the right Salesforce Support Partner?

How imperative is it to get the right level of Support for your third-party software? What level and type of Support do you need to underpin your whole business?

There are a few options including setting up an internal support team, relying on the third party software provider for all levels of support which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or engage a specialised support partner with the same level of knowledge and experience as third party software provider with added benefit of in depth industry experience and spends time with their customers to understand the business and its processes. Below I will examine the options and provide some examples where a Salesforce Support Services partner such as Girikon could be the answer to all your support needs.

Internal Support Teams

Internal support teams often struggle to keep up with internal stakeholder demands and in some instances lack the capacity and capability to deal with issues, defects and enhancement requests from their third party software providers.

Setting up an internal Support teams can sometimes be a long and tedious process. Firstly, the organisation needs to determine an appropriate support framework to underpin the business including the level of support to be provided, providing an effective interface between the organisation and the third-party provider and setting up the capability and systems to underpin the internal support structure.

Once the support framework is designed, suitable and capable operational staff are required to implement. This will include selecting the right candidates, assessing appropriate skill sets, training regimes, familiarisation and understanding the business and what is unique about the business.

In some cases, organisations setup internal support teams with ease. This is due to effective planning and experience in house. Girikon offer these type of organisations with highly skilled, certified and experienced Salesforce Consultants to work collaboratively with internal Support teams at cost effective rates with the flexibility of onshore or offshore models to suit.

Software Support Providers

Entering an annual support contract from the organisation’s 3rd party software provider such as Salesforce can sometimes be costly and gives the organisation access to a level of support which may or not suit the organisation’s needs.

In some cases, the software provider’s support team resources often differ from the project team who successfully managed the software implementation. How often do we encounter a sub-standard handover from Implementation to BAU where there is little to no documentation or the lack of enough training to support staff? In these instances, there is a requirement for Subject Matter Experts (SME) to be internally selected to champion the software support, acting as the interface between internal stakeholders and the software provider and in some cases triaging issues coming through from internally stakeholders. SME must then in turn determine if the issues are appropriate to log, the priority of issues and follow through on service levels.

Usually the SMEs are employed to do a specific role outside of support in the organisation and taking up the SME title is usually casual or part time due to many reasons including showing a level of interest, being a conscientious employee, the employee’s technical abilities or just being thrust into a position due to resource constraints.

When an organisation chooses to proceed with the option for 3rd Party Software support it is important to ensure that all business processes are well documented and how the software is used including who will be completing updates after every upgrade, a support process is established to ensure all responsibilities are known and communicated to all stakeholders. This will ensure the unnecessary pressure is not placed internally on SMEs and the level of support and service is in line with the organisation’s expectations.

In some cases, organisations work through the Support process early in the journey with their 3rd party software providers and have a well-established support framework to underpin the organisation’s operations.

Girikon offers an alternative to this type of support service for organisations using Salesforce. Girikon will spend time understanding your business processes, document required artefacts to ensure knowledge about the business is not lost. Girikon’s end to end Salesforce support process includes a robust support model, best practice framework and highly skilled, certified and experienced Salesforce Consultants to deploy immediately. Girikon works with your staff at cost effective rates with the flexibility of onshore or offshore models to suit any size business.

Specialised Salesforce Support Services Partner

When it comes to Salesforce Support Girikon offers a cost advantage by using both onshore and offshore resourcing model blended to ensure maximum efficiencies. Girikon’s quality is guaranteed, extensive experience across industries and Salesforce products and most importantly customer testimonials to provide a level of confidence to all stakeholders. As a Salesforce Implementation Partner we focus primarily on providing the highest of service to our customers;

• Through Girikon’s on-shore presence it takes the time to understand the business, the processes and the culture of the organisation

• Girikon’s Salesforce Consultants design a bespoke support solution to ensure maximum effectiveness in set up and BAU.

• Girikon a Salesforce Consulting Partnerunderstands the importance of providing consistency through the implementation and go live period and prefers to be involved early in the project to ensure this consistency.

• Girikon provides Salesforce Supports across time zone which is ideal for globally diverse companies

If you are searching for a Cost-Effective Salesforce Support Services, your search can end here!

About Author

Yiannis Loupis

Yiannis Loupis, Managing Director (ANZ) Girikon Pty Ltd has many years of experience in business management and delivering complex Programs in multiple industries including Information Technology and Education. Yiannis leads Business Strategy for Girikon Pty Ltd in the Australian and New Zealand markets focussing primarily on Marketing including whole of enterprise SEO, content and brand presence. Yiannis bring his exceptional skills and experience in operations and personnel management, commercial acumen, strategic development & execution, business modelling, stakeholder and vendor management which are only a handful of skills in his kitbag.