Finance
Streamlining Salesforce Integration Post-Merger for a Financial Services Firm
Focus Areas
Salesforce
Digital Transformation
Project Management
Business Problem
A prominent financial services firm had recently undergone a challenging merger and acquisition (M&A) process. Post it, they were having trouble integrating their Salesforce platform across the 11 different organizations under their umbrella, with the integration process being plagued by missed deadlines, inefficiencies, and unproductive cross-functional cooperation.
Key challenges:
- The absence of a Project Management Office (PMO) structure led to issues with project scope, milestones, and risk mitigation methods.
- Inconsistent communication between internal teams and external vendors resulted in project delays, elevated operations risks, and impeded development.
The Approach
Tasked with establishing a dedicated post-M&A PMO and overseeing the Salesforce implementation process, Curate’s consultants worked closely with the firm’s internal teams (IT, Compliance, Operations and Customer Service) as well as external vendors (responsible for system configuration, Data Migration, Testing) to bring to fruition the PMO mission – ensure alignment on workstream scope, milestone tracking, and risk management to deliver the integration within the established budget and time.
Key components of the solution:
- Phase 1: Assessment and Planning
The Curate team carried out a comprehensive assessment of the existing Salesforce integration across all 11 entities by meeting with stakeholders from each organization. This helped the team identify key pain points, ongoing workstreams, and potential risks.
Project Managers, Change Management specialists, and Risk Mitigation experts were brought together to formally establish the PMO. A detailed project plan and centralized reporting structure allowed key milestones, dependencies, and risk management protocols to be outlined and tracked.
- Phase 2: Alignment and allocating resources
- With the PMO in place, the team focused on aligning the different organizations on the scope of work for the integration of Salesforce, which included:
Building standardized project deliverables and documentation across the 11 organizations.
Ensuring consistent updates between internal teams, vendors, and the team’s leadership through a communication plan.
Ensuring accountability and avoiding overlap by defining the roles and responsibilities for each workstream.
- To facilitate smooth coordination and minimize delays (especially in high-priority areas like customer data migration and regulatory compliance), the Curate team appointed program managers experienced in Salesforce implementations, data migration experts, and risk management specialists to work directly with the firm’s internal IT and operations teams.
- With the PMO in place, the team focused on aligning the different organizations on the scope of work for the integration of Salesforce, which included:
- Phase 3: Implementation and mitigating risks
- To focus on managing key risks such as data migration (which was one of the highest risks), a risk mitigation strategy was designed, which included:
Incremental data migration with extensive validation checks at every stage.
Extensive testing frameworks that could catch errors early and resolve before deployment.
An exclusive change management process that would prepare teams for the new system and ensure seamless adoption while minimizing disruption.
- The Curate team worked closely with the firm’s external vendors to manage technical challenges that arose during the integration. Regular touchpoints were established and detailed progress reports shared with the firm’s leadership to maintain transparency and adjust priorities when needed.
- To focus on managing key risks such as data migration (which was one of the highest risks), a risk mitigation strategy was designed, which included:
- Phase 4: Post-integration support and optimization
After the successful Salesforce integration across all 11 organizations, Curate’s consultants also provided post-integration support focused on optimizing system performance and ensuring complete operational efficiency.
The PMO kept an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs) post-launch to ensure any residual risks were addressed and all workstreams were closed efficiently.
Consistent communication among the PMO, internal teams, and vendors ensured that even during the most complex stages, the integration process remained smooth.
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Business Outcomes
The transition from Waterfall to Agile, led by Curate Consulting, resulted in transformative improvements for the healthcare provider:
Reduced Risks
The structured risk management framework substantially decreased the risks associated with data migration, regulatory compliance, and system downtime during integration.
Seamless System Integration
The integration was completed smoothly by aligning all entities on workstream scope and objectives, which allowed for improved operational efficiency and access to integrated services across the firm.
Improved Collaboration
The PMO and communication channels across the 11 organizations enhanced project coordination and reduced inefficiencies and delays.
Scheduled Delivery
The project was completed on time, which allowed the firm to leverage Salesforce’s capabilities right away.
Sample KPIs
Here’s a quick summary of the kinds of KPI’s and goals teams were working towards**:
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Deadline Adherence | 40% | 95% | 55% improvement |
| Data Migration Error Rate | 15% | 3% | 80% reduction in errors |
| Operational Disruption Time | 10 days | 1 day | 90% reduction |
| Cross-Entity Alignment on Scope | 60% | 100% | Full alignment achieved |
| Stakeholder Satisfaction | 65% | 85% | 20% increase |
Customer Value
Curate Consulting’s expertise in Agile methodologies not only improved operational efficiency but also enhanced the healthcare provider’s ability to serve their patients more effectively:
Increased time-to-market
The CI/CD pipeline improved the capacity to promptly provide new financial services to customers by cutting the time needed to implement new features by 40%.
Improved uptime and reliability
Customers received improved service thanks to a 35% reduction in downtime which was brought on by deployment problems and configuration errors.
Conclusion
Curate’s structured and methodical approach helped the financial services firm navigate the complexities brought on by post-M&A Salesforce integration. The team ensured seamless integration of Salesforce, reduced operational inefficiencies, and delivered tangible value by establishing a centralized PMO and applying advanced project management techniques.
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