The past decade has witnessed a surge in cloud computing technologies. Out of the many, Salesforce is one such technology that has made its mark in the computing world through its cloud-based CRM suite, offering various applications that have significantly transformed marketing, sales and services of most organizations.
Salesforce CRM is a trusted platform for most modern marketers who utilize it to bridge the gap between their offerings and customer experience. In 2016, Gartner named it the World’s #1 CRM Platform. However, to attain the desired success out of the Salesforce CRM system, ensuring data quality is of paramount importance.
Speaking of data quality, here are some shocking stats with respect to Salesforce data quality.
- A recent report by Cloudingo, wherein 897 global Salesforce users were surveyed, brought forth that approximately 43% of respondents are dissatisfied with the data quality of their Salesforce. Also, a large number of respondents (approximately 58%) think that nearly 80% of their Salesforce data is unreliable and cannot be used.
- Bluewolf confirms through its Salesforce report that due to data inconsistencies, marketers (around 28%) lack a 360-degree view of their customers.
- Another Salesforce usage report by Ebsta states that approximately 68% of salespeople think data entry is a tedious, manual and repetitive process that badly needs more automation.
Data is the lifeline of any organization. It empowers an organization with valuable and actionable insights. Constant verification of the integrity of data is important to increase the productivity of teams and maintain one’s reputation in the market.
Now, the million-dollar question is how to improve your Salesforce data quality. We share a few rules that you need to keep in mind to ensure your Salesforce data quality is up to the mark.
Rule 1: Your existing data needs a cleanup
Eliminate or delete any siloed, duplicate and/or irrelevant data already existing in your Salesforce system, which calls for cleaning up any test or inactive records that may exist. This will not happen at a time. You will have to perform a number of cleaning sweeps to recognize the number of duplicate records and data on the system. A recent study by Salesforce suggests an average customer database consists of more than 25% of duplicate records. Using the power of automation feature in Salesforce will help in merging records and getting rid of all the redundant dupes in the system.
Rule 2: You need to profile and integrate your data
Once the cleanup is done, you will need to profile your data in such a way that reduces the risk of new leads data being fed into the wrong account. The best way to achieve this is to create various data points—for existing accounts; contacts; opportunities—and categorize fields such as different states, cities and related geographical info.
Integrating your data refers to integrating the different systems where data is stored in your organization. Most organizations store data on more than one system. Getting all the systems in sync will make sure that any change in one system is automatically updated in all the systems.
Rule 3: A good data maintenance plan needs to be in place
When all is in place, a good maintenance plan takes care of any unnecessary hazards that may arise in future. For this, enforce procedures and standards for data entry. You have already set the required fields and data points; now is the time to set certain validation rules such as setting alerts for any wrong entry. This will also ensure that entry and reporting is accurate and easier. Defining the CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) rights will make it easier for users to gain access to data and utilize the same as needed.
Rule 4: Periodic audits and delegation of ownership is a must
With changes in your business, there always remains a certainty for changes in your data. Hence, a periodic audit to re-evaluate the existing fields and data points is mandatory. Re-evaluate various workflows and tasks to ensure smooth automation and eliminate duplication. Maintain a simple and clean layout for better user experience.
Also, it is important to frequently meet and update the teams and groups to keep up with the organizational changes that occur. Finally, delegation of ownership is of utmost importance. Assigning a team to take on the responsibility of maintaining the Salesforce environment goes a long way in keeping the system in place.
Gartner has recently announced Salesforce as a leader in the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center for the tenth year in a row. And it is known that approximately 90% of Fortune 500 organizations resort to using a minimum of one app from Salesforce’s AppExchange. So what are you waiting for? Keep the above rules in mind to maximize the ease of using the Salesforce platform in your organization.
Contact us to learn more on how to upgrade the data quality in Salesforce.