A leading trade services platform was facing critical challenges with system integration, data quality, and delivery governance across its Salesforce ecosystem. Manual overheads, unreliable data, and the absence of automated DevOps pipelines were slowing down development and impacting business performance.

To enable faster, more reliable feature delivery and reduce operational inefficiencies, the client required a comprehensive solution to modernise its Salesforce operations, improve data accuracy, and establish robust delivery and governance processes.

Client's Challenge

The client faced several business-wide challenges as a result of their integration issues:

• Poor System Integration and DevOps Disconnection: Significant integration issues between Salesforce and other systems, including lack of DevOps pipeline integration, which hindered streamlined development and deployment.

• Inaccurate and Complex Data: Data inconsistencies and complex structures led to unreliable reporting, poor decision-making, and reduced usability.

• Manual Overheads and Limited Automation: Excessive manual tasks due to lack of CI/CD pipelines and test automation, resulting in inefficiency.

• Inefficient Collaboration, Tooling, and Configuration: A large number of operational inefficiencies were caused by ineffective collaboration practices, unclear application/tool usage, and system misconfiguration.

• Security Issues: There were numerous security malpractices and a lack of robust security review processes.

• Skills Gaps and Inadequate Resourcing: Significant misalignment between the technology stack and available personnel skills impacted operational effectiveness.

• Unclear Governance and Delivery Processes: Absence of formalised requirements review, delivery governance, and KPIs led to unclear governance and delivery processes, resulting in inconsistent outcomes and high technical debt.

Our Approach

To address these challenges, our team undertook the following steps in order to deliver results:

• Comprehensive Technical and Operational Audit: Conducted a detailed review covering integration, data, applications, tooling, configuration, operations, security, and architecture.

• Structured Requirements Governance: Defined a formal process for reviewing and approving engineering requirements to safeguard strategic delivery and minimise technical debt.

• Delivery Governance and KPIs: Established delivery governance and introduced KPIs for DevOps, testing automation, and release controls to standardise project execution.

• DevOps Pipeline Design and Automation: Implemented a full Salesforce CI/CD pipeline, automating build, test, and deployment across environments.

• Organisational and Role Review: Recommended a performant DevOps team structure and evaluated roles, skills, and responsibilities within the Salesforce pillar.

• Data Simplification and Quality Improvements: Reviewed and simplified data structures to enhance usability and improve data accuracy.

• Metrics and Continuous Monitoring: Integrated performance metrics to track delivery efficiency and ensure continuous improvement.

The Result

After carrying out the above steps, the client saw the following impactful benefits:

• Faster, More Reliable Delivery: Improved release speed and reduced errors, enabling quicker feature development and greater business responsiveness.

• Improved Data Quality: Enhanced the accuracy and consistency of data, supporting better forecasting and more informed strategic decision-making.

• Higher User Adoption: Optimised Salesforce to better align with business needs, which increased user satisfaction and productivity.

• Streamlined Processes: Automated and standardised release and development processes, significantly reducing manual workload and variability.

• Greater Visibility and Reporting: Enabled accurate, real-time reporting that provided deeper insights into sales activities and customer interactions.

• Reduced Maintenance Costs: Optimised the platform to lower long-term maintenance needs and reduce troubleshooting efforts.

• Stronger Operational Controls: Introduced governance, KPIs, and continuous monitoring to ensure better oversight and accountability across Salesforce initiatives.