Business success depends on customer satisfaction and more and more businesses rely on Customer Relationship Management software to deliver great customer experiences. While Salesforce’s CRM solution certainly helps companies deliver great customer experiences, it also aims to deliver great experiences for its own customers. One of the handiest evolutions – which dates back to 2015 – is the Salesforce Lightning Experience.
Salesforce Lightning Experience is an improved user interface for Salesforce. Salesforce Lightning is faster and it offers enhanced functionality to your Salesforce CRM.
By integrating Lightning components, the Lightning Design System (LDS), and Lightning app builder providing you with an intelligent and intuitive user interface.
If you are still working on the Classic version of Salesforce you are missing out on a whole new CRM experience built on the platform you know and love. However migrating to Salesforce Lightning isn’t as simple as flipping a switch or contacting your Salesforce AE. Summit has a proven process for successfully helping companies migrate to Salesforce Lightning.
If your Salesforce instance is customized, and aren’t they all, then there are a lot of issues to consider when migrating to lightning. The timing has to be right. You want to begin a lightning migration when there will be the least impact on the business.
Custom objects, custom homepage components, numerous customizations can lead to major complications during a lightning migration. A thorough analysis must be completed understanding all your customizations, Apex code, automations, workflows, hard coded URLs and record ID’s, custom fields with in-line styles and labels, Visualforce tools, poorly optimized code, and undocumented changes to your org.
Summit takes into consideration all the technical debt weighing down your current solution and creates a plan to have your organization up and running on Salesforce Lightning in as little as ten weeks. More importantly, we will have your organization up and running on Salesforce Lightning without obstacles or unexpected downtime.
A successful Salesforce Lightning migration requires a roll-out strategy to deal with possible challenges. Summit will help you roll out in stages and document all the Salesforce elements that will be affected by the Lightning transition with strategies to prepare.
You might be wondering what exactly are the steps to a Salesforce Lightning Migration.
- Analyze and Discover. A thorough analysis of the Salesforce functionalities and features in your existing Salesforce org AND their compatibility with Lightning gives you a readiness assessment. There will be unique requirements for your Lightning migration and it is important that you recognize them early on. Review all the buttons, custom fields, objects and workflows that may create conflicts to be addressed early on.
- Audit. Determine what critical items and considerations lead to a successful Lightning migration. You might uncover some outdated and malfunctioning components of your existing Salesforce instance that can be addressed during the migration.
- Documentation. Prepare a detailed guide of the essential elements your Salesforce org requires to plan a smooth transition to the Salesforce Lightning Experience. This is the beginning of your roadmap for a successful migration and an invaluable tool when working with and involving your stakeholders.
- Stakeholder Involvement. Stakeholders are your C level executives, your system administrators, your team leads, and your end users. Understanding how they use the Salesforce instance, what their expectations are from the Lightning migration, and any valuable information about automations, triggers, and workflows currently in use OR DESIRED in your Salesforce org will help you improve the productivity of your Salesforce ecosystem. This might also uncover additional Salesforce tools or items from the Appexchange that would make your Salesforce tools even more useful to your organization.
- Estimation. Now you have a set of tools in place to estimate the time, resources, Salesforce partner assistance, and budget required to complete your Lightning Migration. The estimate not only allows you to plan the money and manpower required but also to budget the time invested in your migration.
- Roadmap. Where the rubber meets the road with your Lightning Migration is the Salesforce roadmap. Your roadmap lays the foundation for an effective adoption of the new features like App Builder, Design System, and Lightning Components. Additional improvements uncovered in your audit and stakeholder involvement may present themselves as opportunities along the roadmap. The roadmap also allows you to check whether or not any additional customized products, Salesforce tools, or integrations will improve the final product.
- Implement. Now you are ready for the fun! Migrate from Classic Salesforce to Salesforce Lightning Experience, customize your dashboards and analytics, and enable your company to take full advantage of the new reporting capabilities with your Lightning migration. Roll out user training to your end users showing them the new functionality and features in your Salesforce instance.
A Salesforce Lightning migration better prepares your company to get the most out of connectivity to other Salesforce tools and apps. The benefits of using Salesforce CRM or multiplied with the Salesforce Lightning Experience. Summit can help you evaluate the differences and value of Salesforce Classic versus Salesforce Lightning Experience for your organization.
Upon completion of your migration to Salesforce Lightning Summit provides admin and end user training so you have all the tools you need to get the most out of your new Salesforce Lightning experience.
