Salesforce Service Cloud Implementation: Comprehensive Guide
7 min readPosted on April 17, 2023
INTRODUCTION
Salesforce Service Cloud is one of the most popular Customer Relationship Management Clouds as recommended by several Salesforce Consulting Companies. It is also one of the most popular choices of businesses along with the Salesforce Sales Cloud to deliver complete customer satisfaction through after-sales support with features like case management, automation, help portals, analytics, data management, and more.
Implementation is a process that involves utter focus and in-depth knowledge of the cloud one is performing implementation for. Additionally, it must be done while taking into account the needs of the business, including the goals that will be achieved by integrating Salesforce Service Cloud into the company.
PLANNING COMES FIRST!
The first and most crucial stage in any successful implementation process is planning. To design the implementation process’s road map, one must decide on the following crucial factors-
• Understanding the company’s demands is necessary for determining the level of modification required throughout the deployment. Ensuring that the implementation is effective and that the objectives are accomplished involves identifying gaps in business processes and potential improvement areas.
• This step involves determining the workflow and listing the users of the platform working with different objectives and presenting different behavior and needs. This must be done to tailor the platform to fit their requirements so that they can work efficiently on the platform.
• The goal of this approach is to identify the shortcomings in the old system’s data management. In order to ensure data security and integrity, it is done to identify which data needs to be merged, transferred, or entirely eliminated.
SETTING UP THE SERVICE CLOUD
Custom fields, objects, and layouts: Custom fields, objects, and layouts let businesses manage and enter more data by adjusting the user interface (UI) to suit the demands of the user or the company.
It involves the following steps:
• Navigate to “Setup” and select the particular object for which you want to create custom fields and objects.
• Under the “Object Manager” section, click on the object for which you want to create custom field.
• To create a new custom field, click on “Fields & Relationships” and then click on “New”.
• With the help of the instructions, fill in the required details such as field label, data type, etc.
• Once the custom fields are created, you can create a custom object by navigating to “Object Manager” and clicking on “Create”.
Case Queues and Routing Rules: Case queues and routing rules are put up to arrange the cases and establish how they will be assigned to a service agent, based on important factors such the qualifications and abilities of the agent considering them to be the most appropriate.
It involves the following steps:
• Go to “Setup” and select “Case Queue”.
• Click on “New” and fill in the required details such as Queue Name, Description, etc.
• You can add members to the queue by clicking on “Add Members” and selecting the users or groups you want to add.
• After queue is set up, you can create routing rules by going to “Setup” and selecting “Routing”.
• Click on “New” and fill in the required details such as Rule Name, Description, etc.
• Select the criteria for the routing rule such as Case Record Type, Priority, etc.
• Choose the queue to which the cases matching the routing rule criteria will be routed.
Configuring Case Conversion: Customers can directly register a grievance through email or submitting web forms and Service Cloud will convert them into a case and it will be routed to the most suited service agent automatically.
It involves the following steps:
• Go to “Setup” and select “Email-to-Case” or “Web-to-Case” depending on which feature you want to configure.
• Click on “Enable” to enable the feature.
• With the help of instructions, fill in the required details such as email address, routing address, etc.
• You can also configure email templates, auto-response rules, and other settings.
Enabling Live Chat and Phone: These should be made available so that clients may receive support whenever and wherever they need it. These features, once integrated with the Salesforce Service Cloud, distribute customer queries based on agent availability.
It involves the following steps:
• Go to “Setup” and select “Live Agent”.
• Click on “Enable Live Agent” and with the help of instructions, set up your chat buttons and other Live Agent settings.
• You can also set up phone support by selecting the “Call Center” option under “Setup”.
• Click on “New” and fill in the required details such as Call Center Name, Description, etc.
• Follow the instructions to set up your phone support features such as dialer settings, phone numbers, etc.
CUSTOMIZATIONS AND INTEGRATIONS
Salesforce Service Cloud is adaptable for customizations and integrations in order to increase the platform’s capabilities and improve the client experience while also boosting the efficiency of support agents.
In order to provide a seamless flow of data with a consolidated viewpoint, removing the need for manual data entry, Salesforce Service Cloud may be integrated with other existing systems in the business.
Additionally, workflows and processes may be modified by configuring them, which entails modifying the already-existing tools and features to match the needs of the company, such as directing client inquiries to the most qualified and suitable employee.
It is possible to create customized applications and tools, like reports, dashboards, and more, from scratch that fulfill the business’s specific needs if the configuration falls short of their expectations.
Implementing AI can help a business automate their workflows in the Salesforce Service Cloud without any manual input, and its predictive analysis and suggestions for areas of improvement can help make data-driven decisions that drive revenue and growth.
TRAINING FOR ADAPTATION
In order to successfully utilize the Salesforce Service Cloud platform, training and adoption of the platform by users is crucial.
You can develop effective training programs for introducing Salesforce to the future users of the platform keeping their roles and responsibilities in mind, with several training materials, whether visual or audible, readable in the form of manuals, etc.
Based on their inputs and suggestions, you can amend the platform to bring the most to the table. You can encourage the users to give feedback through various programs like incentives, rewards, etc.
Additionally, you should keep an eye on their activities to spot any performance gaps and recommend areas for improvement based on customer satisfaction rate, achievement of target, etc.
MAINTENANCE AND EVOLUTION
Salesforce Service Cloud will be successful for your business in the long run if you follow the below three steps-
• Constant monitoring and optimizing the platform to fit the changing needs of the business.
• Regularly asking for feedback and suggestions from the users of the platforms to introduce new integrations or eliminate tools and features that are no longer useful.
• Installing updates and upscaling to newer versions as soon as they are available.
BEST PRACTICES
To ensure a successful implementation of Salesforce Service Cloud, it is recommended to follow best some best practices, like-
• Collaborating with the platform’s users is absolutely necessary as ultimately how they adjust to the platform will affect the overall efficiency of the organization and how satisfied the customer is.
• Customizations and integrations of the platform must be prioritized as it will not serve the purposes it is supposed to unless it is tailored exactly to fit the organization.
• The process of implementation involves a lot of challenges and in order to tackle them, the process should be carefully curated to go through each obstacle and overcome it.
• Testing, testing, and testing are what make anything come out of the shell of perfection and present itself with problems and bugs that may be necessary to fix for smooth functionality.
• It is also highly recommended to hire a Salesforce consultant for the implementation to be done by the hands of an expert with deep knowledge and experience.
CONCLUSION
The growth and ROI of a business depend upon the loyalty of a customer towards the business and how often are people likely to purchase their products or services based on its reputation in the competitive market. It is necessary for businesses to hire one of the best Salesforce consulting companies for an expert insight on for what tools are best suited for a business like theirs and how they must be implemented for utilization to its full extent.
