One way to stop Salesforce project mistakes from costing you 100x your budget

Imagine waiting seven days for a simple address change to take effect - all because of a messy CRM. This is what Ian Gotts, Founder & CEO of Elements.cloud, discovered when talking to his friend who runs digital banking at a large bank.

Why would it take a week for a simple email change? It's because that bank has 350 CRMs.

"Every time we buy a bank, we're like, 'we should integrate it. Then we go, 'that's too hard' (sic)," said the bank head. All the bank does is "put a layer on top of it" to obfuscate the technical debt that will never get fixed.

Large institutions like this bank have been around for a long time. Unsurprisingly, they have swaths of technical debt that frustrate their customers and employees.

I want good Salesforce architecture, but it costs $$$

But what if a Business Systems leader is starting a new project or has a smaller Salesforce footprint? And what if they want to make the right architecture decisions up-front but can't afford to hire a full-time Salesforce Architect?

Historically, to "save costs," they'd hand off consequential architecture decisions to their Salesforce admin or a contractor. The Salesforce Admin would try their best, but depending on their level of expertise, they could do more harm than good. In the case of the contractor, they could bring them on at 25 hours a month for six months. But, there are yet to be any clear deliverables. Even after six months, the contractor's skill set could be misused for less impactful items.

It's no surprise that Salesforce orgs run this way are in dire need of Salesforce architects.

The rise of the Fractional Salesforce Architect

Brian Shea, founder of Shea Consulting, argues that with the rise of the Fractional C-Suite, the Fractional Salesforce Architect makes Salesforce’s trusted, easy, and adaptable architecture pillars accessible to customers. How? The Fractional Architect is neither an employee nor a contractor. “One of the things that a good fractional Architect brings to the mix is very clear deliverables and very clear roles that they’re playing to really maximize your investment in them on a project.” They serve in an advisory capacity and aren’t a ticket taker.

The Fractional Salesforce Architect will work on specific items up-front to impact the project significantly. Brian and Ian agree: it's better to make the more sensible architectural decisions now, so the Salesforce leader doesn't have to make them later - when it costs anywhere from 2-100x the investment they would've made in a Fractional Architect.

How a Fractional Salesforce Architect works: an example

How would a Fractional Salesforce Architect work in practice? Let's take an example.

Suppose a Salesforce customer is doing requirements gathering for a new initiative.

The Salesforce Architect commits to delivering a series of UPN diagrams. Next, they can lead the design and architecture phase, identifying the Salesforce features necessary to complete the project. They will write a design document, including the data model and a logical data flow.

Once that design document is complete, the Architect will hand-off to the development team to deliver the work.

In this model, the requirements stage is the input to the design stage, and the Fractional Architect drives the inputs. In the development phase, the Salesforce Architect's level of involvement is a weekly call to keep a pulse on the project and roll with the punches of changing requirements and technical trade-offs. And once the build phase is complete, the Salesforce Architect returns for a final architecture review.

In this example, there are clear spots where the Architect is involved and places where they are not. The customer uses the Architect's skills to the max at the point they're needed. Not anything more or less.

When to hold off on going with one

How about hiring a Fractional Architect for your Salesforce project? Hold that thought if your development processes need to be more well-defined. According to Brian, having your operations is crucial to avoid blurring the lines between the Architect's and the development team's roles. Ambiguity in deliverables can make the value of a Salesforce Architect less clear.

"Orgs without a clear delivery process should take steps to clarify & optimize those processes sooner rather than later. Regardless of whether or not an organization is looking to hire a Fractional Architect, having a solid application design/dev/delivery process is going to be critical to organizational success." - Brian Shea

So, make sure to streamline your processes before bringing in a Fractional Architect.

If your processes are good, go with one

With the Fractional Salesforce Architect idea, Business Systems leaders can unlock the value of Salesforce Well-Architected pillars, regardless of company size. Before Well-Architected, Business Systems leaders would use cost as a reason not to invest in great architecture. But investing in great Salesforce architecture is a must, and it's now more accessible with Fractional Architects.

"I can now afford to do this - at the right times."