Recently, Salesforce released a Forrester Consulting study that quantifies the Total Economic Impact and benefits of Salesforce Lightning. We’ve noted before that Lightning is more than just an updated UI, but the results of the study drive that point home in a major way. According to Forrester’s findings, an organization using Lightning can boost productivity by up to 25%, halve application time-to-market and ultimately realize an ROI of more than 300% over the span of three years.
If your organization has been on the fence about making the switch to Lightning, these results might be enough to sway you. If that’s the case, great. But maybe you’re not convinced yet. Maybe the idea of a Lightning conversion still seems too involved — not worth the time and effort and risk. After all, if your current Salesforce instance seems to be working effectively for your team, why tinker with that?
We hear you.
That’s why we put together this post. We wanted to cover the steps your chosen Salesforce partner should take in a successful Lightning conversion so you’ve got all the information you need to make the right decision for your company.
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5 Key Stages of a Successful Salesforce Lightning Conversion Project:
#1: Discovery
Before your Salesforce partner can begin the actual Lightning conversion process, they’ll need to know what they’re dealing with. Since every Salesforce instance is unique, it’s imperative that they understand what will be required to transition your company’s specific instance to Lightning. Thankfully, by running a standard Lightning Readiness Report, they’ll be able to get most of the information they need.
Based on the results of that report, they may choose to conduct some additional discovery — especially if your Salesforce instance is a complicated one, featuring lots of custom code — or they may decide they know enough to move forward.
#2: Conversion
Next comes the conversion itself. At its core, that means converting individual Salesforce objects (leads, accounts, contacts, etc.) so that they can be used in the Lightning Experience. The right partner will adhere to best practices for page layout and usability during the entirety of this process.
Your partner might also customize certain base objects for added features, including quick action buttons and compact layouts — it all depends on your company’s specific needs. Ultimately, the goal here is to do everything possible to boost post-conversion user adoption.
#3: Optimization
You can think of a Lightning Conversion project as a total refresh of your company’s Salesforce instance — and that means there’s more involved than simply converting your standard objects.
During the optimization phase of the project, your partner should:
- Remove any fields, objects, reports and dashboards that aren’t being used.
- Optimize record types, related lists, automations and security settings to align with Lightning.
- Convert out-of-date custom code to ensure all buttons and custom functionalities are usable in Lightning.
With these steps accomplished, your users will be able to use Salesforce even more efficiently.
#4: Readiness
Once your Salesforce instance has been converted and optimized, it’s time to make sure everything is working as expected. Your partner should conduct complete end-to-end testing before your company’s go live date, as well as user acceptance testing and a final validation review.
#5: Training
Last comes training — because if your users don’t know how to navigate Lightning’s updated interface, they aren’t going to use it. Your partner should conduct both end user training and admin training, so that your entire team feels prepared to hit the ground running once go-live rolls around.
Your partner might also offer a small batch of support hours following your Lightning launch. Doing so can provide a useful buffer in case some small problems arise in the early going.
There you have it: A high-level overview of a Lightning Conversion project. If you’d like to dive a bit deeper into the details, drop us a line.
