The constant evolution of Salesforce’s products can make it challenging for private equity firms to prioritize which Salesforce features and tools will deliver the biggest impact for their portfolio companies. This is especially true in the early stages of implementation when resources are often limited.
Coastal helps PE firms navigate this challenge by understanding their unique business goals and identifying high-ROI projects and quick wins to maximize returns. We engage with portfolio company executives to identify projects that can rapidly ignite revenue growth, streamline operations, and save hundreds of hours per year of manual effort across teams.
Our True North Methodology: A Roadmap for Early Success
We call our phase 0 planning approach “True North.” It’s all about driving early wins and executive buy-in. Here’s how it works:
- Focus on Outcomes: We go beyond abstract strategies and focus on defining and achieving outcomes that create real business value. This approach can identify tech consolidation and savings, cross-selling improvements, churn reduction, lead generation, and more.
- Executive Alignment: We gather insights and KPIs from leadership to pinpoint the most urgent business needs.
- Prioritization Roadmap: We know how to prioritize and plan implementations so organizations can work on the highest-impact initiatives first.
- Quick Time-to-Value: We often start with a minimum viable product (MVP) deployment to meet internal deadlines, with future phases and managed services to follow.
This agile approach ensures quick results and builds momentum, which is crucial for securing ongoing support from the executive team and end users across the business.
Accelerators: Your Fast Track to Value
We’ve developed a library of Accelerators—pre-built Salesforce solutions designed to deliver fast time-to-value with proven ROI. These targeted solutions streamline processes across various areas, including analytics, quoting workflows, eCommerce, and physician referral management. These accelerators help our clients move faster and with less risk, shortening their innovation roadmap and keeping them ahead of competitors.
Data Cloud: A Game-Changer for M&A
Data Cloud is one of Salesforce’s most exciting developments, and we’re already seeing its transformative potential in PE use cases, particularly during mergers and acquisitions.
Traditionally, org merges—combining two Salesforce instances—have been complex and time-consuming. Data Cloud offers a new, more agile approach:
- Unification, Not Migration: We can “unify” two orgs and reduce the need for costly data migration by leveraging Data Cloud’s zero-copy approach.
- Rapid Reporting: Data Cloud quickly aggregates data from both orgs (which speeds synergy capture), feeding into a single pane of glass for analytics.
- Broader Benefits: This setup avoids middleware integrations, pulls in data from other apps, and lays the groundwork for AI initiatives.
- Regulatory Compliance: Even regulated industries can benefit, maintaining separate orgs while achieving unified reporting.
This strategy empowers executives to make informed decisions based on a holistic view of the combined business, all while taking a measured approach to change management.
The Power of Analytics and AI
In our experience, the most successful Salesforce implementations share a common thread: exceptional analytics. A well-architected portfolio company solution connects data silos from across the organization, fueling transparency and insights.
We strongly believe that a value-creation playbook should prioritize analytics, reporting, and AI enablement. By connecting disparate data sets, businesses can:
- Track marketing campaign ROI
- Measure project success
- Effectively cross-sell
- Conduct real-time standup meetings without extensive prep
- Train AI models for financial forecasting and pipeline risk management
Don’t leave analytics as an afterthought. Prioritizing it early in the implementation can drive data quality, boost user adoption, and foster connectivity across the entire organization.
Let’s Get Started
Ready to jumpstart your Salesforce journey? Contact Coastal to explore how our True North methodology, Accelerators, and expertise in Data Cloud and AI can unlock Salesforce’s full potential for your portfolio companies.
Coastal is the #1 rated Salesforce consulting firm, 100% focused on customer success. From strategy to platform evolution, we’re the Salesforce consultancy you’ll love working with.
