The best Managed Service providers are the ones who show you what is possible.
For some individuals and teams, changing this mindset from reactive to proactive to innovative requires some inspiration and motivation.
Take our large government agency customer, for example. When the agency realised they needed to optimise the capture of their customer data, they turned to our Managed Services team for guidance. We put together a proof of concept to create a community portal through Salesforce, which would allow them to remove the integration between an external website and their Salesforce CRM. Unfortunately, due to the impact of COVID-19 that project had to be paused – but seeing the digital possibilities did ignite a new way of thinking within the team.
Since that moment, the agency has made a considered effort to constantly evolve their thinking. To date, we’ve launched a transformational micro-project to improve workflows and created a new Salesforce case management service to handle customer raised issues. This is what we call the start of becoming an organisational changemaker. So, what do we mean by that?
Being a changemaker is about being a team player who champions change and new ways of thinking. If something was done the same way for five years, a changemaker would question why and offer a new solution. Changemakers are progressive and want to see their business grow.
Sound like something you want to work towards? Here’s how a Managed Service provider can help you start to become a changemaker in your organisation.
1. Start by sharing your knowledge
One of the biggest myths floating around about Managed Service providers is that we’re going to replace an organisation’s valuable IT team. That simply isn’t true – we’re not experts in your business, we’re experts in Salesforce. For that reason alone, we could never replace a company’s IT or their system Admin. We see ourselves as an extension of your team working collaboratively together. So when you share business knowledge with us, we can more effectively work alongside you to provide a solution customised to your business needs that surprise and delight your stakeholders.
After all, research has found that sharing knowledge leads to greater creativity, more innovation, and better performance, for individuals, teams, and organisations.
2. Use your CRM Managed Service provider as a sounding board for ideas
In our eyes, your success is our success – we want to make you look good. If you have a left-of-field idea on how you want to improve your Salesforce system, we’re here to listen, provide advice and ensure you’re in the best position to take that idea further up the chain. Discussions between a client and their MS team are always a judgement free zone, and as computer scientist Alan Kay said: “Perspective is worth 80 IQ Points.”
3. If it’s broken it ain’t your problem
What any professional would give to replace their mundane tasks with more time to innovate. Well, that’s what Managed Services does for IT teams. We’re here to free up your time so you can concentrate on taking the business forward. But, sometimes it can be difficult to get out of the ‘doer’ mindset.
While working with our large government agency customer, we reminded them that they don’t have to worry about system breaks or issues – it’s our job to fix it and jump in and do the ‘doing’. With our Managed Services team there to support, their job now is to be ‘thinkers’ and be out there innovating.
4. Most importantly, be open to change
To be a changemaker in your organisation means to be open to different ways of thinking and being courageous enough to act on new ideas. When the large government agency changed their design thinking, suddenly a new world of operating opened up to them. Their technical debt which had been slowing down their Salesforce system upgrades for years due to custom coding, was now being streamlined. Instead of adjusting the custom code roadblocks three times a year – we removed them all together. Safe to say it was game changing.
Agility, innovation, flexibility, and above all else, the ability to be open to new ideas are the defining qualities of a changemaker.
See how Managed Services can help you become a changemaker and get in touch with the team.
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