How Salesforce Partners Can Guide Your Digital Transformation Journey

Digital transformation is a big undertaking, even for established businesses. Like any journey, having a guide to show you the way will make everything easier. It’s even easier if the people guiding you have helped dozens of businesses on their transformation journey. 

This is where partnerships come in. By choosing a partner who understands your vision, and knows how to get you there, you will find the process of transforming your business much simpler. 

Partners for all sizes of business

Over the last few years, we’ve seen every kind of business go online. In fact, Salesforce research shows that in Singapore and Thailand, 100% of the SMBs that we talked to had taken at least a portion of their operations online. Even the smallest family business requires a digital presence to grow their business, and large enterprises need assistance to manage large-scale digital projects. 

Different organisations have different needs. For smaller businesses, it might be a lack of technology that’s holding them back from growing. But as soon as they have the right solution, the whole company will be ready to adopt new processes and take their business forward. For larger enterprises, the blocker might be operational, or slow adoption of existing technology. Partners to the rescue again! We have partners who specialise in change management, who can work with the leadership teams to walk them through the stages of digital transformation. They are proficient in creating programmes to encourage adoption across the workforce, while also ensuring minimum downtime, increased efficiency, and accurate reporting. 

These are just some examples — for every problem you might face, there will be a partner that can help you. 

How to choose the right partner

Our partners come in all shapes and sizes, just like our customers. There are partners who specialise in helping small businesses take their first step on the road to digital success. There are also experts who guide enterprises through complicated transformations. 

Choosing the right partner is essential. Your goals, your resources, and your context should drive your choice. Small businesses often need to think more tactically — your ROI should be calculated in the short-term, and it might be the case that cost-effectiveness is one of the key considerations that you want to keep in mind. It’s likely that you will need to look close to home for your partnerships, so that they have an intimate understanding of your local conditions.

For larger organisations and enterprises, it’s about competitive advantage. You may have to tackle a total change in the way your organisation does business to stay ahead of competitors. If you need your teams to start thinking differently, that may influence the kind of partnership you want to establish. And of course, you’re driving innovation — partners can help bring in the latest thinking to give you the edge.

How partnerships can narrow the digital skills gap

We have a growing digital skills gap across the region, and skilling up the workforce is vital.

When it comes to digital transformation, multiple skills are required. You’ll need functional and analytical skills, as well as technical skills to connect various systems, assist with data management, and deliver on AI solutions, chatbots, etc. You may also need people with change management skills, implementation skills, programme management skills, and more. Digital transformation can sometimes require a significant change in the way your organisation works, and partners can help you communicate that to your teams.

Recruiting a workforce that has these skills and knowledge can be expensive and time consuming. This is yet another area where partners can save the day. Partnerships not only give you access to knowledge for a particular project, but also ensure that those skills are transferred to your teams after the partnership is over. This means you can get your projects up and running faster, while upskilling your own employees.

How partnerships make digital transformation easier for employees

All digital transformation projects meet some element of resistance. If you try to push through a change programme without understanding why some members of your team are pushing back, your transformation project is less likely to succeed.

At Salesforce, we believe that a diverse workforce brings value to every organisation. Partnerships offer the opportunity to diversify the voices in your digital transformation project. This means you will have access to new ideas and perspectives, which may open up new avenues of growth. At the same time, it may point out flaws and assumptions that you have noticed before.

Digital transformation, at least for larger organisations, is more about change management than technology. Because of that, diversity becomes even more important. Large organisations, who may already have a diverse workforce, will need a range of methods and programmes to ensure that everyone is engaged with the transformation process. A partner who has a wide range of perspectives can help you by making sure that everyone in your organisation feels heard and understands the process.

How to build ongoing relationships with partners

The best results happen when the partnership is established right at the beginning of the digital transformation journey. That way, the customer and the partner can establish their shared goals, and move forward together.

The most important thing with any partnership is trust. The foundation of trust is built on effective communication and transparency. This requires all parties to share information that the others will need to complete the project. Trust your partners and share important data with them. This transparency points the way to a successful digital transformation project.

It’s also important to communicate when things are not going well. Being open and honest is the key to a successful partnership. Rely on the trust that you have built with your partner, and remember that everyone is working toward the same goal. At Salesforce, we often say that your success is our success, and it’s the same for our partners.

Digital transformation opens up new ways to find customers and innovate. Partnerships allow you to embark on your transformation journey faster, and ultimately lead to long-term collaborations that grow your business.