No organization wants inefficient Salesforce processes. They slow down a system and overall work performance. If your company is working with bulk data, you will want to know how to optimize your tasks and workflows in Salesforce with automation.
So, join us in the article below to learn about the different Salesforce tools to automate business processes and how to keep them running well.
Let’s get started!
What Are Workflows in Salesforce?
In short, they are automated business processes. Salesforce admins can configure these processes with automation tools to perform actions so team members do not have to carry out manual tasks. These Salesforce automations are versatile, and admins can base them on specific business criteria.
Essentially, with Salesforce for workflow management, teams get to speed up repetitive tasks with the help of automation. It’s a great strategy to ensure business processes and operations are consistent across an organization.
Best Practices for Sales Teams Creating Automation in Salesforce (SFDC)
We would like to give you some advice to keep in mind when creating new Salesforce processes. These tips will allow you to make the best SFDC workflows for your business in this current era, especially ones that are easy to understand for your particular sales representatives.
Ensuring that your business has well-structured Salesforce automation in place also makes maintaining processes easier for admins.
- Define Clear Objectives
Our first tip to ensuring Salesforce automation is effective is to start by defining your business problem, objectives, and goals. This type of content will help you understand what kind of process you can create to solve your business problems with automation. - Map Out Current Process
Next, you should draft your entire process before creating a Salesforce automation. This step will help you better understand your problems and give you insights into defining your objectives. - Prioritize Automation Opportunities
Now, you can select the tasks you would like to automate. We suggest choosing the ones that will have the highest impact on teamwork. They can also make your data transfer accurately or create more satisfaction for employees and customers.Remember to consider automating the tasks that save your business time or support key metrics. When automating your Salesforce processes, remember to keep them simple. It is easy to start over-automating, which can cause problems in the long run.Think about whether the Salesforce automation you create adds value to your business without adding complexity to operations. - Choose the Right Tools
Next, you need to choose Salesforce tools that can automate processes. It would be best to have easy automation tools for your teams to use and maintain as their workload scales. If you are comfortable with Salesforce, you can choose between a range of automation tools. - Design User-Friendly Processes
Salesforce automation was created to make the lives of end users easier. For this reason, you should design Salesforce processes to improve your user experience. One simple way to achieve this is by adding fewer manual steps to your automation.Once you have created a new Salesforce process, make sure to also train end users on how to use the new system. If end users understand the Salesforce automation, they have a higher chance of adopting and using it correctly.Each one is designed for specific situations:
- Workflow Rules was the first tool for Salesforce automation. Although it had good functionality for admins, it is no longer in use. It was used to update Salesforce fields, create tasks, or send emails to employees and customers. You might need to know about this Salesforce tool if you inherit an older system that used Workflow Rules.
- Process Builder came along and replaced Workflow Rules. According to users, it was better than Workflow Rules and had an interface that was easier to navigate. Admins used it when they had many actions in a Salesforce process, such as updating Salesforce records or posting data to Chatter, but it was also deprecated.
- Most recently, Salesforce released Flow. It is a very powerful automation tool, but it comes with a steep learning curve. However, once admins understand how to use it, they can achieve a lot more than they could in Workflow Rules or Process Builder. For example, you can use Flow to create complex automation for your sales team. This tool is best for adding advanced logic to processes that require multiple steps and many user interactions.
- Check out Apex Triggers if your sales team needs extremely advanced workflows. This tool can help you create custom automation, but you must know how to program logic. It is useful when handling large volumes of data and connecting Salesforce to external systems.
- Sales teams can use Approval Processes to automate workflows with Salesforce records traveling through a series of steps.
You could also opt for a third-party app that integrates with Salesforce. We found that sales teams can automate workflows with Titan for the fastest no-code processes. Titan connects Salesforce processes to payment providers and cloud-based storage to streamline manual sales tasks from start to finish.
- Test Thoroughly
Before launching your Salesforce automation, it is essential to test that it works correctly. Additionally, it needs to meet the business requirements and objectives drafted at the beginning of the automation plan. If Salesforce automation is not tested before deployment, it could negatively impact other processes in an organization.For this reason, we suggest that Salesforce automation be created in a sandbox environment. This is a copy of the Salesforce production environment, and it is a place where you can test flows safely without interfering with company data. - Ensure Data Integrity
Salesforce processes need data integrity to be accurate in your organization. Without consistent data in your system and Salesforce automation, teams cannot use the data to create reliable reports. This, in turn, will give managers erroneous information, which can lead to bad business decisions.To ensure data integrity in your Salesforce processes, we suggest providing automation tools with clear criteria. When configured correctly without vague conditions, automation can be accurate and perform as expected. - Ensure Compliance and Security
Since Salesforce automation supports data transfers, they must protect sensitive customer and business information. Salesforce administrators should configure automation to only let authorized users trigger and view them. Securing data this way is also important for compliance with many data protection regulations, like HIPAA or GDPR. - Monitor and Optimize
You want your administrators to continuously maintain the performance of your Salesforce system. They can do this by monitoring and optimizing Salesforce automation throughout the organization. Tracking Salesforce flows can also ensure that data is kept accurate and still matches business needs.There is no denying that businesses evolve all the time, and so we suggest monitoring Salesforce automation with audit logs. Admins can review Salesforce audit logs and look for errors or blockages in performance. If any are identified, they can create plans with managers to rectify them and align them with business objectives.
Creating Well-Organized Salesforce Automation
Thanks for reading our article on Salesforce automation. They are essential in helping businesses grow as they can perform manual tasks for employees so they can focus on creative projects. We also know that Salesforce automation becomes more complex as a business scales and needs to solve more problems.
For this reason, we covered the various tools you can use for Salesforce automation and 9 of our best practices for keeping your processes manageable. We hope you have found the content inspiring and can use it to create efficient Salesforce processes in your organization.