Why FSC Implementations Fail and 5 Easy Steps
to Prevent It

Jenna Trott

5 min read | June 29, 2022

Customer relationship management systems, CRMs, harbor tremendous amounts of potential – yet, 70% of all implementations will fail. So, why bother implementing a CRM in the first place? Well for starters, the way we do business has drastically changed in recent years, but particularly for the financial services industry. As of 2022, 83% of B2B buyers prefer ordering or paying through digital commerce. Additionally, customers have come to expect more frictionless experiences. In order to meet these new demands, we must look to rapid digital transformation. Salesforce’s Financial Services Cloud acts as your one stop shop for all things financial services. Purpose-built financial technology transforms complex data into manageable information, allowing your team to make smarter decisions faster. Further, it enables agents to deepen client relationships and accelerate business growth utilizing Salesforce’s clicks not code proccesses. You may be asking yourself why, if Salesforce FSC is so great, do its implementations fail so frequently? To be clear, it’s never the CRM itself that fails, rather the way it is integrated. We’ll take a look at what causes Salesforce implementations to fail and how to prevent your business from becoming part of that 70%.

Top 5 Reasons Why FSC Implementations Fail & How to Prevent It

1. No Clear Strategy
What is it that you hope to achieve with a FSC implementation? Personalize client experiences? Optimize workflows? Streamline business opportunities? All of the above? Maybe you’ve heard the benefits of implementing Financial Services Cloud but really don’t know what you hope to achieve. Without a clear plan, you’re more likely to get lost in a sea of new digital and social capabilities.

Solution: Prior to implementation, identify what your goals are and outline them in a concrete document. Having a clearly defined plan to refer back to throughout the implementation process will help to ensure that you’re staying on track.

2. Lack of Company Coordination
Once you’ve clearly identified the goals you’d like to achieve from an FSC implementation, it’s paramount that these objectives are mutually discussed and agreed upon by the entire team. Having conflicting FSC business strategies can cause confusion and result in significant setbacks from previously identified goals.

Solution: At its core, Salesforce is about people and relationships. To facilitate a successful adoption, it’s vital that all teams work collaboratively with one another to determine the vision for their Salesforce platform. Making sure that every voice is heard, especially key-stakeholders, will be a critical aspect in mapping out your plan for implementation.

3. Improper IT investments
When thinking about executing a Salesforce Financial Services Cloud implementation, the importance of including key stakeholders and team members is always stressed, but the IT implications of an implementation can sometimes be ignored. Implementation can be a complicated process and when businesses do not consult their IT counterparts, they’ll face detrimental integration concerns, customization issues, lack of support and incompatible upgrades.

Solution: Prior to acquiring Salesforce’s FSC, meet with your IT team to evaluate key dependencies, specifications, and must-have functionalities. Aligning your existing IT framework with your new Salesforce adoption helps to facilitate faster time-to-market, and improves overall agility.

4. Taking Shortcuts
Perhaps one of the biggest inhibitors of a Salesforce implementation is taking shortcuts. Oftentimes, many people will forgo hiring out an implementation specialist to cut costs, but as a result, end up with costly errors. While Salesforce is designed to be very user friendly, deciding to implement FSC on your own can be incredibly risky and can consequently lead to critical data loss which can have lasting negative effects on your business.

Solution: Hiring a Salesforce consultant who knows the intricacies of the instance and is well-versed in problem solving can not only prevent data loss but can also apply system customizations specific to your unique needs, conduct system tests to validate that your system is working properly and will check-in throughout the implementation process to ensure your needs and goals are being met.

5. Lack of Training
Implementing Salesforce FSC is disruptive. Chances are, if you’re interested in an implementation, it’s likely that Financial Services Cloud will replace one or more legacy customer databases which is a massive change for any business. That means that no matter how curated your FSC implementation is to your business’s specific needs, it could all be useless if you don’t train your team on how to use it effectively.

Solution: When working with a Salesforce consultant, they’ll often provide post-system deployment training so your team feels confident moving forward with their new system. They’ll help you uncover the true power of Salesforce and discover capabilities that previously sat underutilized.

Making the decision to implement Salesforce’s Financial Services Cloud is a big one but the effect it can have on your business is truly transformative. Providing next level customer support is no longer based solely on industry expertise – you need the right technology too. Salesforce FSC helps to consolidate relevant data into a single view, increase revenue, reduce complex workflow and much more, so you can start providing your clients with a better tomorrow, today. Don’t become part of the failed implementation club, reach out to one of our Salesforce Summit Level Partners to discuss your options.