Introduction

With the Salesforce Mobile App, your User can wait in line for a cup of coffee but still get their work done on time. With the Mobile App, Users have instant access to the CRM data anywhere, anytime, and the best part? It’s included at no additional cost with every Salesforce license! In addition, it requires no setup and runs on multiple platforms and devices. But before we deploy the App to our Users, it’s ideal to create a Rollout Strategy.

Benefits of a Rollout Strategy

Why do we need a rollout strategy when we can instantly deploy the App to all our Users? Here’s why:

• Higher Adoption
• Critical achieving the company’s mobile goals
• Provides more value to your company and users
• It might be a cultural shift for many, but a guide always help

Significance of Micro-Moments

When approaching a mobile rollout, many of us make the same mistake. We try to replicate the desktop Salesforce experience on the mobile. Here’s why we want to steer clear of that: People interact with mobile devices much differently than they would with a laptop.

Mobile interactions last for a short burst of time, typically 70 seconds at a time. These interactions are called micro-moments.

We may consider this a disadvantage, but it’s quite the opposite → It’s an opportunity in disguise!

Micro-moments are:

• Short: Typically not longer than a minute and a half.
• Atomic: It’s discrete and focused.
• Contextual: It’s happening in real-time.

How do we take advantage of these micro-moments? : We identify those tasks that can be accomplished in the blink of an eye using mobile devices. And these turn into our initial use cases.

Which Users should we target?

Initially, focus on the users constantly on the go and away from their desks.

Examples: field service reps, field sales reps, etc.

After we develop use cases for these employees, we can move on to other potential mobile users in the org. Who do we target? It could be anyone who would benefit from using the App in a variety of settings.

• During Commute
• While waiting in line for a coffee
• What if the power is out or the laptop dies?
• At their child’s basketball game or recital

Sample Use-Cases

• The sales team can use the App to:
  • Assign Leads
  • View deal information
  • Take meeting notes
  • Update customer information
  • Log deals and tasks
• Those in field sales can use the App to:
  • Find a project location
  • Log a customer visit
  • Check customer status
  • Map top prospects
• The service team can use the App to:
  • Revies service orders
  • Monitor support queue
  • Review case volume
  • Track customer loyalty
• The marketing team can use the App to:
  • Check campaign performance
  • Track key metrics
  • View lead calls
  • Monitor social engagement

Elements of a Rollout Strategy

The Mobile Rollout is a comprehensive plan that includes various steps. Let’s take a look at all the steps involved:

1. Understanding User and Business Needs

Talking to our Users is imperative. Involve users early on and often because they are the ones who will be using the App. Users won’t adopt the App unless it has what they want. We are responsible for balancing the needs of the business with that of the users.

Yes, it’s a significant time investment, but listening to our users is critical. Here are a couple of ways to get input from users:

• Interviews
• Ride-Along
• Surveys
• Collaboration tools (Chatter)
• Focus Groups

2. Defining Mobile Requirements and Use Cases

So, you’ve gathered a mountain of data. What do we make of this, and what use cases should take the front seat? Select use cases that are:

• Designed for micro-moments
• Adds value for the end-user
• Has a high business impact

Focus on those use cases that are quick wins, high-value, and can be easily implemented. There’s only so much a User can take in at a time.

Tackle those use cases that require extensive planning, resources, and technical skills to implement for a later phase.

Example:

• Chatter Notifications
• Dashboards
• Logging Calls
• Opportunity Update

3. Learning and Evangelizing

Now that we’ve gathered all the use cases, it’s time to move on to the next stage of the Rollout, learning and evangelizing.

The first step would be to absorb all the information we can about the Mobile App. Use Trailhead and other resources and tinker away with the app configurations. Once we’ve got a good grasp on the App, it’s time to move on to the next step and share the knowledge we gained with our company.

A. Identify Stakeholders and Executive Sponsor

Before introducing any new undertaking, a best practice would be to identify key stakeholders across departments and form a committee managed by an executive sponsor committed to Salesforce.

It’s imperative to form this committee to ensure we’ve got all required resources, and department needs are met, and, naturally, we’re aligned for success.

The committee could include the following:

• Executive Sponsor
• Salesforce Admin
• Super User
• Sales Manager
• Sales Operations

B. Identify Super Users

Identify employees that understand the vision and value of the implementation. They could help us optimize and improve the App, and they love what they do and would help others in the company adopt Salesforce.

They can be our evangelists and spread the word on the Rollout, and this could result in higher adoption.

Identify a group of Super Users throughout the company, involve them from the beginning and seek their feedback.

C. Educate your Team About the Salesforce App

Consider creating a presentation that includes all the critical use cases and let your team in on the knowledge you’ve gathered on the Salesforce App.

D. How can we Demonstrate the Salesforce App to the Team?

One of the easiest ways to get that done would be to create a demo. We could spend some time customizing the App to reflect the specific use cases. And use a device emulator to demo the mobile App from a computer, as we want everyone to see what’s happening in the App!

Some best practices for a demo include:

• Include demo data
• Use real-life examples and tell the users’ stories while showcasing the App.
• Test everything beforehand
• Practice
• Record the demo
• And be prepared for questions

E. Time to Pitch the App to Executives

Getting a team together is just one half of the puzzle. Now the executives must be on board with the Rollout. It’s time to sell our vision and convince the executive to back the Rollout. Here are a few points to keep in mind before pitching the Salesforce App to our critical team member, the executive sponsor!

• Keep it short. Jump right into the demo, use case, and benefits.
• Focus on business value
• Bring a manager along, don’t go alone!

4. Build and Test a Prototype

We’ve got the executives on board, and now it’s time to move on to the next stage: building and testing!

By this point, we’ve performed quite a few customizations on the Salesforce App, and we just need to add a few finishing touches now.

Remember to build and test the customizations in a sandbox or developer edition before moving on to the production org.

A. Design a Mobile-Friendly Experience

Keep these essential points in mind before finalizing the mobile customizations:

• Build for Performance: Think speed before adding custom elements to pages, is a particular element or image slowing down page loading? Cellular connections can be slow; keep that in mind when customizing the Salesforce App.
• Tap Targets: Buttons are more accessible to tap than links.
• Less is the key: The size of a mobile screen is much smaller than a desktop screen, so add only the necessary fields.
• Embrace mobile capabilities: Take advantage of mobile features such as location detection, accelerometer, camera, and more.

B. Optimize Visualforce Pages

It’s not impossible to make existing Visualforce pages available on the mobile App, but it’s not easy either.

You can revise the code to make it mobile-friendly or create mobile-specific pages.

C. Test the Customizations

Once you have the prototype in hand, it’s time to start testing. Test the App on every type of mobile device, and operating system Users have access to. And test again. We don’t want to face a nasty surprise during the launch party.

It’s easier said than done. Let’s make testing a tad bit easier by using the device emulators available on Apple and Google that allow us to develop iteratively on our desktops. To work on the App using a mobile emulator, download and install the appropriate SDK for supported devices.

D. Pilot the Prototype with our Pilot Users

It’s time to pilot the prototype with a small group of users for early feedback. We’ll want our Super Users on this team along with the rebels, as this gives us a chance to address any pain points related to the App early on. Why a Pilot, you may ask? This is why:

• We can collect FAQs, which can help us later on with the training plans
• Create that initial buzz
• Train the evangelists
• Validate existing use cases and gather new ones
• Gain more stakeholder and executive support
• Catch anything we may have missed out on

5. Prepare for the Launch

Preparing for the launch is equally important as the technical steps to implement the project. As the trusted advisor for all things Salesforce, it’s our responsibility to ensure that our company’s mobile dreams come true, whether we are responsible for organizing the launch by ourselves or as a team.

A. Create a Chatter Group for the Rollout

Make things easier by creating a Chatter group that includes all the team members involved with the mobile launch. This could be a place for the team to share files, collaborate, and share relevant updates so that everyone is on board.

B. Pick a Launch Date

The Launch Date is everything, choose the wrong day, and everything goes down the hill. Good timing could be during a:

• Another large company event
• Sales kick-off meeting
• Low Season

It would be unwise to hold the launch party during the following:

• Holidays
• End of a quarter / fiscal year, when everyone has a lot on their plate, already
• When the stakeholders are unavailable

C. Create a Project Schedule

Once the launch date is decided, we can work backward to create a project schedule. Create a list of tasks that needs to be completed before the launch date and develop a timeline for achieving them with the team.

6. Define Metrics of Success

One way to find out how successful the project is is to define criteria for what success looks like. Work with your team, stakeholders, and executive sponsors to determine success metrics. For example, we could look for data quality gains, financial goals, and productivity gains, such as:

• 10% increase in lead conversion rate
• 20% increase in logged calls
• 15% reduction in opportunities with no follow-up tasks

We can also collect feedback via a survey or a chatter poll to measure success based on employee or customer sentiments.

We can consider user adoption as a success metric.

Make sure you have a baseline survey in hand to keep track of changes in success metrics later on.

7. Develop Mobile Device and Security Policies

Every Organization has a different approach to mobile security and compliance policies. Policies may differ based on the industry, company size, and culture. Let’s take a look at some of the fundamentals here:

A. Devices

First, does the company require employees to use their own or company-issued devices, or do they have both options?

If employees can use their own devices, the next step would involve developing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy that outlines company rules and responsibilities regarding those devices. Regardless of these factors, ensure all devices meet the minimum requirements for running the Salesforce App.

B. Security

We can use out-of-the-box enterprise-grade security features on Salesforce, such as session timeouts, PIN codes, IP allowed list, and more settings using Connected App Policies to keep the org safe and secure.

In addition to those features, we can use Mobile Device Management (MDM) to manage BYOD policies, provision devices with pre-installed apps, monitor traffic, and more.

If we work for a highly regulated industry, we may need to completely lockdown corporate devices to ensure legal compliance.

C. Single-Sign-On

If the employees already access the entire Salesforce site with SSO, we can make changes for it to work on the mobile App too.

8. Develop Communication and Training Plans

Just as executives care about the business value of the mobile App, the users need a good enough reason to use the App. For that, we need to develop a meaningful communication and marketing strategy.

A. Communication and Marketing Strategy

The first step would be to create a meaningful Marketing Message. Collaborate with the team and create a message that builds some buzz and excitement about the Salesforce App. Consider including some simple but innovative marketing ideas to build excitement before the launch.

Let’s take a look at some launch ideas!

• We can send a weekly email drip campaign announcing the launch.
• Hang up fun posters advertising the benefits of the App.
• Create a Chatter topic to keep the momentum going
• Hold a raffle
• Host a launch party
• Distribute branded items on the day

It’s ideal for including communication milestones in the marketing strategy. For example, the entire company gets an official communication on the day of the launch. Send in an official invite to the launch party a week prior, and so on.

B. Create a Training Plan

Now that our users are in the loop about the mobile launch, we need to add a training plan to build mobile user confidence. Everyone is resistant to change, and a little nudge can help users overcome that. And an added benefit to training? It boosts adoption.

A few critical components of a training plan include:

• Training Goal
• Trainer
• Trainees
• Training Location
• Training Methods
• Training Metrics

Don’t forget to make the training resources accessible to everyone. You could make the training materials available on a Chatter group, Salesforce home page, or the company intranet.

A best practice is to include a short video (3-5 minutes) showcasing the top use cases and benefits of the Salesforce App.

9. Before the Launch

It’s almost D-day, and we’re excited and tensed, but here are a few things we should do before the launch:

• Migrate and Test: Migrate the customizations from the Sandbox to the Production environment. And test everything; we do not need an unwelcome surprise on the launch day.
• Control Access: If a phased rollout is the plan, define which employees have access to the App during the early stages of Rollout, as the mobile App is available to all users by default.
• Collect a Baseline: As we mentioned, take snapshots of any baseline metrics we can use later to measure the business impact.
• Take it to Chatter: Creating a public, company-wide Chatter group can provide a place where users can refer to training materials or ask questions.

10. Encourage Adoption

The Launch we a success. Now it’s time to get back to business. We know that once that buzz settles down, it’s highly likely there can be a decline in usage, and that’s natural. But there are a couple of things we can do to motivate our users to use the App. Let’s take a look at them.

• Keep Marketing
• Organic Exposure: You can ask users to post a picture of something that keeps them going in a chatter group.
• Sales as an Incentive: For the sales team, host a competition with incentives to drive adoption.
• Make it a Game: You can give the User with the most mobile logins a prize.
• Produce Helpful Content: Post-Launch, keep posting valuable tips and tricks and short videos to promote the time-sharing features available on Salesforce Mobile.

11. Collecting Feedback

Once we go live with the App, we must collect overall satisfaction and pain points via feedback. This can quickly resolve users’ problems, ultimately driving adoption further. Here are a few ideas for feedback gathering:

• Create Chatter groups to provide support
• Make it straightforward
• Provide multiple options for feedback gathering – polls, surveys, etc
• Keep in touch with your Superusers regularly to gather indispensable insights

12. Measuring Adoption and Business Impact

The committee had decided on the Success Metrics for the Rollout. It’s finally time to see how we’re doing.

Compare snapshots of previous metrics with the current metrics. Metrics could include:

• Data from user surveys, polls, and forums, when about employee satisfaction.
• For other metrics, create dashboards and reports to visually represent what’s happening.

It’s time to show our executive sponsor the Return on Investment (ROI) for the resources they allocated for this endeavor.

Best practices for an executive summary include:

• Keep it short. 1 to 2 pages are ideal.
• Display all metrics and results
• Describe the planned next steps
• Include anecdotes from the survey

13. Keep up the Momentum

We did it! But there’s more we can do:

• Prioritize any backlogs of mobile-use cases
• Keep with the Salesforce app releases
• We can consider developing a Mobile Strategy to achieve company mobile goals