Salesforce Change Management With AI

Implementing or updating Salesforce business processes can be challenging for poorly prepared teams. Common challenges include a lack of strategic communication and training, complex or poor integration, and data migration issues.

The combination of so many struggles can lead to low adoption rates within your organization and potentially set up your Salesforce workflows for failure.

For organizations preparing to implement or update Salesforce, artificial intelligence (AI) can be a valuable tool for overcoming many obstacles associated with Salesforce change management. Data insights, automation, and predictions can help improve your change management strategy, increasing the likelihood that your team accomplishes Salesforce success.

In this article, you’ll discover seven ways AI can improve Salesforce change management and how you can use it to improve employee sentiment, messaging strategies, and more.

1. Gain Real-Time Insights Into User Behavior

Inadequate training is a major contributor to low Salesforce adoption rates. Training programs often lack personalization for employees with different experience levels or learning styles. 

AI tools can analyze user behaviors to identify friction points and tailor education opportunities. Assessing a user’s proficiency with Salesforce determines how much training they need and which types of training would be most beneficial. For example, a user who struggles with basic tasks could be assigned more in-depth tutorials than one who only needs a few tips here and there.

For an advanced AI approach to monitoring employee sentiment, Microsoft Viva Glint can help you conduct pulse surveys, analyze feedback, and suggest further steps for improving user behavior. 

Real-time insights provide a proactive approach to team training. Before employees become frustrated, team members are offered an appropriate training method that addresses their specific knowledge needs.

2. Predict and Act With AI-Driven Analytics

Employees who resist change could derail the change management process. They may feel more comfortable working with current systems rather than switching to Salesforce. Or they may not want to invest time or energy into learning new processes. 

AI uses data such as employee sentiments, performance assessments, and historical reactions to predict how your team will react to future changes. It can identify employees who may resist change and those who are more likely to accept it.

These insights can help you plan change management strategies that create smoother transitions. Some tools can make suggestions for communication, training, and incentives to mitigate resistance before it begins.

ThoughtSpot.com provides a user-friendly data and analytics platform. One of its most helpful features is its search capabilities, allowing users to ask plain-language questions and get direct answers. 

By uncovering trends and patterns, ThoughtSpot.com provides insights on the next steps within the change management process and how employees can be successful with a long-term Salesforce strategy.

3. Automate Change Management for Efficiency

Change management involves many behind-the-scenes and administrative tasks that consume resources better used for more fundamental leadership activities. AI can automate many tasks, like internal communications, tracking employee feedback, project management, and gathering adoption data. 

If you implement changes made in a Salesforce developer sandbox for your entire organization, AI can provide strategies for addressing the changes and their benefits. It can also gather employee feedback about the changes, track educational requirements, or manage tasks and deadlines. 

Automation can improve Salesforce implementation. Routine tasks can be completed more efficiently, while data drives decision-making for faster and more effective change. Technology reduces the manual effort needed to manage a change program, leading to more consistent and scalable endeavors.

Workflow trackers, such as Workato, include drag-and-drop platforms that make it easy to track the progress of various steps during Salesforce implementation. You can use them to track and automate tasks like Salesforce org development and updates.

4. Drive Adoption by Reducing Friction

Learning new technologies and changing long-standing business processes can frustrate employees who do not receive proper guidance. Your business can leverage AI and machine learning to reduce friction and increase adoption rates. 

By gathering data throughout the change process, AI provides real-time feedback and suggestions about improving communication, training, and employee sentiments.

For example, employees unfamiliar with Salesforce production environments could receive tailored education. Data-backed solutions can help reduce employee frustration and friction, build knowledge, and increase willingness to accept Salesforce as a new tool.

5. Improve Decision-Making With AI Recommendations

AI is often used to improve decision-making by analyzing large amounts of data and identifying patterns that can be used to predict and recommend. In terms of Salesforce change management, AI can provide insights into change progress, automate routine tasks, and offer suggestions for efficiency. 

• To enhance data-driven insights, consider using Salesforce Einstein AI. It offers AI-powered features within Salesforce.
• For example, Einstein Discovery can analyze past change management data. This helps find what drives success or failure and suggests what to do next.
• Also, Einstein Prediction Builder could forecast adoption rates based on different things. This lets you adjust your change management plan early.
• AI needs good data to improve insights. Make sure the data you use is high quality.
• Pick the right AI model for your business and test it with metrics. This will help you know if it’s working well.
• Combine human decisions with AI suggestions. This balances what people think with what the technology suggests.
• AI and machine learning can help reduce bias when you’re implementing or updating Salesforce. For instance, AI can suggest change management steps based on business goals, not just what leaders feel.

6. Increase Engagement With AI

Internal messaging is a crucial part of change management. If your employees aren’t receiving relevant information in an appropriate voice at the right time, your messages will fall flat. 

AI can analyze employee feedback, sentiments, and historical change process data to identify exactly what your employees need to hear, when they should receive specific information, and the best tone to use. 

Your messaging will be more effective if they are personalized, streamlined, knowledgeable, and proactive. AI insights allow you to create engaging content, implement helpful chatbots, guide employees through onboarding processes, and connect employees with educational tools. 

To enhance communications with your team, you could try a tool like Talla that allows you to set up AI-powered chatbots. Chatbots can be a powerful resource for employees who need additional guidance on the transition to Salesforce. For example, during a Salesforce Service Cloud update with new case management workflows, when an agent opens a case, Talla could proactively message: “Welcome to the new case flow! Remember to categorize the issue using the updated dropdown.” If the agent then asks, “Where’s the escalation button?” Talla can instantly reply: “It’s now in the top right corner. Here’s a screenshot: [link to screenshot].” This immediate, in-workflow support reduces confusion and helps employees adapt quickly.

Combining AI suggestions with human oversight can help you build an empathetic and transparent communication strategy for smoother changes.

7. Future-Proof Change Management Strategies

Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) systems may need to be updated multiple times as your needs change or new features and integrations are introduced. Your change management strategies can guide these transitions.

Fortunately, AI is an ever-evolving technology. It adapts and continues to learn from your data, meaning it can offer better insights with each change initiative. Even if your business encounters difficulties implementing Salesforce, updates could be simplified as both AI tools and your change management strategies improve. 

The developing nature of AI makes your organization more agile and better prepared for future changes. It will grow and expand with your business and its Salesforce system.

Overcome Common AI Integration Challenges

Even with all its benefits, adopting and integrating AI with your change management systems can be challenging. Some common obstacles include:

• Poor data quality: You must ensure data is accurate and accessible. Establish a data governance strategy that maintains large, organized data sets that can be used with various AI models at any time.
• Employee concerns about trust and security: Your data likely contains sensitive information that raises concerns about how you protect your employees’ privacy. Be transparent with them about how you use the data and implement strategies like encryption for ethical data storage policies.
• Insufficient skills and knowledge: Your company must train employees with minimal AI experience. Education should include examples of AI, how they will use the technology, practical use cases, ethical considerations, and more.
• Resistance to change: Employees may be reluctant to use unfamiliar technologies. Fostering a culture of innovation and creativity helps break down mental and emotional barriers to change. 

If you can overcome these challenges, AI is a powerful tool that can help you with Salesforce updates and implementation. 

Using AI To Bolster Salesforce Change Management

AI tools and integrations are worthwhile investments for businesses trying to adopt Salesforce. They can help bolster current change management strategies or build a change management program from the ground up. 

Reduce friction, increase adoption rates, and streamline processes for long-term success with your Salesforce system. Implement add-on programs like Salesforce payment integrations to enhance your CRM with premium features. 

Learn more about building an effective Salesforce org and try Chargent payment processing free for 30 days.