The decision that has to happen before a sandbox opens
Salesforce Consulting
Most Salesforce regret starts with a decision nobody actually made: an edition picked by default, a package bought because a competitor had one, custom Apex where a checkbox would do. This practice exists to make that decision explicit, in writing, before any configuration begins.
How a Salesforce architecture decision gets made here
Assessment, edition trade-offs and the handoff document a build team can execute against.
90 secSample frame · video pending01Before choosing an edition
The edition question is bigger than a price sheet
Sales, Service and Experience Cloud get chosen on brochure comparisons more often than on the process they need to support. Four questions settle it against your actual teams.
Where does the workaround actually live?
Spreadsheet quoting points at Sales Cloud. Support tickets living in a shared inbox point at Service Cloud instead.
How many teams will touch this cloud daily?
A small, stable team can absorb a simpler edition. A growing team benefits from headroom a cheaper tier will not give them.
What does your current licence spend already cover?
Seats bought and never assigned are common, and the fix is sometimes reassignment rather than a new purchase.
Who will actually administer this once we leave?
An edition your admin cannot operate confidently becomes shelfware within a year, regardless of its feature list.
| Sales Cloud | Service Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | Pipeline and quoting | Cases and support queues |
| Typical trigger | Deals lost to spreadsheets | Tickets stuck in shared inboxes |
| Common add-on | CPQ for complex pricing | Omni-channel routing |
| Best fit | Revenue teams | Support and success teams |
02Agreed before the assessment starts
The ledger that keeps advisory work honest
Consulting engagements drift when advice quietly becomes unpaid implementation. This ledger fixes what you bring, what we assess, what returns, and what stays your call to make.
- Your side
You bring
- The sales or service process the org needs to support
- Any Salesforce licences already owned or under negotiation
- Budget range and the timeline the business is working to
- Our side
We build
- An assessment of the process against each candidate cloud
- A written edition and licence-tier recommendation
- A sequencing plan for what gets configured first
- Your side
You receive
- A decision document naming the cloud, edition and sequence
- A cost model separating licence spend from delivery spend
- A handoff brief ready for an implementation team
Never leaves you
- The purchasing decision and the vendor relationship
- Authority to change the sequencing before build starts
- The Salesforce contract and its renewal terms
Where the line sitsWe recommend the edition; you sign for it. A written trade-off table means the choice survives scrutiny after the meeting ends.
03From access to decision document
Four stages, each closing on a written artefact
Consulting engagements that drag usually skipped one of these stages. This system closes each one with something you can act on immediately.
Assess before recommending
Sandbox and production access, current pain points and the underlying sales or service process get documented before any option gets weighed.
The org and the process behind itCompare the real candidates
Edition, package and build options are compared against your actual process and admin capacity, not a generic feature checklist.
Options weighed against your teamsWrite the recommendation down
Trade-offs, costs and a sequencing plan are captured in a document built to survive scrutiny weeks after the workshop ends.
A decision you can defend laterHand off with the reasoning attached
Whoever builds it next, us or otherwise, inherits the reasoning behind every call, not just a list of requirements.
A brief a build team can pick up
04What actually moves the number
Four drivers, priced from a short assessment
Salesforce consulting is priced as a small, fixed engagement, because these four factors change its depth without changing its shape.
Number of clouds already in play
A single-cloud review is faster than reconciling Sales, Service and Experience Cloud configured by three different people.
Depth of the structural audit needed
A quick edition check costs less than a full audit of automation, objects and data model on a five-year-old org.
Number of build-versus-buy calls pending
Each pending capability decision adds its own comparison of declarative, packaged and custom routes.
Whether a handoff brief needs writing
A recommendation meant only for internal debate costs less than a brief scoped tightly enough for a build team to quote against.
05Evidence and proof
Decisions that held up months later.
Consulting proof is a recommendation that still looks right after the purchase closes. Every record here waits for written client approval before production.
Explore case studiesAn edition decision that avoided a costly Experience Cloud purchase.
Tern was quoted on a full Experience Cloud licence by an incumbent reseller. An assessment showed a Service Cloud community license met the actual requirement.
- Annual licence spend avoided
- Six figures
- Time to written recommendation
- Three weeks
A five-year-old org audited before anyone dared change it.
Aster North inherited a Salesforce org from two prior admins with no documentation. A structural audit ranked the risks before any remediation started.
- Automation rules audited
- Over 90
- Rules flagged high risk
- 14
They talked us out of the package our own sales team wanted. Six months later that was obviously the right call.
Sample · pending client approval
06Read this first
When consulting is the wrong first move
Paying for an architecture review when the org already has an agreed, written plan is money better spent on the build itself. The exits are marked plainly.
- Salesforce Implementation
The plan is already written and agreed
Skip straight to implementation instead of paying twice for a decision that has already been made.
- Team extension
You need capacity, not a second opinion
If your own team already owns the architecture call and just needs hands, team extension fits better than an advisory engagement.
- System integration
The platform question is really an integration one
When the real pain is systems not talking to each other, system integration is the more direct route.
| Shape | Best when | You direct | We carry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment only | You need a documented decision | The final purchase and sequencing call | The audit and recommendation |
| Assessment into build | You want one accountable team throughout | Priorities each cycle | Decision, then delivery |
| Team extension | Your leads already own the architecture | Standards and roadmap | Named engineers and continuity |
07Straight answers
Asked before a Salesforce decision gets made.
01How is this different from Salesforce implementation?
This practice decides the edition, architecture and build-versus-buy calls and hands over a written plan. Implementation then configures, codes and migrates data against that plan. The two rarely run without each other, but the decision always comes first.
02Do you also do this for ServiceNow?
Yes, as a separate practice with its own assessment discipline for workflow and module selection rather than clouds and editions. The two practices share a method, not a platform.
03How long does a Salesforce assessment take?
Most assessments close inside three to four weeks, depending on how many clouds and how much undocumented history need reviewing. A single-cloud edition question can move faster.
04What does Salesforce consulting cost?
It runs as a small, fixed engagement priced against the number of clouds involved and the audit depth required. The output prices whatever build follows it, so the number arrives before commitment, not during.
05Will you recommend against buying more Salesforce licences?
Regularly. Many orgs already own more capability than they use, and reassigning seats or reconfiguring what exists is often the honest recommendation over a new purchase.
06Can you work alongside our current Salesforce partner or admin?
Yes, and an existing admin's history of the org usually shortens the assessment. We slot the review around whatever scope your current partner already owns.
07Do you build what you recommend?
We can, but nothing obligates it. The decision document is scoped to be usable by any implementation team, including one you already have in house.