DPC/G3.6.1

ACROSS GOVERNMENT POLICY

CLOUD CASE STUDY

Customer relationship management - Investment attraction SA

Key Findings

The adoption of Salesforce.com, a cloud-based software-as-a-service solution, allowed for business processes and reporting to be standardised across the agency.

While the technology and infrastructure requirements were less significant than a traditional on premise deployment, change management activities were just as important to ensure successful deployment of the solution.

Business Requirement

As a newly formed agency, Investment Attraction SA (IASA) had a need for a Customer Relationship Management system to support its Investment Attraction Customer Journey to manage leads, identify opportunities for investment, record projects and commitments, and track milestones.

The system needed to record interactions with contacts and organisations throughout the Customer Journey and provide reports to stakeholders about work in progress, investment activities, and the achievement of commitments by investors.

A solution was required to be deployed rapidly.

Solution

After considering internally hosted solutions, it was determined that Salesforce.com would meet the agency’s requirements, particularly with respect to speed of deployment, accessibility, and ease of customisation.

Business Outcomes

The adoption of Salesforce.com allowed for rapid deployment of a Customer Relationship Management system.

Following a ‘soft launch’, the solution was quickly adopted by users.

Benefits

IASA benefited from the rapid deployment of the service which allowed for business benefits to be realised quickly.

The solution replaced existing manual processes and reports.

It allowed for business processes, aligned to the Customer Journey, to be standardised across the agency.

Reporting was also standardised across the agency.

Learnings/Challenges

As for a traditional technology project, strong executive leadership was necessary to ensure staff were appropriately engaged and the solution was adopted by users. Despite being a software-as-a-service platform, appropriate user and technical support arrangements remain necessary to ensure that the solution is sustainable.

Key Decisions/Approvals

Approval for the adoption of a cloud-based solution was referred to the DSD Executive Board for approval so that risks and issues were explicitly acknowledged and accepted.

Tools

  • Procurement process
  • Cloud Risk Assessment – used across DSD

Contacts

Sophie Adlaf

Director, Strategic Operations

Investment Attraction South Australia

Telephone: 08 303 2401

Licence

With the exception of the Government of South Australia brand, logos and any images, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 Licence. To attribute this material, cite the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Government of South Australia, 2017.

1