Customer Snapshot

Human Capital Institute (HCI) was founded on the principle that strategic Human Capital Management is the most powerful lever for performance and growth. Since 2004, HCI’s research-based learning solutions have helped leaders, human resources, and talent management professionals plan for, acquire, engage, and develop their people.  Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, HCI’s industry-recognized certification programs and conferences are delivered all over the world and virtually.

Challenge

Seeking an outsourced partner to provide ongoing Salesforce administration and optimization, HCI turned to Cloud Next Level for Managed Services. With only two weeks of transition time to avoid a gap in support for Sales and Operations, Cloud Next Level evaluated the situation, and provided recommendations based on the current state of the environment, along with an assessment of HCI’s true support needs. Cloud Next Level also helped map out a plan for an optimized system based on best practices. The process included:

• Exploring and auditing the current system
• Determining the baseline user needs and user engagement
• Mapping out immediate support needs and implementing communication/case process
• Identifying and resolving system redundancies
• Evaluating licensing agreements for maximum value
• Assessing data integrity for accuracy of reporting and forecasting
• Creating a business process and technical roadmap to take HCI’s system to the Next Level

“Having worked with Jay McKeever in the past, we knew that Cloud Next Level would take on our project as their own. We were impressed with their approach to our needs from the beginning. We weren’t just hiring a Managed Services vendor, but we were hiring a true partner for our business” – Ed Mack, Director of Channel Marketing

Solution

Cloud Next Level’s Managed Services team stepped in to provide day-to-day administration, several critical license consolidations, and system optimization. In a short amount of time, the CNL team was able to help beyond the scope of the original plan and solve a critical website to Pardot connectivity breakdown. When HCI needed to provide additional tools to the sales and support teams, CNL was there to make it happen efficiently. Cloud Next Level recommended immediate updates to the HCI environment to resolve lingering issues that were causing repeated support holdups. HCI was able to leverage Cloud Next Level’s Managed Services solution, which provided personalized, hands-on support and training as needed. HCI’s staff was able to skill up and learn to use their system and maintain their data with minimal downtime. Value-added services provided by Cloud Next Level include:

• Overseeing infrastructure, support, and maintenance
• Advising on and assisting with software application management
• Reducing software license exposure and costs
• Seamless partnering with 3rd party vendors for holistic solutions
• Gaining trustworthy data for decision-making
• Cleaning up system redundancies and overlaps – including reducing workflows from 40 to 11 to eliminate competing flows and timeout problems
• Implementing an automated lead assignment and lead scoring system
• Increasing understanding of the culture of the system to make smarter decisions concerning customization
• Identifying and addressing custom field complications
• Training in-person and online for end users and administrators
• Providing regular updates and dashboards for management/executive visibility

With Cloud Next Level’s help, HCI’s system evolved to bring a level of maturity to the company’s processes, and expertise in using their Salesforce instance more effectively.

“HCI was looking for day-to-day administration as well as a path towards best practices. Once we had an overview of the whole system, we could work in conjunction with the CNL team to lay a path for future best practices while meeting today’s needs. CNL’s broad experience allowed them to step in and support us daily while reducing our technical debt.” – Brandon Bernzott, SVP of Global Sales and Marketing

Results

By using Cloud Next Level’s Managed Services instead of an in-house Salesforce administrator, HCI has been able to utilize a broader skillset across multiple people while also controlling operational expenses. Previously, their system was administered by a “voluntold” administrator who needed to focus on putting out fires rather than considering the long-term health of the system. By contracting CNL for Managed Services, HCI now has a team uniquely qualified to look at the integrity of the overall system and plan for the future while meeting today’s needs. The result: 15% software savings from the initial engagement, reduction of digital data debt by 29+ GB, and significant operational efficiency gains. Most importantly a deeper understanding of their Salesforce instance’s complexities. In addition to daily support, CNL also has strategic-level support with a wide array of Salesforce platform experiences to support and build towards future needs.

“Cloud Next Level was able to provide our sales team daily administration support and training with very limited disruption. Their training was high quality and got our staff refocused on sales quickly with new knowledge and better understanding.” – Andrew Piddington, VP of Business Development

The initial engagement realized savings across several areas. Other tangible benefits included:

• Drove efficient application management
• Reduced software licensing footprint
• Increased efficiencies in the operating model
• Operated as an advisor as well as an admin
• Influenced business processes for better efficiency
• Met the need for data integrity
• Identified problems, researched solution applications, attended demos, provided implementation, training, and on-going management
• Brought the customer support processes seamlessly into the Salesforce system
• Provided coaching for process improvement

With Cloud Next Level’s distinct Managed Services options, organizations can maintain their Salesforce products with high levels of operational and systems efficiencies, data integrity, and scalability. With sophisticated methodologies and process optimization, CNL’s certified specialists help clients increase ROI and reduce TCO. CNL offers a range of services tailored to the size, scale, and maturity of the clients’ systems.

About CNL:

Motivated by the growing need for Salesforce assistance among small businesses in the Midwest, Cloud Next Level was founded in 2018.  We are a certified Salesforce Consulting Partner and a Certified Woman-Owned Enterprise (WBE). We can help you meet your Salesforce AND Diversity goals … 75% of our teammates are women!