Salesforce is among the most effective customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and organizations are massively resorting to Salesforce Managed Services Partners (MSPs) to guide them in using Salesforce to the fullest. 

These partners offer continued maintenance, operational assistance, and upgrading of your Salesforce environment. Selecting an experienced Managed Services Partner is pivotal in ensuring that your organization is maximizing the use of Salesforce capabilities to deliver growth and efficiency. 

The following are the 7 key attributes any Salesforce Managed Services Partner must have to make the relationship successful.

Here are the key qualities your Salesforce Managed Services should have:

1. Expertise & Knowledge Across Multiple Clouds

• Salesforce is not a one-size-fits-all platform, but rather an ecosystem of integrated solutions that are intended to solve specific business problems. 
• The Salesforce suite covers Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and others, which have functional specifications. 
• An elite Salesforce Managed Services Partner should understand these various Salesforce Clouds and how to apply and optimize them according to your specific needs.
• Considering a case in point, if your company wants to simplify sales and automate the lead generation, then your Managed Services Partner must be very proficient in Sales Cloud. 
• On the same note, should they make customer service optimization a priority they must know how to use Service Cloud to streamline their case management, customer interaction, and turnaround response times. 
• A partner who has an in-depth understanding of several Salesforce Clouds will be able to offer a solution that will help your business in every aspect.

2. Visionary Strategy & Focus on Growth

• An effective Salesforce Managed Services Partner must go beyond mere maintenance of your system, to grow your company. 
• The proper ally will offer a strategic roadmap, where Salesforce and your long-term business goals are aligned. 
• They need to introduce something of a visionary nature, always trying to find a way to innovate and enhance processes using the capabilities of Salesforce.
• As an example, your Managed Services Partner might introduce new capabilities like artificial intelligence (AI) with Salesforce Einstein or suggest implementing automation options to eliminate manual processes.
• They can allow you to scale efficiently, enter new markets or increase customer retention by aligning the Salesforce to your growth objectives. 
• A progressive Managed Services Partner will see you through a series of upgrades to your Salesforce system as your business environment adapts and prepares you to keep improving and succeeding.

3. Scalable, Flexible Service Options

• Your Salesforce will increase with your business. Your Salesforce Managed Services Partner should be in a position to provide a scalable solution that can expand with your company. 
• Your Managed Service Provider must be flexible enough to adapt your Salesforce environment to your needs whether you are launching new products, hiring new employees, or expanding into new markets.
• A flexible Managed Service Provider offers scalable service packages to make sure your Salesforce solution is still relevant to your needs. 
• As an example, when your company requires more users, customizations, or third-party integrations, you should be able to get such changes managed by your Managed Service Provider within a short period and without any issues. 
• Your Salesforce instance can be scaled to meet the needs of your growing business, without having to sacrifice functionality or performance with the right Managed Service Provider.

4. Proactive Support & Insightful Analytics

• One of the most important values of a Salesforce Managed Services Partner is proactive support. 
• Your Salesforce instance should also be monitored by your Managed Service Provider at all times, rather than allowing problems to appear. 
• Security to system performance, your Managed Service Provider should be able to spot trouble before it gets big.
• Along with technical assistance, your Managed Service Provider must also be able to offer useful analytics. 
• Salesforce is laden with reporting and dashboard applications that can assist you gauge just about everything including sales performance to customer service response times.
• The analysis of these metrics can allow your Managed Service Provider to suggest optimizations and improvements, thus allowing your business to make data-driven decisions that can lead to better overall performance.

5. Emphasis on Change Management & User Adoption

• Salesforce is a system that may require modifications to your company workflows, which, in turn, may prove to be hard to implement in an organization that is accustomed to the old system. 
• One of the attributes of an excellent Salesforce Managed Services Partner is their emphasis on change management and providing successful user adoption.
• The Salesforce training process should also be supported by your Managed Service Provider, who should assist your employees in making the transition with individualized training, documentation, and practical assistance. 
• The idea behind this is to make the users learn how to make the best use of the platform and to accept the changes that will come with the platform. 
• In this case, one example would be your MSP customizing the Salesforce user interface to become friendlier or even conducting custom training according to the needs of your department. 
• User adoption needs to be prioritized so that your Salesforce environment is utilized to its fullest potential and achieves the desired outcomes.

6. Strong Security & Compliance

• Salesforce is a company with a lot of sensitive data, so security is a primary concern. 
• An effective Salesforce Managed Services Partner should be knowledgeable of Salesforce security measures and should show that your site is secure and in accordance with industry standards.
• Some of the best practices that your MSP should adopt are role-based access controls, data encryption, multi-factor authentication, and regular security audits. 
• Moreover, your MSP should know any regulatory requirements unique to your business (e.g. GDPR in the case of a business in the European Union, or HIPAA in the case of a healthcare company). 
• A secure and compliant Salesforce system will ensure your company data is safe and your customers will trust your MSP.

7. Clear Communication & Collaborative Approach

• Any successful partnership requires good communication. Your Salesforce Managed Services Partner must be very open and transparent at all stages of your interaction. 
• They need to make you aware of progress, problems, and advancements, both during the set-up of systems, and during the support.
• An integrated MSP is a partner that collaborates with your own teams and knows your business objectives and needs. 
• They must take initiative in prescribing change, raising issues about likely difficulties, and putting you back on track with best practice. 
• When adding new Salesforce functionality or trying to trouble-shoot a problem, your MSP is expected to become a trusted partner, and no decision you make should hurt your business.

In Summary

The selection of the Salesforce Managed Services Partner is one of the key decisions that will greatly influence the success of your Salesforce implementation. The only way to get the finest possible value out of your Salesforce platform is to work towards getting the seven attributes of it namely expertise in Salesforce Clouds, a visionary strategy, scalable service options, pro-active support, change management and user adoption, security and compliance and excellent communication. 

A good partnership with the right Salesforce Managed Services Partner will assist your business to absorb the entire potential of Salesforce, automate things and achieve success in the long run. The above attributes will assist you to realize the maximum potential of Salesforce, which will make your team successful and expand.