Welcome to the first installment of our “Get to Know Managed Services” interview series! Our Managed Services practice organization at Spaulding Ridge is filled with familiar faces and years of industry expertise. First up in our series is Practice Lead for Salesforce Managed Services Scott King.
Interviewer: Tell us about your background and role in Spaulding Ridge’s Managed Services practice.
King: I first had the pleasure of working with Spaulding Ridge when I was the PMO Director for a life science company. We selected Spaulding Ridge to be our Salesforce CPQ and DocuSign CLM implementation partner, and I worked with the SR team as the client-side project leader. I was impressed with the team’s capabilities, and when an opportunity came up to join SR, I jumped at the chance. I’ve been with SR for two years now and love the company and culture.
In my new role, I lead our Salesforce Managed Services practice. I’m a project management professional with over 20 years of experience in establishing Project Management Offices and leading Salesforce CPQ and CLM engagements, ranging in industries from communications and software to life science, retail, and medical devices, and I enjoy the chance to bring that experience to a diverse array of clients here at Spaulding Ridge.
“When the client’s needs change, we can pull in new resources with new skills…within a predictable monthly budget to dynamically adjust the team without adding cost for the client. The breadth of expertise and flexibility you get from Spaulding Ridge really has no parallel in the industry.”
Interviewer: What does our Salesforce Managed Services offering aim to solve?
King: Nearly anything that’s not a net-new implementation, we can help with. We handle bug fixes, enhance systems, and advise your system administrators and end users. We help clear out backlogs of issues that clients don’t have the bandwidth to manage. We can support process adoption, center of excellence development, or documentation. We try to be as flexible as possible and meet our clients where they are.
Interviewer: In your opinion, what is the number one benefit of purchasing Salesforce Managed Services from Spaulding Ridge over other providers?
King: When the client’s needs change, we can pull in new resources with new skills almost immediately. Within our Salesforce practice, we can bring in a team member with experience as a specific developer, or someone with CPQ or billing expertise. We can also leverage the resources of our other practices: If we’re working on a Salesforce integration with DocuSign, for instance, we can pull in a DocuSign CLM resource to provide an enhancement or fix bugs. And we do all of this within a predictable monthly budget to dynamically adjust the team without adding cost for the client. The breadth of expertise and flexibility you get from Spaulding Ridge really has no parallel in the industry.
Interviewer: Who do you think benefits the most from Managed Services?
King: Companies that run into a staffing situation when their Salesforce admins leave the company are an obvious example. Beyond that, many companies think if they implement Salesforce CPQ or billing, their current Salesforce admin will be able to support it. But in reality, these systems require specific technical skills that many Salesforce admins don’t have—even if they have the time. A managed services engagement can provide the technical support and training needed to get these systems running and help a company build capacity to support these systems over the long term. Alternatively, some companies can benefit from assigning regular tech support to an external managed services team. Spaulding Ridge’s global team can deliver flexibly, at a reasonable cost, with a short ramp-up period, which can be a more effective option than hiring new admins.
Interviewer: How do you specifically support a Salesforce Managed Services implementation?
King: There are several ways! When we’re in conversations with a potential client I can help answer questions, understand pain points and use cases, and develop a custom approach that matches the company’s needs. I also lead projects, which involves creating a workplan and managing teams to make sure the highest priority items are completed and the budget is managed effectively.
Interviewer: What would you tell someone who is debating whether they need Managed Services post go-live?
King: Be honest with yourself and your Salesforce support team. Do you have sufficient Salesforce experience and resources to support the implementation of your Salesforce org? Are you considering the impact of integrations with systems like DocuSign or NetSuite? Whatever you’re working on, it’s almost certain that things will take longer than you expect, and having the resources you need when you need them will save a lot of trouble later.
One of the primary benefits I hear about our Spaulding Ridge Salesforce Managed Services team is that we aren’t just tech support: We advise the client on best practices and we tell them directly if we think they should or shouldn’t implement something. Clients appreciate this, and we have many clients renew their agreements to continue this support.
Interviewer: How does one learn more about Spaulding Ridge’s Managed Services offering?
King: Companies can learn more about our Managed Services offerings across all our practices here and reach out to me at [email protected] if they want to discuss Salesforce Managed Services.
