The Importance of Prioritizing Business Analysis in Salesforce Projects
With over 15 years of experience as a business analyst and a decade running my own consulting firm, primarily focused on Salesforce solutions, I've seen a recurring issue in organizations: technical skills are often prioritized over soft skills and deep analysis capabilities. Don’t get me wrong; technical skills are essential. But too often, they’re valued at the expense of thorough business analysis. Organizations tend to invest in highly technical resources, expecting that business analysis will just “happen” along the way, without the need for a dedicated role or skillset.
This prioritization can lead to a serious imbalance in projects. Business analysis, which should guide the technical implementation, is often overlooked or bypassed. As a result, technical teams — developers, project managers, and others — are frequently tasked with gathering requirements. But without a dedicated focus on understanding the true needs of users, there’s a higher risk that the wrong solution will be built. This leads to an iterative cycle where teams repeatedly try to hit the mark, but without the right analysis skills, they’re often addressing symptoms rather than the root cause of user needs.
The Need for a Centralized, Analytical Role in Salesforce Projects
Recently, I’ve collaborated with organizations that have highly skilled, technical Salesforce teams adept at implementing what business users ask for. However, without a centralized role to bring all the requests together, the system can become disjointed and siloed. What these teams really need is someone in a business analyst role to connect the dots and build a cohesive platform strategy.
Think of Salesforce as a unified flow that spans across multiple departments: a lead starts in one department, then moves through to the opportunity stage (handled by another team), and then perhaps into marketing or delivery. Each stage requires careful coordination. For example, marketing campaigns must align with opportunity processes, and downstream, delivery teams must receive the correct information from upstream departments to be effective. A skilled business analyst ensures that each department’s needs are met while keeping the entire process in sync.
What Happens When Business Analysis is Missing
Without business analysis, organizations often end up with fragmented systems held together by patches and workarounds. This leads to fields in Salesforce that serve no clear purpose, a poor user experience, and a system that’s ultimately underutilized. Users may encounter a cluttered interface filled with dozens of fields that are rarely, if ever, used because the perceived value is lacking. Downstream teams are left scrambling without the information they need because upstream teams didn’t prioritize it, resulting in more rework and inefficiency.
To avoid these pitfalls, a dedicated business analysis role is essential. This role is responsible not only for streamlining processes but also for ensuring that the tools, including Salesforce, meet the actual needs of users across departments. With a business analyst involved, organizations can move from siloed, piecemeal solutions to a cohesive system that’s not only user-friendly but also aligned with business objectives.
In the end, effective business analysis supports the technical implementation by ensuring that every element serves a strategic purpose. And that’s how organizations can unlock the true potential of Salesforce and create a system that’s both functional and scalable.
