The Advisor vs. The Technician
Posted on 03. Jul, 2010 by AscendWorks Consulting in Leadership
Making Salesforce.com work has less to do with how to customize the system than it does with how to drive your business result. This is the difference between a technician and an advisor. The technician is IT-centric. The Advisor is business-centric. Organizations that hire technicians to work on their Salesforce.com system are responsible for driving specificity in their requirements and leading with clear vision.
The organization that is seeking to increase revenue, increase customer loyalty or generate demand typically is seeking strategy in addition to technical competence. The strategy drives the system and the system must work cohesively balancing the trade-offs in productivity, management and collaboration.
Here are some of the differences between the advisor and the technician:
- The advisor is helping you lead. The technician is merely following your orders.
- The advisor architects your overall business strategy. The technician is highly tactical and engages the system without concern for overall context.
- The advisor considers trade-offs in adoption and productivity, often championing simplicity. The technician focuses on the technology, often overlooking how people use a system.
- The advisor collaborates with the client and educates on options in the client’s best interest. The technician takes orders from the customer and leaves the client to own their own interests.
Salesforce.com is a mission-critical application which will either increase revenue or become a cumbersome IT experience. Consider the talent you hire as a critical pivot point towards success or frustration. Strategy and leadership are the ingredients which are less tangible, yet should be evident in a well-designed system and business process in Salesforce.com.