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Cloud technology has revolutionized the ways in which back-office systems exist and operate. In years past, costly standalone applications may have been employed in order to keep an Ombudsman system up and running properly. However, the rise in popularity of the cloud has also given rise to cloud-based solutions.
CPQi’s specialists transformed an Ombudsman system by redesigning it from a standalone application into a component within a larger Salesforce Community Cloud solution. This allowed for the system to work with much greater efficiency, scalability, and high-level security.
Our teams at CPQi can help you to achieve your goals by proposing, architecting, developing, and implementing Salesforce solutions. In this article, we will discuss how we redesigned and implemented the Ombudsman back-office system and the resulting benefits of the project.
The Challenge of the Ombudsman Back-Office System
Working with an Ombudsman system requires a tremendously high level of attention to detail. The Ombudsman back-office system is responsible for handling issues related to fraud, denunciation, investigation, and harassment, making it a vital component to any bank’s infrastructure.
The CPQi team is highly experienced in providing Salesforce configurations, customizations, and consulting to our clients. When approaching the task of a Salesforce implementation for an Ombudsman system, a primary goal was to ensure the Ombudsman’s department as a whole experienced a unified implementation.
Using an Agile approach – as well as Squads, Sprints, and Kanban for support – the CPQi team was able to achieve this kind of unified Salesforce implementation across the board for the Ombudsman’s department, from call center to process workflows. This, along with our team’s extensive knowledge of both Salesforce and the cloud, made for a highly successful Ombudsman system implementation.
From Standalone Application to Salesforce Community Cloud Solution
Standalone applications and systems pose the issue of not being highly accessible or efficient as a means of data sharing. For an Ombudsman system, this can be highly detrimental as data and information oftentimes needs to be shared and accessed quickly.
Conversely, working from a cloud-based platform such as Salesforce allows for sensitive information, documents, or other matters to be shared and handled with much greater ease.
According to Salesforce:
“Community Cloud is an online social platform from Salesforce that enables companies to connect customers, partners, and employees with each other and the data and records they need to get work done.”
In the case of CPQi’s work transforming an Ombudsman system into a Salesforce Community Cloud, the solution was created around three main components:
1. Case Size
The client in this project already had a significant Salesforce case, as they had already been working to incorporate other essential processes using Salesforce solutions. Additionally, the client was already using profiles and permission sets to separate the functionalities as well.
Due to these existing Salesforce-based processes, the implementation of the Community Cloud for use by the Ombudsman system would be much better supported. This highlights the importance of unification across departments, as cloud-based solutions implemented across the board can collaborate and function simultaneously with much greater efficiency.
2. Independent and Cryptographed System
A major problem posed by the cloud is the matter of security. For an Ombudsman system, this is especially true as it will carry ultra-sensitive data in need of expert encryption and protective protocols. As such, development of a secure system had to be a top priority.
CPQi developed an independent and cryptographed system with the functional ability to operate within a cloud-based community. This enabled the Ombudsman’s department and other authorized personnel to access and share information securely.
3. Secure Data Storage
Aside from the security of information and data as it is shared and passed around, there is also the matter of its safety in storage. Using the Salesforce databases, our team at CPQi was able to store internal pre-processed and encrypted data.
This enables our Salesforce implementation to be fully secured using the most restricted schema of encryption, allowing your engineering team to develop and support the application without the need to see any kind of data or internal workflow features.
Structuring an Effective Approach
A primary objective during this project was to provide consistent and valuable deliverables throughout the process. Starting from the inception, this meant our team would need to model and architect a plan for theses kinds of developments throughout the implementation process.
At CPQi, we fully embrace Agile methodologies and recognize the importance of speed of delivery when it comes to software and other products. As a part of our Agile methodology for this project, it was further divided into sprints wherein the CPQi team could deliver new and valuable functionalities.
As for custom code and configuration, we followed the golden path defined by Salesforce:
Starting with an inception, we could model and architect a plan with valuable deliveries and plan the development and implementation of the project.
From that, we had the project running in an Agile methodology, divided in sprints where the CPQi team could always deliver new valuable functionalities. At the end of the project, we deployed the custom code and configurations using Salesforce Developer or Sandbox orgs.
The Results and Benefits of Salesforce Community Cloud
The approach and structure taken for this project allowed us to create a separated Community Cloud attached to a larger Salesforce system. This provided the client with a number of benefits, including:
· Being able to use the same Salesforce license the company already owned
· Gaining access to a private and separated community where sensitive data can be securely shared
· Improving data protection with high-level secure data modeling
An additional part of this project involved our team integrating the Salesforce databased with internal APIs, enabling both pre- and post-processing of data.
This initiative and project provided high-value development and implementation, demonstrating the capacity to deploy new community clouds without having to buy new licenses. Moreover, being based in the cloud allows the system to maintain a heightened ability for scalability, enabling the Ombudsman to operate according to fluctuating demands.
Final Thoughts
This CPQi project ultimately served to demonstrate the full potential of Salesforce Cloud Communities, proving that traditionally standalone applications used for an Ombudsman system can be transformed into cloud-based community spaces while still maintaining the proper levels of security and encryption.
To learn more about CPQi’s custom Salesforce developments, or other managed services, contact our team to schedule a consultation today!
Written by Cesar Cotait, CEO of CPQi Latin America.
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