Discover the Salesforce Lightning Experience

More than just a new modern makeover with improved cosmetics, Lightning transforms the whole user experience inside of Salesforce. The power of Lightning allows you to improve workflows and productivity, which means users spend less time trying to navigate the system and more time driving sales. The reimagined design is intuitive and beautiful. The new platform boasts an array of features that maximize productivity, complete with analytics and in-line intelligence that allows users to be more precise.

It doesn’t just end in the sales cloud. Lightning Experience extends into the apps, platform, service and more. This great change was inspired by Salesforce’s mobile app, which was built using the Lightning Framework. The inspiration lead to a design that was social, interactive, and flexible. Lightning was delivered to the public in the Winter of 2016 release, but not everyone jumped on board right away. Making the move to Salesforce Lightning is not as easy as the flip of a switch. For many organizations, migrating to Salesforce Lightning is a headache and causes a whole mess of problems. Some are waiting for the inevitable end of Classic when Salesforce finally pulls the plug. However, the upgrade to Salesforce Lightning doesn’t have to be a pain. To execute a successful migration, you need to have roll out strategy for your organization.

If your organization is thinking about making the transition, here are some tips before you make the leap.

Run the Readiness Report

There is no need to panic, because most of your existing features and customizations will work just fine in Lightning Experience. To test how well prepared your organizations environment is for a migrating to Lightning, run the Salesforce Readiness check inside your organization. The Readiness report will show which users benefit from the switch and how to adjust your org for implementation of the Lighting Experience. To run your own readiness report:

1. Log into your Salesforce org
2. Go to the Setup page.
3. Select the Lightning Experience transition assistant under Quick Find.
4. Select the Discover Phase
5. Look for “Evaluate Lightning Experience Benefits and readiness”
6. Run the “Check your Lightning Experience readiness”
7. Explore how the migration to Lightning will benefit you.

Get Hands-on Lightning Experience

The old saying “You don’t know unless you try” couldn’t come into play at a better time and Salesforce gives you the tools to do so. To get your feet wet in a Salesforce Lightning environment, Salesforce provides some ways for you to test out the new experience. You can use the Preview tool that’s available from the Lightning Experience Migration Assistant. Preview allows you to explore the Lightning experience in your production org without enabling the new interface completely. You want to be careful with this option, because your production environment will reflect any and all changes. Another way for you to view the lightning experience is in a sandbox. This is a safe way to view your org in the Lightning way without having to worry about accidental changes to your production environment.

Find Your Super Users

Super users are employees who know your vision and the value of your implementation and are wanting to help you improve what is already in place. These users bring knowledge and experience to the table, but more importantly they are the ones who communicate and engage with the rest of the employees in the organization. Their passion can help spread the word of Lightning and its benefits to the rest of the organizations to get people of board with a Lightning migration. Supers users are the people who employees go to for help and know the system and its pain points. A single super user or a group of super users can build a following to gain trust in your migration process. They are the ones who can help you communicate change to the rest of your organizations

Migrating to the Salesforce lightning Experience can seem like a mountainous task. Do not be afraid to take some steps in the direction away from Salesforce Classic. The change is inevitable, and it might be the right time for your organization to make the transition. If you are unsure if migrating to Salesforce Lightning makes sense for your organization, then don’t be afraid to reach out to an expert. At Sikich, our team of Salesforce Consultants can help determine if the move to Lightning is right for you.