Managed Service or Full Time – What’s Right for Me?

Does your company not have a dedicated person managing your Salesforce environment and its integrations? Or perhaps you have a team but their workload/skillset hinders them from keeping up with the pace of changing business demands? Then you’re likely at crossroads and looking to either hire a Managed Service Provider or Full-Time Salesforce Developer.

Choosing which option is best for your team can be difficult so we’ve outlined this comparison of both options. Find out which is best for your team, a Full-Time employee or a Managed Services Provider!

Hiring a full-time resource

The main advantage of hiring a full-time member to handle Salesforce is having access to a dedicated resource. You’re able to assign this person to the team where Salesforce is most used or is in need of support. Often, we see such Salesforce resources be integrated with one of these divisions:
– IT/Support
– Sales
– Marketing

Internal employees can also more quickly jump on an issue or request, as any request can be funneled directly to them from the many Salesforce users.

Over time, the full-time employee will be exposed to the company’s culture and its unique processes. This helps them better understand user needs, processes, and integration considerations.

However, there are certain tradeoffs associated with hiring a full-time Salesforce admin, summarized below:

They are difficult and costly to find.

According to a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average cost-per-hire is $4,129 and the average time to fill an open position is 42 days. In our experience, due to the high demand for Salesforce admins, the cost and time are significantly higher.

They are expensive.

Glassdoor estimates the average salary for a Salesforce Admin to be $77,503/year. This does not include benefits such as health care and vacation, which can bring the total cost to $120,000/year.

Their skill-set can be limited.

An admin only has experience with certain areas of Salesforce. They might be experts with Sales Cloud, but struggle with Marketing, Service Cloud, CPQ, etc. A single admin may not be suited to support all the disparate needs your business has.

They are difficult to retain.

With so much demand for Salesforce talent, it’s difficult and costly to retain workers.

Aside from these drawbacks, you must be aware of the inherent ramp-up period while the employee gets accustomed to your particular Salesforce environment and the company in general. Additionally, there is also a level of risk involved in investing in a single person vs a company. As you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages you’ll need to take into consideration when deciding between a Managed Service Provider or Full-Time Employee. 

Opting for a Managed Services contract with a consultancy firm

Salesforce has high standards for all partners in their ecosystem. To bring on the best of the best, however, additional vetting can be done by reading reviews on the Appexhange or requesting case studies or client testimonials. There are many reasons to go with a Salesforce Gold Level Certified Managed Services partner, such as OpFocus.

Access to a wide variety of resources to cover virtually all facets of Salesforce.

Consultants can work on developing larger strategic goals while admins work on the day to day support items and projects. Considering that needs can change from month to month, project teams typically consist of:

A Dedicated Project Manager who will become an extension of your team and work collaboratively to learn your business and ensure you get the most value out of the managed service arrangement.

Experienced Administrators to consult on proposed changes and implement changes in objects and fields, reports and dashboards, workflows, and other declarative processes. Certified admins are proactive and always implement solutions that align with Salesforce.com’s best practices.

Architects & Strategic Consultants to review processes, design solutions, implement best practices, and engage directly with your business leaders to ensure CRM strategy aligns with business objectives.

Developers to create & edit triggers and classes, visualforce pages and lightning components, integrations, and ensure the system is optimized.
Specialized resources on Marketing, CPQ, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and much more.

Cost-effectiveness and efficiency.

Agreements are structured as a monthly pool of hours where the project is billed as work is done. There is no cost associated with downtime/delays and there is flexibility in changing the budget from month to month, as business needs change.

No ramp up time.

Access experienced Salesforce resources that have worked in many different Salesforce systems across industries and can hit the ground running to deliver value immediately.

The benefit of experienced knowledge-base.

With over x amount of projects delivered over y years, OpFocus has seen a fair amount. Throughout the years, project knowledge & excellence have been captured and clients benefit from the institutional knowledge

With managed services, the overall cost per hour of work can be significantly less than hiring a full-time employee. This is a very scalable and flexible option, with limited downsides.

Conclusion

When it comes time to expand your team, there’s a decision to be made between a Managed Service or Full Time Salesforce Developer. There are pros and cons to both and you’ll need to make the right choice for your team. Once you decide that Manages Services is the right fit, you’ll find there’s no team more expansive or knowledgeable than OpFocus. Connect with a member of our team and let’s start fast-tracking your next project!

December 4, 2020

About the Author

Vincent is a Salesforce expert with over 6 years of experience. He holds 5 Salesforce certifications including Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator, Certified Platform App Builder, and Certified Sales Cloud Consultant.