Why Organizations Should Outsource Salesforce Administration

November 1, 2023
9 min

Based on Zippia.com, there are over 5,000 Salesforce admins employed in the USA alone. And considering the growing popularity of Salesforce over the last few years, the demand for in-house (also known as insourced) and outsourced Salesforce administrators is only going to increase.

If you are balancing between hiring and outsourcing CRM system administration, compare the pros and cons of both options to make an informed decision.

What is Salesforce Administration Outsourcing?

Salesforce outsourcing is the use of external service providers to deliver various services like CRM implementation, configuration, or AppExchange app development.

Salesforce outsourcing helps organizations:

  • Reduce costs,
  • Save employees time,
  • Speed up time to market,
  • Take advantage of external expertise.

Outsource Salesforce Administration Services

Let Ascendix handle routine tasks such as data and user management, and system updates, so you can focus on your core competencies.

Why Hire an Outsourced Salesforce Administrator

There are numerous reasons why companies choose to outsource Salesforce administration.

And here are the common benefits of outsourcing Salesforce administration projects:

Benefits of Hiring an Outsourced Salesforce Administrator Ascendix

Benefits of Hiring an Outsourced Salesforce Administrator | Ascendix

 

1. Service Cost Compression

Based on the data found on Upwork and PeoplePerHour, Salesforce contractor rates range from $30 – $250/ hr depending on the subcontractor’s:

  • Technical skill set,
  • Industry expertise
  • Level of seniority,
  • Location.

According to Glassdoor, that is much lower than the average salary of an in-house administrator in the USA, which ranges from $60,000 to $90,000.

Add to this the time you need to spend on hiring a new employee. Based on Glassdoor’s study, it may take from 24 days to 6 months to hire a new employee. And another 6 months for him/her to become competent in their role. Besides that, you need to pay:

  • Recruitment agencies’ fees,
  • Payroll costs and taxes,
  • Onboarding and supervising costs,
  • Social benefits and bonuses,
  • Expenses on office space and equipment.

But, if you engage with external service providers, you purchase their time at a fixed hourly/monthly rate set by the agreed contract.

So, you will have more control over operating costs. As a result, you’ll end up spending 1.25–1.4 times the base compensation for a Salesforce administrator.

As a seasoned CRM consulting company with 15 years of IT outsourcing experience, we can offer flexible pricing options for our services by mixing our Onsite/Offsite teams.

 

2. Free Time and Resources

Outsourced Salesforce administration helps you forget about the following:

  • Spending time on creating training plans for your teams,
  • Researching current Salesforce updates,
  • Thinking out the further Salesforce career path of your employees.

An outsourced team can scale your Salesforce instance easier and faster. So, you can develop other branches of your business and invest your time in more important business tasks.

 

3. Access to Extensive Salesforce Expertise

The main advantage of hiring an outsourced Salesforce admin from a Salesforce outsourcing company is that you gain knowledge of a full team of experts as a part of one agency compared to hiring in-house experts or freelance contractors.

You’ll be able to cover a wide range of skills you would not really find in a single person.

Salesforce outsourcing companies like Ascendix have a vast pool of top talents like:

  • Salesforce admins,
  • CRM consultants,
  • Software developers,
  • Project managers (PMs),
  • Solution architects (SAs),
  • Business analysts (BAs),
  • Quality assurance (QAs) experts.

 

4. Custom Training Materials and Guides

Since Salesforce consulting partners have dealt with diverse cases, they already have sets of ready-to-use:

  • Documents,
  • Guides,
  • Tutorials,
  • Best practices.

So, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and can shorten your way to the go-live stage.

 

5. Unbiased Opinion and Advice

The great benefit of outsourced Salesforce administrators is that they can look at your CRM optimization, irrespective of any internal policies. They can provide:

  • An analysis of all the internal workflows and business goals
  • Validate the work of previous outsourced or in-house experts for quality or maintainability
  • Suggest necessary optimizations or technology solutions.

 

6. No Risks of Employee Turnover

There is always a possibility that after investing time and money into hiring your in-house specialist, he/she will decide to choose another career opportunity.

Outsourced Salesforce admins can offer a quick substitution of the in-house resource without the risk of affecting the ongoing processes and set timeframes.

Salesforce outsourcing implies juggling many clients’ projects at a time. It encourages companies to develop the best project management practices for delivering agile personalized approaches without losing the quality of the provided services.

 

7. In-Time Salesforce Support and Maintenance

Another essential benefit of outsourced Salesforce administrators is that they will configure your CRM exactly when needed without constraining your business with unnecessary downtimes.

You can get Salesforce support as soon as you need it on all the stages of the implementation.

Moreover, you don’t have to think out the tasks for your in-house specialist to justify his/her salary and keep him/her busy.

Best Salesforce License Optimization Strategies 

Download our e-book with our selected strategies for Salesforce license optimization and contract price negotiation to maximize Salesforce investment.

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7 Tips on How to Hire an Outsourced Salesforce Admin

With two decades in Salesforce consulting, we offer seven essential tips for hiring an outsourced admin.

How to Hire an Outsourced Salesforce Admin Ascendix

How to Hire an Outsourced Salesforce Admin | Ascendix

1. Set Project Goals

Start with identifying business goals and analyzing customer needs. Organize requirements workshops and prioritize system requirements for:

  • Functionality,
  • Data,
  • UI

Then document all of them and establish CRM objectives and KPIs.

 

2. Estimate Budget and Time

The number of Salesforce administrators you should have depends on the size of your organization. For every 50 Salesforce licenses, you’ll need one full-time (40 hours/week) internal or external Salesforce admin and at least one admin per business unit.

A more precise number of Salesforce administration resources per organization can be found in the table below:

The Number of Required Salesforce Administration Resources Ascendix

The Number of Required Salesforce Administration Resources | Ascendix

 

However, every project is unique. So, you should consider many other factors like the amount of data to import and required configurations to estimate a timeframe and budget to complete the project.

 

3. Check Customer Satisfaction Rate

If you choose to hire a Salesforce admin from a consulting agency, pay attention to its:

  • Customer base,
  • Scope of competency,
  • Company rating,
  • Number of completed projects
  • Company portfolios, case studies, interviews,
  • Customer reviews on independent websites like themanifest.com, Clutch.co, and AppExchange.

We are always transparent and fair with our clients. And it is reflected in our customers’ testimonials not only on our website but also on review platforms like Clutch. co and AppExchange.

 

4. Confirm a High Level of Technical Skills

Check technical skills, certifications, and experience with various Salesforce Clouds.

Also, verify the scope of Salesforce admin’s technical skills and experience in case studies. It will show that this admin is not only an expert in theory but in practice as well.

 

5. Verify Industry and Solution Expertise

A Salesforce administrator can be a great technology expert but can have a zero understanding of your industry needs and challenges. Especially if it is a super-specific niche like commercial real estate or capital markets.

That’s why it’s better to look for Salesforce experts who have long-term proven expertise.

We have been operating in the commercial real estate and real estate industry for more than 17 years.

We not only have experience in the administration of Salesforce solutions but also in managing Salesforce-based CRM tools created specifically for CRE brokers.

 

6. Check Geographical Presence

The location of your outsourced Salesforce admin comes into play when you decide what type of business engagement you prefer to:

  • Have a local Salesforce administrator,
  • Hire an offshore specialist,
  • Use the services of a consulting company with a global delivery capacity.

Our teams located in Europe and the US guarantee a culture and language fit for companies in any location.

 

7. Confirm Training Capability

If you want to ensure that all your users use Salesforce, you need to train and support them through the whole adoption journey.

This may require external help from the administrator in the creation of:

  • Educational videos,
  • Guides,
  • Sandbox versions,
  • Workshops and user training,
  • After-training support.

Our team strives for successful Salesforce adoption in your organization as much as you do. So, we’ll ensure that all your team members can freely use Salesforce.

Our Salesforce admins not only create educational videos for our clients but also write expert articles on specific topics (all these Salesforce-related educational resources can be found on our blog).

Save Time and Money with an Outsourced Salesforce Admin

By hiring Ascendix, you’ll get access to the best practices, improve the performance of your Salesforce, and free up time for your core competencies.

Top 5 Salesforce Outsourcing Companies

Top 5 Salesforce Outsourcing Companies Ascendix

Top 5 Salesforce Outsourcing Companies | Ascendix

1. Ascendix Technologies

 

Average Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 (Based on Clutch.co & AppExchange reviews)

Foundation Year: 1996

Location: Dallas, TX

Number of Employees: 200 +

Clients: JLL, Colliers International, CRESA, Savills Ireland, SLG, Source Minerals, Stiles, SAB Capital, Calson Properties, Hanna Commercial, etc.

Ascendix Technologies is a CRM consulting and custom software development company originating from Dallas, Texas with offshore offices in Europe.

What made Ascendix appear among top Salesforce outsourcing companies, is the versatility of CRM consulting services like:

Besides that, Ascendix provides custom software and CRM development services.

Also, we have built our own real-estate specific software:

  • AscendixRE (a commercial real estate CRM on top of Salesforce),
  • Ascendix Search  (an advanced Salesforce search tool),
  • Composer  (a point-and-click report generation tool),
  • MarketSpace (a secure collaboration portal for brokers).

Ascendix’s expertise lies in the following domains:

What customers like about Ascendix Technologies:

  • In-depth commercial real estate and legal services expertise,
  • Extensive CRM knowledge,
  • Open and honest communication,
  • Willingness to go the extra mile in providing services,
  • Constant improvement of their product
  • Support current customers rather than just selling and marketing.

 

2. Itransition

 

Average Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.9 (Based on Clutch.co & AppExchange reviews)

Foundation Year: 1998

Location: Denver, CO

Number of Employees: 3, 000 +

Clients: Expedia, Xerox, Toyota, eBay, PayPal, Adidas, Shell, BP, Statoil, KPMG, Acronis, IBM, Citibank, Telekom Austria Group, Kaspersky Lab etc.

Founded in 1998 in Denver, CO, Itransition has risen to become a premier Salesforce outsourcing company with a global presence, boasting offices in Austin, TX, the UK, and Belarus.

They specialize in a wide array of IT consulting and development services, including Salesforce consulting, CRM customization, user support, UX design, software engineering, and quality assurance.

Furthermore, they’re renowned for platform-based development. Serving sectors from healthcare and finance to telecommunications and retail, clients commend Itransition for their valuable feedback, adeptness in handling complex projects, accurate project timeframe estimations, and prompt responses.

 

3. Tkxel

 

Average Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.9 (Based on Clutch.co & AppExchange reviews)

Foundation Year: 2008

Location: Reston, VA

Number of Employees: 250+

Clients: Barclays, ABB, Groupon, TELUS, Family Dollar, Honeywell, Telenor, Knowles, Reidmark, Propelics, Vistaprint, F4S, Replenium, CafeZupas, SKGF, WuxiNext Code, Lumatax etc.

Tkxel, a Salesforce outsourcing company with a global footprint in the US, UK, Pakistan, UAE, and Poland, provides an extensive range of services.

These include Salesforce consulting, CRM implementation, app and web development, Force.com community development, UX design, team staffing, and QA & testing.

With experience spanning over 30 industries, from financial services to telecommunications and retail, Tkxel has built a reputation for its professional competence, effective communication, and technical expertise.

 

4. Avenga

 

Average Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.8 (Based on Clutch.co & AppExchange reviews)

Foundation Year: 2019

Location: Rochelle Park, NJ

Number of Employees: 2,500 +

Clients: Roche, Postbank, Mazda, GSK, Volvo, ABB, Credit Suisse, Allianz, QPharma, SwissLife, etc.

Avenga, headquartered in New Jersey with global offices in Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and Malaysia, provides comprehensive Salesforce consulting, implementation, and enhancement services to both enterprise-level and SMB organizations.

Their CRM offerings range from migration and implementation across various Salesforce clouds to AI solution design and AppExchange app development. Notably, they’ve created the Trigger Control app for Salesforce available on AppExchange.

With deep expertise in sectors like Healthcare, FinTech, Manufacturing, and Automotive, clients particularly appreciate Avenga for their extensive development knowledge, exemplary communication, and ability to navigate complex requirements.

5. VRP Consulting

 

Average Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.8 (Based on Clutch.co & AppExchange reviews)

Foundation Year: 1998

Location: San Francisco, CA

Number of Employees: 600 +

Clients: Rolls Royce, Welk Resorts, BVT Sweden, Felm, Beyond Better Foods, Digital Genius, etc.

VRP Consulting, with a global presence from the USA to the Philippines, is a comprehensive provider of Salesforce services. Their expertise encompasses a range from outsourcing and managed services to custom development and ISV app design.

They have proficiency in various Salesforce clouds, including Sales, Service, Marketing, and Health Clouds. Catering to a diverse array of sectors such as Manufacturing, Healthcare, Media, and Retail, VRP is celebrated for its effective communication, guiding best practices, deep understanding of both business and technology, and exceptional creation of custom employee onboarding solutions.

 

Bottom Line

Outsourced Salesforce services help to leave the stress connected with recruiting and managing the employees behind and concentrate more on business improvement and growth.

However, to completely unlock the benefits and mitigate the risks of this option, you need to partner with a qualified Salesforce outsourcing company.

Ascendix has a 21-year track record of managing Salesforce projects in commercial real estate, legal, and financial services domains.

Book a free CRM consulting call to get qualified Salesforce services originating from Dallas.

Salesforce Administration Outsourcing FAQ

Does Salesforce outsource?

Salesforce outsources CRM consulting and administration to third-party vendors called Salesforce consulting partners. There are 2,000 + certified consulting agencies on the AppExchange platform of various partnership tiers.

What is a Salesforce administrator?

Salesforce administrator provides a vast scope of services like data management, creation and modification of reports and dashboards, automation of workflows and processes, users management and troubleshooting of Salesforce issues.

Why should companies outsource Salesforce implementation services?

The most common reasons to outsource Salesforce implementation services is to reduce costs, speed up time to go-live stage and take advantage of external expertise.

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