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Amy Schuyler

Chief Operating Officer | 25+ years Leading High-Performing Teams | Process Optimization | Strategic Planning | Data-Driven Problem Solving | Operational Excellence | Vanquisher of “Good Enough”

Amy Schuyler is a dedicated advocate of business optimization, driven by a continuous pursuit of excellence and a firm belief in the potential for improvement in every aspect of her work and personal life. She implements a methodical and data-centric approach to all her endeavors. Emphasizing collaboration, structure, and accountability, Amy values open communication and constructive dissent to foster consensus across all organizational levels. She empowers employees by providing context and encourages autonomy while being actively involved in operational tasks.

Highlights

Apr 3 · linkedin

"Implementations with integration are often a total cluster!" proclaimed my project manager friend.

I know many of you can relate. Following are the 𝟏𝟎 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 I learned from a recent wildly challenging Salesforce implementation.

  1. 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐛 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐰. This is not limited to eliminating duplicate records & correcting misspellings. Confirm that families are correctly associated, purchases and dates of service are accurate, vendor names are linked to the correct company, etc.

  2. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠. You know your business processes better than any consultant. Review all outputs from the discovery process meticulously and assume nothing. (You might think it’s obvious that some customers pay with two different forms of payment for a single transaction but 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑏𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠.)

  3. 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐮𝐭. If the recommended apps don’t sound like they will accurately service your business, speak up. If UAT plans sound squishy, speak up. Don’t want to “rock the boat”? Refer to the preceding bullet point.

  4. 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐀𝐓 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐬 & have one knowledgeable person from your company execute all of the UAT scripts before presenting them to the team.

  5. 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐔𝐀𝐓. Hold a demo of the scripts for all testers, pair up employees with similar responsibilities, confirm testers have appropriate permissions and establish one place to record questions and concerns.  

  6. 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭. Download everything and save a read-only copy. Worst case scenario: you never refer to it; best case scenario: you have a definitive record should the information be distorted in upload.

  7. 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Get at least two knowledgeable people to confirm the data is accurate. Better still, crash the downloads against the read-only docs you created above.

  8. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. Training begets questions and potential changes.

  9. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Who will be responsible for documenting the new processes? Who will keep it updated as processes change? Confirm your plan with all involved parties and share it broadly.

  10. 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨-𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 & 𝐮𝐩𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬. Maintain a clear process for improvement so you don't find yourself operating in the Wild West.

While not exhaustive, these insights encapsulate the pain points that led to numerous headaches that I'm committed to avoiding in the future.

Mar 28 · linkedin

#leadership #implementation #DigitalTransformation #CRMImplementation #SalesforceImplementation

Amy Schuyler
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New York, New York, United States