There’s a big change coming!
Not everyone will be aware but the current/old Salesforce partner model, which has been live since 2015, is being revamped.
As of now, Salesforce partners are grouped and organised by their Partner Value Score. Partner Value scores (metal tiering) consist of Registered Partner, Silver Partner, Gold Partner, Platinum Partner and Global Strategic Implementation (GSI).
We know the Salesforce Partner marketplace is expanding and growing constantly and with regular releases in the product space, Salesforce is re-evaluating the Salesforce Partner model.
The new tiering system has been explained to Partners and Salesforce is encouraging them to not focus on older tiering system in their marketing efforts.
As we know, Partner status is important, and Pexlify is proud to be a Platinum Consulting partner. However, the status of a Partner does not define whether they focus on specific products, clouds or industries. With over 1775 Salesforce consulting partners listed on the AppExchange, it can probably be a bit daunting to try and narrow down the search for a Salesforce Partner.
Of course, businesses will use things like location and partner status to narrow down but wouldn’t it be better if customers could filter by industry expertise?
Navigator
This is where Navigator comes into play. This allows users to filter by Knowledge, Experience and Quality. Taking data from recent partner expertise in specific product and industry areas, customers and Salesforce AE’s will now be able to ‘niche’ down on their search and find the best possible Partner to suit their needs and requirements. Identifying partners with relevant expertise that are able to tackle specific issues is now possible.
Knowledge - Technical Understanding of Salesforce
Experience - Knowledge from implementations across different environments and customers
Quality - Consistency delivering to customers
When it comes to the navigator design & levels, it is quite a clear layout which will help customers and AE’s get straight to what they’re looking for.
There are 3 Sections and 3 Expertise Levels
The levels are:
Expert - This will consist of the most experienced partners and leaders in the area/product. These partners will be able to handle difficult and big solutions while obtaining a high standard of customer satisfaction
Level II Specialist - This is when a partner has the ability to deliver a project while sustaining a high level of customer success.
Level I Specialist - Partner has demonstrated the ability to consistently produce customer success.
There are certain requirements to reach each level including CSAT scores, number of Projects and number of Credentials. Each of these levels will be displayed perpendicular to project categories. (See image below)
These Project Categories are
Products - Sales Cloud, Community Cloud, etc.
Industries - Financial Services, Pharmaceutical, etc.
Services - Managed Services, PDO, etc.
(full product & Industry list here - must be signed in)
Using Navigator
So how can you as a customer use partner navigator? Navigator will be the only display and the old metal tiers will be phased out come August 2021.
Searching
When performing a search in the AppExchange, users will be able to apply what level of expertise they are looking for ( Product Expert or Industry Expert) and filter by selected products, as well as company size.
Consulting Partner Page
When you visit a consulting partners page, you will see their expertise level in the new tiering and see industry expertise levels.
Timeline
What does this timeline look like? Well to start, the navigator filters and sorting options are already available on the appexchange. Over the coming months, it is expected you will see partners move away from the old metal tiring system and start advertising utilising the new Navigator distinctions.
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We hope this helped you understand the Partner Navigator a bit more. You can read more on the salesforce partner community here.
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Pexlify is a leading digital transformation partner with Salesforce.com.
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