Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Jennifer Cole, Director of Business Intelligence and Automation at 908 Devices. Join us as we chat about how Salesforce Admins can bridge the gap between business processes and data accuracy.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Jennifer Cole.

The importance of understanding the ‘why’ behind data entry

Jen gave a stellar presentation about business processes and data strategy at World Tour Boston, and I wanted to bring her on the podcast to learn more. “Data isn’t helpful if you don’t know your process,” she says, “it’s just interesting facts on a screen that maybe make pretty graphs. But what does it tell you if you don’t know what questions you’re answering?”

More often than not, the people doing a business process don’t understand why they need to log data a certain way. That’s why as Salesforce Admins, we need to understand the “why” behind data entry. If we can bridge the information gap and explain why having accurate data is so important, we’re more likely to get people on board.

The impact of inaccurate data on business tools 

With new AI tools like Agentforce or Next Best Action, having accurate data is more important than ever. As Jen puts it, “Inaccurate data creates inaccurate business decisions.” But in order to get there, you have to explain why it’s important.

Jen supports a lot of sales teams, and it’s a great example. Sales teams want to sell things, and they don’t always understand why they need to log an email into Salesforce or create the next step on an opportunity because they don’t know how that information will be used.

It’s up to Salesforce Admins to bridge this gap and spell out what the data is used for. If your sales team knows that logging their calls accurately will help you tell them the best time to call each prospect, they’ll be a lot more attentive to how they enter that data into Salesforce.

Strategies for improving data collection

Jen points out that trainings are a great time to get started with explaining the why behind data collection. When they fill in this field, who else will use that information and how will it help the business as a whole? You need to get them invested in the process and help them see the broader picture.

Finally, it’s important to establish feedback loops that help your team stay invested in the process. If they can see how accurate data impacts their day-to-day, they’re much more likely to be invested in the project of data collection.

There’s a lot more great stuff from Jen about how to look at your business processes and data strategy, so be sure to listen to the full episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to hear more from the Salesforce Admins Podcast.

Podcast swag

• Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store

Learn more

• Podcast: Solving Business Problems with Composer and Flow with Jennifer Cole


• Blog: How to Use Salesforce to Manage Your Documentation


• Blog: How to Write Great Documentation to Help with Future Problem Solving


• Podcast: Understanding the Importance of Data Health in Salesforce

Admin Trailblazers Group

• Admin Trailblazers Community Group

Social

• Jen on LinkedIn


• Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn


• Salesforce Admins on X


• Mike on Threads


• Mike on Tiktok


• Mike on X

Full show transcript

Mike Gerholdt:

This week on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we’re talking with Jennifer Cole about data strategy and process. Well, yeah, a little something different because in the world of AI and a lot of tools just in general, not to mention automation tools, it’s good to know what you’re doing with your data and do you have a process in place to make sure you’re collecting good data. Also, I ask her about bad data, so that’s an interesting answer. But really understanding what data are you collecting, and does everybody know the process for data collection because as we know, it’s going to be even more important to have great data so that AI can give us even better insights. But if we don’t know the process, then I think we’re in trouble. So Jennifer’s going to help us with that.

But before we get into the episode, just a reminder that if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, be sure to click the follow button, that way this podcast can automatically be downloaded right to your device so that when you’re out on your dog walk, you don’t have to worry about downloading it because it’ll already be there. And of course, I always appreciate a good review, so let me know how we’re doing. With that, let’s talk process and data quality and maybe data strategies. There’s quite a few things in this podcast with Jennifer. And let’s get Jennifer on the podcast. So, Jen, welcome back to the podcast.

Jennifer Cole:

Thanks, Mike. I’m really excited to be back.

Mike Gerholdt:

Well, last time, and I’ll put a link in the show notes because you won’t hear that a thousand more times today, but we were talking about documenting your process as an admin when you’re solving things.

Jennifer Cole:

Yes, good stuff.

Mike Gerholdt:

I know. Well, I really enjoyed that. I could spend, again, probably another two hours doing that because, first of all, I constantly forget, “What was I doing here?” I should have wrote that down better. But we’ve since caught up a thousand other times and wanted to expand on that conversation because with AI, there’s so many more shiny tools out there.

Jennifer Cole:

There are.

Mike Gerholdt:

I know, seriously.

Jennifer Cole:

A lot.