Introduction
You've cleaned up your org. You've removed technical debt. You've migrated to Flows. Your automation is modern, maintainable, and clear.
Now what?
This is the final post in our technical debt removal series. But it's not about cleanup anymore—it's about the future. It's about asking: What's next for your Salesforce investment? Where can you add value? How do you stay current with a platform that evolves every quarter?
This post is different from the previous four. Rather than walking you through a single modernization (like Workflows to Flows), we're exploring the broader landscape of modernization opportunities. Not every organization will pursue all of them. Instead, we'll help you identify which modernizations matter most for your business, and how to think strategically about continuous improvement.
The underlying message is simple: Technical debt doesn't go away. It accumulates continuously. The only solution is building a culture of continuous modernization—regular reviews, planned deprecation, intentional evolution.
The Modernization Landscape: Beyond Automation
Your org isn't just automation. It's a complete ecosystem: reporting, user experience, integrations, data architecture, customer engagement. Each area has modernization opportunities.
Category 1: Reporting and Analytics Modernization
The Shift: Standard Reports → CRM Analytics (Einstein Analytics)
The Problem with Legacy Reporting
Most mature Salesforce orgs have hundreds of reports built over years. They work, but they have issues:
- Performance: Standard reports on large datasets (100k+ records) are slow
- Refresh rates: Reports run fresh on demand. Dashboards don't provide real-time insights
- Flexibility: Building a new report requires a dev or power user. Business users can't self-serve
- Intelligence: Vanilla reports are descriptive (what happened). They're not predictive or prescriptive
- Integration: Exporting report data and integrating with other tools is manual
What CRM Analytics Enables
CRM Analytics (formerly Einstein Analytics) is the modern reporting platform:
- Speed: Datasets refresh multiple times per day. Queries run in milliseconds
- AI and predictions: Leverage Einstein AI for forecasting, anomaly detection, and recommendations
- Self-service: Non-technical users can build their own reports and dashboards
- Embedded insights: Put reporting and AI directly in your Salesforce workflows
- Integration: Connect to external data sources (data warehouse, Tableau, Looker)
- Collaboration: Share insights, build on others' work, crowdsource insights
- Mobile: Beautiful, responsive dashboards that work on mobile devices
Modernization Approach
This is not an all-or-nothing migration. Most organizations take a phased approach:
Phase 1: Pilot (1-2 months)
- Identify 3-5 high-impact dashboards (CEO dashboard, sales pipeline, customer success metrics)
- Recreate them in CRM Analytics
- Compare performance and UX
- Get executive feedback
Phase 2: Expansion (2-3 months)
- Recreate your top 20-30 most-used reports as CRM Analytics dashboards
- Train users on how to navigate the new dashboards
- Monitor adoption
Phase 3: Deprecation (ongoing)
- Stop building new standard reports (build in CRM Analytics instead)
- Over time, retire old reports as users transition
- Archive critical reports that are no longer used
Resource Requirements:
- CRM Analytics license (additional cost)
- 1-2 weeks of training on CRM Analytics tools
- 4-6 weeks for an analyst to migrate top dashboards
- Ongoing training for end users
Key Metrics:
- Dashboard query time: Compare before/after (expect 5-10x improvement)
- User engagement: Do people use the new dashboards? (analytics built in)
- Decision velocity: Can teams make decisions faster with better insights?
- Support load: Easier to maintain? Support tickets decrease
Category 2: User Experience Modernization
The Shift: Salesforce Classic → Lightning Experience
Classic vs. Lightning
If your org is still on Salesforce Classic, you're using software from a decade ago. Lightning Experience isn't just a new coat of paint—it's a fundamentally better platform.
Classic limitations:
- Slower page loads
- Not optimized for mobile
- Difficult to customize UI
- Component-based design is rigid
- Limited collaboration features
Lightning advantages:
- Significantly faster (60%+ faster page loads in most cases)
- Mobile-first design (responsive, works beautifully on phones)
- Flexible UI customization (Lightning Components, App Builder)
- Modern, clean design reduces user fatigue
- Better collaboration (Chatter, Notes, Activity timeline)
- Accessibility improvements (WCAG compliance)
Migration Approach
Classic to Lightning is usually company-wide, not gradual. But you need to prepare:
Pre-Migration (3-4 weeks):
Audit all page layouts for Classic- Identify customizations that won't work in Lightning (old custom components)
- Update Classic custom components to Lightning (or rebuild)
- Test in Lightning sandbox
- Train admins and power users on Lightning admin features
- Identify any customizations that rely on Classic-only features
Cutover (1-2 weeks):
- Train all users on Lightning experience
- Brief training sessions (30 min each)
- Job aids and help documentation
- Office hours for questions
- Dedicated support channel during cutover week
Post-Migration (ongoing):
- Monitor support tickets for issues
- Fix problems and configuration issues
- Refine page layouts based on user feedback
- Optimize performance if needed
- Celebrate quick wins and improvements
Key Metrics:
- User satisfaction: Pre/post survey scores
- Page load time: Compare before/after
- Support tickets: Do issues decrease post-migration?
- Mobile usage: Increases significantly when mobile experience improves
- Data quality: Easier data entry often improves quality
If You're Already on Lightning
Look at modernizing within Lightning:
- App redesign: Is your navigation optimal? Are users clicking through too many screens?
- Customization: Are you using Lightning Components, or still relying on Visualforce pages?
- Process automation: Are users seeing Flow screens? (Guided processes improve adoption)
- Einstein features: Are you using Einstein for duplicate detection, lead scoring, etc.?
Category 3: Integration Architecture Modernization
The Shift: Point-to-Point APIs → Integration Platform as a Service (MuleSoft/Integration Hub)
The Integration Problem
Most mature Salesforce orgs have a mess of integrations:
- Point-to-point connections: System A talks to Salesforce, System B talks to Salesforce, etc.
- No unified error handling
- Brittle (if one system changes, you fix that integration)
- Hard to trace data flows
- Duplicate data across systems
- Integration code scattered across multiple platforms
Result: Data is inconsistent, latency is high, and troubleshooting is painful.
Integration Modernization Goals
- Centralized: One platform manages all integrations (MuleSoft or Salesforce Integration Cloud)
- Reliable: Consistent error handling, retry logic, monitoring
- Observable: You can see what's happening (logs, alerts, dashboards)
- Maintainable: Integrations are documented, versioned, and easily modified
- Scalable: Can handle growth without architectural changes
Modernization Approach
Phase 1: Assessment (2-3 weeks)
- Inventory all integrations
- Diagram current state
- Identify pain points
- Design target state
Phase 2: Prioritization (1 week)
- Which integrations cause the most pain?
- Which integrations affect the most users?
- Which can be consolidated?
Phase 3: Platform Selection (1-2 weeks)
- Option A: MuleSoft (powerful, but expensive and complex)
- Option B: Salesforce Integration Cloud (built-in, simpler, adequate for many orgs)
- Option C: Boomi, Informatica, or other iPaaS (middle ground)
Phase 4: Pilot (2-3 months)
- Pick one high-impact integration
- Build using your chosen platform
- Test thoroughly
- Compare to old approach (latency, reliability, etc.)
Phase 5: Rollout (3-6 months)
- Migrate high-impact integrations to new platform
- Decommission old point-to-point integrations
- Train ops team on new platform
Key Metrics:
- Integration latency: Time from event to completion
- Error rate: Percentage of failed integrations
- MTTR (Mean Time to Repair): How fast can you fix integration issues?
- Data consistency: Are systems in sync?
- Cost: Are you saving money by consolidating integrations?
Category 4: Data Architecture Modernization
The Shift: Duplicate Data in Salesforce → Single Source of Truth (Data Cloud)
The Data Quality Problem
Most organizations have data silos:
- Customer data in Salesforce
- Customer data in ERP system
- Customer data in data warehouse
- Customer data in marketing automation
Result: Inconsistent customer information, outdated views, poor personalization.
Data Cloud (CDP) Solution
Salesforce Data Cloud is a Customer Data Platform that:
- Aggregates customer data from all sources
- Creates unified customer profiles
- Provides real-time insights
- Enables personalization across Salesforce and beyond
- Supports compliance (GDPR, CCPA)
Example:
- Salesforce has "John Smith" as a prospect with $100k opportunity
- ERP has "John Smith" as a customer with $50k annual spend
- Marketing automation has "John Smith" as engaged with 5 opens in last month
- Data Cloud unifies these and creates profile: "John Smith: High-value customer AND active prospect, total spend/opportunity $150k, engagement score 8/10"
Modernization Approach
This is a significant undertaking (3-6 months), suitable for large, data-driven orgs:
Phase 1: Assessment (2-3 weeks)
- Map data sources
- Identify duplication
- Understand data quality issues
- Define unified data model
Phase 2: Governance (2-3 weeks)
- Data ownership (who owns customer data?)
- Quality standards (what makes data "good"?)
- Privacy/compliance (GDPR, CCPA)
- Access controls
Phase 3: Build (6-8 weeks)
- Data ingestion (connect all sources)
- Deduplication (identify same customers across systems)
- Unification (create unified profiles)
- Validation (test data accuracy)
Phase 4: Activate (ongoing)
- Use unified data for segmentation
- Personalize experiences based on unified data
- Build predictive models on complete data
- Share insights across org
Cost: Significant (data infrastructure, licenses, consulting, internal resources). Most appropriate for enterprises with $10M+ ARR or highly data-driven organizations.
Category 5: Industry-Specific Modernization
Different industries have different modernization priorities:
For Sales Clouds Orgs:
- Einstein Lead Scoring
- Territory Management 2.0
- Collaborative Forecasting
- Customer Health Scoring
For Service Cloud Orgs:
- Omnichannel Routing
- Field Service Lightning
- Einstein Service Cloud (case recommendations)
- Knowledge Cloud
For Commerce Cloud:
- Order Management System
- B2B Commerce
For Financial Services:
- Financial Services Cloud
- Insurance Cloud
Common Theme: Each uses Einstein AI for intelligence and automation.
Building Your Modernization Roadmap
You probably can't do all of these simultaneously. Here's how to prioritize:
Step 1: Assess Current State
For each modernization area, rate your current state:
- 1 = Legacy, causing pain
- 2 = Functional but dated
- 3 = Good, but could improve
- 4 = Modern and effective
- 5 = Cutting-edge
Step 2: Identify Business Impact
For each area, estimate impact if you modernized:
High impact (should modernize soon):
- Reporting: Users spending hours on manual reporting? CRM Analytics saves time
- UX: Users frustrated with Classic experience? Lightning improves satisfaction significantly
- Integrations: Integration failures causing data issues? Modernization improves reliability
Medium impact (modernize eventually):
- Industry-specific features: Useful but not urgent
- Data Cloud: Important for data-driven decisions, but big undertaking
Low impact (nice to have):
- Minor optimizations
- Niche features
Step 3: Assess Readiness
For each high-impact modernization:
- Do we have resources? (time, money, expertise)
- Is our org clean enough? (have we done cleanup work?)
- Is the team ready? (have we established governance?)
- Can we manage the change? (change management capability)
Step 4: Build Your Roadmap
Example 2-year modernization roadmap for a typical mid-market org:
Year 1:
- Q1-Q2: Complete Workflow → Flow migration (if not done)
- Q3-Q4: Reporting modernization (pilot CRM Analytics, migrate top dashboards)
Year 2:
- Q1: Lightning Experience (if still on Classic) OR Lightning optimization
- Q2-Q3: Integration architecture modernization
- Q4: Plan next phase (Data Cloud, industry-specific features, etc.)
Adjust based on your org's priorities and capacity.
The Continuous Improvement Culture
The most important shift is moving from "modernization is a project" to "modernization is a practice."
Organizations that stay current have:
1. Regular Technical Reviews
Quarterly:
- Review all active automation (Flows, Workflows, Process Builder)
- Are they still needed?
- Are they performing well?
- Can they be consolidated?
Annually:
- Full org architecture review
- What's still on deprecated platforms?
- What features are we missing?
- What's our top modernization priority for next year?
2. Deprecation Planning
When Salesforce announces deprecation (as they did with Workflows):
Year 1: Notice period
- Acknowledge the deprecation
- Plan migration (don't panic)
- Allocate resources
Year 2: Migration period
- Complete migration to new platform
- Test thoroughly
- Communicate with stakeholders
Year 3: Cleanup
- Deactivate old technology
- Remove from documentation
- Celebrate progress
3. Innovation Time
Dedicate time to innovation:
- 10-20% of admin/dev time exploring new features
- Monthly "lunch and learn" sessions about new Salesforce capabilities
- Sandbox playground for experimenting
4. Skill Development
Your team needs ongoing training:
- Salesforce certifications (at least one per team member per year)
- Trailhead modules on new features
- External conferences and training
- Internal knowledge sharing
5. Stakeholder Communication
Keep executives informed:
- Quarterly business review of technology health
- Annual modernization roadmap presentation
- ROI tracking (time saved, problems solved, value created)
The ROI of Staying Current
Modernization requires investment. What's the payoff?
Quantifiable Benefits
- Reduced maintenance time: 20-30% fewer hours maintaining outdated systems
- Improved performance: 50%+ faster query execution and page loads
- Higher user adoption: Better UX drives engagement
- Faster feature delivery: Modern platforms are easier to build on
- Better data quality: Cleaner processes, less manual work
- Fewer incidents: Better-designed systems fail less often
Strategic Benefits
- Competitive advantage: Modern capabilities enable new business models
- Talent attraction: Developers want to work on modern stacks
- Risk reduction: Deprecated technology is riskier (fewer support options)
- Flexibility: Modern architecture scales to new requirements
- Innovation velocity: Good foundation enables faster innovation
Cost Avoidance
- Reduced audit risk: Modern platforms are more secure and compliant
- Lower operational cost: Automation reduces manual work
- Avoided disasters: Good architecture prevents costly failures
- Extended asset life: Modern systems perform for longer
Example ROI Calculation
Workflow → Flow Migration
- Investment: 200 hours (team time) + $0 (platform cost)
- Ongoing savings: 10 hours/month in maintenance
- Payback period: 20 months
- 5-year value: $100k+ in saved time
CRM Analytics Implementation
- Investment: $50k license/year + 300 hours (team time)
- Ongoing savings: 15 hours/month (less reporting work) + $50k/year license cost offset by efficiencies
- Payback period: 18 months
- 5-year value: Better decisions, faster insights, competitive advantage
Avoiding the Next Round of Technical Debt
Ironically, modernization itself can create technical debt if you're not careful.
Common traps:
- Building on Flows what you built on Workflows: Just migrating doesn't modernize. You need better design.
- Overengineering: CRM Analytics is powerful, but not everything needs AI. Don't solve every problem with Data Cloud.
- Rushing adoption: Adopting Lightning and then discovering your custom components don't work is painful. Plan, don't react.
- Forgetting governance: Migrated to Flows, but not establishing Flow governance? You'll have the same sprawl in 3 years.
Prevention:
- Establish governance BEFORE modernizing
- Design for maintainability, not just functionality
- Use platforms that fit your needs (not the most advanced platform available)
- Document as you go
- Train your team on best practices
- Review regularly
Your Modern Salesforce Org: What It Looks Like
After complete modernization, your org:
- Runs on Flows, not Workflows or Process Builder
- Reports in CRM Analytics, providing real-time insights and AI recommendations
- Uses Lightning Experience, with mobile-optimized processes
- Integrates via unified platform, with centralized error handling and monitoring
- Built on clean data architecture, with a single source of truth
- Governed clearly, with documented processes and ownership
- Staffed by engaged team, empowered to build and innovate
- Aligned with business, with technology supporting strategy
This isn't a fantasy. It's achievable. It requires discipline, investment, and time. But the payoff—in reduced maintenance, improved performance, better decision-making, and organizational agility—is substantial.
Your 90-Day Action Plan
Don't get overwhelmed by the big picture. Start small.
This month:
- Complete the modernization readiness assessment from Part 3
- Identify your top 3 modernization opportunities
- Estimate effort and impact for each
- Pick one high-impact, medium-effort initiative
Next month:
- Deep dive on your chosen initiative
- Build business case
- Get stakeholder buy-in
- Form the project team
Following month:
- Develop detailed project plan
- Begin work
- Report progress to stakeholders
Small steps, consistent progress, sustained momentum.
Parting Thoughts
This series started with a simple idea: Technical debt is expensive, and cleaning it up is worth the effort.
Through five posts, we've walked through cleanup, modernization, and sustainable improvement. The tools and techniques are standard—nothing revolutionary. The difference is execution and discipline.
Organizations that succeed with Salesforce are the ones that:
- Clean up intentionally (Parts 1-2)
- Plan strategically (Part 3)
- Modernize systematically (Part 4-5)
- Govern continuously (throughout)
This is your moment. Your org is clean. You've migrated to Flows. You have a modernization roadmap. The foundation is ready.
What's next is entirely up to you.
Thank You
This series was written for Salesforce admins, developers, and leaders who care about building durable, intentional systems. If you've read all five posts and worked through the exercises, you've taken significant steps toward technical excellence.
Keep building. Keep learning. Stay current. And remember: Your org's future is determined by the choices you make today.
What's your biggest modernization challenge? What features are you most excited about? Share your thoughts in the comments. We'd love to hear what comes next for your org.
