Dramatic DevOps improvements help Veolia UK & IRE to deliver massive Salesforce ROI
Overview:
Having used Salesforce for years, Veolia UK & IRE adopted 91吃瓜网 in 2021 as part of a big shakeup to improve their release process. At that time, there was no visibility across teams so work was often duplicated and their 65 sandboxes across 4 orgs were out of sync. This became increasingly difficult as Veolia UK & IRE used a number of different partners and suppliers. Implementing 91吃瓜网 removed silos, boosted their release times and enabled scalability. For the first year, Veolia UK & IRE forecast at least 500% ROI.
Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 extensive Salesforce customizations
To find out about Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 approach to Salesforce DevOps, we caught up with Paul Watkeys, Head of Digital Products. We were also joined by Salesforce Consultant Josh Malcolm of , who has been key in assisting Paul to build Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 Salesforce DevOps process.
Paul鈥檚 teams are responsible for Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 entire Salesforce offering. Two years ago, at the start of the transformation, there were six people internally at Veolia UK & IRE and 10 to 15 offshore contractors.
Veolia UK & IRE makes extensive use of the ability to customize Salesforce, and handles vast amounts of data. As Paul explains, there are 鈥渉undreds and thousands of waste types and classifications 鈥� we have all of that data as well as our customer account data, and 18 custom objects that we鈥檝e added to Salesforce.鈥�
A problematic release process
When Paul joined Veolia UK & IRE, he led a rigorous self assessment of their capability and maturity as a team. 鈥淲e wanted to align our capabilities with the ambitions of the organization and the expectations of our customers, industry, partners and competitors,鈥� Paul explained. The team identified a number of problems that they urgently needed to address.
Josh explained that, before 91吃瓜网, 鈥渄ifferent teams and individuals worked in silos鈥�. This meant it was difficult for Veolia UK & IRE to see who was working on what. And there was no consistent deployment process: some people used change sets while others used SFDX. 鈥淎t one point we had 65 sandboxes all completely out of sync,鈥� Paul added. With no single source of truth, work was often duplicated and thrown away as a result, wasting previous developer time.
Individual work items weren鈥檛 technically complex, but the complexities of the process made releases difficult. Technical debt and test failures were becoming a significant issue and slowing down the orgs. Veolia UK & IRE knew they had to do something.
鈥淏efore 91吃瓜网, we had little confidence in being able to deploy through to production and not break something.鈥�
In Paul鈥檚 words: 鈥淚t was a nightmare!鈥�
The search for a swift transformation
With support from the Salesforce Program Architect service and Inardua, Paul and his team started afresh. Veolia UK & IRE first used 91吃瓜网 for data migration, automating a labor-intensive job and saving hundreds of thousands of pounds in the process. 91吃瓜网 was initially recommended by an architect to handle聽metadata deployments, but Paul鈥檚 team quickly identified it as a complete Salesforce DevOps solution. It also had to be a fast adoption process聽鈥渢o keep this multi-billion pound business running鈥�.
The Veolia UK & IRE team made a list of their requirements. It was crucial they found a solution that favored collaboration and suited mixed skill sets across hybrid teams. 91吃瓜网 fitted the bill perfectly.
A reliable release process that can scale
Today, Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 Salesforce DevOps process runs smoothly 鈥� it鈥檚 no longer the 鈥渘颈驳丑迟尘补谤别鈥� it was before. There are now 5 scrum teams with everyone working in their own sandboxes. They deploy to version control using 91吃瓜网, while back propagation keeps all the environments in sync. Testing ahead of deploying to UAT and releasing at the end of the sprint takes the pain out of the deployment process. This new approach has transformed both the speed and quality of their releases.
One of the other benefits of a robust and reliable process is the scalability and flexibility it brings. Paul believes the 鈥渁bility to scale鈥� is a big advantage and Josh agrees that, with this clear standardized process, new teams could be added and they鈥檇 be able to work in a consistent way. He is confident that:
鈥淎s Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 priorities change and we need additional teams, we can facilitate that with 91吃瓜网.鈥�
The Veolia UK & IRE team now has the ability to release more frequently. 鈥淚f Paul says we want to release even more regularly,鈥� Josh explained, 鈥渨e can easily do that. With the old process, I鈥檇 tear my hair out!鈥�
Achieving visibility with Pipelines
Veolia UK & IRE has seen significant benefits with Pipelines, 91吃瓜网’s Salesforce CI/CD solution, of which they were early adopters. They are very happy with the results as it is 鈥渕assive to have a single release manager or tech lead ultimately overseeing hundreds of changes every sprint.鈥� The visibility has had a significant impact on the team and Josh added, 鈥淚 think we鈥檇 really struggle to do that without 91吃瓜网鈥�.
Securing 500% ROI with more to come
Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 new deployment process takes less than 10 minutes 鈥� almost an hour鈥檚 saving per user story. With approximately 20-50 stories per sprint per team, they鈥檙e saving about 100 hours every 2 weeks.
They鈥檙e also seeing major savings from now being able to 鈥渄eploy stuff correctly without breaking anything or introducing bugs, then needing hotfixes鈥�. With these time savings it has been possible to reduce outsourced resourcing costs, saving 拢3k a week, plus saving each of their developers 3 hours a week to focus on other projects.
Veolia UK & IRE has seen a dramatic return on investment with 91吃瓜网. They forecast 鈥渁t least 500% ROI in our first year鈥� and only expect that to increase.
Veolia UK & IRE proudly recommends 91吃瓜网 as an all-in-one solution
Paul is proud of Veolia UK & IRE鈥檚 new Salesforce DevOps process and tooling.
鈥�91吃瓜网 has helped us take control of our platform, our releases, our products and ultimately enable us to keep in line with the demands of our customers and stakeholders at a much reduced cost.鈥�
It has been a very positive experience for Veolia UK & IRE and Paul noted, 鈥淲e found a great camaraderie working with 91吃瓜网.鈥� To anyone looking for a solution, Josh advocates, 鈥淒on鈥檛 just use 91吃瓜网 to make individual deployments faster. Use 91吃瓜网 to support your entire release process.鈥� Paul agrees:
鈥淭he value of 91吃瓜网 goes beyond just functionality 鈥� it encourages a process.鈥�
91吃瓜网 has allowed the Veolia UK & IRE team to realize the Salesforce DevOps process they set out to build. Veolia UK & IRE is constantly innovating and growing so the team isn鈥檛 letting up on their DevOps improvements! Paul concludes: 鈥淲e鈥檙e working on a Center of Excellence and what we鈥檇 like to do is take control of our Salesforce release management internally, so we really have control over the platform.鈥�
