Paychex uses just-in-time training to seamlessly migrate 3,500 users to Salesforce Lightning in 6 months

Accurate and efficient use of Salesforce is critical to a data-driven organization like Paychex: incorrectly completed tasks can have significant downstream effects on revenue. To assist with its migration to Salesforce Lightning, Paychex turned to WalkMe’s digital adoption platform to lead users through complex processes, detect and correct data entry errors, and alert users to new features.

Since implementing WalkMe, Paychex reports:

• 3,500 users migrated to Salesforce Lightning in 6 months
• $400,000 saved in sales help desk headcount required to support a Lightning transition

Paychex, a leading payroll and HR solutions company, has 100 locations and over 3,500 virtual and field sales representatives. Faced with a major software migration from Salesforce Classic to Lightning, the Paychex team needed a change management solution that would streamline adoption and ensure adherence to procedures—with minimal disruption to daily business.

WalkMe allowed Paychex users to get started in Lightning without skipping a beat, and without lengthy training sessions. Customizable in-app guidance is now delivered exactly when and where help is needed, ensuring accuracy and productivity. With the help of WalkMe, over three thousand sales reps made the switch to the new software within six months. WalkMe has also facilitated internal communication, keeping employees up to speed on software updates and company events and initiatives.

Paychex, a leading payroll and HR solutions company, serves more than 670,000 clients across the US and Europe. Introducing new processes or technology to its 3, 200 virtual and field sales representatives has to be done strategically: any process errors or breaches in data integrity can affect both revenue and customer trust. While they were confident in Lightning’s ability to offer increased productivity and usability; Paychex’s goal was to ensure minimal business disruption through the migration.

“We had to look at all the processes we used in Classic and figure out a way to relaunch each one, or retrain every field or virtual sales rep,” says Jane Bach, Paychex’s senior manager of sales enablement. Traditional options like webinars or classroom training sessions were expensive and inefficient; ongoing support queries had the potential to be an unmanageable burden. “

We knew it would be impossible to support our 3,500 plus reps with a limited number of individuals on my team responsible for training and support,” Bach says.

Bach wanted to implement a more intuitive, self-serve method of assistance. “I was always a big fan of the idea that a sales rep could access answers to the questions they have on a business process right in the CRM,” she says. “Just-in-time training is the most effective way to successfully adapt to different processes.”

The company also needed a solution for ongoing training. Sales reps, particularly those working in the field, found it difficult to keep up with any new software features or company updates when notifications were given through email. “We knew there had to be a better way,” Bach says.

WalkMe Digital Adoption Platform was exactly the software Bach was looking for to streamline the transition to Lightning. “We basically gave everyone a learning path to leverage Walk-Thrus in Lightning,” Bach says. Smart Walk-Thrus provide step-by-step guidance through complex processes. As new features or processes were introduced into the environment, additional tips were added using ShoutOuts, custom tip balloons that draw attention to featured text.

The just-in-time content and training was much more efficient than requiring reps to take time away from their work to search through training aids or watch webinars. “And they’d never retain all the information they needed for when they were actually doing those events in Salesforce,” Bach says. “WalkMe allows them to learn while they work.”

Sales reps were given the ability to toggle between Classic and Lightning for a period of time—90 to 120 days, depending on the division. That allowed them to adapt to the new environment at a comfortable and gradual pace.

Although Paychex initially implemented WalkMe to facilitate the transition to Lightning, the platform is now used more broadly. For example, WalkMe allows Paychex to notify representatives about Salesforce feature releases or process updates. “It’s great when reps can log into Salesforce and see a ShoutOut that says ‘Hey, something has changed—click here to learn more about it,’” says Bach.

That in-app method of communication isn’t restricted to Salesforce-related news. “Anything that we want the field reps to pay attention to we try to launch through a ShoutOut because we know our sales reps are consistently logging in,” says Bach. “Using WalkMe Insights, we can track who saw the notification and how they engaged with it.”

Thanks to WalkMe, Paychex migrated 3,500 sales representatives to Salesforce Lightning in six months. “We could not have made the switch to Lightning without WalkMe,” says Bach. “The platform offers direction for our representatives, gives us more consistency in the tools we use, and positively impacts the quality of the data we get.” With an organization their size, Bach estimates it would cost $400,000 per year in additional headcount to support the migration.

“WalkMe helps us meet the commitment to our sales reps to deliver modern and user-friendly training,” she says. Managers, too, are enjoying the benefits. “Now, instead of having to teach something over and over again to 700 different reps and leaders, our managers can very specifically point people to WalkMe to self-serve their training needs,” Bach says.

Thanks to the success of the Lightning migration, Bach says she looks forward to expanding the use of WalkMe across the sales ecosystem. “WalkMe really has given us the ability to launch bigger and wider projects in Salesforce and feel more confident with every launch.”