Think of your Salesforce org like a home. Over time, what once was perfect for your needs can start to feel cramped or outdated. Maybe the layout no longer fits your lifestyle, or you’ve outgrown the space entirely. At this point, you’re faced with a big decision: Do you renovate and breathe new life into your old home, or do you start fresh with a brand-new build?

Similarly, when your Salesforce environment no longer aligns with your business, the choice between remediating the existing org or starting fresh is critical. Maybe you’re dealing with an older org that’s wracked up a significant amount of technical debt and has bad data. Maybe your current org is heavily customized and has a poor user experience. Or maybe you’re considering starting fresh on Lightning, but aren’t sure if you’re ready to take the leap.

Whether you’re in the process of remediating your current org or looking to start anew, both paths have their advantages and disadvantages. Knowing which one is right depends on your needs and long-term goals. Let’s explore the considerations for each option to help you make the best decision for your Salesforce org strategy.

Typical Challenges We Hear from Customers

Many companies reach a crossroads where their Salesforce org no longer works for their business. Common challenges we hear from our customers include:

• We have too many customizations that no longer serve our business processes.
• We’ve had too many cooks in the kitchen as admins over the years and none of them were aligned with their predecessor or successor.
• We’ve got hundreds of custom fields on core objects hitting governor limits.
• We’re dealing with difficulties with system performance due to outdated architecture.
• We have poor user adoption because the platform feels overly complex.
• We have too many redundant processes and siloed data between different departments.
• The platform can’t scale with us as our company grows due to past customizations that have become “out of the box” features in recent releases.
• We don’t know what the heck is in the code. 
• We’ve had a previous partner recommend starting from scratch on Lightning, but we’re not sure if that’s the right move.

Each of these issues can prevent your business from leveraging Salesforce to its fullest potential. That's when it's time to evaluate your org and decide: do we fix what’s broken or start over?

What is A Salesforce Org Strategy?

A Salesforce org strategy is a roadmap that guides how your organization will use Salesforce to meet your specific business objectives. It considers current systems, future growth, and your overall tech landscape to ensure your Salesforce environment is optimized for success.

Your org strategy determines your Salesforce architecture and is an important decision that influences your implementation scope, feature deployment methodology, and data governance strategy. It’s important to consider whether your Salesforce org strategy is for single-org or multi-org.

Key differences between the two include:

Single-Org – Simplifies your architecture by centralizing standardized business processes within one unified Salesforce instance.

Multi-Org – Adds complexity to your architecture but provides flexibility to separate distinct business processes across different business units (BUs) when a standardized approach isn't feasible.

A single-org setup offers more centralized control, whereas a multi-org strategy allows individual BUs to manage their own implementations. It's important to note that while you can transition from a single-org to a multi-org architecture, reverting back is not an option.

Ultimately, a well-defined org strategy helps minimize technical debt and ongoing maintenance costs, allowing your organization to focus on innovation and growth rather than system upkeep.

Salesforce Org Considerations: When to Remodel vs Start Fresh

When deciding whether to remediate your current Salesforce org or start fresh, it’s essential to weigh several factors. Below are some key considerations for both approaches.

Remediate & Optimize Existing Org

Remediating an existing Salesforce org means identifying and resolving issues or inefficiencies within the current setup. This process may involve cleaning up data, refining processes, and optimizing configurations. 

The main benefit of this approach is that it leverages your existing investment in Salesforce, avoiding the costs and complexities of a complete rebuild. However, it can be a time-intensive and resource-heavy task, especially if the org is large or highly complex.

Key Pros:

• Single Production Environment - By maintaining a single org, all teams and departments continue operating in a unified environment. This simplifies data sharing and reporting, as everything remains in one place. Centralized control helps ensure governance, compliance, and visibility across the entire business. Additionally, it avoids the need for complex integrations that would be required in a multi-org setup.

• Lower Initial Investment - Remediating an existing org is generally less expensive than starting from scratch. It allows you to build on your previous investment in Salesforce, utilizing existing licenses, customizations, and configurations. This approach avoids the significant upfront costs of implementing a new org, such as redesigning processes, migrating data, and training employees on a completely new system.

Key Cons:

• Longer Time to Value - The remediation process can take time to deliver visible results. Untangling technical debt, refining outdated processes, and cleaning up data can prolong the project, especially in complex environments. It may take longer for your organization to see the benefits of the improvements made during remediation, and in some cases, progress may feel incremental rather than transformative.

• Higher Risk: Complex Change Management - Remediating an org often requires making substantial changes to an existing, operational system. This introduces a higher level of risk, as it requires careful change management to avoid disruptions to ongoing business processes. If the remediation isn’t managed properly, it can result in downtime, user frustration, or system errors. Additionally, since you're working with a live environment, unforeseen issues may arise when trying to fix existing problems, making it crucial to have a solid testing and validation plan in place.

Create A New Salesforce Org

Starting from scratch allows for a fresh perspective on how Salesforce can serve your organization more effectively in the long run. When you create a new org, your business can take advantage of the latest and greatest Salesforce features and customize the platform to scale with your business. 

Starting with a new Salesforce org gives your organization a clean slate, allowing you to rethink processes, structures, and configurations from the ground up. This fresh approach enables you to build a system that’s fully aligned with your current and future business goals, rather than being constrained by legacy setups or outdated customizations. 

Key Pros:

• Shorter Time to Value - By starting with a new org, you're working with a clean foundation, which often leads to faster implementation of best practices. You can avoid the delays caused by fixing legacy issues, technical debt, or outdated configurations.

• Lower Risk: Change Management - Change management is often easier when you're building a new org, as you can design a system that aligns with current user needs and expectations from the get-go. You won't be dealing with entrenched processes or workflows, making it easier to train users and encourage adoption. You can implement a phased rollout, testing and refining processes in a controlled environment before full deployment, further reducing risks.

Key Cons:

• Maintaining Separate Environments (for a little bit) - One of the challenges of starting fresh is managing the transition between your existing org and the new one. Ensuring smooth data transfers, coordinating user access, and managing parallel operations require significant oversight and planning. While you won’t have to maintain two environments forever, you will have to pay for two environments as you build/test the go-forward environment while operating a normal course of business in the "old" environment. Once the new environment is ready (including loading with clean, go-forward data set), the old environment can be shutdown. 

• Higher Initial Investment (License + Migration costs) - Creating a new Salesforce org typically involves higher upfront costs. You'll need to budget for new licenses, implementation fees, and potential third-party services for data migration and configuration. In addition, the process of migrating data, configuring the new system, and retraining users adds to the overall cost. While the long-term benefits may outweigh these expenses, the initial investment can be a barrier for some organizations.

Get Strategic Guidance with Making Your Decision to Remediate vs Start A New Salesforce Org 

The decision to remediate or start fresh isn’t one you have to make alone. Working with a Salesforce consulting partner can provide the clarity and strategic guidance needed to assess your current org’s strengths and weaknesses, align your technology with business goals, and develop a plan that maximizes your investment in Salesforce.

We have experience working with companies across industries who’ve been in your shoes. We’ll work with you to develop a clear approach to your Salesforce org strategy before you make any major decisions.

From discovery sessions to system analysis to developing your Salesforce Roadmap with strategic recommendations, we’re here to help you get started with the process of making your decision to remediate vs start fresh. 

Whether you choose to remodel your existing org or begin anew, your ultimate goal should be a Salesforce org that aligns with your business needs, drives growth, and helps you plan for the future. Contact us today to get started!