Following divestiture, a global provider of specialty chemicals for concrete manufacturers faced an urgent challenge: stand up independent systems, unify operations, and create a scalable foundation for growth… all under extreme time pressure.

What began as a critical Salesforce org migration quickly evolved into a multi-phase transformation. Working with ForeFront, the customer moved from fragmented systems and spreadsheet-driven decisions to a unified, real-time Salesforce platform supporting sales, commerce, and service.

Today, they operate on a centralized, data-driven foundation that enables faster decisions, improved operational visibility, and a clear path to future innovation.

The Challenge: Fragmented Systems, Untrusted Data, and a Hard Deadline

Before engaging ForeFront, the organization was fragmented across geographies and lacked a unified data model, resulting in operational inefficiencies that had compounded over time.

Salesforce had been provisioned across multiple global divisions, but never fully implemented or aligned to the business. Each division operated independently, with inconsistent processes and minimal shared visibility. Critical business data lived across:

• Spreadsheets and manual workflows
• Disconnected systems
• Manual uploads into SAP

The result was what leadership described as “hundreds of versions of the truth” — often outdated by the time they were used. This fragmentation created real business risks, including:

• Decisions made using incomplete or unreliable data
• Little transparency across sales, service, and operations teams
• Inconsistent and reactive customer interactions
• High-value investments justified using oversimplified assumptions

In one case, a $100K+ equipment investment was approved based on a single spreadsheet calculation, without reliable supporting data.

Then the situation escalated. Following divestiture, the customer discovered their Salesforce environment would be shut down. They had three months to migrate and stand up a fully independent system. A major consulting firm deemed the timeline impossible.

The Solution: A Multi-Year Transformation Journey with ForeFront

What started as a time-sensitive migration became a broader transformation. The customer needed a partner who could execute under pressure and translate that urgency into long-term operational change.

Phase 1: Rapid Multi-Org Migration Under a Hard Deadline

ForeFront led a complex, multi-continent Salesforce org migration, decoupling the manufacturer from its former parent company and establishing a fully independent Salesforce environment.

The migration was completed in three months, with days to spare. It created a stable, centralized, and compliant foundation for everything that followed.

Phase 2: Replatforming Commerce with Real-Time SAP Integration

With the foundation in place, we turned to a major operational constraint: the legacy SAP Hybris commerce platform. Hybris cost approximately $300K annually and delivered a fragmented, inflexible experience. It also failed to support the complexity of the organization’s pricing, entitlements, and customer structures.

ForeFront recommended a full replatform to Salesforce B2B Commerce, tightly integrated with SAP. The implementation included:

• Real-time SAP-driven pricing and invoicing
• Complex entitlement structures tied to customer accounts
• Custom user roles (buyer, buyer manager, plant operator)
• Cart approval workflows and collaborative cart functionality
• Centralized order entry directly within Salesforce

ForeFront also guided the overall integration architecture, which included coordinating across systems, vendors, and stakeholders to ensure real-time data flow and system alignment.

Phase 3: Modernizing Field Operations with Salesforce Field Service

With sales and commerce unified, we turned to one of the customer’s most operationally complex areas: field service.

Previously, service operations were fragmented across Microsoft Dynamics, a legacy asset database, and SAP — with heavy reliance on paper-based workflows and manual coordination. Field technicians lacked real-time visibility into work orders, parts availability, and asset history, creating delays and limiting proactive service capabilities.

ForeFront implemented Salesforce Field Service to establish a modern, connected service operation. The implementation included:

• Custom asset lifecycle management, linking equipment directly to opportunities and service history.
• A tailored Field Service mobile experience supporting technician workflows, labor tracking, calibration, and parts management.
• Bi-directional SAP integration for real-time purchase orders, goods receipt, and pricing synchronization.
• Automated approval workflows to streamline procurement and inventory processes.

Field Service went live and saw active usage within weeks, bringing technicians, sales, and service teams into a single operational system. This marked a critical shift. Service work is now executed, tracked, and managed directly in Salesforce, not reconstructed after the fact through disconnected tools.

The Outcome: A Unified Platform Built for Growth and Operational Clarity

The business now runs on shared data, connected workflows, and far greater confidence in every decision. Key outcomes include:

• Measurable Business Impact: Commerce revenue grew from about $4.5 to $5 million to $8 million in the first year, more than 50 percent growth, even with deployment intentionally throttled. The customer also eliminated about $300,000 in annual legacy platform costs and reduced manual SAP uploads and spreadsheet dependency.
• A Single Source of Truth: Sales, Commerce, and Field Service now operate on one Salesforce platform, replacing fragmented systems and “hundreds of versions of the truth.” Teams work from shared, reliable data, improving transparency and alignment across the business.
• Real-Time Commerce and Integration: Tight SAP integration enables real-time pricing, invoicing, and entitlements, ensuring customers and internal teams are working with accurate, up-to-date information at every step.
• Connected Service Operations: Salesforce Field Service brings technicians, assets, and service workflows into the same system. Mobile tools, asset lifecycle tracking, and integrated inventory data replace paper-based processes and manual coordination.
• Improved Decision-Making: High-value investments and customer engagements are now managed within Salesforce, where opportunities, orders, and service execution are connected, replacing spreadsheet-based assumptions with data-backed decisions.

ForeFront delivered under extreme time pressure while leading a complex SAP and Salesforce integration, giving the customer a unified platform that supports Sales, Commerce, and Field Service today.

That foundation has laid the groundwork for future expansion into Manufacturing Cloud, enhanced service capabilities, and AI-driven and agent-assisted workflows built on clean, real-time data.