Meet the mentor | Henrik Holmström, Manager, Salesforce

Since its inception in 1999, Salesforce has almost single-handedly revolutionised the CRM space. And if you’re looking to upskill or pivot into Customer Relationship Management, fluency in Salesforce is as good as mandatory.

That's how Henrik became the Cloud First Manager at Accenture. He began his career as a summer intern for Accenture in Stockholm. Due to the importance of staying up to date, Henrik has continuously kept training to be certified in new features of Salesforce and AppExchange apps (extensions to native Salesforce), enabling him to take on a wide range of roles including development, functional design and delivery management. Now living in Melbourne, with a wealth of knowledge under his belt, he's joined the RMIT Online family to help assist those wanting to become certified as a Salesforce Admin in the CRM Professional with Salesforce short course. Here's what he had to say:

What is a typical day like for you?

Every project is different. In my current role in leading the delivery of the Products and Pricing capability of the Salesforce solution, I spend much of my time facilitating solution design workshops, keeping track of development progress and resolving issues and putting out fires for the team.

What's your favourite part of your job?

Rapid learning and development. Each new role offers new opportunities to learn, such as understanding the challenges of a new industry or working with different parts of the Salesforce platform.

You've worked in a number of different roles throughout your time at Accenture, what is one of your career highlights?

With Accenture, you have the opportunity to work on some of the larger and more complex Salesforce transformation programs. We did a “big bang” go-live where we rolled out multiple Salesforce clouds (Sales, Service, Community etc.) in one hit, which took a huge effort to deliver. But seeing it working successfully in production and the client enjoying the benefits of the solution was really pleasing. We also won a Salesforce partner innovation award for that implementation.

Why is it so important to continue upskilling throughout your career?

Project delivery methodologies, software etc. all continue to evolve. Working in the Salesforce space, the clients expects us to advise on the latest capabilities to bring them the maximum value. Salesforce continuously evolves and both adds new capabilities and enhances existing ones. Even for me, personally, Accenture expects and supports me in staying up to date. My career is directly dependent on staying relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Why is Salesforce so important for businesses today?

It has grown to be one of the most popular platforms as it is able to support an extensive variety of clients in different industries, sizes and business models. The flexibility of the platform, including the extensive selection of AppExchange products that can be used to extend the platform and are commonly used on large implementation programs makes it a good fit for a wide range of use cases.

What advice would you give your younger self during your first job?

In your first job/project role, you are often given a specific well defined task with clear guidance. Remember to always lift your gaze and understand how it fits the wider solution. You may be focused on a small piece of code, that in term will enable a business process used by a lot of users and help them save time and clicks in their jobs.

Why did you decide to become a mentor for RMIT Online?

I’m pleased to contribute in addressing the skills shortage we see on the market and I find opportunities to coach and mentor others rewarding.