Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DE&I): Organizational Enablement

The Challenge

A global financial services firm’s DE&I organization faced significant business challenges due to the constraints posed by laborious manual processes. Within the DE&I team, various groups planned and managed community programs using outdated methods such as Excel and email. This approach resulted in siloed data and limited opportunities for collaboration. The absence of a centralized planning module wasted valuable time and reduced the potential for meaningful impact on the communities they served. Moreover, people supporting from operational, finance, and control roles lacked visibility into planning, which led to increased risk and audit exposure to the firm.

Think + Do

Acquis worked with the client to bring transformative change to their DE&I organization by implementing Salesforce to overcome the barriers to them effectively serving their communities. Our team broke out the Salesforce implementation into four key phases.

1. Understand: Performed a deep dive into the organization to understand its current state and identify the critical challenges and pain points experienced by various stakeholder groups.
2. Unpack: Developed a tailored solution using Salesforce which focused on bolstering operational controls while amplifying the impact on the communities.
3. Unite: Conducted an iterative process to configure Salesforce by consistently engaging with the various stakeholder groups and demonstrating the solution built to gather feedback and ensure that it aligned perfectly with the organization’s needs and aspirations.
4. Unlock: Empowered the DE&I stakeholder groups to not only adopt but also embrace the platform by guiding them through the transformation and helping them live the change.

Results

Acquis revolutionized the operational landscape within the DE&I organization, removing manual processes and breaking down data silos across various groups. The implementation of Salesforce ushered in a streamlined approach to event planning, replacing the use of Excel and email with the Salesforce program management module. Acquis implemented standardized controls for approvals and evidence gathering, mitigating audit risk for missed control checkpoints and safeguarding the organization’s reputation when working with external partners. The consolidated Salesforce platform also provided enhanced capabilities in reporting and analytics, enabling data-driven decision-making processes. Ultimately, the Salesforce platform improved the DE&I organization’s flexibility and efficiency in planning for events, increasing the overall productivity and the group’s capacity to make a lasting and meaningful impact within the communities it serves.