In the summer of 2020, Salesforce brought in new advances into the Consulting Partner Program by launching the Navigator Model. The Partner Navigator Program is the most customer-friendly approach so far to ensure the selection of the right partner for your Salesforce implementation. It will highlight the products, industries as well as services, each partner specializes in and provides you with their level of expertise.
Also check: 2020 Branding Guidelines for Partners in the Salesforce Ecosystem
What about the current Consulting Partner Program? When do we switch to the Navigator model?
Embarking on this new program, mid-PY21, Salesforce has implemented some enhancements to ensure Navigator distinctions to be the primary go-to-market rating for Salesforce consulting partners to market their Salesforce services. You may glide over to your AppExchange Consulting partner listing and observe visible changes if you haven’t yet. The metal tier distinction and badges have been retired and all customer-facing references to this old system need to be removed from your published assets by the end of PY21. (Metal Tiers: Registered, Silver, Gold, Platinum).
At the advent of PY22, the evaluation of Consulting Partners, based on the Trailblazer Score, will prevail but the corresponding program levels will change to Trailblazer-themed levels – Base, Crest, Ridge, Summit, which will be accompanied with incremental program benefits. However, these new Program levels will be used only for internal distinction so that Salesforce can evaluate the partners and distribute the Program benefits. Hence, these names will never be used in a customer-facing interaction. The customers will be able to choose the right partner on the basis of capabilities and experience instead of Trailblazer-score tiers.
Navigator will enable Consulting Partners to differentiate their firm based on customer-validated industry expertise, Salesforce product knowledge, and customer success. This new system will integrate the product, industry, and service capability of a partner into a measure of deployable expertise which will enable the customers to understand and choose better.
What is this Navigator?
Navigator is a component of the Trailblazer Score that measures the deployable expertise (Knowledge, Experience, Quality) by a partner. Up to 250 points which make up 25% of the overall scorecard, can be earned by achieving the distinct levels of expertise in the Customer Success pillar.
Navigator has three distinct levels of expertise that partners can earn distinctions in. The highest level of recognition is the Expert level distinction which may be achieved across any Cloud, Industry, or Service.
Navigator distinctions:
- Expert:
The most experienced partners and thought leaders in the area and the domain. They are able to handle the largest and most difficult problems and meet the highest standards of customer satisfaction. - Level II Specialist:
A partner that has project delivery capacity while maintaining high standards of customer success. - Level I Specialist:
A partner that demonstrates knowledge and capacity to consistently produce customer success.
Formerly, the levels in Navigator were Certified, Specialist, and Master for reference.
Major changes have become visible since August ‘20, when the metal tiers were retired. A lot of specializations under Cloud expertise have been retired as well. For instance, Lightning Deployment has been removed from the Sales Cloud and Service Cloud. Lightning Experience used to be an Expertise of its own, which has been retired now. You may refer to the partner portal at Salesforce for more details on these changes. Currently, Salesforce also provides a weekly report to track your progression towards the new navigator system.
This Partner Navigator model is applicable to all SI consulting partners of Salesforce and should not be confused with the ISV program, namely, the Salesforce AppExchange Partner Program.
Pratyush Kumar
