
Updated January 7, 2020
Why Salesforce Lightning?

The Lightning framework represents a huge leap from the “Classic” interface. In part, because of its modern and streamlined user interface, Lightning will eventually translate to more time spent furthering your mission and less time chained to your desk.
Why Switch?
On January 7th, 2020 Salesforce began activating the “Turn on Lightning Experience” update and by January 31, 2020, all orgs will be switched to Lightning Experience. Users who prefer to work in Classic or those who are not yet ready to upgrade can switch back to Classic, but Lightning Experience will be enabled on a weekly basis to encourage users to adapt their org and their workflow to Lightning. This is a not-so-subtle push to encourage broad adoption of the Lightning platform.
Lightning contains a set of sleek user interfaces optimized for speed and ease of use. The improved user experience and efficiency translate to saving one to two hours per week while development and support costs plummet. (Forrester Total Economic Impact Study).
Tighten up your development team’s Moves Management process by leveraging the efficiencies available in Lightning and work with caseloads in the Service Console to manage cases faster with a 360-view of supporter activity.
Work smarter with streamlined functionality and features throughout the platform and use visualization tools and metrics to surface insights and measure impact.
Determining Return on Investment (ROI)
A Lightning transition is a technology upgrade and requires an investment of both dollars and time.

Use the Salesforce Lightning Business Assessment to determine the value of upgrading. Input details and the tool will calculate the total business value over three years. Elements of the value calculation include Increase Win Rate, Standardize Process, Increase Reporting Productivity, and Increase User Collaboration. The assessment report can be downloaded as a PDF and/or shared by email.
Upgrading to Lightning
Fíonta offers a “Get Started” Lightning Upgrade package for nonprofits and associations looking for assistance. The package includes:
- Lightning Readiness Assessment. Fíonta will manually inspect your Classic Salesforce instance and gather additional information provided by the Salesforce Lightning Readiness Assessment to gauge the level of effort necessary to upgrade from Classic to Lightning.
- Gap Analysis and Recommendations. A gap analysis will identify any areas not compatible with Lightning and provide recommendations to remediate as well as highlight new Lighting-only features that will increase productivity.
- Configuration and Rollout Plan. Lightning and third-party apps will be configured. In collaboration with your team, we will develop a comprehensive rollout plan with key stakeholders and pilot users, rollout schedule, defined measures for success, and more.
- Training and Adoption Support. Training is a combination of Salesforce resources (delivered through Trailhead) and customized personalized training to ensure staff can perform their tasks and take advantage of Lightning features.
Useful Resources and Trails
Salesforce provides myriad resources for organizations that would prefer to manage some or all of their Lightning transition in-house.
- Journey to Lightning Experience
- Lightning Transition Readiness Assistant
- Make the Move to Lightning Experience
- Lightning Experience Productivity
- Craft and Execute Your Roll Out Strategy
- Lightning Experience Features to Implement
- Lightning Motivation Tools
Have questions about what the Lightning upgrade will look like for your nonprofit or association? Contact Fíonta to learn more about transitioning to Lightning.