DFS partnered with Revenue Ops to simplify a complex Salesforce environment, reduce technical debt, and create a repeatable service architecture built for scale.

TOOLS USED

Salesforce CRM
Salesforce Service Cloud

KEY WINS

40% Storage Optimization Opportunity | Reduced Technical Debt | Scalable Case Management Architecture

As organizations scale, Salesforce environments become more complex. More business needs more automations, custom workflows, integrations. These changes might solve immediate problems but they also create technical debt that makes Salesforce harder to support and scale.

When Diversified FoodService Supply (DFS) expanded its customer service operations the challenge became only stronger.

DFS needed to handle increasing complexity around case management, automation and data storage in a large Salesforce environment, with high volume service workflows. The organization worked with Revenue Ops LLC to assess its Salesforce architecture and reduce unnecessary customization, as well as to create a more scalable service operations model.

The engagement uncovered a key opportunity: the chance to generate more sustainable value from streamlining existing Salesforce processes than from adding another layer of automation.

About Diversified Foodservice Supply

Diversified FoodService Supply (DFS) runs a sizable Salesforce platform supporting customer service operations across the business.

As DFS acquired more businesses and its operations grew, so did its Salesforce environment. Teams created automations, custom processes and workflows to meet immediate operational needs.

Over time these changes resulted in inconsistencies in account ownership, contact ownership, case management and automation.

Similar processes were being managed differently across the organization making Salesforce harder and harder to maintain.

DFS needed a more consistent architecture that could support their existing service operations and future growth.

The Challenge: Salesforce Technical Debt

DFS manages significant service activity for major customers, including one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands.

As the business grew, multiple automations and custom processes, many of them addressing the same requirements, piled up on Salesforce.

One of the clearest examples was case management.

For the QSR customer, approximately 60,000 service-related emails had entered the system since January of the period reviewed.

Each interaction could result in creation of a Salesforce Case and also preserve the original email, HTML formatting, attachments and follow-up replies.

Individual records took up relatively little space, but the cumulative volume put significant pressure on storage and added further operational complexity.

The problem extended beyond storage.

Years of customization had created dependencies among workflows, and even simple changes became more difficult to manage.

Adding another automation may address a short-term business need but it may also add to the maintenance burden.

Instead of adding more custom solutions to an already complex environment, DFS had to simplify the underlying architecture.

Key Salesforce Challenges

Revenue Ops identified several areas that required attention:

• Growing technical debt: Multiple automations and custom workflows increased platform complexity.
• Inconsistent case management: Different processes handled case creation, assignment, escalation, reopening, and closure.
• Salesforce storage pressure: High-volume email interactions contributed significantly to data consumption.
• Limited standardization: Different teams followed inconsistent approaches to account ownership, contact ownership, and automation.
• Scalability concerns: DFS needed repeatable processes that could support additional customers without introducing unnecessary customization.

These challenges created an opportunity to rethink how DFS used Salesforce to support service operations.

The Solution: Optimizing Salesforce Case Management

When we at Revenue Ops started the job, we were given one simple rule: use built-in Salesforce features whenever possible and create custom automation when the business needs it.

The team looked at how DFS handled the whole case lifecycle. This is a vital step before making any new workflows — we only see what we can improve, instead of building everything from the ground up.

This talked about how Salesforce made Cases, assigned them, escalated them, updated them, reopened them, and closed them.

The test was about how to make case management easier by using Salesforce’s built-in tools.

Native Salesforce Features First

Revenue Ops looked at how to standardize case management with native Salesforce capabilities such as:

• Salesforce Queues: Cases need to reach the right team without someone having to manually sort through them first.
• Case Assignment Rules: Not every request belongs with the same person. Assignment rules can help direct cases based on the issue being reported.
• Escalation Processes: Some cases will need more attention than others, particularly when they remain unresolved or require input from another team.
• Case Status Management: The team needs a reliable way to see what’s being worked on, what’s waiting on a response, and what has already been resolved.
• Case Reopening and Closure: A closed case doesn’t always mean the conversation is over. There needs to be a consistent way to handle customers who come back with additional questions.
• Web-to-Case: Requests submitted through customer-facing forms can go directly into Salesforce, rather than requiring someone to create each case manually.

These capabilities offer an alternative to creating custom automations for each service requirement.

The goal wasn’t to kill Salesforce Flow or Apex. Both still have a place where an organization needs capabilities that standard functionality cannot provide.

Revenue Ops, however, intentionally chose customization.

By using native functionality for common service processes DFS may be able to reduce unnecessary dependencies and create a cleaner architecture for administrators to maintain.

This approach also helped establish consistent case management practices across customers .

Salesforce Storage Optimization

While reviewing DFS’s case-management architecture, Revenue Ops saw another big opportunity: reducing redundant Salesforce data storage.

During the assessment, email messages made up about 40% of the data storage in DFS’s Salesforce.

In certain workflows, Salesforce stored essentially the same business information multiple times.

These records included full HTML email content, formatting, styling information, attachments, and subsequent responses.

Much of that additional information provided limited operational value compared with the storage it consumed.

The problem had also become recurring.

DFS had previously reduced storage utilization to approximately 94%. Within two weeks, however, utilization climbed back above 100%.

This pattern showed that periodic cleanup alone could not provide a sustainable solution.

Reducing Redundant Email Storage

Revenue Ops looked at how DFS collected and stored service data.

The team opted for a more efficient approach that kept the important operational information without unnecessarily duplicating entire email conversations.

Relevant information was:

• Service work specifications and requirements
• Service related line items activity
• Status of case and completion information
• Customer & Service Information
• Other information necessary for operational reporting and service delivery

DFS can see how Salesforce stores these interactions, and identify opportunities to reduce duplicate records while still retaining the information employees need.

The goal was not simply to delete historical data.

It was to improve the underlying data-management process so that unnecessary storage consumption would not continue growing at the same rate.

Salesforce storage optimization for companies with similar challenges usually is not a one-off cleanup. The first step is for teams to examine how their workflows are generating and holding on to data.

Reducing Salesforce Technical Debt

Storage consumption and case-management complexity reflected a broader architectural challenge.

The Salesforce environment for DFS had gone through many changes because of business changes, administrators and automation strategies.

Without consistent governance, different teams developed solutions for the same problem.

Revenue Ops addressed this challenge by focusing on standardization.

Establishing Consistent Salesforce Processes

The engagement examined several important areas of the Salesforce environment.

Building Scalable Service Operations on Salesforce

The most important aspect of the DFS engagement was its broader scope.

DFS wasn’t tailoring Salesforce for one client.

The high volume QSR account was a chance to test the architecture under difficult service conditions.

The case illustrates the importance of effective case management and data storage as approximately 60,000 service-related emails came into the system during the period reviewed.

If DFS can create a simpler, more consistent operating model for this environment, that model could then be extended to other customers and business units.

Revenue Ops dedicated to creating that repeatable foundation with:

• Salesforce native features
• Standardized case management processes
• Contact details and clear ownership of accounts
• data retention efficiency
• “standardized automation practices”
• More rigorous Salesforce governance

The intent was to develop a model that DFS could validate and apply to its operations as they grew.

Instead of creating entirely new processes for every customer, DFS could use common standards and customize only when needed.

This strategy makes Salesforce optimization an ongoing operational strategy, not a one-time cleanup.

Results: The Salesforce Scalability Foundation

The engagement identified several ways for DFS to improve platform efficiency, reduce technical debt and improve its Salesforce architecture.

The largest quantifiable finding was on data storage.

Email messages accounted for 40% of Salesforce data storage, a big opportunity to enhance how DFS captured and stored high-volume service interactions.

The assessment also demonstrated how fast the pressure to store can return. DFS cut that to about 94 percent but it was back over 100 percent within two weeks.

These findings supported the need for a more sustainable data management strategy.

Beyond storage, Revenue Ops helped DFS carve out a clearer path forward to simplify case management and standardize Salesforce processes.

What DFS Says About Working With Revenue Ops

“Revenue Ops has been a valuable partner in helping us navigate the complexity of our Salesforce environment. As our Sales Systems Manager, I appreciate the expertise they bring to our internal efforts, helping us identify opportunities to simplify processes, address storage challenges, and make better use of Salesforce’s native capabilities. Their guidance has given us a clearer path toward a system that is easier to manage and better equipped to support our company’s growth. “

Lacey Pegram
IT Systems Manager, Diversified FoodService Supply

These findings give DFS a clearer path toward reducing unnecessary platform complexity.

The engagement also underscores the need for alignment between Salesforce architecture and business processes.

Instead of measuring success by the number of automations deployed, DFS can measure success by whether its Salesforce environment is enabling consistent service delivery, manageable administration and long-term expansion.

Why Salesforce Deserves Optimization

The DFS engagement is a case study in the challenge many companies face as their Salesforce environments mature.

As your business needs evolve, so do your teams, adding new workflows, integrations and customizations.

Each change may make sense on its own. But without consistent architecture and governance those decisions can slowly make the platform harder to maintain.

DFS’s experience shows why organizations should periodically re-evaluate how they’re using Salesforce, rather than assuming that every problem requires yet another automation.

Organizations can build supportable and scalable environments by using native Salesforce functionality where possible, improving data-management practices, and creating consistent processes.

The opportunity for DFS isn’t just about reducing storage consumption or simplifying case management.

It’s about building a Salesforce foundation that can handle the next wave of business growth without repeating the same complexity.

In a scalable Salesforce environment, more customization is not always needed. It takes the right architecture, clear ownership and processes teams can run as the business scales.

Revenue Ops: Optimize Your Salesforce Instance

As your organization grows, is your Salesforce environment becoming harder to maintain?

Even routine changes to Salesforce can become more complex than they need to be when there’s too much customization, disconnected processes and growing data storage needs.

Revenue Ops LLC assists organizations with reviewing their Salesforce architecture, reducing technical debt, optimizing service processes and finding areas where they may utilize native Salesforce functionality more effectively.

If you’re running a complex Service Cloud environment, or want to simplify your existing automations, our team can help you build a more maintainable Salesforce foundation.