Have you heard? There is a new certification and Shoby Abdi greatly summarised what you need to pass it.
This certification makes so much sense and even though you will see B2B Commerce in most questions you don’t really need to know it, I had maybe 4 questions where I could use the knowledge. Which makes it really similar to the B2C Solution Architect, where you didn’t have to know a lot about B2C Commerce features, you cared only about the integration points.
While the name suggest that it might be similar to the B2C architect, just focused on different target group, I would say those two exams are completely different. The B2C Solution Architect referred a lot to B2C Commerce, Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud and you needed more the technical knowledge, understand integration patterns and what is the use case for each system. Plus it has quite weird list of prerequisites.
B2B Solution Architect has simple prerequisites – Application Architect Certification. And I would say it is more about processes, there are questions about project management, how to correctly order the implementation in terms of which products first and which later, what needs to be done when, etc. I would say my preparation for PMP exam helped me a lot.
This credential validates that a B2B Solution Architect can provide guidance, as well as combine guidance from different enterprise architecture viewpoints to create solutions that generate strategic business value for customers, including:
Business: demonstrate business leadership by guiding companies on a multi-cloud solution journey emphasizing differentiating customer experiences
Delivery: drive successful outcomes by advocating for multi-cloud implementation considerations and best practices based on use-case delivery knowledge which spans the Salesforce Customer 360 Vision and Platform
Technical: provide technical leadership by selecting the proper multi-cloud product features that best align with a company’s vision and business value goals
Which makes it also great for those on the CTA journey. Some people might say they want to focus on the CTA exam and do this later on, I would argue to go for this even before CTA because you don’t need extra knowledge and you should be able to pass it as preparation for CTA as it is highly related.
The PLC (for partners) preparation course also has a great section about Business Process Mapping (great job Elements.Cloud), which will explain why process map like this is not sufficient.
Do you know? Well, there is not enough details for each step, it can flow back as well, no idea who are the actors, „happy customer“ is not a process, there is no input to the first box, … In short, there are ways how to make it better so you really understand the proces down the road.
Customers have a problem with slow quoting, uses ticketing system they want to move to Salesforce and wants customers to be able to place orders via website. What will you do first?
a) put together detailed plan for all streams;
b) start with CPQ implementation;
c) implement all clouds together;
d) start with Service Cloud implementation.
A lot of interesting questions you need to think about, some are not as clear as this one. In short – if you feel you know how to manage project, set the right priorities, this is the right certification for you.
