Last Updated: January 2025

Catch the full Success Story video below, or scroll down to dive into our quick summary & clips.

Introduction: Powering Innovation While Managing Complexity

For IHG, a global leader in hospitality with over 6,000 properties worldwide, the challenge was clear: managing complex operational processes, owner lifecycles, and B2B sales systems seamlessly through Salesforce while ensuring high quality and innovation across their platforms. Together with Accenture and Quality Clouds, IHG achieved a scalable solution that aligns with their long-term business goals.

Curious how this could work for your org? Request a Free Scan to uncover hidden risks.

Key Results at a Glance

1. Reduced Tech Debt Across 8 Orgs

Enhanced performance with measurable results in less than 2 months..

2. Centralized Oversight with CoE

Consistent stakeholder reviews for higher quality deployments

3. Partner Accountability

Streamlined multi-vendor operations for testing, quality, and accountability. .

4. Cost-Efficiency with OOB

 Optimized OOB vs customizations with QC metrics, driving scalability and ROI

Want similar results? Talk to an Expert about your unique needs. 

The Challenge: Complexities of a Global Platform

With 90% of their hotels operated by franchises, IHG needed a robust, scalable Salesforce environment to manage operational processes and B2B sales effectively. The challenges included:

• Managing multiple environments and vendors across distributed teams.

• Addressing technical debt that hindered innovation and slowed delivery.

• Balancing customization versus out-of-the-box (OOB) features to reduce costs and complexity.

Does this sound familiar? Get an Infrastructure Analysis to identify your org’s blind spots.

The Desired Solution: Visibility, Accountability, and Innovation

IHG needed a solution that could provide:

• Visibility: A clear view of technical debt and platform health across all environments.

• Accountability: Metrics-driven governance for delivery partners.

• Scalability: Tools and processes to enable innovation while minimizing risks.

The Resolution: Implementing Quality Clouds

IHG partnered with Quality Clouds to integrate quality controls into their Salesforce ecosystem. This included:

1. Proactive Quality Management: Quality Clouds’ tools enabled shift-left testing, catching issues early in the DevOps pipeline before promotion to higher environments.

2. Governance and Metrics: Technical debt metrics were tied to delivery contracts, ensuring partners adhered to quality standards and reducing remediation time.

3. Process Automation: Continuous testing and deployment automation reduced manual overhead, allowing teams to focus on innovation.

Impact: Driving Business Value and Innovation

• Improved Governance: Consistent processes across 8 Salesforce orgs, enabling better accountability and collaboration.

• Accelerated Delivery: Full automation of testing processes by year-end, paving the way for faster deployment cycles.

• Reduced Costs: Leveraging OOB functionality reduced custom code reliance, lowering maintenance costs and unlocking Salesforce’s three annual updates seamlessly.

Lessons Learned: Balancing Innovation and Governance

IHG, Accenture, and Quality Clouds emphasize the importance of:

• Choosing the right tools: Balancing build-vs-buy decisions with tools like Quality Clouds that bring both innovation and industry expertise.

• Accountability through metrics: Ensuring delivery teams and vendors align with measurable quality standards.

• Enabling change management: Encouraging stakeholders to adapt to new processes for maximizing ROI.