Over the past five years, CMC has been transitioning from our legacy ERMS platform to Salesforce Service Cloud not just as a CRM replacement, but as a scalable, enterprise-grade customer engagement platform. 
While traditional CRMs help manage and analyze customer interactions, Salesforce Service Cloud delivers far more: advanced functionality such as case management, omnichannel support, AI-driven insights and automated workflows.
Its low-code development environment empowers CMC to rapidly build and adapt solutions to meet evolving business needs, while its scalability ensures we can support customer service operations across multiple programs and states. This shift is enabling CMC to streamline operations, improve service quality and drive long-term customer satisfaction.
“Though taxing, this is a very exciting time for CMC,” said Paul Mackay, Chief Information Officer. “Over the past three years, we’ve fundamentally transformed how we deliver services and manage operations through the implementation of Salesforce. We’ve moved from fragmented, reactive reporting to a unified platform that gives us real-time visibility and actionable insights.
“This has enabled a shift from relying solely on lagging indicators to leveraging leading indicators that support proactive program management and faster decision-making,” said Mackay. “Specific improvements include streamlined scheduling optimization, enhanced dispatcher functionality, real-time savings calculations and audit reports, a dedicated subcontractor portal, and a robust field service app. Program managers can now see customer history, engagement effectiveness and service outcomes in real time all of which improve our ability to serve customers more efficiently and equitably.”
Where are we with our Salesforce implementation?
As of April 1, the PECO Portfolio now set up in Salesforce, along with PGW, PWD, PSE&G, PPL and NEQA. Transitioning from ERMS to Salesforce is a monumental task for our program and IT teams and having this many PECO programs up and running is a huge success, Mackay said.
CMC’s integration with Salesforce has been consistent and is getting more interactive every day. Program teams that have switched over can view all data and reporting. CMC’s customer care teams are now scheduling directly in Salesforce, and the feedback has been positive.
“We have been able to provide our clients with real-time access and ad-hoc reporting/dashboard capabilities,” said Michael Waller Jr., Director of Customer Care. “To enhance the premier customer experience, we have responded to our customers in multiple ways, including telephone, email, text and chat, all of which are enabled within Salesforce. This integration with our cloud-based contact center has allowed CMC to track campaign success rates and prioritize high-potential leads, improving conversion rates.”
CMC’s IT and the Dual Pod Approach
Knowing that adding all CMC programs into Salesforce will be a heavy lift, CMC’s IT department is creating a new dual pod approach. Pod 1 will focus on business-as-usual support, program enhancements and platform maintenance. Pod 2 will be dedicated to specific project work, including the remaining pieces of PSE&G, New Jersey Comfort Partners and Connecticut programs.
There will be a push for cross-training to allow fluid resourcing and shared learning for all teams. Additionally, CMC will need to fill some new IT positions to add more employees to address the increased workflow.
This new approach was created to address the growing volume of program-specific change requests. The CMC IT team is under pressure to complete migrations while supporting everyday requests. IT’s desire is to improve the speed at which the department can handle requests, reduce fatigue and strengthen team resilience
“Salesforce is a powerful platform, but it’s not plug-and-play,” said Mackay. “In IT, we have a saying: we don’t ‘lift and shift,’ we ‘move and improve.’ That mindset requires us to think differently about how we approach tasks and design solutions. It’s not just about replicating what we’ve done before; it’s about working collaboratively across teams to reimagine and enhance our processes. While this transformation is complex and resource-intensive, the long-term benefits are significant. Our new dual pod approach provides the structure we need to advance innovation, manage regular IT operations, and reduce team fatigue. We’re eager to see how this model accelerates our capabilities in the months ahead.”