TLDR/top takeaways from this Dreamforce 2025 session:
- Lead with service when service is your differentiator.
- Make change management the program, not a workstream.
- Design side-by-side with frontline users.
- Ship value early to earn the right to scale.
- Treat AI as a governance and data problem — then a tooling win.
Inside the Atrium Lounge: Breakfast with Dollar Bank
Over coffee and croissants, leaders from Dollar Bank and Salesforce joined Atrium’s Valerie Weis to share how a service-first rollout of Salesforce is creating real momentum at a 170-year-old mutual bank. The conversation covered change management, adoption tactics, early wins, AI governance, and what’s next.
Why service-first?
Dollar Bank’s differentiator is service. Rather than leading with sales automation, the team chose to launch Salesforce around the service journey to meet customers where they are and strengthen the bank’s reputation for care.
“Don’t compare yourself only to other banks,” said Dollar Bank COO Joseph Toth. “Customer expectations are set by the best service experiences anywhere.”
1. Prepare the organization for change
With an employee base with an average tenure of 15–20 years, Dollar Bank made change management the centerpiece of their journey.
Salesforce Managing Director and Financial Services Industry Advisor, Jim Collins, summarized the approach:
- Bring everyone to the table. Executives, line leaders, and ops teams aligned on outcomes and the role of Salesforce.
- Make change visible. Tell the story repeatedly and connect the dots to business goals.
- Measure what matters. Define KPIs early — service, sales, and operations — and review them often.
2. Build with bankers (not just for them)
Heather Maples, Dollar Bank’s VP and Salesforce platform owner, centered the rollout on frontline bankers:
- Embed with users. She sat in the call center, mapped pain points, and put UAT in the hands of real agents.
- Design for clarity. If the system needs a thick stack of job aids, it isn’t simple enough.
- Pilot in the open. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) functioned as a mini pilot — teams even handled live calls in the sandbox to prove value.
Heather also shared a great example of an early enablement win for the team. After testing, a call center rep walked in and said, “You’ve made my job less stressful.” Another rep spotted a case created by a different team, resolved it on the spot, and declared, “Now I’m bought in.”
3. Set (and reset) expectations
Joe keeps four words in nearly every communication: measurable, scalable, transparent, and agile. As he explained:
- Measurable: Start with a defined value hypothesis and KPIs.
- Scalable: Architect decisions with cross-LOB growth in mind.
- Transparent: Share progress (good and bad) across the bank.
- Agile: Test, learn, iterate. The second team’s experience won’t be identical to the first—and that’s the point.
“Transformation isn’t a project — it’s a journey,” added Jim. “Create a center of excellence, communicate wins regularly, and measure outcomes.”
4. Put process before platform
A recurring theme: don’t automate yesterday’s process.
Dollar Bank’s commitment to process optimization extends beyond the technical implementation. They’re investing in business process analysis to streamline work before it’s encoded in Salesforce.
They continuously analyze and refine workflows, ensuring Salesforce serves as an enabler of efficient, customer-centric operations rather than simply digitizing existing inefficiencies. That includes rethinking handoffs, simplifying case paths, and using Knowledge to reduce repeat calls and enable future self-service.
5. Be prudent with AI governance
As a regulated institution, Dollar Bank is building AI governance first — policies, controls, and clarity on use cases — so every new tool with “AI inside” is evaluated consistently.
“AI is many things,” said Joe. “We’re putting structure around it so we use it the right way and Salesforce will be the hub.”
To get Salesforce AI-enabled transformation right:
- Start small, then go fast.
- Test → tune → repeat.
- Get the data right.
- Measure value and impact.
- Embrace new ways of working.
Employee adoption has been critical to Dollar Bank’s success
“If we fail our bankers, the platform fails,” said Heather. “Set them up to succeed, and customers feel it.”
Adoption tactics that worked for Dollar Bank:
- UAT as a pilot. Real users, real scenarios, real calls — before go-live.
- User champions. Early teams co-built the solution and spread the word.
- Management by “walking around.” Executive leaders visited the floor, gathered stories, and socialized wins.
What’s next?
For Dollar Bank, transformation phase 2.0 is shaping up to include:
- Deeper service automation and scale across more functions.
- Sales expansion for a full 360 view — relationships, branch interactions, and outreach.
- Self-service powered by Knowledge and cleaner processes, reducing repeat explanations and transfers.
Turn Dreamforce inspiration into action
Dreamforce 2025 made one thing clear: AI is no longer optional in financial services. Atrium helps banks move beyond pilots and into production with trusted, data-first solutions built on Salesforce.
For more on the top Salesforce announcements from this year’s conference, check out Valerie’s blog recap: Top 6 Takeaways from Dreamforce 2025 for Banking and Wealth Management.
Ready to get started or have questions for our banking industry experts? Learn more about Atrium’s consulting services for Financial Services.
