Organizational change is a reality of business. Companies acquire or merge with other businesses. Multiple divisions within an enterprise become joined into one unit as companies grow or adjust to market changes. Regardless of the circumstances, organizational change can have a huge impact on customer data, including how it is managed and how it is used. For Salesforce CRM customers, organizational changes might necessitate the consolidation of multiple instances, also called an ‘org merge.’ An org merge melds multiple Salesforce CRM instances into a single instance, also know as the ‘Single Global Org,’ so businesses have a universal view of the customer even as the organization evolves and grows.

Org merge projects involve both risks and benefits. If done correctly, an org merge can help organizations enjoy benefits such as a single source of reliable customer information, standardized processes and costs savings. If done poorly, a merge can result in low-quality customer data and dissatisfied users and customers, ultimately affecting poor process execution from sales, marketing to finance. This paper will describe why and when companies need an org merge and best practices for ensuring a successful merge instance consolidation.