Why Salesforce.com Projects Fail – Top 5 lessons

Salesforce.com Projects can fail! Yes, irrespective of whether, they are small simple projects or large complex Salesforce CRM projects – they can fail if precautionary measures are not taken before and during implementation. Invariably we blame system (i.e. Salesforce.com) and not how it was implemented. It is surprising, that despite Salesforce.com being such a flexible and exhaustive tool – we hear stories of Salesforce projects not being successful.

Why Salesforce.com projects Fail

At Dhruvsoft we had privilage of working with several clients, where we not only helped them nail the reasons for failure of their Salesforce.com projects; we also helped them turn around. Based on our experience with such projects, in this post we have identified Top 5 reasons for failure of Salesforce.com Projects. [Read more…]

Salesforce.com launches – Salesforce Einstein – Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Cloud

Salesforce.com has unveiled its offering in Artificial Intelligence (AI) space – Salesforce Einstein. With Salesforce.com Einstein – Salesforce adds remarkable AI features to its flagship products – Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud. The best part is Salesforce Einstein can be used by anyone in the organization as platform is customizable using both code or clicks.

In a world of interconnected things  – PCs, Mobiles, cars, refrigerators, aircraft engines – Salesforce.com offered Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud in last year’s Dreamforce. With IoT resulting in vast amount of data – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the natural extension of Salesforce platform. [Read more…]

Salesforce.com Summer 16 – Service Cloud New Features

Salesforce.com Service Cloud New in Summer 16The New Features of Service Cloud in Salesforce.com Summer 16 include the enancements in Field Service, Console Changes, Social Customer services and some other minor changes. Salesforce.com is now releasing most of the new improvements in Lightning version only and hence most of the new features are released only in Lightning.

Here are some of the major changes to Service Cloud in Salesforce.com Summer 16 release:

Field Service Enhancements

Field service was released in previous version. Now additional features have been released for Field Service:

  • Knowledge articles can be added to Work Orders
  • Field Service Lightning is now GA. In this a dynamic scheduling console with smart scheduling capability based on technician skill level, travel time, location, and other service factors can be made
  • Milestones on Work Orders can be created which will help you link entitlements to work orders. (Available only in Lightning Experience)
  • Work Order Hierarchy can be created

[Read more…]

Salesforce.com Summer 16 – Sales Cloud New Features

The New Features of Sales Cloud in Salesforce.com Summer 16 are mostly related to Lightning. Salesforce.com is now releasing new improvements in Lightning version only. Here are some of the major changes to Sales Cloud in Salesforce.com Summer 16 release:

Changes to Salesforce Editions

Salesforce has come down to three editions – Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited. With this change more features like Offline Connect, Contracts, Console and Limited Functionality of Entitlements is available with Professional Edition. Knowledge and Live Agent are now part of Unlimited Edition of Service Cloud. [Read more…]

Odd Even Assignment of Records in Salesforce.com using Workflow Rules

Odd Even Assignment in Salesforce.com using WorkflowsHave you encountered the requirement where you want to assign all Even numbered records to one person and all Odd records to another? Here is a simple solution using the workflow rules that can help. You can use this on custom objects or even on objects that do not have Assignment rules. The requirement can also mean assigning the alternate records to two persons. This is similar to Round Robin assignment to two persons using workflow rules.

Lets define the requirement as:

Assign all records of an object that are of even number to “Joe” and odd number records to “Mary”. The odd or even number can come from a custom field “Record Number”.

[Read more…]

What to look for in an offshore partner for your Salesforce Consulting Business?

What to look for in an offshore partner for your Salesforce Consulting Business?If you have a Salesforce.com consulting business – you may be interested in working with an offshore partner. The reasons could be taking the advantage of low costs in offshore markets or having an expert team to quickly work on your projects or it could be that you want a partner to take care of development / programmatic customizations while you focus on client engagement. Whatever is your reason – in this post we will be exploring some of the qualifications you should look for in an offshore partner before you select one.

With Salesforce.com being a popular product suite there are many offshore companies that have become Salesforce.com partner. On Appexchange alone there are over 700 consulting partners listed. In India (one of popular offshore destination) there are over 50 consultants. In addition to this there may be many companies that offer Salesforce.com services but are not a registerd partner. Considering the large base of consulting companies it makes sense to evaluate the offshore partner carefully and methodically. [Read more…]

7 Coolest Lightning Features of Sales Cloud in Spring 16

Salesforce.com spring 16 Lightening features

Just watched the Release Readiness Live webcast of Salesforce.com for Spring 16. Andy Kung, Meredith Brown, Kayvaan Ghassemieh, Marcus Torres from the Sales Cloud Products Team have given a great preview of what cool features are going to come in Spring 16.

The focus obviously is on Lightning and that is where most of the cool things are happening. In this post we are summing up some of the coolest features to be released in Sales Cloud on Lightening in Spring 16 release. [Read more…]

Do we need a Salesforce.com Administrator for our project?

Do you need a Salesforce.com Administrator for your project? Yes. Yes. Yes. Who wants a system that no one is using, is not user friendly and no one understands it? If you want it – take the risk of not hiring a Salesforce.com Administrator for your Salesforce Project (or for that matter any CRM project). Although your Salesforce.com sales rep will not be telling you this – Salesforce.com recommends having an administrator as a best practice. Salesforce.com administrator will add lot of value to the ongoing success of the project. If you can not afford one full time – go for a shared part time resource from a professional service provider. [Read more…]

What is new in Salesforce.com CRM winter 15 – Sales Cloud

Manage Sales on the Go – Much better than earlier

With the Salesforce1 app, your users can stay current on their most important records, activities, and conversations while out of the office. The new release comes up with enhancements that will help you use mobile all much better than earlier. [Read more…]

12 Salesforce.com Data Upload Tips

Salesforce.com Data upload is a regular task for some of the Salesforce.com administrators or end users. The quality of data in CRM determines the health of your CRM implementation. Considering this – the data upload – not only in Salesforce.com, but in any CRM has to be a well planned task.

[Read more…]