CRM FYI

Salesforce is co-sponsoring a cross country bus tour Adobe is subtitling “Cross Country Coding.”  The On AIR tour consists of three months, eighteen US cities, a big red bus, and evangelism about Adobe AIR ((Adobe Integrated Runtime) formerly Apollo).  It’s a little hard to see, but to the left of the O’Reilly decal is the Salesforce logo.  You can see more pictures of the bus on Flickr.  I’m registered already for the Minneapolis event in September which should prove pretty interesting.

Put simply, AIR is a way to develop applications that give a rich, user experiences both in a browser and on a desktop, across platforms.  Developers don’t need to write different versions of their apps for Mac, PC, or Linux.  They can develop once and deploy widely, even across browsers without worry of compatibility issues. 

How’s that fit in with Salesforce?  Salesforce has been working with Adobe to provide developer resources that let you make unique, richer Salesforce applications both through your browser with your Salesforce data, but also through desktop apps that don’t look anything like your browser.  The Flex Toolkit for Apex is a storehouse of coding wizardry that extends your data in ways you could never work with your data before.  Rich graphics, smooth transitions, drag and drop data, fields, and columns are just a few of the things Flex offers to Salesforce users.  The Flex Toolkit works hand in hand with Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR to help create apps that may just blow your mind.  Give it time, there aren’t many apps out there yet, but watch and see.

The only publicly available, free AppExchange application built with some Flex code that you can download and try right now is Conference Manager.   Interestingly enough though, it’s also the app that Salesforce uses internally to manage Dreamforce.  I’ve installed it and it’s slick stuff.  It uses inline S-controls let you work with your data in a really unique way.  Take it for a Test Drive or install it in your own development org. 

If you want to get a taste of what AIR can do with your Salesforce data, check out Dave Carroll’s Salesforce Widget. 

Adobe is putting a lot into the launch of AIR and from what I’ve seen so far, AIR has a good shot at making some compelling apps, and ways to see and work with your data unlike you do today.  It looks like Salesforce is working very tightly with Adobe to make it that much easier for developers to work through Flex and AIR.  Salesforce folks will be at numerous bus tour events showing off what they’ve done.  Watch for the “coolness” of AIR both in standard Salesforce apps, widget like applications like Dave Carroll’s, and even in dashboards.

Between seeing what literally “develops” on the bus around America On AIR and what’s shown at Dreamforce 07, it looks like you’re going to be seeing Flex and AIR quite a lot before year-end.  (And that’s a good thing.)

Technorati Tags: salesforce, adobe, air apollo, appexchange

Internet connection speeds have evolved in recent years to blinding speeds.  Today, we’re used to information delivered fast.  But what is your patience threshold?  How impatient do you get waiting for your browser to render the content you want to see?

I often resort to finger tapping or humming a little tune while waiting for my browser to render.  It seems though, that I have less time for humming and tapping since trying out the new beta version of Apple Safari for the PC.

Since Steve Jobs introduced Safari at WWDC, there’s been a lot of talk about why anybody who’s not on the Mac platform would want to use Safari over good browser options like Firefox.  Render speed may be one reason for me to at least keep at least one Safari window open, depending on what type of work I’m doing.

In truly unscientific tests, I’ve compared Safari, Firefox, and IE on the same PC hardware.  Head to head, Safari was leaps ahead of the competition loading record details, switching records in the console, and walking through Salesforce Setup and Customization.  I don’t have exact timing, but in many cases, it was rendering at about twice the speed of the competition.  Such performance gains make me tempted to keep Setup open in Safari, just to sail through Salesforce administration faster. 

I’ve read mixed reviews of people’s trouble installing Safari on Windows, but I got it in and running with no issues on Windows XP Professional and Home.  You can download Safari from Apple.

There are some things I’d miss if I tried to use Safari entirely, like Sxipper, Firefox Extensions, and things like custom buttons.  I’d also miss color.  Safari’s toolbars are almost entirely monochromatic so they’re clean, but almost too sterile looking.  But as with most Apple products, it’s functional and pretty intuitive.  If screen real estate is what you want, Safari delivers with minimal space required for most of the browser functions you’ll need.

If you like cruising through work, it’s worth taking a look at Safari and seeing if it’s right for you.  It may not become your primary browser, but it’s worth having on hand when speed counts.

Technorati Tags: salesforce.com apple safari browser firefox

Back in May, I began keeping track of the daily transactions Salesforce.com is handling.  I was curious to see when the next big threshold would be met…100,000,000 transactions per day.  I predicted it would be at the end of August.  After looking at more data, I’m revising my prediction.

Salesforce.com has been serving up 25% more daily transactions every twenty weeks.  At that rate, they’re headed to the 100 Mil mark by the end of June. 

Given the trends, June 26 comes to mind as “the” date, but it could come one week later, only thrown off a little because of the US holiday.

Just a note on speed, Over the last 3 billion transactions, Salesforce has delivered them at an average speed of just over a quarter second each.  Impressive, I must say.

I won’t dwell on the topic much, but when I saw the usage going up faster than I thought, I figured it would be better to correct myself.

Technorati Tags: salesforce.com transactions trust predictions

June 5 has come and gone.  The Google Salesforce alliance announcement that had been rumored and speculated about for weeks was made more clear.  In a nutshell, Google and Salesforce teamed up to revamp the widely popular Team Edition of Salesforce as Salesforce Group Edition.  What it means to the thousands of Team Edition customers is that they will now have an on-ramp to building their business through Google AdWords.

While much of the media is talking about that side of the June 5 Press Luncheon, I wanted to give you some highlights you may not have heard about.  Some are quite significant and deserve more time. 

Google.org was started with the same 1:1:1 model that the Salesforce Foundation began.  Both companies give 1% time, 1% equity, and 1% product.  Wise insight prior to either company going public made it possible to reserve hundreds of millions of dollars to be given away to organizations in need. 

There are three companies that Marc Benioff has particularly high esteem for; Apple, Google, and Adobe.  Apple has made elegence in design and utility.  Google shares the same technology model of multi-tennancy, the availability of web services to empower applications, and an ease of use that makes it stand out against the competition.  Adobe has long strived to make seamless interoperability between it’s sophisticated applicaitons and this is no better evident than in the new CS3 suite of graphic applications.  Marc also pointed to the speed with which Adobe pulled the Macromedia applications into its core applications upon that acquisition.  Adobe understands ingegration, workflow, and ease of use.

Google Gears will be the heart of Salesforce Offline in time.  Google Gears makes offline interaction with web applications possible.  This will make it possible for Salesforce to store data locally while offline, but sync effortlessly when connected, all with an enhanced user interface including AJAX.

Salesforce Group Edition was written as though Google and Salesforce were one.  The start of this effort was designing the product as though they were one company.  Taking the skill and expertise of both development teams, they made improvements that each would not have been able to make on their own.  This is a unique partnereship that neither has done before.

Advances in the API are making a seamless developer experience.  Synergies between Google and Salesforce APIs are making it possible to deliver new usable applications in a fraction of the time it used to take.  Appirio is becoming the Salesforce “poster boys” for delivering applicaitons quickly.  Incubator residents, they’ve been highlighted by Marc Benioff at Software 2007, the May 21 Developer Day, and at the June 5 Press Luncheon.  Largely made up of software industry veterans, Appirio is driving enterprise adoption as an integration partner of Salesforce, and theiy’ve taken five products to market in record time, from ideas they heard about on the Idea Exchange.  Through advancements in their API and Apex, Salesforce is making it possible for entrepreneurs to build their business on the web, with complex functionality, in a less time than ever.

During Marc’s presentation, he might not have said “enterprise” once.  One analyst called Marc on this and it was interesting to see that the majority of the partnership is focused on small businesses, however, the more they learn from Google, it will surely trickle down into added functionality and usability on other editions than just Group.  June 5 was really about small businesses.

June 5 was a big day for Salesforce and Google.  It solidified that both companies are working together to make businesses wildly successful.  They each have some expertise that will be compliment joint development over the next months and years.  They also know they have a good thing going for them, working together.  I can only imagine what they’ll have in store to announce at Dreamforce 07. 

Technorati Tags: google, salesforce.com, adobe, apple, june 5, adwords, small business, group edition, google gears

I know of a sixth reason you should join a Salesforce local user group.  Up to $200 off your registration for Dreamforce 07, the Salesforce event of the year.  (See my other five reasons to get involved)

Anyone who registers for Dreamforce before July 16 automatically gets the $100 off, but when you join a local user group, you’ll be able to get a promotional code that gives you the additional $100 off when you register by July 13.  User group leaders will be distributing the code within the next couple weeks so expect an email from yours.

If you have any issues receiving your promotional code, you can contact me at jeff [at] crmfyi [dot] com and I’ll help make sure you get it.

Technorati Tags: salesforce.com, user group, local user group, promo code, dreamforce, social networking

You’re not alone in the Salesforce.com world! It can sometimes feel that way when you have your head down in all the daily work you do. You wonder if there’s a better way to get your work done. Who works in the same type of environment that you do and has something to share? Who has already solved a problem you’re now seeking an solution to? I can think of a place.

In 42 cities or countries around the world, there are local user groups of people who want to meet you. Each one of those groups are led by one or more people who are passionate about getting users, developers, administrators, and executives together, face-to-face and sharing ideas, innovation, and success. They want to show you what they’re doing and they want to hear what drives your success with Salesforce.

I may be a little biased personally, considering I lead one of these user groups, but then again, it also helps me validate that these groups are important and that they work. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our group and they consistently talk about the ideas they pick up and can put to use often times, the very next day.

Here are my five reasons I encourage you to join a group near you.

1. These groups exist for you – You’re a user of Salesforce, and so are we. There aren’t that many opportunities to meet face-to-face with other users so take advantage of these times.
2. You have something to share – Whether you’ve a Salesforce guru or new user, your input is valuable.
3. You’ll be more informed – User groups are opportunities to learn from experts about new features within Salesforce and how to get the more out of the features you already have. Some of the topics of our last three meetings were the new Customer Portal, integrating maps into dashboards, strategic account management, analytics mashups, project implementation best practices, and data management strategies.
4. You’ll be heard – Salesforce listens to user groups.  It’s also a way of promoting ideas you’ve put into the Idea Exchange.
5. You need to get out – Sitting heads-down in your work day in, and day out, you need a break for social interaction that is business related. User groups have fun. Ask the people involved. Those two hours away from the office can be very well spent in the midst of people who will help inspire you to greater work and productivity.

User groups exist for and are made successful by people like you who get involved and share ideas. Check and see if there’s a group near you and join one to find out when the next meeting near you is. You’ll be glad you did.

How do you get into Salesforce.com?  Do you have it bookmarked?  Is it saved on your desktop?  Do you just type it each time?  Is it on your Google Homepage or maybe on My Yahoo?  Any way you get there, how quickly can you get yourself logged into Salesforce to do your work?

Here’s what I’ve found to be the easiest, and it’s just one click away from any web page I’m on.   

It looks like this  and it sits on my Google Toolbar.  Apex Platform marketeer Jager McConnell created this little button and I use it every day.  Kudos to Jager!

The Google Toolbar is a productivity powerhouse that takes up just a little screen real estate, but packs a whopping punch.  It’s configurable and gives me access to things I need quickly, across browsers.  (Naturally, easy customization appeals to most users of Salesforce)

Here’s what Google Toolbar does for me

• Gives me one click access to iGoogle, my information portal
• Lets me search any search engine (including Salesforce) from any page
• Lets me make one set of bookmarks across PCs and across browsers
• Lets me add buttons to my own applications or search pages
• Lets me translate web pages
• Brings spell check to the browser

Now somebody might say, “Yeah, but Firefox can do most of that.”   And I’d respond by saying that it not only does translation, spell checking and more, it actually does it better than the Google Toolbar does in some respects.  But for those who really want or need to be on IE, there is help out there by using the Google Toolbar. 

For those hesitant to leave IE, I should let you know that there’s a Firefox plugin that puts the IE rendering engine in Firefox so saying that some application you use can only use IE so you can’t switch isn’t entirely true.  I’ve got a few web apps that require IE 6.0, but now I can work on them right inside Firefox. 

Bottom line, if you want to boost your productivity, give these four steps a try.

1. Get Google Toolbar for Firefox or Internet Explorer.
2. Get Jager’s Salesforce Login Button
3. Get Sxipper (Firefox only) Read why I use it
4. Add Salesforce search to your toolbar search

   Technorati Tags: google toolbar, salesforce.com, productivity, toolbars, login

You’ve busy qualifying a lead or some other activity in your browser and you need to quick look something up in Salesforce.  How do you find it quick?  Adding Salesforce as a search engine is how and the Google Toolbar makes it quick and simple.

1. If you don’t already have it, download the Google Toolbar for Firefox or Internet Explorer. 
2. Log into Salesforce and look for a Search input box.  Right click on the input box and select Generate Custom Search.  When a dialogue box comes up type a Title and Description like Salesforce Search, and click Add.  Your search now appears as a button on the Google Toolbar.  You can remove that button by clicking on the Google Toolbar Settings button, selecting Options, and the Buttons tab.
3. On the Google Toolbar, you’ll have an input box.  There’s a Google “G” with a black down arrow next to it.  (On the left of the input box for IE users and on the right of the input box for Firefox users)  Click the black down arrow to change your search engine to Salesforce Search. 

Now when you’re on any page, you can use the Google Toolbar search box to search all your Salesforce data.  You don’t have to be on a Salesforce page to do a Salesforce search.

Firefox users may want to opt for two Google search boxes by installing a plugin written by Paul Constantinides.  That way you can keep one search engine set to Google and the other set to Salesforce.

For other Salesforce productivity goodness with the Google Toolbar and a few reasons to give Firefox a try, visit my post Simple Button; Quicker Access; Off You Go. 

Technorati Tags: google toolbar, salesforce.com, search, productivity, search engine