cloudinitcloudinithttps://www.cloudinit.nz/blogCloudinIT Joins Forces with Deloitte Digital]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/CloudinIT-Joins-Forces-with-Deloitte-Digitalhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/CloudinIT-Joins-Forces-with-Deloitte-DigitalMon, 19 Nov 2018 00:16:15 +0000
Today is a special day for CloudinIT as we announce the beginning of a whole new chapter; we are joining forces with Deloitte Digital. We have been offered an incredible opportunity to become part of the Deloitte network and fast track our goals to become New Zealand’s leading Salesforce.com implementation partner for brands seeking transformative digital success.
In just over three years, CloudinIT has gone from an idea to a business of 22 people, over 30 key clients and hundreds of projects delivered. Our journey has been fast, focused and something we are all immensely proud of. But as we plan for the future, we know to reach our goals we needed powerful support and opportunity to do it.
Through this acquisition, we gain the best of Deloitte and retain the best of CloudinIT. The knowledge pool, client base, development and growth opportunities are immense, but we get to maintain our own culture and applauded client service model. Ben, Jacob and Raymond will become partners at Deloitte and retain their position at the helm of our team.
Being part of the global Deloitte network provides opportunity, resources and growth for our people and our clients – this is a win, win, win.
We officially become part of Deloitte Digital on 1st February 2019, when we will move into their offices.
We are excited by what lies ahead. Bring on 2019!
- Raymond, Jacob, Ben and CloudinIT Team!
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New Staff Announcement - Jayson Faderanga]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Jayson-Faderangahttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Jayson-FaderangaMon, 29 Oct 2018 21:19:26 +0000
A big welcome to Jayson who is joining our team as a Technical Consultant. Jayson, originally from the Philippines, has been in New Zealand for over a year. He has worked with Salesforce as their tier 2 representative for over two years which helped him gain knowledge about the Salesforce ecosystem.
Jayson is passionate about music and enjoys playing the guitar as well as singing. He has a love of learning which he never gets bored of. He sees himself as a Full-Stack Developer in three years and a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect in five years.
Specialties:
Sales CloudService CloudCommunity CloudApex / VisualforceLightning ComponentsApplication IntegrationsWeb ServicesForce.com Sites
Certifications:
Salesforce Certified AdministratorSalesforce Certified Advanced AdministratorSalesforce Certified Platform App BuilderSalesforce Certified Developer I
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New Staff Announcement - Marcus Schaper-Kotter]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Marcus-Schaper-Kotterhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Marcus-Schaper-KotterMon, 29 Oct 2018 21:19:01 +0000
Haere mai to Marcus, a pre-sales and functional consultant who has been working in London for the past 4 years and now calls Auckland home. Originally from Canada, Marcus ran a facilities company for a number of years where he selected and implemented the Salesforce platform for his own company. Through this first experience with Salesforce, Marcus decided to enter the Salesforce ecosystem full time and become a functional consultant while moving to London.
Marcus is passionate about working with companies looking to get the most out of Salesforce because he understands the many benefits first hand. Marcus is excited to be joining CloudinIT as a Senior Functional Consultant where he looks to expand his project delivery experience and gain additional certifications.
Specialties:
ManufacuringProfessional ServicesRetailField ServicesFacilitiesEvent Management
Certifications:
Salesforce Certified AdministratorSalesforce Certified Sales Cloud ConsultantSalesforce Certified Service Cloud ConsultantSalesforce Certified Platform App Builder
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TXTinIT Release - SMS Batch Job Scheduler]]>TXTinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/TXTinIT-Release-SMS-Batch-Job-Schedulerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/TXTinIT-Release-SMS-Batch-Job-SchedulerFri, 12 Oct 2018 02:20:23 +0000
We've now released the SMS Batch Job Scheduler, a feature that allows users to set an automated message batch job to recur hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
This feature is useful for automated birthday messages, monthly account reminders, weekly appointment reminders, and more.
Release Outline:
Customised scheduler user-interface
Users will configure the schedule in a new customised user interface rather than the batch job record's default detail page.The UI components for the existing one-time scheduling feature will be consolidated with the new customised user interface.The page can be accessed through a button placed on the detail page.
Criteria-based schedule termination Users can configure the scheduled batch job to end automatically after a number of executions or on a certain date/time.
Schedule informationA human readable description of the scheduler and auto-stop settings will be displayed on the batch job record's default Salesforce detail page.
New batch job scheduling logic
The "Execute Job" button in the batch job record's detail page won't handle scheduling anymore since any scheduling of the batch job, whether it be one-time or recurring, will be done in the new user interface.The Task records, which contain the SMS messages to be sent, will be created during (instead of before) the schedule run.Manually ending a scheduled job won't be done through deleting a Task record but rather through a button on the batch job record's detail page.
Lightning Experience and Salesforce appThis feature is available in Lightning Experience in both desktop and mobile.
Stay tuned for future enhancements that are being planned!
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New Staff Announcement - Allen Zhou]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Allen-Zhouhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Allen-ZhouThu, 11 Oct 2018 01:10:51 +0000
Welcome to Allen Zhou, our new test automation specialist!
Allen has over five years' experience in software testing including three years in test automation scripting within the telecom industry. Allen is knowledgeable in Data-Driven Testing (DDT) and Agile development methodologies across web, desktop, and server environments.
Allen is passionate about learning in order to keep his competitive edge. He aspires to be a Test Automation Architect and Adviser.
Specialties:
SeleniumJava RestAssuredSoapUITestNG
Certification:
ISTQB certificate
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New Staff Announcement - Siddharth Birari]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/10/05/New-Staff-Announcement---Siddharth-Birarihttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/10/05/New-Staff-Announcement---Siddharth-BirariFri, 05 Oct 2018 03:19:28 +0000
A warm welcome to our newest Senior Technical Consultant Siddharth Birari! Siddharth joins us with more than 7 years experience in the IT industry and has proven delivery experience in a wide range of verticals including Fiance, Real Estate, Non-Profit and FMCG.
He holds the much coveted Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I and II certifications and also holds the Lifecycle & Deployment Designer certification.
Siddharth is already well underway as technical lead on his first project and we look forward to seeing more of his excellent results. We also hear he's a keen hand at snooker so keep an eye out for him at the Ponsonby Pool Hall.
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Congrats to Ben Edwards, our Certified Technical Architect (CTA)!]]>CloudinIT Marketinghttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/09/11/Congratulations-to-Ben-Edwards-on-achieving-his-Salesforce-Certified-Technical-Architect-CTA-certificationhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/09/11/Congratulations-to-Ben-Edwards-on-achieving-his-Salesforce-Certified-Technical-Architect-CTA-certificationTue, 11 Sep 2018 01:40:04 +0000
CloudinIT’s Ben Edwards joins an elite group of Salesforce Certified Technical Architects
CloudinIT is delighted to announce that Ben Edwards achieved his Salesforce Certified Technical Architect (CTA) certification last week.
The CTA is the highest technical credential offered by salesforce.com, certifying the holder's broad knowledge across multiple development platforms, and the ability to architect efficient, scalable solutions on the Salesforce Platform across all areas of domain expertise. CTAs are the Salesforce Elite, with only 3 (now including Ben) in New Zealand and 260 globally.
In his role as Technical Director at CloudinIT, Ben is responsible for delivering technical architecture on clients’ projects as well as establishing internal processes and tool sets. Ben also guides and mentors a fast growing CloudinIT team, working with them to keep up with today’s rapid pace of innovation.
“We would like to congratulate Ben on this accomplishment and becoming a member of the Salesforce elite. Ben’s experience of enterprise Salesforce implementations across Europe and Australasia, in both functional and technical roles is second to none.” said Raymond Yong, Strategy Director, CloudinIT.
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New to the neighbourhood]]>https://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/09/07/New-to-the-neighbourhoodhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/09/07/New-to-the-neighbourhoodFri, 07 Sep 2018 03:42:08 +0000
This month, CloudinIT has moved house. In a bid to get closer to many of our clients, gain more space for our ever-growing team, and tap into the benefits of social co-working spaces we’ve relocated to Bizdojo in Ponsonby.
This is a slick new building that has been designed specifically to foster the growth of entrepreneurial and talent-based communities. As we walk the floor it is amazing to see the types of businesses and the clever ideas that surround us. Being in an environment like this has certainly reignited our own desire to seek and expand our minds and repertoire. It’s great getting to know our new neighbours.
Next time your in the neighbourhood pop in, our let’s do WIP at our place. We’d love to show you round and shout you a cup of Ponsonby’s finest!
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CloudinIT Becomes a Gold Salesforce Consulting Partner]]>https://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/09/07/CloudinIT-Becomes-a-Gold-Salesforce-Consulting-Partnerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/2018/09/07/CloudinIT-Becomes-a-Gold-Salesforce-Consulting-PartnerFri, 07 Sep 2018 03:23:56 +0000
It's with great excitement that we can now announce that CloudinIT has been recognised as a Gold Salesforce Consulting Partner.
Being recognised as a Gold Partner means meeting strict growth, performance and customer satisfaction requirements.
It also reflects our team's huge depth of expertise and professional qualifications. In fact, CloudinIT now has over 109 certifications and a combined 1,576 Trailhead badges. That's an average of 5.45 certifications per consultant!
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Daylight Savings in Salesforce Process Builders and FormulasTiaan Swart | Technical Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Daylight-Savings-in-Salesforce-Process-Builders-and-Formulashttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Daylight-Savings-in-Salesforce-Process-Builders-and-FormulasMon, 16 Jul 2018 23:40:46 +0000
In Salesforce, when converting Date/Time values to Text or Time inside a Formula, the GMT Offset seems to be ignored. This can cause all kinds of issues with Apex, Formula, or Process Builder Logic.
To solve this issue, we created a Schedulable Apex class that can retrieve and store the Offset from GMT in a Custom Setting. Since Custom Settings are accessible in Process Builders and Formulas we can easily use these values to rectify the Time conversion issue.
To install the Apex class, use the Deploy to Salesforce link available on GitHub.
Then run the scheduled job at 2AM daily by executing the below code in the Developer Console:
System.schedule('GMT Offset Scheduled Job', GMTOffsetScheduler.CRON_EXP, new GMTOffsetScheduler());
The Schedulable job will run and update the Org Default Custom Setting Rec with the GMT Time Zone offset for the running user (the user who scheduled the job).
"This is an extremely useful piece of functionality! It allows for handling the variable Daylight Savings time difference that occasionally causes Date/Time values to be off by an hour in Salesforce (this especially seems to be a problem when you convert a Date/Time field to another data type like Text or Time). The alternative of attempting to handle this in a formula is totally unwieldy."
- Chris Parker, CloudinIT Functional Consultant
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New Staff Announcement - David Catindoy]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-David-Catindoyhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-David-CatindoyTue, 26 Jun 2018 00:30:26 +0000
Haere mai to David, a technical consultant who has been working remotely for CloudinIT for the past year!
David has recently moved from the Philippines and has been in the IT industry for over three years. David has experience tackling medium to complex Salesforce implementations. David worked for Accenture where he developed his technical implementation, proof of concept, and solution architecture skills.
David is passionate about learning to keep his competitive edge. He aspires to be a technical architect and a trusted Salesforce adviser.
Specialties:
Sales CloudService CloudCommunity CloudField ServiceIntegration using SOAP/REST APILightning Components
Certifications:
Salesforce Certified AdministratorSalesforce Certified Sales Cloud ConsultantSalesforce Certified Service Cloud ConsultantSalesforce Certified Advanced AdministratorSalesforce Certified Platform App BuilderSalesforce Certified Platform Developer I
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Digital Diversification to Help More Kiwis In Distress]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Digital-Diversification-to-Help-More-Kiwis-In-Distresshttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Digital-Diversification-to-Help-More-Kiwis-In-DistressWed, 13 Jun 2018 20:57:00 +0000
Lifeline Aotearoa has been helping Kiwis in crisis for over 50 years. Through their two call centres, they receive over 10,000 calls each month from people of all ages and ethnicities seeking support, advice, and counselling. Their three community helplines 0800 Lifeline, Suicide Crisis Helpline, and Kidsline are manned by qualified counsellors and trained volunteers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s no secret that our communication styles and needs have diversified and Lifeline Aotearoa felt the time was right to introduce text and web chat counselling to better cater for more people in New Zealand who are in need.
Lifeline partnered up with CloudinIT to diversify their current service offering. Below we share a snapshot of the brief, challenges, and results of this project.
“CloudinIT were the honest and reliable partner we were looking for. They knew what could be done, they were honest about what could be achieved, they delivered to every deadline, they were easy to work with and efficient. Best of all they were truly agile and responsive, they fixed things as soon as they were identified!” - Glenda Schnell, Lifeline Aotearoa Executive Director
The Brief
Lifeline Aotearoa needed to diversify their communication channels to extend their reach and better service the changing needs of New Zealanders in distress. Text and web chat counselling services were identified as the best way to do so, the execution of chat needed a robust authentication and gateway structure to deliver prioritised, safe, and integrated services.
The Challenge
Lifeline users contact them for varying needs and in varying states of distress and stress. To provide a successful supportive system, inbound communications needed to be channelled through an effective gateway that allowed counsellors to identify needs and call status quickly. Prioritisation determined by key words had to be part of the solution developed by CloudinIT.
In addition, Lifeline needed a substantial authentication process for web chat to ensure that contact details were collated and follow up contact could be made as needed. CloudinIT were one of the only providers that could deliver this.
The Execution
Already using the Salesforce platform in a modest capacity, Lifeline and CloudinIT designed a programme of work that would deliver a fully integrated case management system and significantly extend functionality. Web chat and text counselling were the focus and Lifeline had a succinct brief of what they wanted and how they wanted it to work.
CloudinIT worked to the brief, clearly and honestly communicating what could and couldn’t be achieved. Responsiveness and speed showed just how engaged CloudinIT were in the project and together, with Lifeline, fixes were made fast and efficiently.
Utilising the cloud offered access anywhere, improved information sharing across Lifeline’s multiple locations, and ensured less disturbance to services. But it was the gateway, channeling, and prioritisation rules that were put in place that made an immense difference to the way in which support is offered in the way that call centres would work.
The Results
The new Lifeline platform is still in its infancy, but it is already delivering in some key areas. The new text service has attracted new people seeking support, provided services for a different demographic that may not typically reach out via phone, and delivered more options to more people. The web chat has not commenced yet.
For Lifeline, this is not about decreasing the number of calls or increasing productivity, but providing more support to a different group of people and in ways that are most attractive to them. In this respect, the project is already a success.
The Finished Product
Check out Lifeline's publication about their free text service.
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The Things They Don't Teach You In Salesforce School (12 Tips for Beginners)]]>Chris Parker | Functional Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/The-Things-They-Dont-Teach-You-In-Salesforce-Schoolhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/The-Things-They-Dont-Teach-You-In-Salesforce-SchoolSun, 10 Jun 2018 21:18:00 +0000
There are certain habits, tips and tricks that make starting out as an admin much easier. In fact anyone working declaratively in Salesforce can leverage these tips to help them work faster and more efficiently.
Stay organised.Use a text editor when working on formulas.Always build in a sandbox!Your developer sandbox is your source of truth.Use plugins.Use ticket management.Write release notes.Always fill in descriptions.Keep things tidy.Think carefully before adding profiles, page layouts, and record types.Go easy on the validation rules.Check what org you are in constantly.
1 - Stay organised.
Half your battle is organisation. When you are starting out you'll spend a lot of time problem solving and figuring out "how" to do something. This means you'll probably be experimenting with process builders, workflows, formulas, custom fields, and roll up summaries. You'll eventually solve the problem. But after a day of problem solving will you remember exactly what you've changed and why?
It's essential to keep notes as you develop declaratively. Every time I add a field I note it down in a notepad txt file that I keep specifically for that job. (It's even better if this is associated with a JIRA or Trello card ID). If I realise that I'm not going to use a field/process or workflow that I've built I delete it immediately and remove it from my txt file. Redundant fields built to test an idea that hang around just get in the way and cause confusion.
I then use my txt file as the basis for building my change set. As I add each component to the change set I mark the item with an \ to indicate that it's added.
Here's an example of my notepad format:
__________________________________________
JIRA-836 - Name of JIRA ticket
New Custom Fields:
Opp - Reactivation Date \
Opp - Reactivated Opportunity \
Updated Custom Fields:
Opp - Status
Opp - Type
New Process Builders:
Opportunity Process - Reactivation
Updated Process Builders:
Opportunity Process - Status Changes
__________________________________________
2 - Use a text editor when working on formulas.
Creating formulas in the default editor is horrible. My efficiency in editing formulas tripled once I started copying the content to a text editor and editing there. You'll get fancy colours and all the other benefits of a text editor. The most handy feature is the ability to see which Open brackets match close brackets. It's also much easier to format nicely.
This:
Becomes this:
I have my Sublime editor set to JavaScript and that handles formula formatting just fine.
Note: I have tried some of the plugins that build more advanced functionality into the native Salesforce formula editor but always end up disabling them when they increase load times or crash the page.
3 - Always build in a sandbox!
I know it can seem counter-intuitive and like it's going to take more time to develop in a sandbox. However in the long run, you'll avoid so many issues and potentially disastrous results that you end up saving time. This is especially true when you are new and more likely to be figuring out "how" to do something. Remember in Salesforce not everything you activate, or untick can be deactivated or reticked in Salesforce and it's best to learn these strange quirks in a sandbox.
4 - Your developer sandbox is your source of truth.
Don't move your work through a pipeline.
This is a discipline that I learnt from Deane (our manager consultant) and I'll admit it took me a little while to actually get my head around the paradigm shift. The idea is to use your dev org as a source of truth. I used to move work from a developer org to a testing/training sandbox and then from the testing/training sandbox to production. Instead, Deane taught me the value of always deploying from a developer sandbox directly to any other org. This way you always have a fully controlled source of truth and can be sure that no-one else has modified your work. It also prevents you from ending up with different versions of your work in different places (i.e. don't make changes directly in test/uat, instead go back to dev and update your work and redeploy). Follow this method and you will always have work in an environment you fully control that you can be 100% confident in deploying.
5 - Use plugins.
OrganiserLastpass (use to generate at least 24 character random passwords)apinames
6 - Use ticket management.
JIRA/Trello. Even if you are the only Salesforce admin in the org, make sure you create a ticket for each piece of discrete work or project and associate all modifications/new metadata back to this ticket.
For starters, it shows others how much work you are doing and helps keep you focused and organised. It also provides a reference in the future for another admin to relate descriptions in Salesforce and then check why the field was added/changed and details about the problem you were solving.
7 - Write release notes.
If you've used the notepad tip above these notes become the basis for simple technical release notes. Put these in Confluence or Google Drive. Once a week or month (depending on the amount of changes you make) distribute release notes to your end users. That way they can stay up to date on why certain fields have changed and fully understand new features. If you really want to get fancy you can take advantage of Login Flows and display an image of your release notes on user login.
8 - ALWAYS FILL IN DESCRIPTIONS.
In the future, you will not know why you created a particular field/process builder/workflow/validation rule unless you have a description to refer to. Capture the description upon creation and save yourself the work of trying to figure out the method to your madness.
This is the single most important part of building. I know it's annoying and you may not even always know why exactly you are adding the component, but do this every time. As someone who has worked on legacy orgs with 500 fields per objects and tried to clean them up, not having a description is deadly and very frustrating.
Make sure you explain:
Who uses the field.Why they should use it.Where else the field is going to be used (process builders, apex, formulas)A reference to a JIRA ticket or some other type of change log/requirement document if it exists.
Three or four years in the future when someone else is going through your work instead of cursing every field with your name in the Created By field they'll sigh with relief as they know they will be able to quickly understand what you've built and why.
9 - Keeping things tidy.
Keep a list of fields, workflows, process builders, and validation rules that you come across that could potentially be removed. I store these in a Google doc/spreadsheet. Once a month, go through and begin the clean up process. This usually involves a series of steps including:
Performing an assessment on the field/feature to identify where it is currently used.Attempting a test delete/deactivation in a sandbox to find any hidden dependencies.Consulting/notifying any relevant stakeholders or users that the field/feature will be removed.Changing the label to (Old/Deprecated/To Be Removed) and waiting for a few weeks to see if anyone objects.Removing the field from page layouts or deactivating the process (and waiting a few weeks to see if anyone objects).Backing up any data in a field to csv.Deleting the field or deactivating the feature.Undeleting the field when you realise that you just broke your management's monthly reporting (just kidding - if you went through the process above hopefully you will have identified any issue).
10 - Think very carefully before adding profiles, page layouts, and record types.
Profiles - Consider Permission SetsPage LayoutsRecord Types!!!
Each one of these components will become a burden that your org has to carry forever forward. Every time you build a new field, you will have to decide permissions for the profile, add it to the page layout and in the case of pick lists decide if the record type should have access. If you add record types to an object, you'll now have to specify the correct record type ID when importing. Although these features are hugely useful they all increase your technical debt.
As Uncle Ben taught us: "With great Salesforce customisation comes great future time consumption". So only make use of these features if all other solutions cannot meet your requirements.
11 - Go easy on the validation rules.
Validation rules can stop flows and process builders dead in their tracks and usually with vague error messages. If your org is automation heavy, then validation rules can be very problematic. If there is another way to achieve the same result then look at that first. Or build your validation rule with very specific criteria so that it will only fire at certain times and for certain users (look at using ISCHANGED).
12 - Check what org you are in constantly.
If you are working in sandboxes it's essential that you develop the habit of always checking the header in lightning or top right corner in classic to note which org you are in before saving records, deploying, deleting, or doing anything. One tip is to use the Chrome plugin Salesforce Colored Favicons which lets you assign a different colour to each tab icon. I use red for production, purple for our testing partial copy, and blue/green for development sandboxes to indicate the level of freedom I have to make changes.
Quick Tips:
Process Builders are hidden under the Flow Definition Category when creating changes sets.
Flows and Process Builders don't get automatically activated when deployed. You must activate them each time they are deployed.
When trying to identify what automation is doing what look at the Field Updates instead of the workflow rules as it's easier to track the exact field being updated.
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New Staff Announcement - Sonal Odedara]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Sonal-Odedarahttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Sonal-OdedaraThu, 07 Jun 2018 02:10:23 +0000
Happy third day to our newest team member, Sonal Odedara, who is joining us as a junior technical consultant.
Sonal is a graduate developer with a Computer Science Engineering degree from India and Graduate Diploma in IT from New Zealand (2017 graduate). She recently completed a software engineering internship with Gentrack Global. Sonal has experience in requirement gathering, analysis, design, Apex, Visualforce development, CI-CD using Jenkins, Amazon Web Services, Python, and WordPress.
Sonal has always been passionate about Salesforce and used Trailhead to upskill in her spare time. She is actively associated with the Salesforce Dev and User Group meetups.
Specialties:
AWSPython
Certifications:
Degree in Computer Science EngineeringGraduate diploma in Information Technology
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5 Key Inclusions for Success with Salesforce]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/5-Key-Inclusions-for-Success-with-Salesforcehttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/5-Key-Inclusions-for-Success-with-SalesforceWed, 30 May 2018 04:13:08 +0000
Salesforce is the number one CRM platform in the world, its ability to grow and transform businesses is undeniable. But its power is only realised if you’re using it the right way. Your business's unique set of variables and risks determine your project's success. Your data and your understanding of the platform are also significant contributors. However, there are some universal ways that can contribute to the completion of a project successfully for everyone.
Have a Well-Defined Vision This gives your project a distinct purpose, with a defined beginning and end, even when it is part of a bigger piece of work. Be clear on your vision and make sure all members of your team and your implementation partner are on the same page. This will ensure you are all working towards the same goal and using the same criteria when making decisions and prioritising. To get the most out of your Salesforce implementation, you will need to spend some time reflecting on the core values of your organisation, and the areas where the Salesforce platform can help you best. Once every member of your team is truly invested in your vision, only then will you be able to reap the true benefits of Salesforce.
Identify Your Salesforce Champions Knowledge is power and having dedicated Salesforce champions within your business is imperative to unleashing the full ability of the platform. Identifying and designating a project manager and subject matter expert (SME) to work with your implementation partner ensures that the knowledge intrinsic to your products and processes is considered and prevalent in your Salesforce design. Typically, the project manager then becomes the system administrator once deployed, which is a preferred scenario given the knowledge bank they have amassed through development. Ensuring Executive Leaders within the business have visibility over the development, end product and platform potential helps ensure the ongoing focus (and funds) that help ensure Salesforce success. Where some businesses stumble is by not engaging their leadership team and presenting the Salesforce solution in a consumable way and with room for input.
Drive User Adoption User adoption, and in turn advocacy, is the most important element in any Salesforce implementation. Only when your employees believe in and utilise the power of Salesforce will you reap the rewards that the programme can deliver. Robust training is imperative to understand the depth of the tool and to ensure comfort and confidence in your users. The knowledge that this tool will assist them to do their job better and deliver results is key to buy in.
Plan Integration Ensuring that investment and time are allocated to integrating Salesforce with your other systems as part of the initial project ensures that your data works as hard as possible for you from day dot. Data duplication is a frustrating and time-consuming process and is often where inaccuracies creep in. But with proper planning and sufficient time allocated to undertake this properly, your Salesforce deployment can integrate with other business applications and back-office data in a streamlined manner. Efficiencies in time and data distribution as well as increased productivity are the by-products of investing in this upfront.
Create Roadmaps and Release Schedules At CloudinIT we believe that CRM is not a big-bang event but a continuous improvement model. Of course, a successful launch is vital and certainly the most significant milestone, but we believe it marks the beginning of the journey not the end. Being able to deliver enhancements and new features after go-live is equally important, as is your feedback loop. Users, management and technical employees will all be able to provide feedback on how the product is working and being responsive to this is imperative to getting the best out of Salesforce for your organisation. Our development methodology is based on agile development principles and to this end we are constantly working with our clients on their monthly or quarterly release schedule to ensure their product is the best it can be.
We believe these five principles are crucial to Salesforce success. Of course, more traditional project management fundamentals also contribute like budgets, prioritisation, success measures and an identified decision making and approval team. Incorporate these in your planning and the true strength of the Salesforce platform will be realised.
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Salesforce Summer '18 Developer Release Highlights]]>Nitish Singhal | Technical Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Salesforce-Summer-18-Developer-Release-Highlightshttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Salesforce-Summer-18-Developer-Release-HighlightsMon, 28 May 2018 20:37:18 +0000
Check out our summary of the latest Developer Salesforce release highlights.
Resources:
Release NotesRelease Preview Instructions
Highlights
New method in Schema.DescribeSObjectResult Class:
getRecordTypeInfosByDeveloperName() Returns a map that matches developer names to their associated record type. So, less number of code lines.
Switch-Case statements can now be used in Apex code, yay!
Some new ENUMS available in System.TriggerOperation to help developers write code more efficiently.
AFTER_DELETEAFTER_INSERTAFTER_UNDELETEAFTER_UPDATEBEFORE_DELETEBEFORE_INSERTBEFORE_UPDATE
Apex code limit increased from 3MB to 6MB which benefits organisations with large code bases
Developers can now clear page messages in test classes.
Changes in Flow error emails:
You can now specify which user should receive Flow or Process Builder error emails. Previously, the person who last modified the automation would get the error email.
Along with the ORG ID, Flow error emails will also contain the name of the org.
Details and descriptions are now more detailed in Flow error emails to help users troubleshoot.
By default, the sender for approval request email notifications is the user who requested approval. Now you can override the sender with an organization-wide address, like approval@acmewireless.com, from your process automation settings.
Here is a big one for developers: Previously, each individual record matched by the SOQL COUNT() and COUNT(fieldName) functions counted toward the query row limit (50000). So, requesting a count in apex code, could have a significant impact on governor limits, especially when working with many records.
Now, if a query using one of these functions returns an integer, it only counts as one query row toward the governor limit. If a query using one of these functions returns an array of AggregateResult objects, only the total number of AggregateResult objects counts toward the limit.
See examples below.
Ex: 1
Integer countOfContacts = [SELECT COUNT() FROM Contact WHERE Account.Name = 'Edge
Communications'];
Previously, the number of records matched by this query counted toward the limit. Now this query counts as only one query row toward the limit.
Ex: 2
List<AggregateResults> agList = [select count(id), status__c from Account group by Status__c];
Let’s say there are two status values in the database; 500 records have Status A and 400 records have Status B. This results in two records in agList, so the governor limit will only count two rows.
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Heart in the Clouds]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Heart-in-the-Cloudshttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Heart-in-the-CloudsTue, 22 May 2018 02:30:00 +0000
At CloudinIT we believe that success tastes best when it is shared. Our client service ethos centers around a partnership philosophy based on collaboration and empowerment. We know we don’t work in isolation and we also know we don’t exist in isolation either. That’s why being an active part of our community is so important to us.
We regularly roll up our sleeves and aim to make a difference. We choose volunteering initiatives that provide the opportunity for us to get out from behind our screens and to work together.
Eat My Lunch is a favourite with our staff, having completed four rounds of volunteering and another booked in for June. Each time, we don aprons for a three-hour shift starting at 6.30am, to make over 2,000 lunches for the day ahead. We’ve also volunteered at the Auckland City Mission sorting clothing donations and providing much needed manpower.
Obviously, there is a substantial feel good factor for those that participate but the benefits are much greater than that. Not only is there the tangible output that makes a difference in others’ lives but there is upswing in workplace happiness, greater engagement, strengthened culture and improved camaraderie. These and the shared sense of pride are only generated by involvement across the business and by truly engaging opportunities - a monetary donation only doesn’t produce this many tangible benefits.
CloudinIT is also proudly part of the Salesforce Pledge 1% initiative, gifting 1% of our important resources, time, and expertise to make a difference. The beauty of Pledge 1% is it’s scalable; as we grow the difference 1% can make grows too, so our success is truly shared.
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Development of an Easy-to-Use Customer Site for Waste Management]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Waste-Management-Customer-Success-Storyhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Waste-Management-Customer-Success-StoryThu, 03 May 2018 01:26:52 +0000
Recently, we completed a project for Waste Management that would become the foundation for their digital transformation. This project has just featured in a Salesforce customer success story and below we share a snapshot of the brief, challenges and results of this project that was based on simplicity and future-proofing.
“Together CloudinIT and Waste Management have developed a partnership that is grounded in a shared language and focus on delivering results. The desire for success, the open dialogue, the honest and robust feedback process and agility are qualities we share and the key contributors to our successful projects.”
- Marsha Cadman, National Manager, Customer First Waste Management
The Brief
Waste Management wanted an easy-to-use online sales channel for residential customers that would become the cornerstone of their digital transformation. The solution had to break down the traditional hurdles for engagement and reflect what the customer wanted – a product ordered with minimal clicks and minimal distractions.
The Challenge
This was an isolated project in a digital footprint that is evolving, some of it happening simultaneously, some planned for the near future. CloudinIT needed to build for the future digital profile of Waste Management while ensuring that functionally and visually the outcome aligned with what already existed.
In addition, this project marked a shift in digital project development and execution for the company. Speed-to-market, agility and action were the desired outcomes. Keeping the execution simplified, streamlined and focused was key.
The Execution
Just 50% of the shopping list of inclusions made it to the final execution. By thoroughly researching their customers’ personas and testing everything back against this criteria, Waste Management and CloudinIT stayed focused on delivering a minimum viable product.
Collaborative sessions, flexibility and a shared vision meant the two worked seamlessly to ensure that every facet was critical to delivering the best customer-centric solution. They utilised the Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Community Cloud to deliver a product grounded in functional excellence and rich, usable data that provides incredible opportunity.
The Results
When simplicity and speed are objectives, a customer order placed in just four clicks of a mouse is success. The website is clean, easy to use and delivering just the information you need and nothing you don’t.
One of the biggest measures of success was what this project produced in cultural change within the team who delivered the project in Waste Management. The unrelenting focus on paring it back, the agility to reshape plans and the speed to market showed the business they could be flexible, innovative and deliver. The project management structure used here has now been implemented across other projects within the team with similar success.
The true rewards from this project will be seen once Salesforce has been integrated with a new operating system that is currently being deployed and the power of a single database and rich data can be realised.
The Finished Product
Check out the WMGO website.
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New Staff Announcement - Jared Rakich]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Jared-Rakichhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Jared-RakichMon, 30 Apr 2018 05:32:15 +0000
Introducing Jared Rakich, our latest starter who has joined us as a Business Operations Manager specialising in enterprise project delivery, operational process management, and business strategy.
Jared and his family recently moved home after spending five years working in London for a professional services company that specialises in content solutions for the largest publishers in the world. Jared’s background is in agile project management where he has lead many successful large scale and complex delivery projects. Over the last three years, Jared moved into a “Head of Operations” (COO) role, where he was accountable for staff across four regions (UK, US, Spain, and Romania). This role had a strong focus on building and growing the organisation, while delivering operational excellence and successful project delivery. He also places a strong emphasis on continuous improvement and growing teams/individuals to reach their potential.
Welcome to the CloudinIT family, Jared!
Specialties:
Operations ManagementBusiness StrategyProject ManagementChange ManagementBusiness Process ImprovementAgile Software Development Methodologies (SCRUM & Kanban/Lean Development)
Certifications:
Prince 2ITIL
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New Staff Announcement - Kriti Agarwal]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Kriti-Agarwalhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Kriti-AgarwalFri, 06 Apr 2018 02:29:22 +0000
Introducing Kriti Agarwal who has joined the CloudinIT squad as a technical consultant.
Kriti brings over six years of Salesforce experience to the team predominantly in the healthcare industry. She is experienced in analysis, design, and implementation using Salesforce configuration, Apex, Visualforce development, Communities, and integration. She is passionate about delivering high quality solutions using best practices.
We are very pleased Kriti has joined our development team. Welcome Kriti!
Specialties:
ApexVisualforceSalesforce CommunitiesIntegrationLightning
Certifications:
Salesforce Certified AdministratorSalesforce Certified Platform Developer ISalesforce Certified Platform App BuilderSalesforce Certified Sales Cloud Consultant
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Salesforce Lightning Out with Heroku Node.js]]>Tiaan Swart | Technical Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Salesforce-Lightning-Out-with-Heroku-Node-jshttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Salesforce-Lightning-Out-with-Heroku-Node-jsSun, 11 Mar 2018 20:26:29 +0000
We recently started to play around with Salesforce Lightning Out.
To get up and running (from scratch) took no longer than a couple of hours, and now we have a template to apply to future projects.
So what is Salesforce Lightning Out?
As per the Salesforce developer documentation:
You can use Lightning Out to run Lightning components apps outside of Salesforce servers. Whether it's a Node.js app running on Heroku, a department server inside the firewall, or even SharePoint, build your custom app with Lightning Platform and run it wherever your users are.
This means that we can build a lighting component, use it in a record page, a community, Salesforce mobile app and now even on an external web server.
To get started we need to create a Lightning App. Check out the lightning app we created over here.
This app has a simple dependency to a Lightning Component we created here.
After we deploy this to our Salesforce Dev or Scratch Org we can now proceed to setup the second part, refer to post deployment steps.
Before proceeding you must have a My Domain setup as well as Community setup.
Now we need to setup a Node.js server on Heroku. Check out the server code that can be deployed straight to Heroku here.
Please note that there are pre and post deployment steps. The community and lightning URLs must be replaced.
Once deployed to Heroku simply open the Heroku app. As a demo we have used this.
This demo does not include authentication but you could easily apply authentication via ForceJS or OAuth. Perfect use case with External Identities!
Useful links:
https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.lightning.meta/lightning/lightning_out.htmhttps://www.salesforce.com/video/304563/
Happy coding!
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New Staff Announcement - Andrew McKay]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Andrew-McKayhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Andrew-McKaySun, 04 Mar 2018 22:01:51 +0000
Introducing Andrew McKay, our latest starter who has joined us as a manager consultant specialising in solution architecture.
Andrew worked for Vector Ltd for the past nine years, where he started as a project manager for an implementation of Salesforce and ServiceMax (force.com app). That role quickly moved to providing continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the platform, most notably introducing an asset register and billing engine. This role encompassed the complete life-cycle of involvement from producing the statement of work and engaging with ServiceMax professional services, to the design, implementation, testing and release to production.
Recently, Andrew has been the product owner for a similar structured Salesforce and ServiceMax instance for a Vector project in Australia. This role required engagement across all parts of the business, articulating business requirements through Jira epics/stories and then ownership of delivery through a professional services company based in Sydney and finally handing completed features back over to the business.
Welcome to the CloudinIT family, Andrew!
Specialties:
AdministrationSolution DesignIntegrationDeliveryBusiness AnalysisService Delivery
Certifications:
Salesforce Certified Administrator
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New Staff Announcement - Sam Turrall]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Sam-Turrallhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Sam-TurrallWed, 07 Feb 2018 00:56:00 +0000
Introducing our latest junior functional consultant, Sam Turrall! Sam joins us with three years of experience in Salesforce administration and development.
Sam comes from a global leader in the electrical industry where he was the key customer contact, administrator, and internal project manager for the development and launch of Salesforce in New Zealand and Australia. Sam's knowledge of business process and customer expectation drive him to deliver smart, user-friendly business solutions.
Sam is new to the world of consultancy and is looking forward to broadening his skills and knowledge with CloudinIT!
Specialties:
AdministrationSolution DesignIntegrationTrainingSales CloudService Cloud
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New Staff Announcement - Wei Huang]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Wei-Huanghttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Wei-HuangWed, 31 Jan 2018 01:29:58 +0000
Introducing the latest addition to the CloudinIT family, Wei Huang, who has joined us as a test automation consultant.
Wei has over three years in test automation scripting experience and over six years of development experience in Java, C++, and C# within the healthcare industry. Wei is knowledgeable in behaviour-driven development (BDD) and test-driven development (TDD) methodologies crossing web, mobile, and desktop environments. He loves a good challenge and is skilled at finding bugs.
Included below are Wei's specialties. He's our first new member since being at our new premises. We're very excited to have him on board!
Specialties:
SeleniumCucumber/SpecFlowEspressoXCTestxUnitSoapUI
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Use Salesforce Files As Templates in Conga Composer]]>Chris Parker | Functional Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Use-Salesforce-Files-As-Templates-in-Conga-Composerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Use-Salesforce-Files-As-Templates-in-Conga-ComposerWed, 24 Jan 2018 02:46:57 +0000
Ever needed to be more dynamic with the templates you provide for your Conga documents? It is possible to use files from almost anywhere in Salesforce as the basis for a template by leveraging Conga's query ability combined with the QVar parameter in your Conga button.
This allows you to use files uploaded to a Salesforce record as a Conga Composer merge template, rather than just using files loaded against a Conga Template record. For example, a sales user uploads a deal summary that should be attached to a contract during a Conga merge.
Step-by-Step Overview:
Create a Conga query that returns the ID of your files. Eg. Querying attachments related to the record to merge or querying the Files.Add the &QVar0ID= parameter to your Conga button to identify the query.Update the &TemplateID= parameter in your conga query to include {QVar0}
Step-by-Step In Depth:
Create a Conga query that returns the ID of your files. (Eg. Querying attachments related to the record to merge or querying the Files.) This step may differ depending on whether you use the traditional Attachments object to load your files, or use the new Files (as Attachments) feature. The details below uses the new Files as an example, as this is relatively more complex. Replace any query below with a query on the Attachment object if you are using Attachments. This is probably the trickiest part of the process as we need to work with Salesforce's slightly confusing Content File structure to pin down the ID of the Salesforce File we want to supply to Conga.
Start by navigating to the Conga Queries Tab using the App Launcher or Conga App
Create a New Query
Enter a name, description and this is where we will enter our SOQL statement to return the file ID. Here's a full example: SELECT ContentDocumentId FROM ContentDocumentLink WHERE LinkedEntityId = '{pv0}' AND ContentDocument.LatestPublishedVersion.Title LIKE '%Summary%' ORDER BY ContentDocument.CreatedDate DESC LIMIT 1
We'll break down each component one by one:SELECT ContentDocumentId - This is asking the query to select the ID of our File(s)FROM ContentDocumentLink - ContentDocumentLink represents the link between a Salesforce CRM Content document or Salesforce file and where it's shared. In our case this is the object where we need to pull our File ID from.WHERE LinkedEntityId = '{pv0}' - Specifies the Linked Entity ID or in our case the Opportunity ID. The {pv0} tag is a placeholder for an ID that will be inserted by our Conga button and is dynamic based on the object that we have clicked the button from. We need to remember to set the {pv0} tag in our button so that it sends the correct ID otherwise the query will fail.AND ContentDocument.LatestPublishedVersion.Title LIKE '%Summary%' - This sets the criteria for which File attached to the record I want to query. In this example I am pulling any files with the Title containing the word Summary. You could also specify that the Title must exactly match a filename using = instead of LIKE. In our example the Sales People have been instructed to save their file in this way CLIENT NAME - DATE - SummaryORDER BY ContentDocument.CreatedDate DESC - This orders the Files being returned by their created date and in descending order so that the most recent attached file will be at the top of the list.LIMIT 1 - This limits the query to only return the first matching file so that our query only returns a single file. So in our example the query will scan the Files related to the Opportunity and return the most recent file with the word Summary in the filename. Using a mixture of the above SOQL parameters you can build a query to return multiple ID's or very specific files ID's only depending on your requirements.
You can quickly test your SOQL statement by opening up the developer console
Navigate to the Query Editor taband paste your SOQL statement in. Before you hit Execute make sure you replace the {pv0} with the ID of an object that has files attached that meet your rule.
The results in the top window should display the ID of your matching file.
Copy and paste the returned ID in behind your Salesforce URL to check that you reach the File summary screen:
Hit save on your query, but before you navigate away from the query page copy and paste the Salesforce ID of the query. The ID is included in the page URL. For example: in https://chrisparker-dev-ed.lightning.force.com/one/one.app#/sObject/a0r0I00004tijTxQAI/view the ID is a0r0I00004tijTxQAI. Paste this into a notepad as you'll need this ID in the next step.
Add the &QVar0ID= parameter to your Conga button to identify the query.
Now navigate to the Object Manager and Object that contains your button. In our case the Opportunity. In the Buttons, Links, and Actions menu select and edit your button.
You will need to add this parameter to your button: &QVar0ID=a0r0I00004tijTxQAI?pv0={!Opportunity.Id} The query ID that you copied earlier needs to replace the text highlighted in red and you will need to replace the Opportunity.ID with a reference to the ID of the object you are using. You can find the correct syntax by using the Insert Field dropdown in the button editor. You have now set the QVar0 as the results of your Query.
Update the &TemplateID= parameter in your conga query to include {QVar0}.
The final piece of the puzzle is to update your TemplateID parameter to include the QVar0 so that we actually add the files we have selected with the query as a template. To do this add {QVar0} to your TemplateID=. If you already have a template seperate them with a comma like this: &TemplateID=a0z0I000003tdksQAA,{QVar0} otherwise you could set the TemplateID to only use {QVar0} depending on your requirements. In our example the a0z0I000003tdksQAA is the ID of our Sales Contract Template. You can now click save and test your button.
If everything has gone well your file(s) will now be automatically added as a template:
Feel free to reach out to info@cloudinit.nz if you have any questions!
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Analyse your Apex Code with Code Scanner]]>Ben Edwards | Technical Directorhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Analyse-your-Apex-Code-with-Code-Scannerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Analyse-your-Apex-Code-with-Code-ScannerThu, 11 Jan 2018 23:35:00 +0000
We've been working on a heavy development project lately which has been ongoing for a number of years. As such, the code base is now very large, and it's had many developers build different features over the course of time.
Salesforce has a character code limit (3,000,000 by default) on the amount of active Apex code you can have in your Org. We were getting pretty close to this limit, so it was time for a cleanup. Having had many developers work over a long period of time, it gets to a point where you end up with a large number of methods, variables and even classes that are no longer used and not called by anything. I wanted to do a scan of the Org and determine what code is used, and what isn't.
However, there are currently no existing tools available that make this possible. The Salesforce Tooling API however does have something called a SymbolTable,which is given to each Apex Class. This SymbolTable holds all the external references that each method or line of code calls to an external class.
So it was time to build another app for the Toolkit! I haven't done much with the Toolkit in a while so it was fun to sink my teeth back into Django, Heroku and working with the Salesforce APIs.
So Code Scanner was born. The application connects to your Salesforce Org, runs a compilation on all your code, takes the SymbolTable and provides an interface to show you all the external code and classes that reference your classes and methods. This makes it very valuable for determining which code is used, and which isn't.
The app is provided free of charge (as with my other apps), and is completely open-sourced on GitHub.
Feel free to reach out to ben@cloudinit.nz if you have any questions.
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Slack Notifications From Salesforce]]>Tiaan Swart | Technical Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Slack-Notifications-From-Salesforcehttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Slack-Notifications-From-SalesforceWed, 22 Nov 2017 23:12:18 +0000
Recently we came across a scenario where we had to post content to Slack from Salesforce. Instead of writing a trigger we decided to use an Invocable Action that can easily be used inside of Process Builders as well as any Apex methods (clicks not code y'all).
All you need to get started is:
A Slack Webhook • Remember to setup your Slack Webhook in Remote Site Settings
The Salesforce Slack Invocable Action
You can deploy the code directly from GitHub using the Deploy to Salesforce button.
Once in Salesforce, just add the Invocable Method using the "Apex Class" action within Process Builder and you're away!
That's it!
Pictured: Tiaan Swart at CloudinIT office
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Strategic Kiwi Partnership Formed for One-Stop Salesforce Shop]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Strategic-Kiwi-Partnership-Formed-for-One-Stop-Salesforce-Shophttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Strategic-Kiwi-Partnership-Formed-for-One-Stop-Salesforce-ShopThu, 16 Nov 2017 02:28:00 +0000
Two Kiwi-owned, eminent Salesforce consulting partners have joined forces to deliver a seamless, ‘multi-cloud with one partner’ solution. CloudinIT and AFDigital have today announced an exclusive strategic partnership that solves the growing need for a single implementation partner that delivers a strong marketing and customer experience skillset with deep CRM understanding.
The respective organisations are both successful in their own right, in multiple markets, but both have an ethos that feels ‘Kiwi’, with an emphasis on a ‘number 8 wire mentality’ - adaptation, evolution and problem-solving. They’ve recognised the need for a full-service partner for Salesforce clients that is targeted at SME and mid-market organisations where the volume of digital transformation services work exists.
“Like all successful organisations, we are focused on our relationships, value, accessibility and problem-solving. This partnership is the response to our clients’ needs - a one-stop Salesforce specialist shop that is accessible, agile and focused on the end-to-end digital transformation,” says Raymond Yong, Director of CloudinIT.
“Our customers require a diverse range of skills and tenure to successfully implement across all Salesforce Clouds, and for businesses like ours having all these experts internally is not economically an option. But strong, strategic partnerships with like-minded teams is, and it allows us to tap into talent pools we’ve previously only dreamed of,” says Robin Leonard, CEO and Co-Founder of AFDigital.
The partnership has grown out of a historical ex-colleague relationship but has blossomed under a united vision to deliver a cloud-to-cloud solution to all Salesforce customers. It means their clients will have access to 55 experts in varying disciplines and skillsets, but still have the ease of dealing with one funnel point for account management.
The partnership between AFDigital and CloudinIT makes it easier for clients to adopt and integrate Salesforce successfully, while scaling their digital marketing and technology strategy and roadmap in an affordable and agile way.
Both organisations will continue to trade as individual entities servicing their existing clients but offering a wider range of services in partnership with the other. The partner with the primary relationship will continue to lead, but can now build complementary project teams comprising of more varied and expert skillsets to cover strategy the full suite of digital transformation services including social media, marketing, CX, CRM and technology architecture.
“It is no secret that Salesforce continues to go from strength to strength with their offering that extends far beyond customer relationship management to cover every touch point in the consumer journey. The strategic partnership between AFDigital and CloudinIT will allow us to deliver across the full gamut of opportunity with a seamless client service model,” says Leonard.
“We have complementary skill sets, ambition and approach to customer success. We believe in disrupting the traditional partner ecosystem and delivering affordable and agile solutions in a transparent way. CloudinIT are extremely excited to offer AFDigital’s cloud marketing expertise and insights to our customers and delivering our industry leading Salesforce solutions and architecture design to their clients,” says Yong.
The new working relationship launches today.
Pictured (L-R): Raymond Yong and Robin Leonard
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New Staff Announcement - Pablo Martinez]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Pablo-Martinezhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Pablo-MartinezSun, 29 Oct 2017 23:43:43 +0000
Introducing Pablo Martinez our latest technical consultant who has immigrated to Auckland from Córdoba, Argentina.
Pablo is a senior software developer experienced in all stages of development. His 12 years of experience include developing CRM, stock management, purchases management, and payroll system modules. Pablo is always delivering to customer requirements and providing exceptional training/support.
Check out Pablo's specialties below. We are very pleased to have him with us at CloudinIT!
Specialties:
Oracle Forms/ReportsPLSQL DeveloperAngularJSAngular4NodeJSCSSHTML5
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How to Drive Success With Pardot Scoring, Grading, and Tracking]]>Stefan Botha | Technical Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/How-to-Drive-Success-With-Pardot-Scoring-Grading-and-Trackinghttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/How-to-Drive-Success-With-Pardot-Scoring-Grading-and-TrackingTue, 03 Oct 2017 01:20:16 +0000
According to a 2013 Lead Generation Marketing Effectiveness Study by Lenskold Group, over two-thirds of successful marketers cite lead scoring based on content and engagement as a primary driver for improving revenue contribution.
Over the last few years, prospective customers have been spending more time engaging with companies’ digital footprints prior to engaging with them. Scoring, grading, and tracking provide visibility and some control over how prospective clients view, access, and research your organisation.
Scoring, grading, and tracking are important marketing automation tools to have in your marketer’s toolbox. They allow you to focus your marketing engagement on the prospects that are most likely to purchase or make use of your offering (along with passing them to your sales team at just the right moment). Below we will discuss scoring, grading, and tracking in more detail.
Scoring
A carefully structured scoring model can make it easier to segment and isolate your prospects. You can separate prospects that are just browsing from those that are actively seeking to engage with your services.
Think of Pardot as a shop assistant that stands in your shop and notes how customers are engaging with the products on the shelves. Some customers will focus on a specific area and pick items up to look at them. Others might wander the aisles because they happened to stumble upon your business. Just like a shop assistant should engage with these two customer types differently, so should your marketing automation system.
Your system should identify the prospects that are actively engaging with your brand and know that they are different from those that are just browsing. Looking at a blog page on your site may not necessarily indicate the same interest as looking at your pricing page.
Your scoring model should be aimed at separating interest from intent. Read more on Pardot scoring here.
Grading
Lead grading is the automatic segmentation of prospects based on preset criteria, to determine how close of a fit a prospect is to your ideal customer. Criteria examples include location, industry, job title, and company size, which we will explore in more detail below.
Location
If location is import to your business, you can grade prospects based on where they are located. For example, if you run a local shop, you may not be as focussed on prospects outside of your area. On the other hand, a global store may grade prospects if there is a distribution site in the same country as them.
Industry
Industry segmentation and grading can separate and categorise high priority industries. For example, if you provide an accounting software package for auditors, targeting the financial industry would be more useful than targeting the hospitality or manufacturing industries.
Job Title
Targeting by job title is a way to ensure you are targeting a person in a position of influence or with purchasing power. This avoids wasting resources on targeting prospects that may have little or no influence.
Company Size
Some companies might be either too small or too large to make use of your products. The idea is to match your prospect grade to the correct company size and profile that makes for a good customer.
Most of the information required to set up a successful grading model will not come from marketing, but rather from sales. Your sales team is familiar with their ideal customers and engagement behaviours that indicate not just product interest, but high buying signals.
Pardot should seamlessly pass qualified leads that match the customer profile to sales once they qualify based on their buying actions or if their lead score achieves the threshold set. This will ultimately prevent sales wasting time on prospects that are not a good fit for your products and not ready to engage in the sales cycle.
Start your scoring and grading model design by questioning the sales department. Start with the top salespeople and sales manager as their input is vital for a successful model implementation and system adoption. Prepare a list of questions to determine the best fit between your offering and your ideal customer.
Example questions to key stakeholders:
What does your ideal customer look like?Is this information segmented by location, industry, job title, or company size?
What actions define high buying signals? (Examples below.)
Web pages visitedEmail responsesEvent attendance
Learn more about Pardot grading here.
Visitor Tracking
Pardot provides a tracking code to be inserted into your website for tracking visitors. This code injects a tracking cookie into the visitor’s browser that identifies them as a visitor and identifies the Pardot account the cookie is linked to.
It is important to note that Pardot does not create third party cookies, but only first party. Third party cookies are used to track web activity on multiple sites and drive targeted marketing ads. Pardot only tracks activity related to the site that the cookie originates from.
This allows you to gain insight into your total site visitors, most visited pages, page-visit duration, and frequency of visits. By also identifying originating IP addresses, it may open up information about the companies that visit your website, even if a visitor does not fill out a form to identify themselves.
Read more about the tracking capabilities within Pardot here.
Couple this visitor tracking feature with the scoring and grading functionality in Pardot and you have useful information to determine the effectiveness of your site and marketing materials.
Note: The perfect scoring, grading, and tracking model is one that adapts as your company and the market changes. Make sure you revisit your model often to adjust and improve as necessary.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
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New Staff Announcement - Nitish Singhal]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Nitish-Singhalhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Nitish-SinghalSun, 24 Sep 2017 23:51:13 +0000
A big welcome to our new senior technical consultant, Nitish Singhal, who has made the trip from India to join CloudinIT!
Nitish joins us as a senior Salesforce developer, with six years of experience in implementation of various Salesforce features for a wide range of industries. Nitish creates robust programs and implements solutions with best practices for his customers.
We've included Nitish's array of specialties and certifications below. We are glad he has joined the CloudinIT family.
Specialties:
ApexVisualforceLightningSalesforce CommunitiesIntegrationSolution Design
Certifications:
Salesforce.com Certified Force.com DeveloperSalesforce.com Certified Advanced DeveloperSalesforce.com Certified AdministratorSalesforce.com Certified Advanced AdministratorSalesforce.com Certified Sales Cloud ConsultantSalesforce.com Certified Pardot SpecialistSalesforce.com Certified Platform App BuilderSalesforce.com Certified Platform Developer ISalesforce.com Certified Platform Developer II
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Chrome Extension To Get Salesforce Session ID]]>Tiaan Swart | Developerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Chrome-Extension-To-Get-Salesforce-Session-IDhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Chrome-Extension-To-Get-Salesforce-Session-IDWed, 20 Sep 2017 02:53:53 +0000
We all know testing Apex API’s can be a daunting task when you have to hop, skip, and jump through it with different users.
With some trial and error in trying to find the best way to do this I created a Chrome Extension that gets the `sid` cookie stored in the browser.
Extensions are small software programs that can modify and enhance the functionality of the Chrome browser. You write them using web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
The Salesforce session ID is a unique alphanumeric text string that gets assigned to each user for that user's visit (session) to an instance server. The session ID is stored as a cookie and used as a means of authentication while you work on the Salesforce platform. Session ID's stay active for 2 hours (120 minutes) before they go ‘stale’ if no activity occurs and requires you to refresh the session by logging in again.
The Chrome Extension has the following files:
manifest.json
Every extension has a JSON-formatted manifest file, named manifest.json, that provides important information and configuration. Read more about it here.
js/contentScript.js
This is the logic script that the extension executes. Since the extension is setup as a browser action this is executed on each tab. In here we inspect the cookies and grab the `sid` cookie, we then send a message to the background script to store it and change the icon to make the extension appear ‘active’.
We also use the content script to call Salesforce and get the user details for the session ID using the ForceTK library. We use a version of the ForceTK that makes this easy, provided by Wes Nolte.
js/background.js
Since the content script does not have access to all of the Chrome API’s, we need the background script to act as the link between the page and the extension popup. We listen for any messages sent from the content script and store this in Chrome Storage.
popup.html
The popup page that is displayed when clicking the extension icon. When the popup is displayed it executes the popup JavaScript file which retrieves the session ID and user details to display in the popup.
And that folks, is about all there is to this little extension. You can reach me at tiaan@cloudinit.nz if you have any questions.
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Why Did I Join CloudinIT? A Blog Post By Tiaan.]]>Tiaan Swart | Developerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Why-did-I-join-CloudinIT-Tiaanhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Why-did-I-join-CloudinIT-TiaanThu, 07 Sep 2017 04:33:19 +0000
As the anniversary of my first year at CloudinIT draws closer I thought it good to reflect on the last couple of months. It’s 8.30pm on a Tuesday evening and I’m asking myself why did I join CloudinIT? What drew me to this amazing startup?
There are a few things that come to mind:
A great vision and identity. It’s great knowing that CloudinIT is heading into the right direction, what the directors believe in and what we all are working towards.Honest and hard working directors. Nothing motivates you more than hard working directors, who are open and honest about about how the company is performing.A fun atmosphere and great environment. If I’m going to spend most of my waking week at the office, it should be a enjoyable experience. Everyone in the office has a great sense of humour. CloudinIT has a fun, open, energetic and creative environment and it makes a big difference in the overall atmosphere. It’s great waking up actually wanting to go to work!Money isn’t everything, employees are. There are quite a few companies in New Zealand doing extremely well financially, but people aren’t exactly breaking down their doors trying to get in. Without good people, it doesn’t matter how profitable you are.Fitness and other benefits. A healthy brain is a damn fine resource! Why shouldn’t your company encourage a healthier lifestyle with a free gym membership?Knowledge is power! This must be one of the top perks of working at CloudinIT, training and certification. We are life long learners. If I don’t feel slightly overwhelmed with the learning curve, I’m not growing. CloudinIT provides us with the opportunities to seek out new challenges to accelerate our growth.
These are only just a handful of reasons why I am so stoked with CloudinIT. I love being a part of something great; where I can make a difference and show off my skills as a problem solver.
I’m fully embracing this time in my life where I can do what I love at a company that treats me like family!
Original post here.
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Benefits of Using a Pardot Implementation Partner]]>Stefan Botha | Technical Consultanthttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Benefits-of-Using-a-Pardot-Implementation-Partnerhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Benefits-of-Using-a-Pardot-Implementation-PartnerTue, 15 Aug 2017 01:53:00 +0000
Many companies who purchase Pardot (and most software packages for that matter) are often faced with the decision of self implementation, guided implementation, or partner implementation. We have provided some of the benefits of having your implementation guided and led by our certified Pardot team.
Project Planning Every organisation is unique. Pardot implementation partners work with clients to determine the exact model that fits their business. They take into account the number of projects the organisation has and the time frames needed to complete them.
Salesforce Integration
It helps to have a fully certified and knowledgeable team to assist with your software rollout. This is generally true for all corporate implementations and software rollouts. Not only is this crucial to a successful implementation strategy, but it also helps drive adoption.
Our team of Salesforce certified professionals and Pardot experts can guide your company with new implementations, provide strategic analysis, and audit existing Pardot marketing automations.
Experience
Pardot consultants and implementation partners have implemented before. They are familiar with:
the Pardot software and implementation strategy.Pardot best practises.the available learning and success resources available to you.
Marketing Asset and Integration Setup
Harness the power of an expert’s experience to guide your implementation. Consultants have exposure to a variety of other customers and are usually familiar with best practises across the board. Not only would your implementation partner be able to grasp your business requirements, but they will also be in the best position to assess your strategy during the migration process. Our dedicated team can assist you in strategic planning around your marketing assets to ensure a guided implementation of your digital customer engagement strategy.
Consulting Beyond Implementing a Product
Our consultants don’t work to just configure and develop software to your needs, but rather look to consult on your business processes, outcomes and project objectives.
Consulting should be treated as a partnership, and not a customer-vendor relationship. As such, our consultants work to challenge your processes, suggest new ideas and bring in information from other projects and industries on ways to improve your business and drive better business outcomes.
Training
Our Pardot experts will guide you through Pardot marketing automation best practices and ensure full knowledge transfer as part of our engagement. We will also provide your team with access to the online library of resources provided by Salesforce and Pardot.
Related Blog Post:Why Integrate Pardot and Salesforce?
If you have any questions, please feel free to email stefan@cloudinit.nz.
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New Staff Announcement - Patrick Lorilla]]>CloudinIT HRhttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Patrick-Lorillahttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/New-Staff-Announcement-Patrick-LorillaMon, 07 Aug 2017 23:15:00 +0000
Welcome to our new technical consultant, Patrick Lorilla, who has come all the way from the Philippines to join our team!
Patrick is a detail-oriented Salesforce developer with three years of experience in the IT consulting industry. He is skilled in the implementation and maintenance of new features for organisations. In addition, Patrick is passionate about learning new skills and techniques.
Below are some of Patrick's specialties and certifications. We are pleased to have him on board with us!
Specialties:
ApexVisualforceJavaScriptjQueryVisual WorkflowsProcess Builder
Certifications:
Salesforce Certified AdministratorSalesforce Certified Sales Cloud ConsultantSalesforce Certified Platform App Builder
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Introducing the TXTinIT app by CloudinIT]]>CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Introducing-the-TXTinIT-app-by-CloudinIThttps://www.cloudinit.nz/single-post/Introducing-the-TXTinIT-app-by-CloudinITThu, 03 Aug 2017 04:43:00 +0000
A text messaging plug-in for Salesforce
The team at CloudinIT have been working hard to create our first product, TXTinIT, a text messaging app for Salesforce. Now you can send (and receive) text messages to your customers, employees, or any records (any record with a phone field!) directly from within Salesforce. We’ve also got you covered if you want to schedule messages to be sent at a later time, send out a bulk message campaign, or create a message template to merge into your messages with Salesforce data. Best of all, this app is available for free in the AppExchange. More details about our favourite features are listed below.
Features
Salesforce Fully integrated with Salesforce. Messages stored as activities. Can be integrated with standard and custom objects.
Criteria Based Sending TXTinIT allows you to automate messages based on Salesforce record criteria. This includes leveraging the standard Workflow and Process Flow engines to execute your sending.
Global Reach Connectivity backed by a subsidiary of MessageMedia, the world's largest mobile messaging provider.
Two-Way Send and receive SMS messages directly out of and into Salesforce.
Schedule Messages Sending a marketing campaign at a specific time? No problem. Schedule future sends with ease.
Bulk Sending You can easily send to all records in a Salesforce List View, or build custom conditions for bulk sending.
Template Messages Organise and share message templates with the rest of your team using our intuitive mail-merge functionality.
Shortcode & Virtual Numbers Shortcodes are supported in New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, and United States. Virtual numbers are available in select regions.
Supports Integration with Process Builder Our integration with Salesforce Process Builder lets you add text messages to any existing automated processes.
To learn more about TXTinIT and how it can work for you, check out our feature video: