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DHS AI Hires

DHS AI Hires

DHS Makes First AI Corps Hires to Enhance Federal AI Capabilities The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced its first 10 hires for the newly formed AI Corps, as detailed in a release exclusively shared with Axios. Why It Matters U.S. officials emphasize the need for more expertise to determine the best ways to safely leverage artificial intelligence tools within the federal government. The AI Corps Initiative The new 50-person AI Corps, modeled after the U.S. Digital Service, will explore AI applications across DHS’s portfolio, including: Key Quote “The interest in it has been phenomenal,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Axios. “We need that expertise to really fuel our interest in leading the federal government in the safe and responsible deployment of AI to advance our mission.” New AI Corps Members According to a press release, the following individuals are joining DHS’s AI Corps: Between the Lines Competition for these roles has been intense. Mayorkas previously mentioned in April that over 3,000 applications were received for the 50 positions. The selected members come from diverse backgrounds, including current government employees, Big Tech, startups, and the research community. Hiring Practices and Future Moves New flexible hiring practices for AI-related jobs have enabled DHS to compete with private sector roles and fast-track AI Corps hires. “Things move more rapidly, and so we’re moving more rapidly, as well, to meet the moment,” Mayorkas added. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more Top Ten Reasons Why Tectonic Loves the Cloud The Cloud is Good for Everyone – Why Tectonic loves the cloud You don’t need to worry about tracking licenses. Read more

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Data Cloud - Facts and Fiction

Data Cloud – Facts and Fiction

Salesforce Data Cloud: Debunking Myths and Unveiling Facts If you’ve been active on LinkedIn, attending recent Salesforce events, or even watching a myriad of sporting events, you’ve likely noticed that Salesforce has evolved beyond just CRM. It’s now CRM + DATA + AI. Although Salesforce has always incorporated these elements, with Einstein AI and data being integral to CRM, the latest innovation lies in the Data Cloud. Data Cloud – Facts and Fiction Data Cloud, formerly known as Salesforce Genie, represents Salesforce’s latest evolution, focusing on enabling organizations to scale and grow in an era where data is the new currency. It is the fastest-growing product in Salesforce’s history, pushing new boundaries of innovation by providing better access to data and actionable insights. As Data Cloud rapidly develops, potential clients often have questions about its function and how it can address their challenges. Here are some common myths about Data Cloud and the facts that debunk them. Myth: Data Cloud Requires MuleSoft Fact: While MuleSoft Anypoint Platform can accelerate connecting commonly used data sources, it is not required for Data Cloud. Data Cloud can ingest data from multiple systems and platforms using several out-of-the-box (OOTB) connectors, including SFTPs, Snowflake, AWS, and more. Salesforce designs its solutions to work seamlessly together, but Data Cloud also offers connector options for non-Salesforce products, ensuring flexibility and integration capabilities beyond the Salesforce ecosystem. Myth: Data Cloud Will De-Duplicate Your Data Fact: Harmonizing data in Data Cloud means standardizing your data model rather than de-duplicating it. Data Cloud maps fields to a common data model and performs “Identity Resolution,” using rules to match individuals based on attributes like email, address, device ID, or phone number. This process creates a Unified Individual ID without automatically de-duplicating Salesforce records. Salesforce intentionally does not function as a Master Data Management (MDM) system. Myth: Data Cloud Will Create a Golden Record Fact: Data Cloud does not create a single, updated record synchronized across all systems (a “golden record”). Instead, it retains original source information, identifies matches across systems, and uses this data to facilitate engagements, known as the Data Cloud Key Ring. For instance, it can recognize an individual across different systems and provide personalized experiences without overwriting original data. Myth: You Can’t Ingest Custom Objects from Salesforce Fact: During the data ingestion process, you can select which objects to ingest from your Salesforce CRM Org, including custom objects. The system identifies the API names of the objects and fields from the data source. Ensuring the Data Cloud integration user has access to the necessary information (similar to assigning Permission Sets) allows you to ingest and map custom objects accordingly. Myth: Data Cloud Requires a Data Scientist and Takes a Long Time to Implement Fact: While implementing Data Cloud involves ingesting, mapping data, running identity resolution, and generating insights, it does not necessarily require a data scientist. Skilled Salesforce Admins can often manage data integration from third-party applications. Effective Data Cloud implementation requires thorough planning and preparation, akin to prepping a room before painting. Identifying use cases and understanding data sources in advance can streamline the implementation process. Myth: Data Cloud is Expensive Fact: Data Cloud operates on a consumption-based pricing model. Engaging in strategic conversations with Salesforce Account Executives can help understand the financial implications. Emphasizing the value of a comprehensive data strategy and considering the five V’s of Big Data—Volume, Variety, Veracity, Value, and Velocity—ensures that your data supports meaningful business outcomes and KPIs. In Summary Salesforce Data Cloud represents a significant evolution in managing and leveraging data within your organization. It helps break down data silos, providing actionable insights to drive organizational goals. Despite initial misconceptions, implementing Data Cloud does not require extensive coding skills or a data scientist. Instead, thorough planning and preparation can streamline the process and maximize efficiency. Understanding the value of a comprehensive data strategy is crucial, as data becomes the new currency. Addressing the five V’s of Big Data ensures that your data supports meaningful business outcomes and KPIs. At Tectonic, our team of certified professionals is ready to assist you on this journey. We offer a Salesforce Implementation Solution package to help you get hands-on with the tool and explore its capabilities. Whether you need help understanding your data sources or defining use cases, our data practice can provide the expertise you need. Talk to Tectonic about Data Cloud and discover how our tailored solutions can help you harness the full potential of your data. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Summer 24 Release Updates

Summer 24 Release Updates

Salesforce’s Summer 24 release updates are designed to help teams work more efficiently with innovations in data, AI, CRM, and trust. These updates aim to save businesses time and enhance the end-user experience with improved search results, personalized experiences, and more. Highlights of Salesforce’s Summer 2024 Updates Activate and Publish a Store Without a Custom Domain Previously, B2B Commerce Lightning Web Runtime (LWR) required purchasing and configuring a custom CDN domain to log in to the storefront, even for demo purposes. Now, users can activate and view the storefront before setting up a custom domain, saving both time and costs. The custom domain and CDN can be configured when ready to go live. Include Attachments When Importing Products Adding attachments to products during import was a manual and time-consuming process. Now, users can include document URLs in the CSV file during product data import, consolidating vital product information and reducing the potential for human error. Implement Einstein Semantic Search Highlighted again from the Spring 2024 release, Einstein Semantic Search is crucial for commerce. It improves search relevance, reduces bounce rates, and increases conversion rates by recognizing synonyms, alternate spellings, abbreviations, typos, and more. Integrate Data Cloud with Enhanced LWR Sites In the context of walled gardens and cookie deprecation, using owned data is critical for future readiness and better customer experiences. Integrating Data Cloud with enhanced LWR sites allows for the collection of user data, such as profile information and site engagement. This data builds user profiles, creates analytics, suggests personalized recommendations, and enhances site personalization. See a Summary of a User’s Permissions and Access Previously, viewing a user’s permissions required multiple clicks and accessing various locations. The new User Access Summary feature displays all permissions directly on the user‘s detail page, streamlining the troubleshooting and access management process. These enhancements in Salesforce’s Summer 2024 release are aimed at improving efficiency, personalization, and user experience, helping businesses to operate smarter and more effectively. Summer 24 Release Updates summarized for you. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Flow Tricks for Salesforce

Flow Tricks for Salesforce

Flow enthusiasts everywhere appreciate its capabilities, which continue to evolve as a cornerstone of Salesforce declarative automation. Here are five essential Flow Tricks for Salesforce: In conclusion, embracing Flow not only optimizes business processes but also fosters continuous learning and improvement. By sharing insights and best practices, the Flow community collectively enhances user experiences and drives innovation. Whether you’re new to Flow or a seasoned user, these tips aim to enhance your journey and empower you to explore further possibilities. Share your own tips and experiences below to continue the Flow journey together! Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Self Service Customer Service

Service Cloud Unlimited Plus Edition Call-out Features

Service Cloud Unlimited Plus Edition Call-out Features Einstein Bots In a few clicks, launch a multi-channel, multilingual bot that integrates with your Salesforce data. Bots automate common tasks and help your teams do more. WhatsApp Conversation Automation with Bots Use an enhanced bot with enhanced Messaging for WhatsApp channels, generally available in Messaging as of March 2023. Seamlessly route WhatsApp conversations to and from an enhanced bot with Omni-Channel Flow. Where: This change applies to Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions. Setup for Einstein Bots is available only in Lightning Experience. How: Create an enhanced WhatsApp channel. Then add the Route Work flow action to an Omni-Channel flow to route conversations to and from an enhanced bot. Feedback Management Understand customer feedback as it evolves over time by engaging customers and users with relevant, personalized surveys. Incorporate survey data into your feedback management process and gain actionable insights at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce Envision

Salesforce Envision

Salesforce: Enabling Customer Experiences Through Integrated Solutions Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform offering software, services, and applications designed to create valuable customer experiences. It integrates various organizational departments such as marketing, sales, and services, providing a unified view of the customer. Salesforce Envision is a digital transformation engagement. This insight outlines a typical customer’s journey through a Salesforce Envision Advisory engagement with the Tectonic team. We will highlight three key areas that contribute to a powerful and successful Envision engagement: Outcome-Driven Focus The cornerstone of any Salesforce Envision Advisory engagement is an upfront and honest conversation with the customer about their future business aspirations. Establishing desired outcomes and understanding how customers should perceive the business are critical. This focus is about envisioning future possibilities rather than dwelling on current systems. Collaboration with the Customer Alignment between the customer and the consulting team is essential. Success hinges on ensuring all organizational groups are aligned, as individual great ideas often fail without collective buy-in. Effective collaboration can prevent projects from delivering minimal benefits and adding redundant systems. Planning for Success Understanding customer goals and desired outcomes allows building on existing efforts within business and IT departments. This understanding helps create a roadmap for business transformation, enabling the customer to serve their customers better, achieve efficiencies, and scale for future growth. Every stakeholder must participate in creating this roadmap, aligning with organizational leadership. This roadmap is not merely a technology rollout plan but a capabilities roadmap to meet business outcomes. Business processes and existing IT systems must be analyzed and re-architected for successful execution. What is Salesforce Envision? Salesforce Envision is a design-led engagement enabling organizations to undergo digital transformation to unlock customer insights, build actionable roadmaps, and develop successful solutions. The principles guiding Salesforce Envision include: Envision engagements are typically co-led by a Salesforce Senior Business Architect and a Senior Salesforce Technical Architect to provide guidance and ensure customer alignment. A seasoned Salesforce Solutions Architect leads the Envision discovery process to ensure no stone is left unturned. Typical Phases of an Envision Engagement: The future-state capability matrix, developed from these strategies, identifies IT systems to be decommissioned, contributing to cost and maintenance benefits and supporting a solid business case. This elimination of technical debt can fully offset the long-term costs with the investment in your future success. Final Executive Brief The Envision engagement concludes with an executive brief for business and IT stakeholders, covering: By following these steps, organizations can effectively leverage Salesforce Envision to achieve their digital transformation goals. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Breaking Down Data Silos with Zero Copy Data Federation

Breaking Down Data Silos with Zero Copy Data Federation

Siloed data slows communication, delays data-driven insights, and creates extra work. Learn ways for Breaking Down Data Silos with Zero Copy Data Federation. Overview In today’s data-driven business world, organizations amass vast amounts of data across various touchpoints, centralizing it in data warehouses or lakes to derive business insights. While this data is primarily used for analytics and machine learning, it remains largely inaccessible to business users in Sales, Service, and Marketing, hindering their ability to make data-driven decisions. To address this challenge, Salesforce and Amazon have collaborated to create Zero Copy Data Federation between Salesforce Data Cloud and Amazon Redshift. This integration empowers businesses by providing seamless access to Redshift data within Salesforce Data Cloud, enhancing data integration, and enabling real-time insights without the need for data replication. Benefits of Zero Copy Data Federation This new solution allows businesses to: Salesforce Data Cloud Salesforce Data Cloud unifies all company data into the Einstein 1 Platform, offering a comprehensive 360-degree view of the customer. It integrates diverse datasets such as telemetry data and web engagement data, creating a holistic customer profile that is easy to access and understand. This unified view enables Sales, Service, and Marketing teams to build personalized customer experiences, drive data-driven actions, and leverage trusted AI across all Salesforce apps. Amazon Redshift Amazon Redshift is a fast, fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service designed for efficient data analysis using existing business intelligence tools. It offers superior price-performance compared to traditional data warehousing solutions and supports datasets ranging from a few hundred gigabytes to petabytes. Redshift’s AI-powered massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture facilitates quick, cost-effective business decision-making. Zero Copy Data Federation Zero Copy Data Federation, a feature of Salesforce Data Cloud, enables secure, real-time access to Redshift data without copying it. This capability maintains data in its original location, eliminating replication overhead and ensuring current information access, thus enhancing data integration while preserving data integrity and efficiency. Data federated from Amazon Redshift is represented as a native data cloud object, powering various Data Cloud features, including marketing segmentation, activations, and process automation. This allows businesses to enrich unified customer profiles in Salesforce Data Cloud with transactional data from Redshift, gaining insights, harnessing predictive and generative AI, and delivering highly personalized experiences. Setting Up Zero Copy Data Federation To configure Zero Copy Data Federation in Salesforce Data Cloud: Use Cases Zero Copy Data Federation enables various use cases: Conclusion Zero Copy Data Federation between Salesforce Data Cloud and Amazon Redshift empowers businesses to dismantle data silos, enhance customer experiences, and drive operational efficiencies. By enabling real-time access to Redshift data within Salesforce Data Cloud, organizations can make informed decisions, personalize customer interactions, and optimize resources across various functions. This integration sets a new benchmark for data-driven business success in the digital age. Check out the Salesforce Zero Copy Data Federation announcement for more details. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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AI Safety and Responsibility

AI Safety and Responsibility

The Future of AI: Balancing Innovation and Trust Authored by Justin Tauber, General Manager, Innovation and AI Culture at Salesforce, ANZ. AI Safety and Responsibility AI holds the promise of transforming business operations and freeing up our most precious resource: time. This is particularly beneficial for small businesses, where customer-facing staff must navigate a complex set of products, policies, and data with limited time and support. AI-assisted customer engagement can lead to more timely, personalized, and intelligent interactions. However, trust is paramount, and businesses must use AI power safely and ethically. The Trust Challenge According to the AI Trust Quotient, 89% of Australian office workers don’t trust AI to operate without human oversight, and 62% fear that humans will lose control of AI. Small businesses must build competence and confidence in using AI responsibly. Companies that successfully combine human and machine intelligence will lead in AI transformation. Building trust and confidence in AI requires focusing on the employee experience of AI. Employees should be integrated early into decision-making, output refinement, and feedback processes. Generative AI outcomes improve when humans are actively involved. Humans need to lead their partnership with AI, ensuring AI works effectively with humans at the helm. Strategies for Building Trust One strategy is to remind employees of AI’s strengths and weaknesses within their workflow. Showing confidence values — how much the model believes its output is correct — helps employees handle AI responses with the appropriate level of care. Lower-scored content can still be valuable, but human reviews provide deeper scrutiny. Prompt templates for staff ensure consistent inputs and predictable outputs. Explainability or citing sources for AI-generated content also addresses trust and accuracy issues. Another strategy focuses on use cases that enhance customer trust. The sweet spot is where productivity and trust-building benefits align. For example, generative AI can reassure customers that a product will arrive on time. AI in fraud detection and prevention is another area where AI can flag suspicious transactions for human review, improving the accuracy and effectiveness of fraud detection systems. Salesforce’s Commitment to Ethical AI Salesforce ensures that its AI solutions keep humans at the helm by respecting ethical guardrails in AI product development. Salesforce goes further by creating capabilities and solutions that lower the cost of responsible AI deployment and use. AI safety products help businesses use AI power without significant risks. Salesforce AI products are built with trust and reliability in mind, embodying Trustworthy AI principles to help customers deploy these products ethically. It’s unrealistic and unfair to expect employees, especially in SMBs, to refine every AI-generated output. Therefore, Salesforce provides businesses with powerful, system-wide controls and intuitive interfaces to make timely and responsible judgments about testing, refining responses, or escalating problems. Salesforce has invested in ethical AI for nearly a decade, focusing on principles, policies, and protections for itself and its customers. New guidelines for responsible generative AI development expand on core Trusted AI principles. Updated Acceptable Use Policy safeguards and the Einstein Trust layer protect customer data from external LLMs. Commitment to a Trusted AI Future While we’re still in the early days of AI, Salesforce is committed to learning and iterating in close collaboration with customers and regulators to make trusted AI a reality for all. Originally published in Smart Company. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Data Cloud Features and Connectors

Data Cloud Features and Connectors

Leveraging New Features and Connectors in Salesforce’s Data Cloud Salesforce’s Data Cloud is rapidly evolving with continuous updates and new functionalities, including AI advancements. Keeping pace with these changes can be challenging. This insight explores the latest features and how to effectively utilize them to enhance your Salesforce environment. Data Cloud Features and Connectors. Are CDP and data Cloud the same? Data Cloud is more than just your traditional CDP. It’s the only data platform native to the world’s #1 AI CRM. This means that marketers can quickly access and easily action on unified data – from across the entire business – to drive growth and increase customer lifetime value. Introducing the Feature Manager The Winter ‘24 update introduced the Feature Manager, a powerful tool that simplifies managing Data Cloud’s features. It allows you to easily enable, disable, and monitor AI and beta features within the platform. Where to Find It You can find the Feature Manager in the navigation pane under the Features section, providing a centralized and intuitive way to manage your Data Cloud capabilities. Enable Data Cloud Features Using the Feature Manager, you can enable Data Cloud features. This screen is visible only when there are one or more features to enable or disable. Advantages of Enabling Beta Features One standout capability of the Feature Manager is its support for enabling beta versions of connectors and AI features. Here’s why you should consider using beta features: Early Access to Innovations Beta features give you early access to the latest tools, allowing you to experiment with new functionalities before their official release. This can provide a competitive edge and enhance your Salesforce environment. Feedback and Influence Using beta features allows you to provide valuable feedback to Salesforce, helping shape the final versions of these tools. This feedback loop ensures that the features are refined to meet user needs. How to Enable Beta Features Enable and Disable Data Cloud AI and Beta Features with Feature Manager Easily enable, disable, and monitor Data Cloud AI and beta features using the new Feature Manager, found in the navigation pane under Features. Where: This change applies to Data Cloud in Developer, Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited editions. Steps to Enable Beta Features: Real-World Example: Adobe Marketo Connector A prime example of a beta feature available in the Winter ’24 release is the Adobe Marketo connector. This connector is currently in beta, allowing users to enable and test it through the Feature Manager. Steps to Enable the Adobe Marketo Connector By enabling and testing this connector, you can explore its functionalities and see how it integrates with your existing Salesforce setup. Staying Updated with Salesforce Data Cloud Keeping up with the latest features in Salesforce Data Cloud doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With tools like the Feature Manager, you can easily manage, enable, and experiment with new features and connectors, including those currently in beta. This not only keeps you at the forefront of innovation but also allows you to directly influence the development of these tools. Dive in, utilize the new capabilities, and make the most of what Salesforce Data Cloud has to offer. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Stay Ahead of SaaS Threats

Stay Ahead of SaaS Threats

The modern kill chain is eluding enterprises because they are not adequately protecting the infrastructure of modern business: SaaS. Stay Ahead of SaaS Threats. SaaS continues to dominate software adoption, accounting for the greatest share of public cloud spending. However, enterprises and SMBs alike have not revised their security programs or adopted security tooling designed for SaaS environments. Security Teams Struggle with SaaS Security Traditional security controls that CISOs and their teams relied on during the era of on-premise dominance have become obsolete. Firewalls now protect a much smaller perimeter, visibility is limited, and even if SaaS vendors offer logs, security teams need custom middleware to process them into their SIEM. SaaS vendors define security scopes for their products, but customers must manage SaaS compliance, data governance, identity and access management (IAM), and application controls—areas where most incidents occur. While the SaaS shared responsibility model is universal among SaaS apps, no two SaaS applications have identical security settings. Understanding the SaaS Kill Chain In the context of SaaS security, the application provider is responsible for physical infrastructure, the network, OS, and the application itself. Customers are responsible for data security and identity management. This shared responsibility model requires SaaS customers to take ownership of components that threat actors target most frequently. Research by AppOmni indicates that a single SaaS instance typically has 256 SaaS-to-SaaS connections, many of which are no longer in use but still retain excessive permissions to core business applications like Salesforce, Okta, and GitHub. With the multitude of different SaaS security settings and constant updates, security teams struggle to monitor these connections effectively. The number of entry points multiplies exponentially as employees enable SaaS-to-SaaS connections, using machine identities like API keys and digital certificates. As the attack surface migrated outside the network perimeter, so did the kill chain—threat actors orchestrate their attacks through various phases: Case Study: Scattered Spider/Starfraud In a recent attack by the Scattered Spider/Starfraud groups, a user opened a phishing email and logged into a spoofed IdP page. Through social engineering, the attackers obtained the user’s TOTP token, tricked the MFA protocol, and gained access to Amazon S3, Azure AD, and Citrix VDI. They then deployed a malicious server in the IaaS environment and executed a privileged Azure AD escalation attack, eventually encrypting all accessible data and delivering a ransom note. Growing SaaS Attack Activity SaaS breaches, though not always making headlines, have significant consequences. IBM reports that the average cost of data breaches in 2023 was $4.45 million per incident, a 15% increase over three years. Threat actors frequently use tactics similar to those seen in the Scattered Spider/Starfraud kill chain, targeting SaaS tenants and exploiting configuration issues. Protecting SaaS Environments With these measures, security teams can gain the visibility and intelligence needed to identify intruders early in the kill chain and prevent breaches before they become devastating. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce Flow Efficiency and Automation

Salesforce Flow Efficiency and Automation

Salesforce Flow: For Efficiency with Automation Salesforce Flow enables businesses to create very sophisticated solutions without the need for extensive coding, using a simple point-and-click interface. This capability is particularly beneficial for Salesforce Admins, offering functionalities akin to those of Salesforce developers. In this insight we will explore Salesforce Flow: Understanding Developer and Admin Contributions. Salesforce Flow Efficiency and Automation. Salesforce Flow, originally known as Visual Flow, has evolved significantly with each Salesforce release, culminating in the intuitive Flow Builder interface available today. Its applications are expansive and continually expanding. Key Capabilities of Salesforce Flow Mass Updates: Easily handle batch processing to update thousands of records simultaneously based on specific criteria, significantly saving time and effort. Automated Workflows: Construct intricate workflows with multiple steps and decision points, ensuring consistency and efficiency across business processes. User-Friendly Interface: Designed to be intuitive, Flow Builder allows users of varying technical skill levels to create and manage workflows effortlessly. Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with Salesforce products and third-party applications, enabling comprehensive solutions leveraging diverse data sources. Continuous Improvement: With each Salesforce update, Flow receives new features and enhancements, continually enhancing its versatility and power. Salesforce Flow serves as a pivotal tool for enhancing productivity and streamlining complex operations, making it indispensable for Salesforce Admins striving to optimize workflows. Understanding Salesforce Flow in Detail What is Salesforce Flow? Salesforce Flow Builder is a robust tool within the Salesforce ecosystem, enabling users to automate workflows and processes. These workflows encompass tasks such as sending emails, updating records, triggering other flows, executing Apex actions, and sending notifications. Flows can be initiated by various events, including user actions, record changes, and scheduled times. Flows comprise elements such as actions, conditions, variables, and screens. The visual, drag-and-drop interface of Salesforce Flow Builder ensures accessibility for users without extensive coding knowledge while offering advanced capabilities for technical experts. Types of Salesforce Flow Screen Flows: Provide a step-by-step user interface to automate tasks, collect data, and guide users through processes. Ideal for systematically capturing and qualifying leads, Screen Flows are straightforward to set up and manage. Record-Triggered Flows: Automate actions based on changes to Salesforce records, like creating, updating, or deleting records. These flows replace older tools like Workflow Rules and Process Builder, offering flexibility and ease of management. Scheduled Flows: Run at specified times or intervals to automate routine tasks or periodic updates. Useful for scenarios such as sending reminders or performing batch operations. Platform Event-Triggered Flows: Respond to events within the Salesforce platform in real-time, enabling instant automation based on critical business events. Requires technical proficiency in integrations and platform events. Autolaunched Flows: Initiated by other processes or external systems without user interaction, making them essential for automating backend processes like updating records based on external triggers. The Role of Salesforce Administrators Salesforce Administrators play a major role in designing, implementing, and managing flows. Their responsibilities span from creating automated workflows to ensuring optimal flow performance and providing user training. Administrators leverage Flow to automate data entry, streamline approval processes, and set up notifications for critical events. Collaboration Between Admins and Developers Effective collaboration between Salesforce Administrators and Developers is important for creating efficient and robust flows. While Administrators focus on designing and implementing simpler flows, Developers enhance capabilities by integrating custom Apex code, performing advanced data manipulations, and optimizing flow performance. This collaboration ensures comprehensive solutions that meet both business requirements and technical standards. Final Thoughts Salesforce Flow closees the gap between manual operations and automated efficiency, enabling businesses to enhance accuracy, reduce operational bottlenecks, and adapt swiftly to market changes. By understanding the distinct contributions of Administrators and Developers and fostering a collaborative environment, organizations can design and implement innovative workflows that drive success and growth. Embracing Salesforce Flow not only optimizes business processes but also positions organizations to thrive in dynamic market landscapes. Staying abreast of Salesforce automation advancements and best practices ensures sustained competitiveness and growth. Like1 Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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MuleSoft Compostability

MuleSoft Composability

MuleSoft: Enabling AI Integration with Composability Solutions – MuleSoft Composability MuleSoft, a subsidiary of Salesforce, is enhancing its portfolio with new capabilities to help organizations build AI services that serve as the building blocks for more complex applications. The company announced a new AI-powered composability solution designed to assist organizations in constructing discrete AI services to form sophisticated systems and applications. The Power of APIs in AI“We believe the world of AI is really the world of APIs,” said Param Kahlon, Salesforce EVP and GM of Automation and Integration. “Accessing AI in the enterprise fundamentally involves the ability to call a model.” This applies whether the AI model is an internal large language model (LLM) or a foundational model built by a third party. “Using an LLM within the company or federating requests across multiple LLMs through LangChain involves API calls,” Kahlon added. “These API calls need to be managed and governed.” AI Integration with MuleSoftMuleSoft’s goal is to provide a platform that integrates AI, especially generative AI, with business processes. For instance, MuleSoft aims to manage API calls to external LLMs using its API management tools and enable APIs to act as actions for copilot conversational agents in the enterprise. This allows agents to execute backend actions using natural language, such as granting customer credit or escalating orders. The MuleSoft solution enables you to connect data, automate workflows, and build an AI-ready foundation in a single unified platform. The pulse of innovation never stops, and neither does the pressure to cater to employees and customers. In fact, 84% of IT leaders share the need for IT to step up its game and better address shifting customer expectations.  The MuleSoft Composability Solution The MuleSoft composability solution comprises three main pillars: Anypoint Platform: Used to define, design, build, and deploy APIs.API Management: Manages the deployment of APIs throughout their lifecycle, whether built with Anypoint or other technologies.Automation: Includes MuleSoft RPA and MuleSoft Intelligent Document Processing (IDP).While these components are part of MuleSoft’s existing portfolio, the company introduced new features, such as support for AsyncAPI, to facilitate the adoption of event-driven architectures (EDAs). AsyncAPI Support and Real-Time CommunicationCurrently in open beta, AsyncAPI support will be generally available later this year. It will enable systems to add real-time communication for processes with fluctuating data sets, like predictive maintenance, dynamic pricing, or fraud detection. For example, a bank could use AI models for fraud detection by analyzing transactional data and user behavior. This model can be transformed into a service callable by various applications. Enhancing Security and GovernanceSecurity and governance are crucial components of the composability solution. When applications make API calls to LLMs and other external models, it’s vital to ensure that valuable data is encrypted and/or masked. MuleSoft’s API gateways, Anypoint Flex Gateway, and Mule Gateway can act as LLM gateways with custom policies to secure and manage APIs. For example, a financial institution could use an API gateway to implement a custom policy checking for sensitive customer information before sharing data with a third-party LLM. To increase internal collaboration and efficiency, IT leaders are leaning into automation and AI – but these initiatives are not here to replace the human touch, rather to liberate human potential. These technologies free up IT experts to dive into the more “human” aspects of their roles, think innovation, communication, and collaboration. Picture it as IT superheroes, if you will, donning capes of automation. MuleSoft is at the forefront of enabling AI integration and innovation in enterprise environments. By breaking down data silos and fostering interoperability, MuleSoft’s composability solution enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of AI applications, ensuring secure and seamless integration across business processes. MuleSoft has a goal to empower everyone with AI. Salesforce announced AI-powered enhancements to its MuleSoft automation, integration, and API management solutions that help business users and developers improve productivity, simplify workflows, and accelerate time to value.  MuleSoft’s Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) helps teams quickly extract and organize data from diverse document formats including PDFs and images. Unlike other automation solutions, MuleSoft’s IDP is natively integrated into Salesforce Flow, which provides customers with an end-to-end automation experience. Additionally, to speed up project delivery, MuleSoft has embedded Einstein, Salesforce’s predictive and generative AI assistant, in its pro-code and low-code tools. This empowers users to build integrations and automations using natural language prompts directly in IDP, Flow Builder, and Anypoint Code Builder.  Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Tableau Cloud Hyperforce

Tableau Cloud Hyperforce

What to Know About Tableau Cloud Migration to Hyperforce Tableau Cloud is transitioning to Hyperforce, Salesforce’s next-generation infrastructure for the public cloud, in the second half of 2024. This shift promises enhanced security, scalability, and compliance, allowing customers to better manage data residency and adhere to local regulations. Here’s a closer look at what Hyperforce is, the benefits it brings to Tableau Cloud, and how to learn more about this significant upgrade. What is Hyperforce? Hyperforce is Salesforce’s advanced infrastructure architecture tailored for the public cloud. It marks a significant technological advancement, enabling applications to perform with greater security and efficiency. Unlike traditional hardware-dependent setups, Hyperforce is built on a foundation of code, allowing seamless deployment across global regions. This flexibility ensures effective data residency management and compliance with local laws. This might be a good time to consider moving to Tableau Cloud. Shifting workloads to software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions has been an increasing priority for organizations for years. As we build for a world facing new economic challenges and uncertainty, executives have increasingly looked to Tableau Cloud, our SaaS offering, to help them develop their own competitive advantages, easily scale, and maximize efficiency. Flexera’s 2023 State of the Cloud reports that 51% of data is now in the public cloud, and nearly half of their survey respondents indicated their organization plans to move from on-premises software to SaaS. More and more organizations are turning to cloud solutions to reduce operational costs and drive their own digital transformation. Benefits of Tableau Cloud on Hyperforce When Tableau Cloud transitions to Hyperforce, customers will experience immediate benefits while retaining the familiar user experience and functionality. Here’s what to expect: Leveraging Salesforce Innovations Hyperforce enables Tableau Cloud to integrate more effectively with Salesforce’s existing innovations and integrations, fostering faster innovation. A notable example is Tableau Cloud Private Connect, which allows secure connections between Tableau Cloud and popular cloud data warehouses and lakes via a private connection, enhancing data transit security. Learning More About the Migration To delve deeper into Salesforce’s Hyperforce platform and the Tableau Cloud migration, refer to the Hyperforce FAQ and the Tableau Cloud Hyperforce Migration article. This migration marks an exciting phase for Tableau Cloud, promising unparalleled scalability, security, and compliance. The enhanced regional availability and compliance standards will enable more organizations worldwide to leverage Tableau Cloud, while the platform’s flexibility will spur faster AI-powered analytics innovations. For those interested in the technical details and implications of this transition, contact Tectonic today. Tableau Cloud is always on the latest version Tableau, which means you get access all of the innovations as soon as they’re available. That means all Tableau AI features that we develop are available to your data community right away. As transformational technologies like LLMs are integrated into Tableau Pulse, your teams can use them to stay up to date on all the most essential metrics immediately. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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Salesforce Validation Rules

Salesforce Validation Rules

Essential Validation Rules for Salesforce Admins In this post, five essential validation rules that Salesforce admins should implement in their clients’ Salesforce orgs are discussed. Improve the quality of your data using validation rules. Validation rules verify that the data a user enters in a record meets the standards you specify before the user can save the record. Before digging into the specific rules this insight will highlight, let’s briefly review what validation rules are. What are Validation Rules in Salesforce? Validation rules in Salesforce are used to enforce data quality and consistency by validating the data entered by users before it is saved to the database. These rules consist of expressions or formulas that check the data against specified, required criteria. A validation rule can contain a formula or expression that evaluates the data in one or more fields and returns a value of “True” or “False”. Validation rules also include an error message to display to the user when the rule returns a value of “True” due to an invalid value. After you have defined validation rules: You can specify the error message to display when a record fails validation and where to display it. For example, your error message can be “The close date must occur after today’s date.” You can choose to display it near a field or at the top of the page. Like all other error messages, validation rule errors display in red text and begin with the word “Error”. 5 Validation Rules Examples Here are some important validation rules to configure in your Salesforce org: 1. The Account Number Must Be Numeric To ensure that users enter only numeric values in the Account Number field of the Account object, configure the following validation rule: plaintextCopy codeOR( ISBLANK(AccountNumber), NOT(ISNUMBER(AccountNumber)) ) If a text value is entered in the Account Number field, an error message will appear, as shown below: 2. Annual Revenue Range To restrict accounts with an annual revenue greater than a specific number, use the following rule: plaintextCopy codeOR( AnnualRevenue < 0, AnnualRevenue > 1000000 ) If the annual revenue entered exceeds 1 million, an error will be triggered, as illustrated below: 3. Close Date Must Be a Future Date To prevent sales reps from selecting past dates in the Opportunity Close Date field, implement this validation rule: plaintextCopy codeCloseDate < TODAY() Entering a past date in the Opportunity Close Date field will result in the following error: 4. Prevent Open Cases from Being Reset to New To stop service agents from changing the status of open cases to “New,” configure the following validation rule: plaintextCopy codeAND( ISCHANGED(Status), NOT(ISPICKVAL(PRIORVALUE(Status), “New”)), ISPICKVAL(Status, “New”) ) Attempting to reset the status of open cases to “New” will produce this error message: 5. Blank Email or Mobile To ensure that at least one communication detail (email or mobile number) is available on a contact record, use this validation rule: plaintextCopy codeAND( ISBLANK(Email), ISBLANK(MobilePhone) ) Leaving both email and mobile fields empty will generate the following error: Conclusion These validation rules are essential for maintaining data quality in your Salesforce org. If you have additional validation rules in mind, please share them in the comments below so everyone can benefit. Like Related Posts Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more Health Cloud Brings Healthcare Transformation Following swiftly after last week’s successful launch of Financial Services Cloud, Salesforce has announced the second installment in its series Read more

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