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Sales CRM - Do You Need It
05Jul

Sales CRM – Do You Need It

Every sale is a story of connecting needs with solutions and questions with answers. A sales customer relationship management (CRM) system is essential for facilitating these connections. It helps track customer interactions and creates meaningful engagements that drive business forward. However, many sales organizations are not fully utilizing this powerful, game changing tool. According to the latest State of Sales report, two-thirds of sales professionals feel overwhelmed by too many sales applications, and only 37% believe their organizations fully leverage their CRM systems. Let’s explore how a sales CRM can improve productivity and streamline operations to enhance every customer interaction. What is a Sales CRM? A sales CRM is software designed to help sales teams manage their interactions with customers and streamline pipeline management. It securely stores customer data, leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to automate key tasks and generate content, and optimizes sales processes to increase efficiency and revenue. Why is a Sales CRM Important? The State of Sales report indicates that 69% of sales professionals need efficient tools to manage job complexity. A sales CRM helps teams stay organized by storing customer details in one place, making it easier to track past interactions, follow up on leads, and close deals. This reduces time spent on administrative tasks, allowing salespeople to focus more on connecting with customers and closing sales. Today’s CRMs are more than just databases. With AI capabilities, sales teams can access and analyze customer information and automate tasks such as drafting sales emails and prioritizing tasks, transforming them into a highly efficient revenue-generating unit. How Does a CRM Help Increase Sales? A CRM assists sales representatives in suggesting products or services that meet customer needs, following up on leads, and reconnecting at the right time. For example, if a customer has expressed interest in a product, the CRM records this interaction. When that product becomes available at a discount, the salesperson can reach out with a personalized offer. CRMs can also automate follow-up reminders, encouraging customers toward a purchase. Here’s how a CRM can be applied at each stage of the sales cycle: 5 CRM Best Practices A CRM system is most effective when it supports a well-defined sales strategy. Here are some tips to enhance CRM use: Does Your Company Need a Sales CRM? To determine the need for a sales CRM, evaluate current sales processes and future goals. A CRM is particularly beneficial for business if: Tips for Choosing the Best CRM Selecting the right CRM involves considering your unique business needs. What will you gain? What will it cost? How will you implement it? How will you train sales teams to use it? Key factors include: Use Your CRM to Tell More Sales Success Stories A sales CRM serves as a comprehensive record with 360 degree views of customer interactions, helping improve productivity, foster meaningful customer engagement, and craft better success stories for your business. 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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July 5, 2024in Artificial Intelligence, Data, Salesforce
Salesforce Tiny Giant LLM
05Jul

Salesforce Tiny Giant LLM

‘On-device Agentic AI is Here!’: Salesforce Announces the ‘Tiny Giant’ LLM Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is excited about the company’s latest innovation in AI, introducing the ‘Tiny Giant’ LLM, which he claims is the world’s top-performing “micro-model” for function-calling. Salesforce’s new slimline “Tiny Giant” LLM reportedly outperforms larger models, marking a significant advancement in on-device AI. According to a paper published on Arxiv by Salesforce’s AI Research department, the xLAM-7B LLM model ranked sixth among 46 models, including those from OpenAI and Google, in a competition testing function-calling (execution of tasks or functions through API calls). The xLAM-7B LLM was trained on just seven billion parameters, a small fraction compared to the 1.7 trillion parameters rumored to be used by GPT-4. However, Salesforce highlights the xLAM-1B, a smaller model, as its true star. Despite being trained on just one billion parameters, the xLAM-1B model finished 24th, surpassing GPT-3.5-Turbo and Claude-3 Haiku in performance. CEO Marc Benioff proudly shared these results on X (formerly Twitter), stating: “Meet Salesforce Einstein ‘Tiny Giant.’ Our 1B parameter model xLAM-1B is now the best micro-model for function-calling, outperforming models 7x its size… On-device agentic AI is here. Congrats Salesforce Research!” Salesforce’s research emphasizes that function-calling agents represent a significant advancement in AI and LLMs. Models like GPT-4, Gemini, and Mistral already execute API calls based on natural language prompts, enabling dynamic interactions with various digital services and applications. While many popular models are large and resource-intensive, requiring cloud data centers and extensive infrastructure, Salesforce’s new models demonstrate that smaller, more efficient models can achieve state-of-the-art performance. To test function-calling LLMs, Salesforce developed APIGen, an “Automated Pipeline for Generating verifiable and diverse function-calling datasets,” to synthesize data for AI training. Salesforce’s findings indicate that models trained on relatively small datasets can outperform those trained on larger datasets. “Models trained with our curated datasets, even with only seven billion parameters, can achieve state-of-the-art performance… outperforming multiple GPT-4 models,” the paper states. The ultimate goal is to create agentic AI models capable of function-calling and task execution on devices, minimizing the need for extensive external infrastructure and enabling self-sufficient operations. Dr. Eli David, Co-Founder of the cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct, commented on X, “Smaller, more efficient models are the way to go for widespread deployment of LLMs.” 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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July 5, 2024in Salesforce Einstein
AI Agents in Line at HR
03Jul

AI Agents in Line at HR

AI Agents in Line at HR may only be a satirical cartoon for a very short time. Sorry, Farside, but your AI bits may not be able to keep up with AI. July, 2034 — A new software unicorn has just emerged inbehind a bar in a pub in East London. Unicorn, by the way, descibes a startup company valued at over $1 billion, not necessarily with a billion dollar concept. Back to East London behind the soggy bar. Hey, its our fantasy. Besides if Amazon can start in a garage, isn’t anything possible? The CEO logs in as usual and gathers daily updates from the team. The Chief Technology Officer is suggesting a new feature to deploy. The Chief Product Officer wants to redesign the CRM (or whatever CRM has evolved to) integration. The Chief Revenue Officer is showing off the new pipeline, forecast by Accountant in a Box. The Chief Customer Officer is discussing the latest customer levitation tools and product feedback. The Chief Information Security Officer has found a new privacy conflict, which they are addressing with a newly-revised infrastructure set-up. And the Head of HR is fretting about the latest round of IT candidates. This sounds like every software business you’ve ever heard of. But the difference is that the CEO’s teammates are entirely AI, not human: The CTO is Lovable. The CPO is Cogna. The CCO is Gradient Labs. The CRO is 11x. The CISO is Zylon. Back to 2024: The Rise of AI Agents In 2024, the hottest topic in software is AI agents, or Agentic AI. Founders are rapidly standing up agentic applications that can solve specific needs in functions like sales and customer services — without a human required. Software buyers, seeing real opportunities to quickly improve their P&L, are swiftly building or purchasing these agentic products. Investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into startups in this space in recent months. Even Salesforce wasn’t launched with a silver AI spoon in its mouth. Salesforce began investing in artificial intelligence (AI) in 2014, when the company started acquiring machine learning startups and announced its Customer Success Platform. In 2016, Salesforce launched Einstein, its AI platform that supports several of its cloud services. Einstein is built into Salesforce products and includes features like natural language processing, machine learning, and predictive analytics. It helps organizations automate processes, make decisions based on insights, and improve the customer experience. YouTube How To Increase Revenue Using AI for CRM: Salesforce … Feb 12, 2024 — What is Salesforce Einstein? Salesforce Einstein is the first trusted artifici… TechForce Services How does Salesforce Use AI for Business Growth? Jan 31, 2024 — Powered by technologies like Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, im… saasguru · LinkedIn · 7mo History of Salesforce AI From Predictive to Generative – LinkedIn Published Nov 27, 2023. In 2014, Salesforce, under the visionary leadership of… Twistellar AI in Salesforce: History, Present State and Prospects Organizations generate tons of data on marketing and sales, and surely your sales managers… Wikipedia Salesforce – Wikipedia In October 2014, Salesforce announced the development of its Customer Success Platform. Less than ten years ago, folks. Salesforce’s large database of data has helped the company address AI challenges quickly and with quality. The company’s data cloud offering provides AI with the right information at the right time, which can reduce friction and improve the customer experience.  Salesforce’s AI-powered solutions include: To catalyze this evolution, Salesforce strategically acquired RelateIQ in 2014. This move injected machine learning into the Salesforce ecosystem, capturing workplace communications data and providing valuable insights. Europe is home to many of these exciting companies. For example, H, a French AI agent startup, raised a $220 million seed round in May. Beyond RPA: The New Wave of AI Agents AI agents represent a significant step-change from Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bots, which, as explored last year, have several limitations due to their deterministic nature. Next-generation AI agents are non-deterministic, meaning that instead of stopping at a “dead end,” they can learn from mistakes and adjust their series of tasks. Not entirely unlock the mouse running the same maze over and over for the cheese. Eventually Mr. Squeakers learns which paths are dead ends and avoids them by making better choices at intersections. In AI Agents this makes them suited to complex and unstructured tasks and means they can transform the journey from intent to implementation in software development. They can deliver “pure work,” rather than acting only as a helpful co-pilot. The rise of AI agents is not only an opportunity to expand automation beyond what is possible with RPA but also to broadly redefine how knowledge work is performed. And by who. And even how is it defined. Given the right guardrails, next-generation AI agents have the potential to effectively and safely replace knowledge workers in many business scenarios. AI Agents in Action These agents are about to revolutionize the world of work as we know it and are already getting started. For example, Klarna recently revealed that its AI agent system handled two-thirds of customer chats in its first month in operation. While HR may not be swamped with AI CVs yet, it is certainly fathomable. One would suppose those candidates would have to be reviewed and interviewed by IT, not just HR. Here’s another deep thought. The internet of things (IoT) first appeared in a speech by Peter T. Lewis in September 1985. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical devices that can collect and transmit data over the internet using sensors, software, and other technologies. IoT devices can communicate with each other and with the cloud, and can even perform data analysis and be controlled remotely. The IoT concept was smart homes, health care environments, office spaces, and transportation. Only recently have we begun to think of the IoT as including the actual computers, or AI, in addition to sensored devices. It isn’t exactly a chicken and the egg question, but more of a

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July 3, 2024in Generative AI
Hubspot Hacked
01Jul

Hubspot Hacked

HubSpot recently disclosed a “security incident” where unauthorized access was attempted on several customer accounts. HubSpot is an American software company that provides tools for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. It was founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, and is today best-known for its all-in-one growth platform that helps businesses attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers.. The CRM company detected the incident on June 22, though it was publicly acknowledged six days later by Alyssa Robinson, Chief Information Security Officer at HubSpot. HubSpot seems to have suffered a data breach, but claims to have everything in hand – for now. Robinson stated that the incident involved bad actors targeting a limited number of HubSpot customers, aiming to gain unauthorized access to their accounts. Upon detection, HubSpot promptly activated its incident response procedures and has since been in contact with affected customers, taking necessary steps to revoke unauthorized access and safeguard customer data. HubSpot Hacked With how the statement was worded, it would seem that the attackers, whoever they are, tried to break into the account – but not necessarily succeeded. Still, the company proceeded with the usual practice in case of a cyberattack: “HubSpot triggered our incident response procedures, and since June 22 we have been contacting impacted customers and taking necessary steps to revoke the unauthorized access and protect our customers and their data,” said Robinson. As of Friday, June 28, HubSpot has not disclosed any communication from the hacking group, nor has it specified the full scope of the incident or the exact number of impacted customers. Despite having over 100,000 paying customers and achieving significant financial milestones, such as breaking the $1 billion annual recurring revenue (ARR) mark, HubSpot’s stock price remained stable amid the news, which surfaced through TechCrunch. Ironically, this incident follows HubSpot’s recent announcement of new data protection capabilities for its Smart CRM users. However, it underscores the ongoing challenges faced by major enterprise tech providers regarding cybersecurity. HubSpot says fewer than 50 customer accounts were victims of a breach in late June, all impacted customers were notified and all has been quiet since the initial incident. As of May 2024, HubSpot had more than 216,000 customers, so an incident that impacts fewer than 50 doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless of course you’re one of the accounts involved. What we know:  The company is not releasing many details about the incident other than the basic facts. The company said in a June 28 release that it detected a security incident on June 22, 2004, where bad actors were attempting to gain access to customer accounts without authorization. HubSpot’s detection of the breach triggered its incident response procedures and the company notified impacted accounts. On June 28 and again on July 1, 2024, the company reported no further signs of a problem. What’s not known at this time is whether the attack was targeting a specific group of HubSpot customers. Back in March 2022, fewer than 30 HubSpot customers were impacted by a data breach, but all of the impacted customers were in the cryptocurrency business. HubSpot joins a growing list of enterprise tech firms experiencing cybersecurity incidents. While recent arrests, such as that of the alleged ringleader behind attacks on Twilio, LastPass, and Mailchimp, offer some hope, cybersecurity threats continue to evolve with the proliferation of digital devices and AI accessibility. This trend poses new risks, including the misuse of AI technologies like deepfakes, as highlighted by concerns raised by organizations like OpenAI. As businesses expand their digital presence and adopt new technologies, they must remain vigilant against evolving cybersecurity threats to protect sensitive information and maintain customer trust. HubSpot is an American software company that provides tools for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. It was founded in 2006 and is today best-known for its all-in-one growth platform that helps businesses attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. Impact for Marketers As marketers, our martech stacks are heavily reliant on cloud-based SaaS applications (like HubSpot) and cloud-based data storage from vendors like Amazon’s AWS and Google Cloud. Even on-premise applications and data are a security risk. The applications running in the cloud and the data stored there are at arm’s length from your data security professionals. More than 80% of the data breaches recorded in 2023 involved data stored in the cloud, according to the Harvard Business Review. Big breaches impacting millions of consumers get a great deal of attention, like those that struck Sony or Target in years past. But smaller, targeted attacks can be devastating to the businesses that have their data exposed, though they fly under the radar of the national press. The number of reported data breaches increased 78% from 2022 to 2023. The cost of the average breach surpassed $4 million in 2023 and is up 15% since 2020. How secure is HubSpot? Is my data secure with HubSpot? All communications between a web client and HubSpot servers are protected using TLS (1.0, 1.1, 1.2) protocol encryption using 2048 bit keys. We also provide customers with the ability to enable Two-Phase Authentication (2FA) to prevent unauthorized use of their portals. Another July Hack One of the most significant data leaks in recent history is reported to have occurred on July 4. The leak, dubbed RockYou2024 by the original poster, “ObamaCare”, on a leading hacking forum, compiled 9,948,575,739 unique passwords into plain text. This means close to ten billion passwords were leaked. That said, the RockYou2024 is primarily a compilation of all previous password leaks and is built on a prior RockYou2021 compilation of 8.4 billion passwords. That means between RockYou2021 and RockYou2024, about 1.5 billion passwords were added to the list. Further, according to the hacker, at least a few of these passwords were cracked using RTX 4090, a tactic that was warned about earlier. According to Cybernews researchers, “In its essence, the RockYou2024 leak is a compilation of real-world passwords used by individuals all over the world. Revealing that

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July 1, 2024in Salesforce Shield
Global Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market
01Jul

Global Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market

Exploring the Global Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market: A Comprehensive Analysis The primary objective of this market research report turned Tectonic insight is to analyze the market environment and dynamics of the Global Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market. Of course at Tectonic we are partial to Salesforce. Travel into the Global Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market Venturing into the realm of the Global Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market reveals an enriching journey of exploration and discovery. This extensive research initiative explores deep into the nuances of the Medical Device Sales CRM Software industry, offering valuable insights on market trends, growth potentials, competitive dynamics, and the profound and continued influence of COVID-19. Through a detailed examination, the report constructs a structured narrative encompassing essential themes, methodologies applied, services provided, market valuation insights, and compelling reasons to attract investors to this narrative. Insights Enclosed in the Global “Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market” Report Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market Segmentation Methodologies & Tools Employed Market Valuation & CAGR Statistics The report details market value figures and Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGRs), reflecting specific reports analyzed and varying timeframes reviewed for precise statistical comparisons. Unpacking COVID-19’s Influence The report unveils how pandemic upheavals have impacted facets such as consumer behaviors, supply chain disruptions, and broader shifts in overall marketplace dynamics. Key Players in the Medical Device Sales CRM Software Market Force Manager, Salesforce, Netsuite, Veeva Multichannel CRM, HubSpot, Pipedrive, SPOTIO, LeadSquared, PatientPop, Thryv, Zoho CRM, ChannelTrace, AcuityMD, Solo Fire, Showpad, Penrod, ConnectSx, Zendesk Sell, HashMicro, Insightly, Creatio, MaximizerCRM. Investors’ Potential Benefits In conclusion, this exhaustive exploration into the multifaceted realm of the global Medical Device Sales CRM Software marketplace offers invaluable insights into industry dynamics. It paves an informed path for decision-making processes and strategic planning endeavors for stakeholders, whether from large corporations or small businesses. About Orbis Research Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) serves as a single point aid for all market research requirements, specializing in delivering customized reports tailored to clients’ needs. With a vast database of reports from leading publishers and authors worldwide, Orbis Research ensures accuracy and specialization in industries and verticals, enabling clients to map their specific market research needs effectively. 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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July 1, 2024in Salesforce Health and Life Sciences Solutions, Salesforce Implementation Services
Data Cloud - Facts and Fiction
30Jun

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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June 30, 2024in Salesforce Data Cloud
Gearset's Features Empower Salesforce Teams
30Jun

Gearset’s Features Empower Salesforce Teams

Gearset, a leading Salesforce DevOps platform, is introducing a new suite of features aimed at accelerating and improving reliable release management for Salesforce teams. Gearset’s Features Empower Salesforce Teams. These enhancements, including Archiving, expanded Compare and Deploy capabilities, and Flow Navigator, address critical user feedback and deliver tools for optimizing data and enhancing visibility throughout the DevOps lifecycle. According to Matt Dickens, CPO and co-founder of Gearset, effective DevOps strategies rely on accurate and consistent data to deploy applications at the pace of innovation. The latest features empower teams to manage and apply relevant data in real-time, supporting organizations in navigating continuous changes to drive business growth on Salesforce confidently. Gearset Archiving provides organizations with control over Salesforce data storage by consolidating backup, sandbox seeding, and monitoring solutions into a unified platform. By eliminating outdated data from Salesforce orgs, enterprises can reduce storage costs and prevent performance degradation. Key benefits of Archiving include: Dickens explains that Gearset Archiving allows teams to safely store obsolete or legacy data off-platform while maintaining accessibility for future use, without impacting org performance. Maintaining clean and consistent metadata across the organization is crucial for Gearset. Recognizing limitations in Salesforce deployment tools, Gearset’s enhanced Compare and Deploy capability now enables DevOps teams to quickly analyze and compare metadata, facilitating efficient issue identification and resolution during deployments. This update streamlines operations, ensuring faster delivery of business-critical functionality to maximize ROI. Gearset’s Flow Navigator tool introduces visual comparison capabilities for Salesforce deployments, addressing challenges with Flow versioning and enhancing transparency in deployment processes. By presenting flows in their native Salesforce format, Flow Navigator enables teams to better manage deployments and mitigate potential conflicts. Dickens emphasizes that Gearset remains committed to user-driven innovation, aiming to continuously address Salesforce challenges and deliver solutions that save time, reduce stress, and improve efficiency for all customers. In summary, Gearset’s latest release underscores its dedication to empowering Salesforce teams with robust tools tailored to enhance efficiency and reliability across the DevOps 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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June 30, 2024in Salesforce
Summer 24 Release Updates
30Jun

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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June 30, 2024in Salesforce Data Cloud, Salesforce Einstein, Salesforce Optimization
Salesforce Envision
28Jun

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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June 28, 2024in Salesforce
Breaking Down Data Silos with Zero Copy Data Federation
27Jun

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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June 27, 2024in Einstein 1 Platform, Generative AI, Salesforce Data Cloud
AI Safety and Responsibility
27Jun

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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June 27, 2024in Generative AI
Stay Ahead of SaaS Threats
27Jun

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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June 27, 2024in Salesforce
MuleSoft Compostability
26Jun

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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June 26, 2024in Generative AI, Mulesoft

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