Visualforce for One Screen Data Entry in Salesforce

Salesforce users who have come from the single entry screen environment of a contact manager find that they have to go through more clicks and screens then they are used to in order to add a new Contact for a new Account and then schedule a Task to call the new contact at some point in the future.

Even though Salesforce provides considerably more power than a contact manager, salespeople in particular are not fond of having to spend any more time than they think is necessary to key data into a CRM system.

Visualforce and Apex to the Rescue

A Visualforce page with an accompanying Apex custom controller can allow for data to be committed to multiple Salesforce objects simultaneously.  So, using Visualforce and Apex, it’s possible to create a single data entry screen in which a new Account, Contact and Task can be added at once.

A Visualforce page such as the one pictured below can simply be added as a new tab — after a user clicks on the tab, they are immediately in data entry mode. Note that the approach of creating a new tab leaves the default add Account and add Contact functionality untouched.

Since Visualforce along with Apex provides such a high level of control over a custom Salesforce page, it’s possible to create variants of the screen that’s shown above. For example, the bottom section of the screen could be for scheduling an Event rather than a Task.  Custom Account or Contact fields can also be added.

SageCRM Switch and Save Promo

Between now and March 31, 2010, Sage is offering a switch and save promotion for companies that want to switch from their current contact manager or CRM solution to Sage CRM.  Sage CRM is the world’s leading, on-premises, browser-based CRM solution.

The offer includes a 60% discount on the MSRP of SageCRM licenses (for the number of licenses matching existing product license count), a discount on the first two years of software maintenance and a credit toward data conversion services.

Eligible Products

Companies currently using any of the following products are eligible for the price promotion:

• Salesforce.com
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• SugarCRM
• GoldMine
• Maximizer
• Seibel
• Pivotal
• Onyx

10 of the Decade’s Important Advancements in Business Technology

There have been many important advancements in technology over the past decade.  Here are a few that have had a significant impact on how businesses operate and how businesspeople interact with their prospects and customers.

Virtualization

Virtualization of servers with products such as VMWare and Xen, IT departments have been able to manage multiple servers much more easily and with fewer physical resources.  Virtualization has also provided a number of other important benefits such as for product testing.

Computing Power

Moore’s Law may soon be running out of steam, but in the meantime, it has continued to rule the technology landscape.  Business users can now get significantly more laptop and mobile device power than they could at the beginning of the decade.

Mobile Email

For better or for worse, most businesspeople now get their corporate email instantly on devices such as BlackBerry and iPhone — and they can respond to prospects and customers more quickly than they ever could.

Browser-Based CRM

The 90’s saw client/server CRM with installs required on every machine and often-unreliable data synchronization.  At the end of the 90’s, cloud based CRM applications such as Salesforce.com and on-premises, browser-based applications such as SageCRM were born.  These applications have flourished in the past decade and have made it much easier for business users to manage and interact with CRM applications.

Cloud Computing

Salesforce.com popularized the notion of cloud-based business applications.  Google stepped in with cloud solutions for business in Google Docs and GMail for Business. Amazon EC2 has given new business (and existing ones) a cloud infrastructure upon which to run their applications without having to worry about setting up a server infrastructure.  A whole host of business application categories are now available in the cloud.

Business Intelligence

The options for flat reporting on data grew significantly in the 90’s, but much more analytical approaches to understanding corporate data and trends really took off in the last decade.  Business Intelligence also moved down from the enterprise to the mid-market and even to small businesses.

Web Conferencing

The rapid growth of applications such as GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar have provided sales, marketing and customer support users with a way to much more quickly respond to prospects and customers while saving on travel time and expense.

Internet Everywhere

This is another one that’s in the “for better or worse” category.  Ubiquitous access to the Internet has allowed businesspeople to be productive no matter where they are.

CMS and Blog Platforms for Corporate Web Sites

Now that companies can build entire corporate Web sites on platforms such as Drupal and WordPress, almost gone are the days of static Web sites that require an HTML expert to modify.  Business of all sizes can easily create dynamic sites without having to hire a coder.

Social Media

Social Media has changed the way that many businesses interact with their customers.  Enterprises such as Whole Foods and Dell have shifted part of their customer and sales interactions to Twitter.  Smaller companies are finding niche ways in which to benefit from Twitter and other social media applications.  Many local businesses have discovered their fan base with Facebook pages.

Business use of Internet video, especially YouTube, has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade.  Many companies are making YouTube an essential part of their marketing and training strategies.

SageCRM 7.0 Features

Here is some of what’s coming in SageCRM 7.0, which is currently in Development Partner beta.

Theme Enhancements and New Branding

While the original, blue theme will still be available, there’s a new look and feel with an updated color scheme along with updated icons and more.   It will also be easier to update the CSS file for custom theme modifications.

Interactive Dashboard

The dashboard in SageCRM 7.0 is a lot more flexible than in previous versions.  The dashboard provides an iGoogle-type experience with the concept of a workspace, with drag and drop gadgets.  Gadgets can feed information from multiple data sources, both external and internal.  Gadgets can contain anything from filtered lists to external RSS feeds — they can even incorporate workflow.

Active Directory User Import

A batch of users can be quickly set up by importing users from Active Directory.  User details can be updated from Active Directory by repeating an import.

Mixed Licensing (Outside of North America)

In countries in which concurrent licensing for SageCRM is available, named and concurrent users can now be mixed within the same system.  Existing installs can be changed from concurrent to named and visa versa.

SData Provider

SData (Sage Data) is a standard that allows for sharing of data with third party applications in a read-only format.  All primary and secondary entities can be exposed for SData access.  An SData feed can also be used within the application — an example is showing a feed of price information withing the interactive dashboard.

Potential Business Applications for an Apple Tablet

With all the current speculation as to if, when and in what form factor Apple will release a tablet in 2010, it is a good time to consider some potential business applications for the mythical “iTablet” or “iSlate” (Post Launch Update: before the announcement, I thought that iPad was too obvious a brand). Some blog comments have termed the tablet “a solution looking for a problem.” Perhaps the following ideas do not represent the fixing of severe problems, as much as they suggest more convenient or elegant ways of performing certain tasks.

The following ideas generally center around the ergonomics of alternative ways to absorb or present information — compared to sitting in a ridged, upright position at a desk with a keyboard and mouse as foreground devices.

Reading White Papers and Product PDFs

Many businesspeople are flooded with PDFs that they should be reading (but often don’t read) on an ongoing basis.  For most people, it’s much easier for to read a lengthy document while in the comfort of a chair or a bed (or another popular home reading venue).  An Apple tablet would allow for reading PDFs in a comfortable position and in living color.

Accessing Cloud Applications with Zero Boot Time

Any Safari-compatible cloud application, such as Salesforce.com, will now be quickly accessible in a larger screen format than on existing, highly portable devices.  For example, if a salesperson wants to quickly enter a new contact record or log meeting notes into their CRM system while on the road, they will be able to do this more quickly and easily on an Apple tablet compared to the current mobile options.

Delivering One-on-One Presentations

Imagine creating a slide presentation on Google Docs and then delivering a one-on-one presentation to someone at their desk or while standing next to the person.  This would simply be a more convenient way to present one-on-one compared to awkwardly swiveling a laptop on a desk or in the palm of one’s hand.  A tablet remote, that’s similar to the current Mac remote, would help in this scenario.

I now recall the guy who, years ago, tried to hard sell me on kitchen cabinet refacing while flipping through his three ring binder — which included the requisite dark, blurry “before” shots and the bright, crisp “after” shots.

Post Launch Update: Apparently, you can open Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents in iWork, the productivity software that will ship with the iPad.

Business Book Reading

In a similar vein to the reading of PDFs, an Apple tablet would make it easier for businesspeople to catch up on their reading of business books. If someone recommends a good business book to you, you could be reading the prologue within about 60 seconds, rather than making a soon-to-be-forgotten To-Do entry to order the book for physical delivery.

Watching Product Training Videos on YouTube or iTunes

Some vendors have made extensive training videos available on iTunes and YouTube.  For this type of application, it would be helpful if the Apple tablet were to have a picture frame-like stand.  This way, you could watch a training video at a desk and put your paper notepad or your laptop next to the video presentation in order to make notes or to follow along within an application as the instructor covers various topics on the application.

It’s a given that there will be many browser-based and App Store applications for business users who adopt this new platform — assuming an Applet tablet is not just a figment of our collective imaginations.