Watch out for the AppExchange! It's booming with apps.

Salesforce1 integrates CRM, Chatter, customs apps, and business process, and offers a powerful new way to experience Salesforce from any device, especially mobile devices. The power of the Salesforce1 Platform allows developers to customize and build any app, and deploy it instantly through the Salesforce1 app.

So what is Salesforce1? It is the company’s third attempt to get into mobile, an area where it was traditionally weak. The spurt in new apps for Salesforce1 confirms the success of this new offering, and indicate Salesforce’s strong foray into the mobile space.

AppExchange, Salesforce.com’s app platform that allows Salesforce users to download the apps they require is now booming with Salesforce1 apps. In a way, the AppExchange is Salesforce’s key USP, as it provides unmatched flexibility – for developers to develop any app for which they find a need, and for users to download whatever they require and customize their CRM as required.

The listing of Salesforce1 ready apps in the AppExchange is already 65 pages long, with each page having about 30 apps, making it about 2000 apps in total, with the numbers growing by the day.

Some of the most popular apps are for using popular suites in Salesorce1, such as using DocuSign Electronic Signature in Salesforce, Geopointe – a mapping app, Evernote business for Salesforce, Salesforce 1 for iOS, Salesforce1 for Android, LinkedinSales Navigator in Salesforce, and TaskRay Project management app. Many of these apps are free, while others require payment for download. As evident from the names, these apps make it possible for seamless integration with already popular suites into Salesforce1. Not only that, integration and usage experience would be better than any previous apps for the same purpose, as Salesforce1 features 10 times more APIs than previous Salesforce tools, allowing developers to tap into all sorts of Salesforce data for their mobile apps.

The key differentiator of Salesforce1 however is that the mobility is not just for conventional “on the move” users, but for the “internet of things” as well. Many apps are already released for wearables and other connected devices, and many others are in the works for such devices. Philips, for instance, is using Salesforce1 to build smart MRI machines that would communicate data back to hospitals. Caterpillar is using Salesforce1 to develop apps for its bulldozers and heavy machinery, enabling such devices to transmit valuable usage and other data back to the control center. With such Salesforce1 apps, the “Internet of things” too is entering mainstream.

Gartner forecasts that 90% of enterprise applications will be mobile-accessible as well as desktop-accessible by 2017, a big leap from the 20% today, and the booming Salesforce 1 apps is indicative of this trend.

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Author : Nayab Naseer Date : 09 Jun 2014