A new release of Salesforce always brings with it a sense of anticipation for users, to get to know the interesting new features and developments that are in store. With the new Summer ’15 release, Salesforce assures customers that they would be able to “instantly turn insights into action with the Customer Success Platform”. Let’s see what this translates to in terms of features offered to the end user.
This release comes with over 225 new features, but there are definitely a few that stand out. Here’s a closer look at these, to understand how they could benefit customers.
1) Harness the power of the Analytics Cloud: The Salesforce Analytics Cloud provides useful insights to everyone in the organization, and this can be accessed from a range of devices including desktops and iOS mobile devices. This release adds the Apple Watch to the list, and enables users of this watch to engage with Salesforce and easily access all relevant data. Users can view and use business information in a quick and intuitive manner, with metrics and dashboards right at their fingertips. It is also possible for them to use voice search to access all required information, making it easier to multitask with using other devices at the same time.
2) Reach out to customers better with Sales Cloud Engage: Marketing content can now be shared with the sales team, to enable reps to connect with customers at the opportune time. Sales Cloud Engage is available with Salesforce Pardot, and offers Engage Alerts to track customer activity, so that sales reps can reach out to their target audience at the right moment. It also offers an easy interface to view all the emails sent out, along with useful information such as the date sent and the time opened. This could help analyze the reach and success of campaigns to help in improving strategies for future ones. With the addition of another plug-in to Sales Cloud Engage, users can also use Gmail for launching campaigns.
3) Improve task routing with the Omni-Channel feature: This new customer service feature of the Salesforce Service Cloud would allow users to route cases to the right agent at the right time. It can be accessed right from the Salesforce Console that makes it seamless to use. It also includes useful actions such as
• Setting the priority of tasks to ensure that critical ones get done faster
• Managing the availability, capability and capacity of service agents
• Automatically route tasks to the agent saving a lot of time compared to manual assignment
• Controlling size of queues to ensure optimal time for task completion
4) Protect data using Platform Encryption: All confidential and sensitive data can now be protected in accordance with any compliance requirements or regulations using the Platform Encryption feature. It is very easy to set-up and enhance the security already on offer with Salesforce. Users must note that once Platform Security has encrypted specific data, it would be stored internally in this encrypted format and would not be visible to simple searches. These fields would also display as empty to normal users, and only those who have permission to view the encrypted data would be able to access these fields.
5) Use the Dynamic Send Preview for improving email efficiency: This feature of the Marketing Cloud Connector allows users to preview emails to check the content and formatting before sending to prospective clients. You could even check different formats based on the receiving device, which could prove invaluable as it allows you to control the first impression a client has of your content.
6) Use Files Connect to access externally stored data: Users of Google Drive as sure to be delighted with this new feature offered in the Summer ’15 release. All data that is stored on a user’s external folders including Google Drive and Sharepoint will now be completely available to Salesforce. This means that this data can be accessed by searches, with the user being able to view the complete storage information of the searched data as well. To access files on Sharepoint, users may be able to provide the credentials and complete authentication through Salesforce saving a lot of time and effort for daily activities. Files Connect would also prompt users to re-authenticate when required.
For an in-depth look at these features and the rest, please do go across to the Salesforce Summer ’15 Release Notes that are available here.
.