Top 10 Reasons to be Grateful for Salesforce in 2015
The holiday season is that one time of year where we give thanks for what we have. Though my hope is we do this all year, it is a time to reflect on the past, the present and what we have to be excited about in the future. As a tradition started last year, here are the top 10 reasons, in no particular order, to be grateful for Salesforce in 2015.
Dreamforce
Each year we are invited to San Francisco to hear what new functionality Salesforce has in store for its clients along with some amazing learning opportunities and guest speakers talking about topics ranging from social reform to entertainment. Some of this year’s highlights were Jessica Alba, Patricia Arquette and Goldie Hawn to name a few. It keeps getting bigger and better each year and I have to say this year might have been my favorite.
Data Loader for Mac
Though there are a ton of data loaders available for Salesforce, it was good to see a supported one for Mac get released as part of Summer ‘15. I’m sure most of us Mac users were utilizing LexiLoader with much success but it always had the “unofficial” tag on it; now we have the “Official” OS X Data Loader.
Dreamfest
Salesforce always provides a great concert as part of Dreamforce but what was labeled “Dreamfest” was nothing short of epic. Pier 70 was an amazing venue to hear The Foo Fighters, The Killers and Gary Clark Jr. entertain us. The Killers became a new favorite band thanks to this show and I cannot wait to see what Salesforce does next year. Hopefully it stays at Pier 70.
World Tour Guest Speakers
Even though it was bummer to not see Marc Benioff at the World Tour events, Salesforce entertained us by having some pretty awesome guest speakers and appearances. I happened to be at Boston and New York this year and it was a nice treat to see Tom Brady and Derek Jeter talk for a few minutes about teamwork.
No Sale
Many of us were holding our breaths when a report that Microsoft or potentially another giant tech company might be purchasing Salesforce. Luckily nothing actually happened, which is something I am very grateful for and I am sure everyone else is as well.
Success Community
The Salesforce Success Community has been around for a long time and is definitely something I am sure we are all grateful for every year. It is a great place to find answers to questions, post suggestions for new functionality and to collaborate with our fellow Salesforce colleagues. There are close to 2 million people contributing in the community and the number grows by the day. If you haven’t done so already, I suggest you get in there and take a look around.
SalesforceIQ
Fresh off their acquisition of RelateIQ last year, Salesforce announced SalesforceIQ which can be used as a primary CRM for small to mid sized businesses or as a supplemental productivity tool for existing Sales Cloud users. This was a big enhancement especially for those who do not use Outlook. I personally use the Google Chrome extension and love it.
Lightning Experience
Each year Salesforce has some type of big announcement and this year it was the release of their revamped user interface. As per the press release, Lightning offers 25 new features and streamlined access to existing features on all mobile and desktop platforms. Though not sure it is ready for prime time yet, it’s a step in the right direction to the new world of CRM.
Trailhead
Trailhead has become an amazing resource this year. It provides administrators and developers a guided, learning path through the key features of Salesforce, leveraging a set of interactive, online tutorials. Anyone looking for resources to help prep for a certification exam or just to expand your knowledge base, this is the right trail to take.
Equal Pay for Women
Marc Benioff took on a few big social issues this year and equal pay for women is one of them. Not only did he become vocal about a need for change, he took action. In addition to putting policies in place to bridge the gap, Salesforce spent over $3 million this year to match female employees' salaries to those of their male peers. Kudos to Marc and Salesforce for helping drive change.
If you think I missed something please feel free to comment below, on the Salesforce Success Community, on our Facebook page, or directly at me on Twitter @Salvatoriello
