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Taking Your Business to the Cloud: Top Integrations for Salesforce

Taking Your Business to the Cloud: Top Integrations for Salesforce

For decades, Salesforce has been the most extensively utilized CRM in the corporate sector.

Salesforce allows companies to manage all parts of their client interaction and trace the whole customer experience with their product. Even better, companies can add integrations to the underlying Salesforce platform and can receive help with Salesforce CRM consulting.

Woman putting together pieces of the puzzle Salesforce integrations

Integrations link different systems together by consolidating data from several apps to provide a unified view of a company’s clients. However, it might be difficult to choose the best Salesforce integrations for your company with so many options available. But, you can always utilize Salesforce CRM consulting for guidance.

The Top 5 Integrations for Salesforce

Before going to any business consulting services just yet, check out the following top integrations for Salesforce.

Pardot

Pardot is a marketing automation application for Salesforce that allows companies to collaborate with sales teams.

Pardot assists businesses in establishing emailing scenarios and allows them to automatically distribute generated leads to their salespeople based on predefined rules. Salespeople may then find these leads in their Salesforce interface, along with a summary of activities and emails received to aid in completing a sale.

 

DocuSign

DocuSign allows businesses to send, sign, track, and keep contracts directly from Salesforce.

Moreover, DocuSign allows recipients to sign documents electronically from any device. Additionally, businesses can collect payments when signing and save payment data in Salesforce.

 

DropBox

When it comes to filing storage, safety comes first. Dropbox is a file hosting service that allows users to collaborate on documents by storing and syncing them. Dropbox keeps all of your files safe while allowing you to access them from any device.

 

Hubspot

HubSpot is a cloud-based CRM that can help teams organize sales and marketing efforts, increase sales, improve ROI, and optimize marketing strategy. Although, this solution is one of the more expensive options on the list, with plans ranging from $45 to $3,200 per organization.

When Hubspot’s power gets coupled with Salesforce’s power, it can be a game-changer.

 

Slack

Slack is a digital communication tool created with corporate collaboration in mind.

Slack is popular among businesses because it is simple to use and set up. It has a terrific mobile app for communication and collaboration on the go: You may send incoming and outgoing messages with ease.

 

Conclusion

Adding excellent integrations to your Salesforce platform that introduce new capabilities and automate old ones is the greatest way to get the most out of your Salesforce experience. A great Salesforce CRM Consulting will have these covered!

 

In this regard, CloudMyBiz is a Salesforce CRM Consulting leader in cloud-based technology solutions for businesses. In addition to dealing with Third Party Applications and Custom App Development, CloudMyBiz specializes in Salesforce implementation, migration, integration, and development. They also offer business consulting services to help you achieve your goals.

 

Moreover, CloudMyBiz provides solutions to the Alternative Lending and Merchant Cash Advance industries with Fundingo, a loan management solution that automates the entire process of originating, underwriting, and servicing loans.

Take your business to the cloud with CloudMyBiz! Contact CloudMyBiz today for a demo.

 

 

Top 4 Tips for Customizing Your Salesforce CRM Environment

Top 4 Tips for Customizing Your Salesforce CRM Environment

If your business is looking to do more with Salesforce, customizing your Salesforce CRM environment can build on the power of the platform and offer improved and extended functionality. Every business is unique, and while Salesforce is a powerful tool off the shelf, working with the right Salesforce CRM consulting partner can help you leverage the right integrations to make Salesforce work best for you. Below are some of the top integrations available for Salesforce, especially for those involved in alternative lending and related industries.Woman customizing work environment on desktop and digital workspace crm

 

1. Custom Default Values

Salesforce is a powerful tool to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Custom default values can save your users time every time they complete an action that requires filling fields. Default values, pre-populated in fields, both save time and also improve accuracy and consistency across the organization since there are fewer fields to fill in manually.

 

When a new record is created, values are automatically inserted into custom fields. That default value can be preset to an exact value. This is useful for checkboxes being selected or unselected by default or other values that should default for each new record. The value can also be based on a preset formula. For example, a rate or term could be set based on a set of criteria and calculated as the record is created. This data can be calculated based on information such as the person creating the record or information about the customer based on merge fields.

 

2. Custom Sales Stages

Salesforce comes with default sales stages built in. However, since each organization has its own unique sales process, having your Salesforce CRM Consulting partner assist you in creating custom sales stages will make Salesforce a much more effective tool for your business. With custom sales stages, you can lay out your entire sales process with defined opportunity stages. Customization allows you to create custom fields, add custom features, and even embed materials, prompts, and tips in each step.

 

3. Custom Navigation for Salesforce Lightning

If you are using a Salesforce Lightening app like our Fundingo loan servicing software, you can customize the navigation menu both in the app and on the Lightning Experience desktop. For example, administrators can determine which items are available in the navigation bar based on the organization’s needs. At the same time, individual users can reorder, rename, or remove navigation menu items to customize the experience based on how they personally interact with the app.

 

4. Get the Help You Need to Make Salesforce Work for You

The more you customize your Salesforce CRM environment, the more it will help your people reach their personal and organizational goals. Even minor customizations can save considerable time. When you multiply the time saved on one step across the whole organization, you can see how valuable these integrations are.

 

If you need assistance customizing your Salesforce CRM environment, CloudMyBiz is ready and able to be your Salesforce CRM Consulting partner. We will take the time to learn about your business and create and customize the solution to help you make the most of your Salesforce CRM.

 

 

Tip of the Week – Understanding Sandbox Types

Tip of the Week – Understanding Sandbox Types

Salesforce sandbox types

For just about every installation of Salesforce, a Sandbox will be used. What is a Sandbox? It is a copy of your organization in a separate environment that can be used for a variety of purposes (such as testing and training) without compromising the data and applications in your Salesforce.com production organization. However, the Sandbox is not a one-size-fits all sort of deal. In fact, there are 4 different Sandbox types and each of them have different levels of functions and features.

Developer Sandbox

A Developer Sandbox is the simplest and smallest Sandbox. Use this Sandbox for development and testing in an isolated environment. If using a Developer Pro Sandbox, a copy of the organization’s metadata is provided.

Developer Pro Sandbox

A Developer Pro Sandbox can handle larger data-sets than the Regular Developer Box. Use this one for more development and quality assurance tasks as well as integration testing or user training.

Partial Copy Sandbox

A Partial Copy Sandbox is primarily a testing environment. This Sandbox will carry over some records from your production environment, but not all. Tasks such as user acceptance, integration testing, and quality assurance are the best uses here.

Full Sandbox

A Full Sandbox gives you everything. Full sandboxes are a complete replica of your production org, including all data, such as object records and attachments, and metadata. Only Full sandboxes support performance testing, load testing, and staging. As the largest Sandbox, this one is not recommended for development, but rather full scale testing and QA. While using a Full Sandbox it is important to use a sandbox template, so it only contains the records that you require for testing, as well as other tasks.

These 4 different Sandbox types, when understood and used according to their strengths, give organizations the flexibility to develop and customize with ease.

Click Here for more info!

-Ryan and the Salesforce Guys

Auto-Response Rule vs. Workflow Email Alert in Salesforce

Auto-Response Rule vs. Workflow Email Alert in Salesforce

Automatic notifications save your team time and boost your overall customer experience. Salesforce CRM solutions give users several options for sending automated emails, which have their own benefits. Two of those options are auto-response rules and workflow email alerts. Both of these serve the same purpose- they automatically send emails from Salesforce following changes to a lead or a case. However, being so similar, you need to think about your exact use case and the differences between your options before making a decision.

In this article, we’ll walk through:
● What auto-response rules and workflow email alerts are
● How to use each option
● Examples of when it’s best to use one method over another
By the end, you’ll be able to start using your auto-response rules and workflow alerts to create automatic email alerts in Salesforce. Let’s get started!

When Should You Use Automatic Emails?
Imagine that you’ve just signed up for a discount program through your favorite online store’s website. When you enter your email, you’d expect to receive something sent by that company that confirms you’re signed up. If you didn’t, you might find yourself wondering if something went wrong or if you’re enrolled at all. Without confirmation, there’s a good chance you’d end up in a support channel to make sure that everything is okay.

This example is one occasion in which you’d want to send automatic emails. That small step prevents unnecessary tickets in your support queues and improves your customer service with nearly no effort. Speaking of customer support tickets, what if you had sent out a ticket asking if your email was registered? When a customer support representative responds, you’d likely receive an email notification letting you know. This instance is another example of how you can use automated emails to improve service.

The goal of these notifications is to improve service while reducing the effort needed from your staff. The reduction in manual processes saves time that you can use for designing new ways to improve the services your company provides, making the experience better for your team and your clients. The result? A low-cost way to increase performance.

How to Choose Between Workflow Email Alerts and Auto-Response Rules
Auto-response rules and workflow email alerts fill a similar need, but it’s important to note that they have some significant differences. Before getting into the details of what they can do for you, first, you must identify the problem you’re trying to solve. Let’s go over an example so you can see how the process works.
Let’s say that you want to send confirmation letters to customers who signed up for a product demo. First, you’d want to look at the aim of the project and the issue that they’re trying to resolve. In this case, the emails would confirm some basic information about what they’ve selected from your website and reduce no-shows and cancelations.
Next, think about how many people need to receive these emails. The first person that needs to get them is your customer. From there, you can be a little more creative. Do you want to send it to the sales team so they can prepare for the demo? Or, is there another way that they get notified with better results? Be sure to outline who you want to receive them, as one of the main differences between workflow email alerts and auto-responses is the number of recipients you can add.
Now that you have some specifics down, we can start to look at your options.

What are Auto-Response Rules?
Auto-response rules tell Salesforce what criteria a case must meet before sending out one of your saved email templates when a specific set of conditions are met. For example, you could set the trigger to send them when someone submits a new case or lead. You can select a series of criteria for the sending of the email, and it will send one based on the first rule entry criteria it matches.
You can think of this as the case above, where someone signs up for a discount program and wants confirmation that they’ve been registered correctly. This case would only require one email sent to the individual who submitted their information, so an auto-response rule is an appropriate choice. This is because auto-response rules send out one email per trigger, unlike workflow alerts.

Workflow alerts are the best choice if you plan to send:
● Confirmation emails
● “Thank you” messages
● Or alerts for the person who submitted information in a web-to-lead form

What are Workflow Email Alerts?
Workflow email alerts are similar to auto-response rules in the way that they send notifications based on changes to a case or a lead. However, unlike auto-response rule alerts, Salesforce can send workflow alerts to multiple users. They can send out an email to anyone you need to notify about activity on a case or lead. Specifically, workflow alerts run when a case or lead is created or edited. The notifications can be sent to anyone you choose. It’s important to note that these alerts send one email to multiple users for each trigger as opposed to just one.
Email alerts, in general, can be sent out from processes, flows, workflow rules, approval processes, or entitlement processes. Use cases for the workflow email alerts vary depending on your business needs. Often, they include notifications to:
● Notify the rep assigned to a case when a new action is taken
● Keep management informed about changes to high profile leads
● Help your sales team on top of their pipeline

Workflow emails can accommodate ten email alerts as immediate actions, ten email alerts per time trigger as time-dependent actions, and ten time triggers.
Now that you understand the basics of auto-response rules and workflow alerts, we’ll go over how to set them up.

Setting Up Auto-Response Rules
First, we’ll review Salesforce’s response rule from a web-to-lead form. To start, navigate to Setup and then type “Auto-Response Rules” into the Quick Find area. Next, click the option “Lead Auto-Response Rules.”
The other option is to create a response rule for cases. In this case, you’ll first navigate to Setup and then type “Auto-Response Rules” into the Quick Find area. Next, click the option “Case Auto-Response Rules.”
Regardless of which of the above options you choose, the following steps will be the same.
First, from the Auto-Response Rules page, click on New
Type in the name for the rule you want to create
Activate this rule by clicking on Activate
Save the rule by hitting the Save
Now, you can create your rule entries
Here’s how you can create your response rule entries.
Go to the rule detail page and select New
Think about where this rule will fall in your process order and enter the number step you choose
Keep in mind that the rule stops processing after finding the first matching entry. That is how Salesforce determines which email template to send. If it doesn’t find any matching entries, it sends out a default email that you can select in advance.
For extra security, create an additional rule entry as the last step in line. This step should have no added criteria, so it will apply to any event that doesn’t match your previous criteria. Since some forms don’t have any default templates, like Email-to-Case and On-Demand Email-to-Case forms, this ensures that a response goes out.
Choose the criteria to filter records, such as priority level and language. You can create formulas to evaluate the record and return the proper response
Type in the name and email that you want to appear as the sending email address in your message. The email needs to be a verified email address from your Salesforce org or the address associated with your Salesforce CRM profile. However, it cannot be the same address you used in your routing addresses for the Email-to-Case form.
Now, you can enter an email address for replies
Choose the email template that you want this rule to send
Make sure to click the option that allows you to send the response to all recipients if you’re using an Email-to-Case form. This option sends the auto-response message to the recipients specified in CC and To fields.
If you want, enter a reply-to address.
Select an email template.
If you’re creating a response rule entry for Email-to-Case, select Send Response to all recipients to send auto-response messages to anyone included in the To and Cc fields in the original message.
Now, click Save. That’s it!

Setting Up Workflow Email Alerts
Before setting up alerts, you have to create a field on your lead object for email information.

First, on your lead object, navigate to your field options
For Salesforce Classic, you can do this by going to Setup > Customize > Leads > Fields
In Salesforce Lightning, it’s Setup > Object Manager > Lead > Fields & Relationships
Select Email as the field data type
Input Contact Email as the field label

Next, you will build the workflow rule that sends out an automated email.
In Classic, navigate to Setup > Create > Workflow & Approvals > Workflow Rules. In Lightning, navigate to Setup > Platform Tools > Process Automation > Workflow Rules.
Choose New Rule
Under objects, select the Leads option
Enter the name for your rule
Now, under Evaluation Criteria, select the criteria that you want to return the response as “true”
Hit Save and then Next
Now, go to Immediate Workflow Actions > Add Workflow Action and select Email Alert
Enter the description of your email alert
Choose which template you want the alert to send
Choose your recipient type
Hit Save > Done > Activate
Now, you’re ready to go!

Closing Notes
Configuring email alerts to send automatically saves time for your staff and improves your customers’ experience with your company. While both auto-response rules and workflow alerts send emails in response to lead changes, you’ll find situations where each of them outperforms. If you understand the problem you’re trying to solve and how to address it, you’ll have no issues choosing the right email alerts for the job.

Both auto-response rules and workflow alerts automatically send emails from Salesforce following changes to a lead or a case. Being that they’re so similar, you should think about your exact use case and the differences between your options before you make your decision.

Don’t hesitate to explore other options within Salesforce CRM integrations to build and track outreach campaigns. For example, take a look here to see how to set up and use sales performance dashboards to monitor your campaigns. Remember to test, test, test, and keep building on what works. Keep up with our blog for more of the latest tips.

Managing Report Subscriptions in Salesforce

Managing Report Subscriptions in Salesforce

Disorganized data can dismantle even the most organized strategy. This is why it’s essential to make sure that your reports in Salesforce are current and get to the people who need them. Reports help your team stay on task, find the information they need, and monitor the health of their workflow. 

In this article, we’ll explain:

  • How Salesforce Reports work and what they do
  • How to subscribe yourself and others to reports
  • Managing report schedules
  • Setting up notifications

How Do Salesforce Reports Work?

You can think of a report as a list of information with all the information you’ve asked Salesforce to provide. For example, this could be a list of prospects that your sales team will call, accounts in default, or open support cases that need follow-up. Salesforce looks for the criteria you select and presents users with a list of that data. 

In Salesforce, this information will show up grouped into rows and columns. You can then organize this info by characteristics like priority level or dollar amount, filter it only to see what’s relevant, or create visual representations of the data.

The information in these reports is stored in folders, which can be private or available to whoever you like. You can allow users in specific groups to see them and those with particular roles, license types, or permissions. If you want, you can also hide or share your reports with people inside and outside your organization. This means that anyone who needs to access the data will be able to get it.

Why Should You Use Salesforce Reports?

Birds-eye view of data
Reports can tell you information at a glance to quickly take action. Fast, accurate responses can give you a leg up on your competition. For example, time required to prepare for a meeting could be reduced by automatically mailing reports out to your team. Or, you could respond to support tickets faster by having a detailed list right in front of you. 

If you have a weekly meeting with your sales team, everybody needs to see the numbers for that week’s sales. It wouldn’t make sense to mail the report to each person individually, so instead, you can set up report subscriptions, so everyone has it sent to them.

While reports provide the insight, subscriptions make sure that those who need them have them. People are liable to error. We take sick days, we go on vacations, and we occasionally make mistakes. Setting up reports to automatically go out takes one more task off your team’s plate while giving more intelligent updates on what needs action. 

Before Subscribing to Reports, Check Your Permissions on Salesforce.

You will need different permissions for report subscriptions depending on who you’re trying to add and how you intend to do it.

  • If you’re trying to subscribe yourself to a report, the only permission you need is to Subscribe to Reports
  • If you’re trying to subscribe other people to reports, you will need permission to Subscribe to Reports and Add Recipients
  • Or, if you’re trying to subscribe groups and roles to reports, you will need permission to Subscribe to Reports and to Send to Groups and Roles
  • Finally, if you want to change who runs the report, you will need permission to Subscribe to Reports and Set Running User

How to Subscribe Yourself to Salesforce Reports

Now that you know what permissions you need, you can subscribe to whichever reports you like. To do this in Salesforce Classic, follow these steps.

  1. Navigate to the Reports folder and click on All Folders on the left-hand side. 
  2. Then, click the pull-down menu on the right and navigate to Items I’m Subscribed To.
  3. On this page, you can view, edit, and delete your current subscriptions to reports.

In Salesforce Lightning, here’s how to do it.

  1. Click on the Reports tab and find the All Reports option on the left-hand side. 
  2. At the top, you’ll see a tab labeled Subscribed
  3. Now, you can manage your subscriptions and add new reports.

How to find your Subscribed Reports

If you want to see what reports you’re currently subscribed to:

  1. First, go to the Reports tab. 
  2. Next, look at the sidebar on the left and click the option that says All Reports.
  3.  In the menu on the right, sort the reports by Subscribed.

How to Subscribe Other Salesforce Users to a Report

Now that you know how to subscribe yourself to reports, you can subscribe others as well. Salesforce allows you to choose users, groups, and roles for report subscriptions. So, for example, you can send reports on how many hours your dev team has worked for a client to your Human Resources department, so they’re billed correctly.

To subscribe users, groups, and roles to reports, follow these steps.

  1. First, navigate to the Reports tab on the Report Run Page
  2. Next, click Subscribe
  3. When it brings you to the Edit Subscription menu, set the schedule of how often you’d like the report to send. 
  4. You can also add conditions before sending a scheduled report. That means that the email won’t go out with the subscribed reports until all of these conditions are met. 
  5. After you’ve set the schedule on the conditions if chosen, navigate to Send To. You are automatically selected as the only recipient of the report. 
  6. If you would like to add others or take yourself off the report, hit the Edit Recipients button. 
  7. This area will show the users, groups, and rules with access permissions for the report here. You can add and remove recipients here.
  8. When you’re finished, you can close the window, and it will save your recipients. 

Now that you’ve set that up, the reports will send to the email addresses found under Settings > Email > My Email Settings. If you haven’t sent an email yet under My Email Settings, the emails will automatically go out to the address associated with each person’s Salesforce user.

Tips on Subscribing Others to Reports

Here are a couple of helpful pointers for subscribing others to reports.

  1. First, each user can have up to five report subscriptions. This is regardless of what type of user they are within your Salesforce org. 
  2. You also won’t see the recipients listed on the emails, so you will have to go back to Salesforce to see them. If you were working with a platform user, an admin must enable these features.
  3. Remember how these reports live inside of folders? To send the report to a user, the user must have access to the folder. Don’t forget to check this before continuing. 
  4. You can subscribe up to 500 users to each report. If you exceed this, some users will not receive the emails.

How Do I Manage Report Schedules in Salesforce?

Report schedules make sure that the information in your reports is up-to-date. The Schedule Report page lets you manage the frequency and conditions for sending out scheduled reports. Here, you can schedule a new report run, change an existing schedule, view current schedule jobs, and delete scheduled runs. 

View Existing Report Schedules

  1. To view a report schedule, navigate to the Reports tab.
  2. Next, hover over the checkmark in the Schedule column.
  3. This shows you how often the report goes out and the next date it is scheduled to run. 
  4. Keep in mind that Salesforce users who don’t have permission to schedule reports will not see this information.

To see a report’s schedule from the schedule report page, follow these two steps.

  1. Click on the report’s name on the Reports tab. 
  2. After that, click the Schedule Future Runs button on the run report drop-down menu.

If you want to see all the scheduled reports within your organization:

  1. Navigate to Setup
  2. Click the Scheduled Jobs option.
  3. Here you will see all of your organization’s scheduled reports. If you don’t see this, check that you have the View Setup and configuration permissions.

Change a Report’s Schedule

If there is a report with an existing schedule that you’d like to change, for a score of the reports tab and then click the name of the scheduled report. Next, hit the schedule future runs option from the run report menu. Here you can make the changes to the report schedule. When you’re done, make sure to hit save report schedule to keep the changes that you made.

Delete a Scheduled Run

If for whatever reason you would like to delete a scheduled run for a report, you can do it without deleting the entire report. 

  1. First, go to the Reports tab and then click on the report’s name that you’d like to delete. 
  2. Click Schedule Future Runs on the Run Report menu.
  3. Then, click on Schedule Report
  4. Now, the run schedule for that report is canceled, but the report is not sent to the recycle bin. You can set a new schedule or keep the report unscheduled.

How Do I Manage Report Notifications?

Notifications for reports let you know when data meets a particular set of criteria that you set. You can select what you want to be notified about and what conditions are essential to you to receive relevant notifications. You can also set up notifications for the Salesforce app, email, and on Chatter. Just remember that the report has to be saved before you set notifications.

Also, keep in mind that your notifications on reports are not related to the option which lets you schedule future runs. The Schedule Future Runs feature lets you send email reports at a given time with or without specifying which conditions you need them to meet. If you want to schedule email reports, choose the Schedule Future Runs option from the Run Report menu instead.

Changing Report Notification Settings

In order to set and change your notification settings, follow along here.

  1. Click on the Report Run page. 
  2. Next, hit Subscribe
  3. On the Report Subscription page, select if you want to receive a notification each time your data meets these conditions or if you wish to receive it the first time. 

Setting conditions helps you avoid repetitive and unhelpful notifications. The requirements can be related to three different areas; aggregate, operator, and value. You can set up to five conditions for each report. You can also schedule checks to see if the report meets those conditions, Including daily, weekly, or every weekday.

When you choose to receive notifications, you can select the most helpful type for the task at hand. For example, you can send a notification within the Salesforce app, post it to Chatter, have it send an email, or set it to carry out in Apex action. This could be something like escalating a case or creating a task. Make sure to set up your notifications so they only give you relevant updates.

Wrapping it Up

Report subscriptions are an intelligent way to make sure that valuable information gets into the right hands. When you automate their distribution, you reduce human error and save time used to reach more of your company’s goals. 

Now that you understand how Salesforce reports work, how to set up subscriptions, and manage their schedules and notifications, your team will have even more resources to put towards growth. Remember to check back in for more ideas on how you can get even more out of Salesforce.