Author: Barbora Piatrova

The second part of the guest post about Salesforce mobile adoption by our friend Barbora at Resco.net, who will analyze the issues to avoid when planning Salesforce mobile.

Barbora Piatrova (marketing specialist at Resco) takes her passion for digital marketing & Mobile CRM everywhere she goes. Currently, she’s involved in creating & mastering content strategy at resco.net – one of the leading companies in the world for Mobile CRM. She is now actively also discovering and participating in new thriving communities for Salesforce enthusiasts.

Issues to avoid when mobilizing your Salesforce data

Are you on edge when it comes to mobilizing Salesforce data to your users? Going mobile was never as easy as it is today. But is it secure and safe?

Well, it can be. If you choose the best possible scenario & set the right strategy. The goal is to get your sleek & robust Salesforce organization into phone and tablet – without losing the tools you know and prefer. And at the same time – gaining the productivity perks of native mobility as an extra.

Do you want to get your field reps prepped for a full-fledged mobile experience? Then be aware of the following issues. They cannot occur in your new application for Salesforce.

Integration & supported licenses

ISSUE: The app does not tie neatly into your Salesforce ecosystem and/or does not work with all the Salesforce licenses starting from the most basic one (Salesforce Essentials).

Platform availability

ISSUE: The app is not available on all major operating systems, for example it works only on iOS, Android, excluding Windows.

Security

ISSUE: Mobile data storage is protected, but only by user’s PIN. This means that if the user session (automatic logout after a few minutes) and app protection APIs are missing, the application and hence user data are not truly protected. All of this must be developed from the ground up. This requires complex engineering with a high risk attached to even a smallest oversight.

Offline syncing

ISSUE: The user is not able to determine what functions and formulas will operate when the app is being used offline.

ISSUE: The admin cannot regulate when and what is available for users to sync (manual & background sync, delayed publishes of Salesforce schema changes, etc.).

ISSUE: The app doesn’t allow sync of data when online for later offline backup or it syncs very slow in general.

Offline experience

ISSUE: The app is not reliable in offline mode, runs slowly and does not allow users to go offline for days without losing any of the previous work and data.

ISSUE: Admins and users can’t directly see how is the business logic mapped to the app execution.

ISSUE: When multiple users aren’t able to access, edit or change the same data offline.

ISSUE: Users are not able to configure offline datasets within the app or affiliated configuration tool.

Look ‘n feel to an end user

ISSUE: UI is not advanced and is out-of-date – the app lacks slick animations, static forms, sliding menus, interactive videos, scrolling text, interactive charts, tables, reports, and more.

Reputation & brand recognition

ISSUE: The app does not seem trustworthy, tested and proven. It doesn’t have the best reputation, bad ratings and reviews, customers that have bad experiences and do not recommend it.

Enterprise readiness

ISSUE: Your company purchases a mobile solution for Salesforce, but still doesn’t achieve the anticipated ROI. One of the reasons? It was simply not prepared for a change. Either you did not choose an app suitable for your business conditions or you did not set the right strategy, did not integrate it with your existing tools properly or did not involve your employees enough.

User adoption

ISSUE: The company does not involve users in any decision making processes, provide sufficient training, the app that doesn’t make their job any easier, because it is not easy to use, interactive and user friendly.

User tracking, audit and analytics

ISSUE: Admins are not able to track sales guys routes and locations during deployment to check compliance-GPS requirement. There is no on-site reporting or offline reports and alike features included in the app.

Flexibility in customizations & branding

ISSUE: It requires coding skills and it is not easy for a regular user to create custom objects, set rules and the functionality of objects. There are limited options to design the app for a company or even customer branding, limited object management for sales reps, and more.

Multimedia capturing

ISSUE: When all the data (photos, multimedia, geo-location services) are not captured locally. Data should be relevant to the app that is integrated with your device. It should not only enable you to capture, but to work with them – especially allow for real-time picture editing during visits and make it visible on the customer visit report.

Productivity

ISSUE: The productivity features have limitations or aren’t a part of the solution at all. Hence, the app doesn’t stress the functionalities to simplify the job of the remote workers. For example, users cannot update information on the go, and the mobile interface is not a simple action-based function, there is no easy access to notes or contact information. What else shouldn’t be missing? Contact import, calls, maps, email, push notifications, reminders, and similar.

Coverage

ISSUE: Losing connection with our product catalogue in the middle of a visit can be catastrophic and may even affect the relationship you have built with your customer. Therefore, you should be ready to always have the information available without depending on the cellular or internet connection.

Integrations

ISSUE: The more 3rd party tools and service integrations – the better. Companies increasingly demand more specific solutions to run their businesses smoother, easier and faster. If the app works as a single unit that does not efficiently communicate with external tools, it is not a suitable enterprise solution.

Language

ISSUE: Users do not have the opportunity to choose the app’s language according to the region/location, business unit or user role.

Price vs. App functionality

ISSUE: The app comes with one or more of the above-mentioned issues, and on top of that, it’s pricey? Then it may not be worth your time, money, and frustration.
If you want to mobilize Salesforce without having to run to any of such issues, here is a place to start: www.resco.net/salesforce.

[Salesforce / Mobile] How to go mobile with Salesforce – Part 1

By Barbora Piatrova

On May 9, 2018

In Post

A new high level guest blog about Salesforce mobile adoption by our friend Barbora at Resco.net, who will analyze the main problems and issues related to going mobile.
This is the part 1 of the article…stay tuned for the second part!

15 mobile native features to never forget when mobilizing your Salesforce data

Mobile led initiatives are transforming every business sphere. According to GSMA Intelligence, many mobile users exceeded 5 billion in March 2018. We get work done directly from phone or tablet. Various companies utilizing Salesforce love the ability of running their business while on-the-road.

Having access to all the Salesforce data via mobile device delivers a new kind of customer experience. This experience is of uttermost importance, especially for the companies that have large teams of sales & field service guys. Mobilizing Salesforce simply contributes to each sales and service rep’s productivity.

Mobilizing Salesforce for sales & field service

Mobile devices are built differently than desktop. On phones and tablets, native mobile apps use operating systems provided frameworks to lay out the UI. User interface is different with a native app than a web, and so is the user experience. And yet, you can still provide your field service & sales team with a unified experience with their Salesforce organization on any device.

How?

With an application that offers an ultimate mobile experience that is not weaker, nor poorer than the experience with desktop and fully integrates all your Salesforce desktop data. All of this with one application, without a need to download tens of 3rd party AppExchange apps.

Every Salesforce field user needs a complete CRM and customization capability available out-of-the box to their mobile device/tablet. A higher user adoption will only be achieved if an employee, customer or even partner gets to work with their Salesforce organization on phone/tablet as they know it. This way, they can do the majority of their business right in the field, plus take advantage of mobile-native features.

Salesforce experience + mobile-native features

What do we mean by saying ‘mobile-native features’?

Here is a list of productivity features to accelerate business process. What’s their biggest added value? You won’t find them within Salesforce desktop solution. However, everything you’ve been used to seeing and doing on your PC, you can find on your phone and more.

Imagine you had a mobile application with all your Salesforce data. And think of all the mobile-first functionalities that could simplify your work. Now, have you ever stumbled upon to what lengths could you take your Salesforce data if you had them in the palm of your hand? Just picture, you’d be able to benefit from:

FULL OFFLINE ACCESS
- access to anything anywhere without connectivity, even for days
- continuous work with no interruptions, with no data loss
GPS LOCATION and NAVIGATION
- daily routes at a glance
- all activities tracked with GPS coordinates
ROUTE PLANNING
- activities & routes planned on the map, distance calculation
- user location and tracking
PICTURE CAPTURING & EDITING
- direct picture taking with built-in camera
- photo editing (rotate, crop, highlight) on spot
VOICE & VIDEO RECORDING
- direct video documentation
- voice recording attached to any Salesforce record
BARCODE & QR CODE SCANNING
- product information always available & quickly accessible
- QR codes scanning to avoid manual link typing
BUSINESS CARD SCANNING
- text transcripts from a business card to a mobile device
- faster creation of new contacts/leads
PHONE CALLS FROM THE APP & CALL TRACKING
- received, outgoing calls directly from the app for Salesforce
- automatic call tracking

*Offline: Note, that rep on the go needs access to an entire CRM database, hence he/she needs true offline. True offline means a strongly encrypted local database on the device, and goes far beyond being able to scroll through the 15 most recently viewed (cached) contacts.

To name a few more, with advanced mobile solution, you can get:

CALL & SMS IMPORT, ADVANCED LOGIN (via fingerprint, NFC, QR code)
NATIVE APP ON ALL MOBILE PLATFORMS (iOS, Android, Windows)
SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE & RESPONSIVENESS
CONTACT IMPORT IN-THE-FIELD
FAST NOTE TAKING
PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
…

A holistic enterprise mobile strategy helps organizations and its field reps to have all the information in one place – to access, update, and interact with client data via mobile devices.

Mobile apps that integrate Salesforce data, allow its field users to: take action while on-the-go, speed up their operations and business thanks to a fast-mobile performance, and work with real-time sales/field service data. Working with accurate data helps reps sell smarter, find new opportunities faster, view and manage sales pipeline, be better prepared for meetings, responsive to customers, show the latest promotional offer, and more.

Curious where to find an all-in-one application that will smoothly integrate with Salesforce and help you enhance your business processes?
Reach out to mobile experts at [email protected].

[AppExchange series] 10 best things you can do offline with Salesforce data (and Resco Mobile app)

By Barbora Piatrova

On January 8, 2018

In Post

Happy new year to everyone!

First post of 2018 celebrates the AppExchange: the call for guest AppExchange posts is getting a lot of answers and amazing ISVs want to share their app.

In this guest post I want to present you the Resco Mobile App, an amazing solution for Salesforce offline management, fully customizable with no coding skills, that leverages the power of Salesforce when the Salesforce app is not enough!

I’ll leave the word to our guest blogger Barbora Piatrová, Content Strategist at Resco.net.

Barbora Piatrová takes her passion for digital marketing & mobile CRM everywhere she goes. Currently, she’s involved in creating & mastering content strategy at resco.net – one of the leading companies in the world for Mobile CRM. She is now actively also discovering and participating in new thriving communities for Salesforce enthusiasts.

Offline matters. Especially nowadays.

Even in Europe, where Internet connectivity is generally perceived as very good, there are areas and countries with poor 3G and 4G support. There is a pocketful of places with poor or no connectivity possible. What about the garages, planes, rural/uninhabited areas, or elevators?

Offline is now available for Salesforce users in the field, indeed. Including sales professionals and field service technicians. The question is, how much offline can we actually get? Is access to the last 5 recently viewed objects what a field technician truly need? The same guy whose mission is to complete all the planned tasks, inspections or sales visits needs permanent offline access to all Salesforce data. It doesn’t end here though. A motivated sales and field service rep wishes to fulfill the mission irrespective of internet connectivity. Continuous work is necessary even in areas where such limited offline would not help.

Consider true offline. Follow the leaders.

Resco is among the leaders in providing world-class offline mobile solutions for various back-end solutions, including Salesforce.

You might have noticed that offline capability is currently being added to mobile apps by most CRM vendors such as Salesforce, Microsoft, and others. In our opinion, offline is not a capability, which can be easily added to an online CRM app. Offline doesn’t only mean to add a local database support, providing the CRM data when the app is disconnected.

“Offline means that ALL the features and functionalities of the mobile CRM app are available also when the app is disconnected – with no limitations. Thus, the logic of every feature must be developed and implemented to the mobile app independently from the server. Otherwise, a feature will simply not work when the app is disconnected. But a mobile CRM app is usually the main business tool of every mobile sales or service professional. So, if it doesn’t provide 100% of functionality anywhere and anytime, it can cause immediate damages for a company’s business.”

Radomir Vozar, CEO at Resco
The primary focal point of Resco Mobile CRM is its offline capability. It has been implemented since the very beginning of its development. A complete, robust mobile solution, ready to serve its users whenever and wherever they happen to be. A completely different story in comparison to online CRM apps with offline capabilities.

In every release, we launch approximately 40 new features and improvements to our mobile app, including offline features. 18 years of development and hard work brought over 700 mobile features to life! And so, believe me, it was no easy feat, but we did come up with a list of 10 most used & useful features that prove that (in this case) both quantity and quality matter.

How to work with Resco Mobile App in an offline mode?

The same as if you’ve never left the room with wi-fi, switched off your mobile internet data or lost connection!

What exactly do we get in Resco with full offline support?

Business logic (not just data)
Offline-first approach means, you can perform complex business processes and constraints allowing you to not only view – but create or edit business logic of the solution that works offline.
Maps
System admins can define which maps will be stored in the local memory, so users can use the map view even without wi-fi or cellular connection to the Internet.
Document management (viewing and editing)
Offline-capable solution knows no limitations. When working with documents (pdf, HTML, MS Office, MS Excel, HTML, SharePoint, Dropbox) offline, you can simply set up the filters that dictate which files should be downloaded to the offline database in your phone or tablet.
Knowledge base articles
You get to not only access, but to play around with the articles about products, parts, and more. Filter articles of any format (pdf, HTML, video, audio, image…), copy them, add to favorites, associate with case or edit its details.
Reports
Yes, that’s right! You can generate pdf reports on spot limitlessly. Generate and work with them even further. Want to store a report? Send it or print? It’s all up to you.
Offline HTML
Who wouldn’t want to create their own business logic to the app for Salesforce? You can expand the app with tailor-made forms to add product presentations or to replace the standard user interface – all with offline HTML. Create stunning pres¬entations, get the scoop on your prospects by quickly looking at their online presence. Iframes allow you to show any HTML content in the application.
Lead conversion
Did you know you can qualify/disqualify leads or convert them to a closed deal even offline? Yes, automated processes truly simplify the lives of sales guys on-the-go. Finally, you can nurture your leads properly.
Multimedia
Show product presentation or attach pictures to your notes or any Salesforce record at any time! You can upload, edit, and delete multimedia including images, audio & video files (JPEG, PNG, AVI, etc.) and other formats.
Quotes
Can’t create a quote while disconnected? That’s no longer a challenge. You can freely create a quote with respect to an actual corporate product catalog and its pricing policy.
Faster performance
App performance is not to be underestimated in the enterprise space. With offline this robust, you don’t ever have to worry about waiting for network transactions to take place. Database reads and writes are stored locally, so the tasks are being completed instantly.

And there is plenty more you can do! Endless offline capabilities include task management, notes and business information editing, offline managements of all objects (standard, custom), product/parts management, offline calendar, favorites, and so much more.

*Note that:
In offline mode, the database is stored locally on the de¬vice (for offline capability and faster performance of Resco Mobile CRM) is encrypted by default. The data encryption is based on an application key. The appli¬cation key is randomly generated when the database is created and protected by the user’s password. The key is stored in an encrypted form in device’s file system and decrypted when needed.

Curious to see real offline mobile solution for sales and field service scenarios in action? Simply, drop Resco a line at [email protected] or request a demo at the website!

When Salesforce is life!