Steps For Salesforce Application Development

Published on: 27 January 2020 Last Updated on: 19 March 2024

As an entrepreneur, your customers are the biggest pillar of your business. No matter your industry of domain, area of specialization, or even your business focus, they are the single most valuable asset to your organization and you should treat them as so.

Through their valuable feedback, your business can gain a new sense of direction, develop new concepts, as well as bring in more revenue. With that said, as a business owner, simply appreciating your customers isn’t enough. You need to truly understand them to tailor your products and services to meet them at their point of need. And that’s where Salesforce application development comes in.

It entails creating integrated customer relationship management solutions that interface businesses with their customers. These CRM platforms also give all the departments in a particular organization a unified view of all the customers and how they interact with various aspects of the business.

In this article, we are going to look at what Salesforce is and its uses. While at it, we are also going to delve deeper to see the entire Salesforce application development lifecycle.

What Is Salesforce?

Simply put, it’s a cloud computing SaaS company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. Thanks to the company’s cloud technology, businesses are able to better connect with their existing clientele, partners, and potential customers.

Over the years, Salesforce software has grown to become the leading marketing and customer behavior tracking solution for both small startups and Fortune 500 companies. As it turns out, customer relationship management is one of the key driving factors for the increasing demand for application development in Salesforce.

Recent research from Vonage offered a compelling view of the effects and consequences of poor customer service. In the US alone, the research revealed that an estimated $62 billion is lost annually as a result of bad customer experience.

To underwrite this figure, a different report from Huffpost has indicated that 91% of customers won’t hesitate to switch brands once they experience bad customer service. These are mind-blowing figures, especially if a business has no solution to counter the consequences of poor customer experience.

However, with Salesforce in place, businesses are able to overcome the problems caused by poor customer service and other business process variables. According to statistics published on Salesforce’s website, companies that are currently using their software have continued to see average increases in multiple areas. For instance, 34% of users have seen an increase in customer satisfaction, with 27% and 32% users seeing an increase in sales revenues and lead conversion respectively.

In 2018, Salesforce emerged as the biggest CRM software commanding a total of 19.8% market share of the CRM software market. During the same period, the company was voted as the #1 CRM provider by the International Data Corporation. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that companies are willing to pay the highest Salesforce consultant salary just to get wind of this technology.

The Benefits of Using Salesforce

Given the commendable portfolio of Salesforce, here are areas it can help your business find success. Below I am going to discuss the benefits of using Salesforce.

Helps Collect Customer Intel

In the prevailing competitive business environment, overlooking data collection can be a fatal and unforgiving mistake. As a business, collecting and collating customer intelligence should be an obsession or the very least treated as a full-time affair, because it can lead to loss of revenue. As such, if you are to improve customer satisfaction and continue remaining competitive, hiring qualified Salesforce developers to build a high-quality CRM tool is inevitable.

And with Salesforce, you get an upper hand over your competitors by enjoying tools that help you identify, understand, and solve customer problems.

Flexible And Scalable

As companies and business needs continue to evolve, the tools of trade must also adapt. For instance, if the structures of your business start to grow, the management software should be able to seamlessly accommodate the changes. Cognizant of this fact, Salesforce CRM comes with multiple functions that allow for scalability right from the initial stages to any future interactions.

Helps in Account Planning

Having a unified view of customer information allows your teams to independently make plans for various accounts. It also facilitates a more hands-on customer connection approach as well as allows various reps and departments in your organization to modify their plans for optimized results. Salesforce also comes with a to-do items feature, which helps your entire workforce stay organized throughout the day.

Along with that, Salesforce also works as an organizational tool. Your team can create calendar reminders specifying the future customer follow-ups or important duties reminders to the upper management, which helps prevent anything from falling through the cracks.

If you are in the service-based businesses, Salesforce also gives you insights into the amount of time a particular customer/s has stayed in a particular subscription package. Once this info is established, your team is able to customize marketing materials to match a particular customer niche.

Cloud Connectivity

Many companies are now gravitating towards software as a service (SaaS), which means software that is available online. Luckily, Salesforce doesn’t need to be installed on a computer as it is cloud-based. This means that you can easily access it everywhere, interface it with other digitized services, and enjoy unlimited storage capacity. And since no maintenance is required, you get to save on a Salesforce developer salary that would have otherwise been paid for this purpose.

Facilitates Team Collaboration

Poor team communication and collaboration can lead to reduced productivity. On top of a unified view of customer data, Salesforce’s “Chatter” feature allows your team members to easily and regularly communicate work-related information. Additionally, the feature also lets you highlight and prioritize urgent issues that require special attention by inviting different team members to look at them.

Salesforce Application Development Lifecycle

Software developers spend a lot of time designing, developing, securing, and delivering products that perform better than initially envisioned. As a result, different software development approaches like agile development, waterfall model, and many others have merged.

When it comes to cloud-based solutions, the incorporation and implementation of various software development methodologies make it even more complex. Moreover, the Salesforce Development Lifecycle also means that the software is developed, tested, and deployed in a cloud environment.

Below, we have laid down 6 steps that clearly illustrate the entire Salesforce Development Lifecycle:

Business Requirements Analysis

The first step towards a successful custom Salesforce application is to conduct an internal business needs analysis. It entails the development team eliciting the potential customer needs, elaborating them, validating all the assumptions, and devising efficient methodologies to meet these requirements.

Business requirements analysis is important as it helps avert potential mistakes as well as make the final product both efficient and compatible with the existing system and security standards.

UI/UX Design

Another important aspect of Salesforce application development is optimizing the app for user experience. A report by iMPACT indicates that 52% of customers are less likely to conduct business with a brand offering a poor mobile experience. On the other hand, Forbes conservative estimates indicate that intentional and strategic user experience can yield a conversion rate as high as 400%.

If these numbers are anything to go by, designing a user-friendly and highly responsive Salesforce application development is absolutely paramount. In order to optimize an app for effective and enjoyable use, developers need to map out the user journey and creatively choreograph user/platform interactions to benefit the end-user.

Development Phase

The next step in Salesforce application development entails creating developers creating isolated sandboxes. Generally, these distinct sandboxes hold the main production app copy and other supplementary Salesforce configuration information. They are also independent, implying that changes in a single sandbox don’t affect the main Salesforce production enterprise. Individual developers have to clone their branches.

To retrieve the metadata from the sandboxes to the IDE, the developers need to use Force.com IDE. Once they have the metadata, they continue coding their assigned app features, performing initial unit testing, and then submit the finished code to the Git repository.

If a subsequent developer wants to build on top of this freshly updated branch, they need to clone it to their sandbox and continue developing new features. Once done, they also have to submit their latest development to the repository.

With that said, the possibility of multiple developers working on the same branch cant be overlooked. To avoid conflicts, it is important for everyone in the development team to check for possible branch updates before committing.

Testing

The next step after building a Salesforce application is to ensure that it has an excellent and stable performance. This mainly entails developers carrying out QA activities including unit tests and code reviews. It is also at this stage that functional, performance, and integration testing is conducted within the development process.

Lastly, automation tests and debugging are conducted to augment the app’s speedy delivery.

Integration

During the integration phase, the custom CRM application is interfaced with third-party software like CMS. To facilitate a smooth transition, the development team also conduct hands-on training sessions as well as provides training materials to the client.

Launch

Once the app is launched for internal use, it is transferred to the client and subjected to their User Acceptance Testing environment (UAT). Once satisfied, the finished product is moved to the production environment and deployed to the end-users.

Salesforce Application Development Team Actors

During the app development process, different players are involved and handle different aspects of the app. In the Salesforce app development life cycle, the most common actors include:

Product Manager: Help finalize business requirements.
Release Manager: Help coordinate the app’s release schedule.
Software Developer: Handles the main coding and produces the requisite deliverables.
Quality Analyst: Tests and confirms the functionality of various app features.

Potential money from the Salesforce AppExchange development:

After researching the fact this has been seen that Potential money from the salesforce AppExchange development can depend on several other factors.

How To Build an App for Salesforce AppExchange?

To build your AppExchange app, you must go through the multi-step procedure, which includes compliance, release, ongoing support, and demand app development. Below, I will discuss how to create an App for Salesforce AppExchange.

1st Step: Become the Part of Salesforce Business Partner Community

The first and foremost step in becoming a Salesforce AppExchange trade Partner is to join the Salesforce Partner Community. In this case, you must submit the form using AppExchange. After all, the Salesforce Partner Community is the hub of existing AppExchange Partners.

2nd Step: Examine AppExchange Market

The next step in building the app is to examine the AppExchange market. AppExchange offers many products and solutions for several products and cloud services in Salesforce. In this case, for optimal outcomes, you must use the curated collections of AppExchange.

3rd Step: Make the First Sketches of Your Product

Once you are done researching the existing solutions on AppExchange, you must start defining the unique value proposition of your product. For the outline, you must follow the below-mentioned procedure such as:

Firstly, you must understand your target audience.
Secondly, ensure you have an idea of business targets.
Thirdly, you must follow the types of Salesforce editions you will support.
After that, ensure you have an idea of the package type.
Next, ensure you have the Salesforce Licenses that you want to use.
Lastly, it would help if you ensured the requirements for your AppExchange App security.

4th Step: Define the Type of ISV Partnership and the Type Of Your AppExchange Solution

Once you have joined the Salesforce Partner Community, then, you must analyze the existing products, and you can create a rough roadmap. In this case, ensure you have defined the type of ISV partnership, and consequently, you also have built the AppExchange solution.

There are seven types of ISV partners in AppExchange. It includes OEM, CDP Cloud Partner, Commerce Cloud Partner, All Other Clouds (paid), All Other Clouds (free), and Technology Partner/Tableau.

5th Step: Choose the Programming Type and Tools to Build Your Salesforce App

Recently, Salesforce provided two types of programming languages and two types of tools that you can use. Let’s know what programming tools are used in Salesforce App development. This includes Apex Cloud-based programming language. Next are Lightning components and Visualforce.

6th Step: Build Your Salesforce App

Once you can identify the exact type of solution, it must have the programming language, licensing, and packaging, and of course, you must continue with the building procedure.

Two ways to do this are using internal sources or outsourcing the dedicated team. If you want to build the SalesForce App using an in-house team, it could be one the most viable and remarkable options. If you don’t have enough resources, ensure you can control the entire product cycle of AppExchange.

7th Step: Test Your Salesforce App

If you want to ensure optimal performance, then it must conduct comprehensive end-to-end testing in technological domains. In this case, you must adhere to the development of best business practices, especially for testing.

8th Step: Prepare Your App for the Launch on AppExchange

Once you are done testing and finalizing the app, the next step is to prepare by submitting it to the SalesForce AppExchange. In this procedure, it includes creating the managed packages and providing screenshots.

9th Step: Submit Your App for Security Review and Market This

Ensure you have submitted your final app by undergoing the security review and then have met the necessary security requirements.

Final Thoughts

Salesforce CRM is a critical business tool. It helps streamline data analysis and reporting, provides invaluable customer feedback, and aid in formulating better customer service strategies. As a result, businesses are able to align their resources towards creating timely, customer-oriented solutions.

With that said, Salesforce application development isn’t a linear process. It entails working with different tools and multiple software development methodologies. And with cloud solutions continuing to capture the imaginations of business owners, the world is yet to see the full potential of CRM Salesforce and the cloud ecosystem as a whole.

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5 ways employee perks can dramatically enhance your personal life

According to this research from Clutch, 53% of workers who experience employee perks say the perks give them a better quality of life and an improved relationship with their employer. Such additional benefits can help enhance your job satisfaction as well as your personal life. Here are a few of the most popular employee perks and what they can do for you Financial Well-being Companies want the best people working for them, but with a competitive job market, attracting the best isn’t always about the paycheque. Platforms such as LifeWorks offer financial perks and savings for employees on all kinds of events, from cinema tickets to holidays or even buying a house. Financial security is a worry for a lot of workers, and so being able to save money here and there will significantly help to reduce that stress and allow you to save your pennies for a rainy day. Gym Membership Gym memberships are a popular employee perk. Sitting at a desk for too long can bring a host of negative long-term health issues, so it’s important to be exercising as often as possible. Accessibility to a work gym membership or exercise classes allows you to be active whenever you wish, rather than feeling as though you have to go consistently to make it worth your money. Regular exercise will significantly enhance all aspects of your life, improving your health and wellbeing as well as boosting your productivity and attitude towards work. Flexible Working Hours Flexibility is becoming quite a sought-after employee perk for the modern worker. Trying to balance personal and professional responsibilities can be overwhelming, so having the option to work from home where necessary allows you to keep these responsibilities under control. The offer of a flexible schedule will further demonstrate trust from your employer, creating a sense of value and respect that a salary never could, and ultimately enhancing your quality of life. Employee Appreciation Gifts In recent years, there has been growing literature which supports that business organizations that offer appreciation gifts for employees see a rise in retention rates as well as productivity. You can reward your employees by gifting them different items that can be useful for them both in terms of their work, as well as in their personal lives. These can include food items, COVID-19 care packages, gadgets as well as gift cards for online and in-store purchases. This will show that as a business you care about all the hard work that your employees are putting into the business. Performance Bonuses As an employee, you’re more likely to stay in a job where you feel you are trusted and provided with a sense of ownership over your work. Taking ownership over a task and subsequently being rewarded for its outcome is a real morale booster. Receiving a monetary reward for your success doesn’t only help you out financially, but it also creates a feeling of pride - it is something that you have earned and deserve. This helps the employer too, producing engaged employees who are excited and motivated to work for their business. Office Perks Offices can often be pretty drab and dreary environments, and so having perks that create a happy workplace makes space feel more fun and allows you to relieve the stress of the day. Some of the most common office-based perks include a relaxed dress code, games, and free drinks and snacks. A more casual environment will help maintain relationships among colleagues, boost productivity and make the working day more fun - all things that will subsequently have a positive impact on your personal life. Read Also: Why In-Company Training Results in Better Employees Things to Consider When Sourcing Employees for Manufacturing Plants 7 Best Employee Recognition Awards Ideas For 2021 3 Steps to Hire the Perfect Employee

Top 5 Mistakes B2B Businesses Should Stop Making Right Away

Many experts point out that running a successful B2B business is easy if you avoid making some important mistakes. Even if you are not running exceptionally sophisticated campaigns to woo newer clients, simply avoiding mistakes can give your company the much-needed boost. This is more important in the new scheme of things, especially for a post-COVID-19 business world. With 2021 just around the corner, it is essential that you pay heed to the contents of this article and ensure that you are able to avoid some if not all of these mistakes. In this article, we speak to some of the leading minds from the B2B world of marketing, sales, and logistics. We ask them about the mistakes and the way forward. List of Top 5 Mistakes B2B Businesses should stop making right away 1. Maintaining Data on External Disks- We all know how data is important to the success of any business. In the case of B2B companies, data can be the deciding factor between success and failure. 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Using search engines and social media in a strategic fashion can help you with a number of advantages. From reaching your target audiences to improving branding and lead generation, there is a lot to achieve from digital. 5. Taking help from External Specialised Vendors- B2B businesses think they must set up internal teams to start digital transformation or automate their processes. They fear hiring specialists. However, it does not have to be that way. By working with specialized digital marketing agencies, they can bring on an external partner firm, which can help them in multiple ways. This will ensure that they do not have to hire teams, give them systems, and spend on their office spaces. Once you start avoiding these mistakes, you will see a qualitative and quantitative transformation in your B2B business. You need to understand that the world is increasingly moving towards a digital framework, and as a business, you need to make the most of it. Common B2B Marketing Terms you Should Know Still a beginner at your B2B marketing strategies. Here is your dictionary to understand the different B2B marketing lingo. 1. What is the 80/20 Rule in B2B? The 80/20 rule simply states that 80% of a company’s revenue comes from 20% of its customers. In a business-to-business model, this highlights the need to identify and cultivate your key accounts. Therefore, concentrate on your sales resources on those customers who generate the most profit for you rather than trying to be all things to all people. You truly cannot impress anyone! 2. What is the 95/5 Rule for B2B? The 95/5 rule suggests that at any point in time, 95% of your target market is not actively buying, and only 5% are. As a result, B2B firms need to focus on consistently building brand and supplier awareness. 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The more knowledge you have about your product but also about the development in your industry or the general economy – the more credible person you become for your client. Because let’s face it, only real knowledge gives you power over the situation (matched with superb confidence). Every business out there looking for answers is desperately looking for someone who has all the answers. However, as we talk of successful B2B salespersons, we need to consider that they often also deal with long sales cycles. In those cases, persistence is what will make you stand out from the competition. If I shower my leads with attention every day, no other competitor can gain a share of attention. While we’re in relationships, people buy from people they “take care of them." Therefore, a successful B2B salesperson must adopt empathy when dealing with their clients. 5. How to Gain B2B Sales Experience as a Beginner? As a beginner, you can gain sales experience in B2B by shadowing your experienced sales reps, going to networking events, and taking internships or entry-level sales positions. The most valuable lessons are learned through real-world interactions, so concentrate on developing exceptional communication and negotiation abilities. Plus, never stop learning, self-reflecting, and staying on top of industry news if you want to become an expert. 6. What is the B2B Lifecycle Strategy? The B2B lifecycle strategy refers to an end-to-end management of the customer journey. This starts from leading to post-sales support by providing value at every stage, ensuring client satisfaction and loyalty through attracting, engaging, converting, and retaining clients with consistent, personalized experiences. Read Also: Top 10 B2B Marketplaces to Grow Business! 5 Most Common Digital PR Mistakes And How To Avoid Them The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery

What Is Channel Management And How Does It Work?

When you are a manufacturer or the handler of a company, you have to understand that you can not manage all the work yourself, especially the production and the selling on your own. Manufacturing and looking after the production lines is the essential job of a manufacturer. But out of the product sales, the company will make a good profit. If you want to grow your company, you have to concentrate on selling the goods primarily. Here the names of the channel management process are becoming stronger. Without a successful, efficient channel management process, your business and the products selling both are turning to be hectic jobs. But when you involve channel management software in the system, your sales and marketing work is becoming more simple and more productive. Let’s see first the answer to ‘ what is channel management?’ What Is Channel Management? The manufacturers are looking after the product’s production. After the production of the product, these products are heading towards the market for sales. Channel management is a process where the channel partners look after the product selling and product marketing with a specific channel. Channel management is working as the connecting bridge between the customer and the manufacturing company. The channel partners followed an individual target to sell the product and make the communications between the customer and the manufacturing company. Most of the channel partners are following the contractual bond between the company and them. And they are communicating on behalf of the manufacturer of the company. The channel partners can individually develop any new channel management strategy to improve the marketing plannings. The relationship between customer service and channel management is quite dependable. Customer service is an essential key integral part of the channel management process. When the channel management partners represent the company brand, the customer care services should be pretty strong and professional as the customers do not lose their faith in the brand. Now we think the channel management definition is clear to you. Now let’s jump into the next phase of the question of the importance of channel management. The channel management example is giving you a better understanding of the topic. Pros Of The Channel Management Process For Running a business, the necessity of a productive channel management process is to help you to grow. The main working area of the channel management process is to streamline all the business and customer communications. This is the reason in the positive channel management process that customer communication is so important. Here are the pros of the channel management process. Take a look at this and plan your successful channel operation module. The Channel management process is looking after the communications between the customers and the manufacturing company. And make a better relationship with good customer care support. Along with good revenue generations, the customer relationships and the bonds are going to be stronger when you are using the successful channel management process. Each channel partner is responsible for streamlining the communications with the customers in the channel. Every channel follows different types of strategy and different types of customer care services. Along with the goal achievements, you will know which module is the best suitable for your business. Techniques and strategies wise, each and every channel is using different techniques. But business protocol remains in the same position. The channel partners are establishing direct communications with the customers of the specific channels. So every time the customers need any specific help, the channel partners are present to provide the customer support. Along with the good customer support, your brand value is also going to increase, and your products are going to reach a good number of customer connections. These are the attractive features of the channel management process. And if you want to grow your business, the first thing you have to do is develop attractive channel connections and develop a good channel process model. How To Boost Your Channel Partners? Boosting your channel partner means you are taking action to grow your business. Successful channel management is the only way by which you can spread your product sales areas. Successful channel management has multiple benefits for your business. The best of all is the manufacturers do not have that much time for customer communications and looking after marketing and sales. But direct recruiting is very costly here. Here is some strategy that you can follow to boost your channel partner’s energy. Excellent cooperative collaboration with the channel managers and schedule data exchange is a regular job to boost the channel partner’s energy. And the meetings and essential training are the compulsory tasks to grow the channel engagement process and improve the communications. Announce the suitable incentive models for your channel partners. And elaborate the model structure in the open seminars. Always give the achievable target and a different target scope with different incentive structures. The target should be on the basis of the experiences and the channel’s nature. So for every channel partner, the target is distant. Seminar meetings are helping you to develop a stronger bond with your channel partners. Always communicate with the partner, and the channel manager should always maintain the communications between channel partners and the company. The company goal and the channel partner’s cooperation are helping you develop a solid and productive channel management system. More you recruit the new channel partner, their different perspectives, and the additional business terms are helping you to make progress and generate a new productive channel management process. Wrapping It Up The channel partners are a great help to spread your business and develop a more productive sales and marketing team. Hence, you are a manufacturing company and do not have time to look after sales and marketing. Therefore, creating a good channel management process offers the best facility to your customers. What is your opinion about the channel management process? Do not forget to share your opinion with us. More Resources 5 Tips to Improve Your Internet Privacy Why Your Business Needs Call Center Tracking IT Quick Fixes for Your Business During the Crisis by Paul Belogour