Perspectives on Salesforce.com

I was pretty busy at Dreamforce this year and didn’t take any time to blog or even Twitter. I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the MapQuest booth to market Arrowpointe Maps. Much thanks to MapQuest for giving me that opportunity. Doing this really gave me a chance to see how Dreamforce is for lead generation and sales. It was great for lead generation and now it’s up to me to generate the sales.

For those looking to get the inside scoop on Dreamforce, start with the links below. From these, you will get your info and plenty more links to dig in further:

• Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce Sessions Pages -See the videos! I will be doing this for sure since I missed most of the sessions. Many are already posted.
• Salesforcewatch.com’s Dreamforce 2007 Posts
• CRM FYI’s Dreamforce Posts

In no particular order, here are some of my key takeaways from the show:

• Salesforce is really pushing the envelope on creative ways to better their platform and provide capabilities for development. Once us developers see this new functionality, we want it NOW and we already want it to do more, but it will take some time and we have to be patient. It’s no small task to roll this stuff out. Congrats to all at Salesforce that has developed (is developing) these features!
• Initially, the Visualforce functionality (when coupled with Apex code) will find most of its use in internally developed applications rather than partner apps. This is due to Apex Code’s requirements to work from an Enterprise WSDL rather than the Partner one (for now). Partner apps will need to rely on the SOA components to make callouts for things that require more dynamic logic and we also need to wait for Apex Code to be distributable via the AppExchange to all types of Orgs. I imagine this is only a matter of time.
• Adobe Flex rules. It’s next on my developer agenda.
• I had a dinner with some Salesforcers and fellow bloggers. I was able to let some influential people at Salesforce know my ideas for the platform and I felt they were sincerely listening, which was great.
• MapQuest is working hard on their platform and will be releasing some very impressive new functionality soon and getting developers more on board with their API.
• It was great to be given a “Developer Hero” award during the Platform State of the Union break-out (Steve Andersen and Mike Farrington got one too). Here’s what it looks like:
  
• The Force.com Cookbook is recommended reading for Salesforce developers. It has good code samples. Reading it made me realize how much I don’t know.
• Working a booth all day is very exhausting
• It’s nice to finally get home

MapQuest made a significant update to their map images last night and greatly improved Arrowpointe Maps‘ ability to support global addresses. The API that Arrowpointe Maps uses was already now caught up with the main MapQuest.com site in terms of geocoding capabilities, but it is now also caught up in terms of map images.

This update from MapQuest “just happened” and requires no changes on your part or ours. Also, be on the lookout for more upcoming improvements to MapQuest’s overall mapping platform (very impressive) that Arrowpointe Maps will reap the benefits of.

Version 1.0.5 of Arrowpointe Maps was just released. You can read about all the improvements on the Change History page. The changes that most impact user experience and the application’s capabilities are:

• Added a mouseover reaction on the map to show the Info Window title when a marker is moused over. This allows a user to see which record is which without opening up each marker.
  
• Added links to all map marker Info Windows to allow the address to be mapped or used in driving directions on mapquest.com.
  
• Added support for Dots as a map image (see image above). Allows the user to choose between Dots or Stars and it remembers the last selected value for the next map run.
  
• Added “does not contain” as a comparison operator to be used on String map filter fields.
• Added a “Last 7 Days” and Next 7 Days” option to be used on Date map filter fields.

NOTE: If you are using Arrowpointe Maps and are confused by these posts about new versions, just know that these updates are happening automatically for you. You do not need to re-download the AppExchange application. Changes to the AppExchange package will be few and far between and those will be communicated very explicitly.

About Arrowpointe Maps

Arrowpointe Maps is an on-demand mapping platform that facilitates a conversation between Salesforce.com & MapQuest allowing for easy deployment of mapping capabilities in your organization and providing end-users a simple means for mapping their data. Arrowpointe Maps is configurable and can be tailored to your organization, so that your users can work with their information in a meaningful way.

The official location for information on Arrowpointe Maps is its product page at http://www.arrowpointe.com/maps. There, you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions, screencasts and links to its AppExchange page.

Gareth Davies, owner of Upside Outcomes, announced that he is selling the assets of Upside Outcomes. He has accepted a senior position with one of the big four in the UK.

The assets of Upside Outcomes would enhance your service offering by providing:

• A ready made process for acquiring new leads
• Proof of ability to provide service (pre-packaged ready-made software)
• On-going license revenue to provide stability and enhance lumpy service work.

Gareth will be at dreamforce (and available before and afterward for a day or two as well) so if you are interested in acquiring the company, or some of its assets, please contact him at sales@upside-outcomes.com and you can arrange to provide further information.

Read his full post here. Congratulations on your new position Gareth and good luck! See you at Dreamforce!

Dreamforce is just around the corner. Jeff Grosse create a Jaiku channel for Dreamforce  that sounds like it’ll be the easiest place to stay up to date on happenings. That feed consolidates a bunch of feeds (mine, Salesforcewatch, CRMFYI, Flickr stuff, Twitters, etc.) in one place. I will blog what I can, but will more likely be using Twitter  during the show. After it’s all said and done, I hope to create a summary post like I did last year.

This year, my primary focus at the show is marketing Arrowpointe Maps. Arrowpointe Maps is an on-demand mapping platform that facilitates a conversation between Salesforce.com & MapQuest allowing for easy deployment of mapping capabilities in your organization and providing end-users a simple means for mapping their data. Arrowpointe Maps is configurable and can be tailored to your organization, so that your users can work with their information in a meaningful way.

MapQuest has invited me to participate in their booth and Arrowpointe Maps will be a showcase application for them at Dreamforce. I will be spending the majority of my time in the MapQuest booth. If you’d like to talk about Arrowpointe Maps, my Salesforce.com services, other Arrowpointe products, or just want to say hello, please stop by the MapQuest booth. That will be the easiest place to find me.

I am using OpSource to host Arrowpointe Maps and I will be spending an hour with them in their booth on Tuesday from 2 – 3pm. They are one of the 2 certified hosting partners for AppExchange apps.

I am speaking in the Developing on Salesforce Using PHP session. I will be going over the Web-to-Lead Spam solution I created that integrates with Akismet, a spam detection service. Nick Tran, the creator of the PHP Toolkit, and Mike Simonds, a PHP developer who recently created PHP replication scripts for Salesforce, will be speaking too. That session is on Tuesday at 3:45pm.

Please say hello if you see me walking around or stop by the MapQuest booth to find me more easily at the show. I look forward to meeting lots of you at the show!