SalesForce Two Factor Authentication App

Recently I was playing around in the iOS app store and searched for SalesForce.  I happened to be looking to see what apps were now integrated with SalesForce.  However, in doing so, I found a gem of an app that SalesForce themselves make.

It is called SalesForce#.  This app essentially lets you enable two-factor authentication in your SalesForce org.  For those of you that don't know what two factor authentication is, it is requiring another piece of information from a user (like a code generated from a phone, etc.) in addition to their password to access a service.  This helps reduce the risk of someone hacking a password and being able to access your systems/information.

Now, with SalesForce#, you can set it up so that only specific users, say your Administrators, would have to use it.  What would happen is after they enter their usual SalesForce User Name and Password, they would enter the token ID from their phone app, which looks like this:

From here, you can see that the user is being prompted to enter the code generated by SalesForce#.  So, all the user has to do is open up the SalesForce# app on their phone, get said code, and enter it to complete the logon.  It is a very nice, slick way to enable two factor authentication fully supported by SalesForce.  

This two factor authentication is basically a more enhanced version of the traditonaltext message you get from SalesForce with a verification code.  That verification is only sent once to the user when logging in from a new computer and can't be "reset".  Whereas the use of SalesForce# can be set when they access the Reports Tab in SalesForce and also it can be "removed" on a user, or all users, to force them to have to re-authenticate themselves.  Although not a requirement for many organizations, it is a good tool to have in the toolbox.

To set up SalesForce# all you need to do is first download it from the App Store (iTunes).  From there, you
then have to go to the user's record in SalesForce and click "Add" beside Time Based Token" on their record.  Then, from there, the user will be prompted to log in again, and after doing so, will be shown this screen to add their token to their account:

Screenshot of Where to Enable Two Factor:

Screenshot of User Adding Token to Account:

The First Company To Secure Your Business...

At the recent SalesForce1 World Tour in London, an interesting idea was proposed.  It revolved around the fact when a business secures a new customer, you can often have that customer for life.  However, to do so, the business has to offer something to the market faster or better than a competitor.  As a result of that, customers are often drawn to that company and consider doing business with them.  If that company can keep that constant innovation going, and deliver the customer service needed, they have an amazing opportunity to keep that customer for life.

As a result of this above statement, it is important to remember how a CRM can help you do this.  Between Cases (that allow you to deliver quick customer service), Ideas (where you can track and manage innovation) and Opportunities (where you can track sales data), your CRM can help manage all of this for you and help your business grow.

SalesForce1 World Tour London

Today I was lucky enough to be in London, UK during the SalesForce1 World Tour. For those of you who haven't been lucky enough to attend a SalesForce1 World Tour, I would liken it best to a 1 Day DreamForce. You still have the traditional keynote, cloud expo and breakout sessions. However they are on a smaller scale than DreamForce. 

At the SalesForce1 World Tour they announced that SalesForce has recently taken over the building naming rights to a tower here. So coming soon is SalesForce Tower. They also announced that a new data centre in the UK is about to come online with additional ones in Germany and France coming online next year. 

There is a SalesForce1 World Tour coming up in Toronto, but none in Vancouver. You can see the complete list here - http://www.salesforce.com/events/#cursor=0&eventType=&region=ALL&daterange=&showdesc=false

If you are lucky enough to be in a city with a SalesForce1 World Tour I recommend attending. It helps educate yourself further with useful breakouts, network with fellow SalesForce users and get you excited again like you were after DreamForce. 

The Power of Workflows

If you are on Enterprise edition or above, you have access to a powerful feature - workflows.  With workflows, you have the ability to automate key business processes when certain things happen on a record.  For example, you could:

• Have an email sent to your Contract Administrator when an opportunity is marked as closed by your sales team.
• Have a task reminder logged for a sales rep when they enter a contact to touch base with that contact again in 3 months.
• Have a field update made automatically, either immediately or a set timeframe thereafter, when a record is changed.  For example, you could have SalesForce automatically mark opportunities as closed lost if there is no edits on them in 6 months

With workflows you can do so much once you know how to use them effectively.  Furthermore, in the next release, you will have the ability to leverage Flows (https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=vpm_designer_overview.htm&language=en_US) and launch them by way of workflow rules.  The power is endless and all of this doesn't require you to write any code!

SalesForce Licenses Options

If you are like most organizations, you have some users who need to do anything and everything in SalesForce.  However, you also likely have other users that just need to do a few simple things.  If it happens they need access to your custom objects, but don't need Leads and Opportunities, and just need read-only access to Accounts and Contacts, there is another option.  They are:

• Force.com Light - Force.com light is priced at $10/app/user.  This gives them access to:
• One of your force.com apps
• SalesForce standard security, profile and permission configuration
• Analytics like Reporting and Dashboards
• API access
• Full read/write access to Activities, Tasks, Calendar, Events, Content, Ideas and Q&A
• Force.com Enterprise - Force.com enterprise is priced at $50/app/user.  
• Same as above, but to any number of your force.com apps
• Bulk and Streaming API

Both have the regular increases to data storage, file storage and API calls.

These are a great way to save money on your license costs!

DreamForce Registration

Last year I attended my first DreamForce.  Now that I can see you can register again for DreamForce 14, it seemed fitting to reflect on last year's experience.

DreamForce is a great opportunity to learn more about SalesForce, but also about your fellow users of SalesForce.com.  The opportunity to network is ever present at DreamForce, especially at the nightly parties.  Of course you can network during the sessions too.

When it comes to the seminars/sessions that you can attend, I strongly recommend attending any sessions related to roadmaps or future plans.  That is because those sessions are often not recorded for future viewing.  Most of the other sessions are all recorded and can be watched after DreamForce.

For anyone who is thinking if they should attend or not, I would recommend the experience without question.  However, if you are going, make sure you book your accommodations now!