We recently got a tweet from Cloudingo letting us know we were selected on a list Symphonic Source put together of Salesforce Admins Favorite Apps. And we’re excited!
The list came together from polling 676 Salesforce admins from around the world, so it’s not the end all be all of lists, but it gives some great recommendations. Check it out.
The majority of people surveyed have been working with Salesforce for a while and over a fourth of them have been taking care of Salesforce for over a 100 users. Also, 66% of them like dogs over cats in case you were wondering.
We looked over the full survey results and found some great information about the issues that Salesforce admins are facing, and thought it’d be great to share with you. Along with some of the apps listed that can help solve those problems.
Issues and Challenges
The biggest issue facing admins is clearing out all the duplicate records that can pop up and keeping your accounts clean. A couple input errors, import troubles, or glitches with updates and you can find yourself struggling to find the real account information you need.
Next up is training users and system integration. Salesforce can be difficult for people to adapt to and to integrate with your current systems. Helping a large group of people adapt to a new program is always a struggle. Thankfully, there’s ways to make the process easier, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.
The number 4 issue is figuring out the best method for reporting on your Salesforce data. There’s a lot of different ways out there to collect your Salesforce data, but it’s tricky to find the one that best answers the questions your company has. Keeping up on your company’s big data is key for analyzing and making major company decisions.
Admins are struggling with to keep data clean, secure, integrated, and relevant. Salesforce needs to always be working with you and that can be a struggle.
Solutions
Thankfully, admins don’t have to take on the challenges of Salesforce alone. There’s some key apps out there which can help handle the issues we’ve discussed.
DupeCatcher and Cloudingo - DupeCatcher is a free app for catching duplicate records as they’re being entered. Duplicates are caught in real-time and either blocked or merged with existing records using custom filters.
Cloudingo comes from the same people and is fully-grown big brother to DupeCatcher. Cloudingo is a full data cleaning service that eliminates the duplicates that already exist and allows data to be merged, converted, updated, or deleted in bulk. Cleanings can also be scheduled to happen automatically.
Field Trip - Field Trip is another free app that runs reports on the fields you have in Salesforce. It lets you analyze the fields of any object such as what percentage of your records have that field populated. With a few clicks you can get an idea of how your team is using Salesforce and start analyzing the data that’s available to you.
Cirrus Insight - Remember the big issues of training users and system integration? Well, Cirrus Insight is going to be one of your best tools for handling both of them. The app links your Gmail, Office 365, and more to Salesforce, so you can use and update Salesforce without having to leave your email client.
Cirrus Insight integrates email and Salesforce and simplifies the experience for all your users.
Why Bother?
Why take the time to get the extra bells and whistles? Besides making life easier for your Salesforce admin, these apps will make life easier for your whole Salesforce team.
Keeping your data clean, being able to analyze it, and making sure Salesforce is easy to use by integrating it into your email are all factors that will increase productivity and ultimately revenue. Adoption of Salesforce has always been a pain point for Salesforce admins, and each of these apps should help alleviate some of that pain.
These apps aren't bells and whistles. They're essential for addressing the issues facing Salesforce Admins.