SalesForce.com / BlackBerry Integration

By
Craig M. Jamieson
– August 10, 2009Posted in: CRM/SCRM, Mobile
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Aviary na4-salesforce-com Picture 1 The picture to your left is not from my BlackBerry screen however, if I am going to integrate my handheld with my desktop, this is what I will be working with at my desk.

While I am pleased to say that I finally have my BlackBerry dialed in where it is working correctly and consistently, what good is it having a BlackBerry if you can’t even get to your contacts? I’ve been struggling with how best to accomplish that task. And, it seemed complicated as my only option appeared to be to sync with Outlook and I have had some bad experiences with syncing in the past. As far as that goes, I use Outlook for only 1/2 of the businesses that I am involved in and my focus is moving more and more toward NetWorks! Boise and my parent entity, Sales Results LLC. Then it struck me. I am incredibly stupid. You don’t have to worry about syncing if you are using a web based “SaaS” app and I already have one … SalesForce.com.

I have had SalesForce for some time now but  have never been able to keep up with the commitment to use it full time. It’s just easier to use Gmail for correspondence. My bad. SalesForce will integrate with Gmail if you have Google Apps, and I added Apps for this purpose, but I still do not like this particular interface. If you want to attach an email to a record, and you are using Gmail, you need to BCC to SalesForce in order to accomplish that goal. Not that big of a deal but it is an additional step. If an email comes to your inbox and you also want to attach that to a record, forward that email to the SalesForce BCC address. In all fairness, you can use SalesForce directly to email out without having to go through the Gmail interface.

So, yesterday it occurred to me that SalesForce likely offers a mobile application interface for the BlackBerry. They do. Actually they have a fully featured paid version and a  free “Lite” version so I downloaded the free one. It’s far from a beautiful app. O.K., it’s downright “clunky”, but it works. I can go on-line and bring up all my contacts, call them from my BlackBerry without the need to dial the number, or send them an email. I was kind of disappointed to learn that I still needed to use the BCC command but I am not fully convinced that this is the final statement regarding this matter.

Using this “lite” version, I did discover that it does not allow you to add or edit contacts. Well, that sucks. I went back to SalesForce’s website and did a little more checking. Certain things I read led me to believe that I may actually be able to get the full version as the system administrator. A couple of check boxes here and there, uninstall and reinstall the app, and “heiny bingo bango”, I’m up and running full SalesForce! More to be revealed (smile).

The desktop screen shot shown above is not your typical SalesForce home screen.  I figured out a way to have it link with my iGoogle Home Page and display that as a browser pane. So, I can now be in SalesForce while at the same time I also have access to Twitter, Gmail, FaceBook, Reader, all of it. Command Central (smile). Now is the time to train myself to work out of this screen until it becomes routine. The goal is to totally integrate my new BlackBerry. The rewards are potentially enormous. It starts today as I go into SalesForce to review and update about 1,500 records. That’s flat gonna’ suck but after that it should, will, maintain itself. Positive thinking (smile).

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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Craig M. Jamieson  (296 Posts)

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. NetWorks! Boise Valley is a business to business networking organization for the most serious sales and marketing professionals only.


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