To help get you ready for the Winter ’21 Release (September 18 – Release Readiness Live! and October 10 & 17 – Release Weekends), Ad Victoriam’s certified consultants have poured through the latest Salesforce innovations across mobile, industry solutions, content management, AI, and more to highlight seven of the standout new features.

1. Break Up Your Record Details with Dynamic Forms

AdVic Note: Using the Lightning App Builder, Dynamic Forms now allows you to create mini-page layouts that can be placed anywhere. In addition, they can also be hidden on a per-user basis.

Salesforce Overview: Dynamic Forms is the next step in the evolution of Lightning record pages. It adds the ability to configure record detail fields and sections inside the Lightning App Builder. This feature, which is now generally available and enabled for everyone, includes some changes since the beta release.

2. Optimize the Opportunity Scoring Model

AdVic Notes: Available to the entire Salesforce community with the Winter ’21 Release, you now have the availability to exclude certain records – and ignore fields of your choosing – from the Einstein Opportunity Scoring model.

Salesforce Overview: Fine-tuning your scoring model can yield more accurate scores. When setting up Einstein Opportunity Scoring, you can choose to have Einstein look only at opportunities that meet certain conditions. Also, decide if you want Einstein to exclude any custom opportunity fields from the scoring model.

3. Find Changed Deals at a Glance

AdVic Notes: Sales Managers who need to stay updated on the movement of deals will especially like this. Change to the Opportunity List views in Lightning allows users to see if Opportunity amounts or close dates have been changed. In addition, via the Forecasting tab, you now have the ability to update sales stages.

Salesforce Overview: Opportunity deal change highlights help your sales team prioritize work by showing recent changes to amounts and close dates. For example, knowing which deals changed helps sales managers with their weekly coaching sessions. In the opportunities list view and Kanban view, text colors and arrows indicate amounts and close dates that changed during the last seven days. And users can hover over an arrow to get details.

4. Apply Audiences to Record Detail Pages with Record-Based Criteria

AdVic Notes: Communities often require additional customization as they are external facing. This new update extends the customization to the record detail page which was previously only customizable through the use of record types.

Salesforce Overview: You can now vary what people see on a record detail page using audience criteria based on record fields. For example, you can display different theme layouts when someone is looking at a coffee machine or a box of tea, or different pages for high-value and low-value opportunities. Also, we moved record criteria from the advanced section into the main body of the editor, so you can easily combine it with user criteria to create custom formulas.

5. Display Survey Pages Based on Your Data

AdVic Notes: Do you use Salesforce Surveys? If so, you now have the ability to create unique customer journeys by defining which survey page they skip to next based on Salesforce data.

Salesforce Overview: Let data in your Salesforce org determine which survey page participants view next. Use variables to define conditions in your page branching logic. Use associated record merge field variables and participant record merge field variables to define field-level conditions. Use org variables to define conditions based on your org’s information. Use custom variables to define conditions based on values that you define.

6. Be More Efficient with the Actions Launcher Redesign

AdVic Note: This update brings more parity to the Field Service app between iOS and Android. This is a great step toward a more unified experience across the devices making training and troubleshooting easier.

Salesforce Overview: Working on iOS and Android is easier with the updated Actions launcher. The Actions launcher’s look and feel are now the same across platforms, giving users a consistent experience, no matter their device. Section headers make it faster to find what you’re looking for when navigating through action lists.

7. Analyze Your Lightning Page Performance

AdVic Notes: Ever get a complaint about page loading speeds from a Lightning user? Salesforce has now given you the ability to see what components are the culprits causing this. Locate the “Analyze” button in the Lightning App builder to get suggestions for page loading speed improvements.

Salesforce Overview: Discover ways to make your record page perform better based on analysis right inside the Lightning App Builder. Performance Analysis in App Builder evaluates the fields, instances of the Related Lists component, and metadata of a record page. With the click of a button, get best practices and suggestions for improving page performance and the end-user experience.

If you need help implementing any of the Winter ’21 Releases, you need a partner with extensive knowledge, depth of experience, and proven customer success. The Ad Victoriam team is ready to help you figure out your needs now! Just fill out the form below, or click here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][gravityform id=”16″ title=”true” description=”true” ajax=”false”]

7 Top Salesforce Summer ‘20 Release Highlights
6 Top Salesforce Spring ‘20 Release Highlights

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The post Top 7 Salesforce Winter ‘21 Release Highlights appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

When you prioritize customer service in every interaction you have with a customer, you earn their trust, build lasting relationships, and give your company a competitive advantage that’s second to none. But the question is, what can you do that will help you get – and maintain – that competitive advantage?

Across every channel — whether it’s email, phone, chat, messaging, self-service, IoT or in-person — Salesforce® Service Cloud enables companies to put the customer at the heart of every service moment and deliver personalized customer experiences.

Let’s take a look at a few ways implementing a Service Cloud solution can help you to deliver smarter customer service with a 360-degree view of every customer.

Connected Workspace Solution

The path to offering a better customer experience is as simple as a better service agent experience. Start by arming your team with Service Cloud’s Omni-Channel console (see image below), built-in productivity tools, automation, AI-powered next-step recommendations, and a unified 360-degree view of every case detail and customer interaction. When you do, your team can automate routine tasks and solve cases faster, and tailor support to match each customer.

Case Management 

When it comes to case management, the goal is to ensure consistent and accurate customer support. You get there by routing the right case to the right customer service agent every time. Agents will also get customer activity updates and alerts when an action is needed, guaranteeing the right level of service. And with that 360-degree view, every customer interaction appears in a chronological timeline. In addition, every voicemail, email update, knowledge article, or any other information about a case appears in the agent’s news feed.

Knowledge Management Solution

When it comes to knowledge management, a Service Cloud solution empowers your customer service agents to help customers find the answers to their questions across any channel through a centralized knowledge base.

And if it’s a self-service solution you’re interested in, you can embed knowledge articles right into your website or mobile app, plus instantly answer customer questions using artificial intelligence-powered chatbots to recommend articles.

Service Analytics

As a manager, wouldn’t it be great to know everything that is happening within your customer support operation any time, anywhere, and from any device?

As part of Salesforce Service Cloud, Service Analytics helps your customer service agents make more informed decisions in every customer conversation by giving managers the ability to embed analytics right into the agent workspace. This allows agents to work faster using prebuilt dashboards that automatically populate your CRM data. Managers also gain visibility into the business operations with case volumes, agent and mobile worker activity, chatbot performance, and backlog analysis.

And we haven’t even scratched the surface of how much more Service Cloud can do to enrich a better manager to service agent to customer experience. It’s a platform that scales with you, and the Ad Victoriam consulting team is anxious to show you more.

Oh, and did you know Field Service Lightning (FSL), which can seamlessly integrate with Service Cloud, helps businesses get more out of their field service operations? FSL creates optimized routes for field techs, helping complete the customer 360-degree view and connects you to your customers.

So, are you ready to up your customer service game? We’re ready to create a strategic plan just for you, just click here.

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Here are just three of the reasons why a Salesforce® Field Service Lightning (FSL) solution could be the answer to your struggles.

1. Field Service Route Optimization

With Route Optimization, you can set up work rules that can be defined as a yes or no to prevent a rule violation. Utilizing service objectives allows you to weigh different goals based on the determined importance. Examples would be: Will this make the person work overtime or not? – or – Is this person in the same area or not? – or – Who is the fastest person that can get there? Do you want this job to be done ASAP or can it wait?

By using answers from the questions above, you can define a scheduling policy. This policy is applied to an optimization request. The optimization runs and looks at every possible way to route the different resources and their jobs. That can mean either switching the jobs around for that single field tech, or you can create another scenario for the day and optimize everything that is going on for that particular day.

2. Ease of Work Order Creation

By integrating FSL with Service Cloud, imagine an issue comes in such as a person calling to say, “My water heater is broken, I need help.” That creates a case and logs it. From there, a support agent can – with just one or two clicks – create a work order. From that work order, the dispatcher can see that it’s an emergency issue and assign a field tech quickly and get them en route to the customer. The system makes it easier for the customer to get support, quickly, creating a great customer experience.

Another benefit of work order creation is the ability to look at a customized Gantt chart (pictured, below). With this tool, dispatchers can see what’s been assigned to specific field techs and can look on a map and see where those techs are as well as the jobs they are assigned.

3. Utilizing the Mobile Device

Using a mobile device within Field Service Lightning, your field techs can stay in constant communication with the dispatcher. This allows the dispatcher to push updates or new jobs to the tech. They can also get more information on their jobs, and gather required signatures acknowledging that the work they performed was completed.

In addition, you can customize flows and processes that your field techs can walkthrough. You can also upload images if something needs to be documented.

The best part? Field techs don’t have to worry about connectivity issues when using the mobile device! If they are working in places like a basement, there is an offline mode where they can still enter their information and save it, and then when connectivity returns – either WiFi or data – what they entered will be uploaded to Salesforce automatically.

Watch our “Optimize Your Field Team’s Schedule” webinar below!

Bonus Benefits of Using Field Service Lightning

Having done numerous FSL implementations, Ad Victoriam customers – from the manager perspective – tell us that they really like being able to see how their workforce is being utilized. Salesforce can calculate the utilization based on a person. As an example, say one of your field techs is 80 percent utilized this week, so you decide that you need to optimize their route and assign that tech more work so he’s closer to 100 percent utilization.

From a dispatcher perspective, they like being able to color code different jobs and see status update color changes on the Gantt chart and quickly react to any “red flags.” Dispatchers tell AdVic consultants all the time that their ability to see everything in one view is the biggest plus of their using FSL.

Are you looking to take your company’s field service performance to a new level? Talk with one of Ad Victoriam’s certified Salesforce consultants now by clicking here.

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Watch the AdVic webinar – “Optimize Your Field Team’s Schedule” – to learn how to create scheduling policies, work rules, and objectives to drive productivity that will result in minimized travel time, overtime and costs, and much more.

The post 3 Ways to Unleash the Speed and Efficiency of Your Field Service Operation appeared first on Ad Victoriam Solutions.

Smarter and Faster Service

When it comes to helping your team work smarter, FSL greatly improves not only the customer experience, but you also get more productivity from your field agents on every call. Just think how beneficial it would be for your company if you could locate the closest field agent or technician in proximity to a customer or match them with a representative that has the right skill set to get the job done.

And with the help of equipment and inventory management tools, every field agent can be equipped with the proper tools and sufficient knowledge to get the job done – the first time – to the customer’s satisfaction.

And when it comes to working faster, using FSL’s Einstein-enabled artificial intelligence could, for example, help a dishwasher repairman who needs to replace a water inlet valve to simply snap a picture of the valve, and Einstein will quickly identify the exact product type—saving time for the customer, repairman, and the company.

Manage Jobs 24/7 from Anywhere

Without question, the biggest advantage companies will get from implementing an FSL solution is mobility, 24/7 from anywhere. Premium FSL features that your field agents can bring to their on-site jobs – even without a connection – include:

• Knowledge articles
• Real-time collaboration
• Instant access to job schedules
• Stock and inventory visibility
• Barcode scanning in-app
• Capture signatures digitally in-app
• Technician-controlled scheduling management

Additionally, using the fully customizable mobile iOS or Android app, your field agents can send geolocation information back to your company’s scheduler, or chat with other company employees. The app also allows agents to take advantage of custom layouts, list views, tailored actions, Salesforce flows, and can even connect to other apps.

Lastly, read how FSL was a part of a recent Salesforce Service Cloud, Community Cloud, Mobile, and Lightning Experience solution successfully implemented by the Ad Victoriam consulting team, here.

Are you looking to take your company’s field service performance to a new level? Talk with one of Ad Victoriam’s certified Salesforce consultants now by clicking here.

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The 411 on Field Service Lightning Management

FSL is designed to connect your workforce and enable them to deliver intelligent and productive on-site service. It allows for faster delivery and smarter and more personalized service from the phone to the field on one platform.

More specifically, here’s just a few things FSL software can do:

• Resolve field service calls faster
• Boost the productivity of employees in the field
• Automated appointment scheduling
• Manage agents, dispatchers, and techs
• Get real-time operations visibility
• Optimize mobile workforce allocation
• Keep customers updated at every step

The Salesforce FSL Highlights

Upload Multiple Images to Get the Full Picture

AdVic Overview: Easy to add multiple pictures from the phone.

Salesforce Description: Use your image upload flow to capture and select several images at once. Swipe to move between images or see all of them together in the gallery view. In each image’s detail view, you can add a description or delete the image.

Note: This change applies to Field Service Lightning for Android and iOS in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions.

Create and Manage Service Crews with Crew Management*

AdVic Overview: A better view for Service Crews.

Salesforce Description: Quickly create and manage service crews using the crew management tool, which was previously in beta. Use the new service crew wizard to create a crew, and find the right crew members for the job with smarter search results. Search now considers resources’ operating hours and availability in addition to their skills.

Select a Scheduling Policy When Booking Appointments*

AdVic Overview: Improve appointments.

Salesforce Description: Enjoy greater scheduling flexibility by choosing a scheduling policy directly from the Book Appointment and Candidates Chatter actions.

See Further into the Future on the Gantt*

AdVic Overview: Better insight and scheduling.

Salesforce Description: View up to six months of your team’s schedule on the Gantt with the new long-term view. Choose how many months to display, highlight weekends to aid scanning, and apply a multi-day appointment filter. Keep things tidy by showing only appointments and absences over a certain length. We’re also introducing a two-week view for mid-range planning.

*Applies to Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer editions with the Field Service Lightning managed package installed.

Read how FSL was a part of a recent Salesforce Service Cloud, Community Cloud, Mobile, and Lightning Experience solution successfully implemented by the Ad Victoriam consulting team, here.

Lastly, if you would like to find out what Salesforce solutions are right for your company, talk to a certified Ad Victoriam consultant today. We’re committed to helping you find long-term, future-proof solutions that grow your business.

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The Business Challenge

Successful as they were on the global manufacturing stage, Polyglass was struggling with managing its roofing inspection process. They needed new technology to automate their processes, thus their reason for reaching out to Ad Victoriam Solutions (AdVic).

When Polyglass came to AdVic, they were utilizing an underperforming, homegrown system, which required extensive, time consuming manual input of data. Their representatives were taking pictures with their phones and logging their information in their personally created Word templates. Afterwards, they would email their findings to the home office. Polyglass needed a solution that increased productivity and simplified the complex work order creation process. Polyglass also wanted a portal within which their office and field-based teams could seamlessly communicate.

Salesforce Implementation Results

After careful and extensive technical analysis of exactly what Polyglass needed, AdVic created a strategic roadmap outlining the optimal course of action to implement Experience Cloud, Salesforce Mobile, and Salesforce’s Lightning Experience. Here’s what AdVic accomplished:

• Decreased roof inspections appointment duration by 75 percent.
• Created functionality to capture, edit and add aerial rooftop photos to work orders.
• Customized the platform so customers can log claims and the service team can create cases to facilitate quick resolutions.
• Enabled Mobile to allow field-based tech reps to provide demos and input data immediately for quicker transfer of leads to sales.
• Provided in-person user adoption trainings for their nationally based team members to transition users from the homegrown system to one single robust platform.

Related: Watch our manufacturing focused on-demand webinar (with a demo).

This is just one of our manufacturing success stories. We understand that your business has its own unique challenges. Ad Victoriam digs into the details to provide a unique, scalable solution that meets the intricate needs of each user group as well as the needs of the overall company. If you would like to discuss your challenges, click here.

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