Posted a couple of minor updates to Cloud Converter, mostly small bug fixes that affected the metadata explorer feature. If you already have it installed as a web tab in your org, there’s nothing you need to do. You automatically have access to these. Enjoy!

If there was any doubt remaining about the viability of Cloud Computing for enterprise companies, that doubt should now be summarily dismissed. The company (symbol: CRM) reported earnings Thursday night that were well above last year’s results, and beyond what analysts expected to see. Their shares leapt 16% yesterday after reporting earnings of $21.2m on revenue of $316m, versus $10m on revenue of $61m a year ago.

Given the current business environment, it’s no wonder Cloud Computing is flying high. With no capital expenditure required, no hardware to maintain, and near infinite scalability without IT resource involvement, the business case is crystal clear. If you’re not yet a salesforce.com user, the only question you should be asking yourself is how long you can afford to not be.

Had an interesting challenge the other day: all the best last data migration plans were failing. Why? The tool of choice — which one is not important — failed. What to do?

I used Cloud Converter. Quelle surprise, right? I could have used something else, but it’s some decent code that I’m familiar with — so I used it. How?

I first did a test to be sure the API was working using a SalesforceSession object. Why test? Well, you never know. Why the Cloud Converter provided "SalesforceSession"? It’s easy. One line of code or so with a valid user and I established that the user was good, that the API was functional and that the user had rights to the API.

Sweet!

Then I moved to the source documents. I had two kinds: Simple CSV’s and Complex CSV’s.

Simple CSV’s were easy. I added a standard Java FileReader to the sample code, pointed it at the file, and split the data into component parts. Then I built a collection of "Sproxy" objects, added the SalesforceSession to a SalesforceDAO and executed an upsert. Start to finish, about 5 minutes for the first file.

Complex CSV’s were tougher. The difference between simple and complex was that the data contained commas. I know, this seems like it should be relatively easy, but at the time I was drawing a blank. So I imported those Complex CSV’s into Excel, saved them as Excel files and then used another Cloud Converter class, ExcelConverterService.

ExcelConverterService reads an XLS and breaks the data in the cells into a collection of type safe objects. Then I did the same thing I had done with Simple CSV’s: iterated through the data, added it to a Sproxy collection and threw it at the API.

Eh voila – instant data load.

Truth be told, I would rather not have had to do it this way. But when all else failed, it was nice to have an extra tool in my kit.

You can find Cloud Converter over on Google Code or on Developer.Force.com.

For many companies exposed to sales automation tools for the first time, workflow is identified as a key driver of success. After all, allowing a system to monitor your data and intelligently notify appropriate parties that they need to take action is an attractive proposition. In this way, workflow puts the “automation” in Sales Force Automation (SFA). As attractive as this feature may be, there are some guidelines that should be considered before going overboard with workflow.

First, workflow should be used as a means of complimenting your business process; your business process should not be dependent on workflow. The old adage of “process before technology” is important to remember as you want your saels organization to understand and comply with the processes that have been defined rather than relying on a the system to execute a process for them. This approach, although commonly controversial among sales teams, will assure them a wider visibility to the business and allow them to think before they act. If sales could be scripted into a series of workflow rules we would not need sales people.

A best practice is to leverage workflow for transactional processing and cross-departmental communication. CRM is largely about collaboration, both internal and external. Workflow can be invaluable to ensure that communication is happening consistently.

Second, there is an inherent problem with email as a workflow output. We have been conditioned to see sending as email as an endpoint that allow us to check off that a communication has been sent and move on to our next obligation. It defies ownership in some respects and can be dangerously overused; especially when there is the assumption that the email recipient will follow through as expected. Even in 2009, there is value in human-to-human interaction, follow up and diligence. If email is used as the sole mechanism of communication, problems will not go away; they will just become automated!

Third, be careful not become carried away with workflow (particularly email). Receiving notifications for every new opportunity entered in the system does not elicit the same response from a recipient on the 100th notification as it did on the 1st. Be weary of the fact that a white-noise effect can exist so too much of a good thing can cloud the message.

Take the approach of using automated workflow for exception notifications to help bolster their effectiveness. Define critical instances where a process is NOT being followed and alert impacted parties of that fact. To remember this rule, keep in mind the analogy of the “out of office alert.” Would it be effective to notify the sender of an email that the recipient is IN the office every time they sent an email. I think the clear answer is No; it would be annoying. Instead, we send an out of office reply to the sender when the expected condition is false to elicit the appropriate response.

Finally, when designing your workflow strategy, leverage alternatives to traditional task and email notification. Consider custom views and reports as an effective way for users (who understand the business process) to easily extract the information they need from the SFA tool. These designs have a primary benefit of being more effective and a secondary benefit of driving users into the SFA application and out of email.

(credit to Interperetivist Clog)

As the New York Times’ David Pogue put succinctly in his article, Apple may have stepped in it by rejecting Google’s "Google Voice" application from their App Store. Speculation abounds, but many feel AT&T put the kibosh on the application – highlighting the dangers mobile device manufacturer’s face when tethering themselves to cellular service providers.

With the FCC launching their own investigation into this mess, Google has apparently moved on. They are now said to be developing a web version of the Google Voice service, which will offer the same functionality through the iPhone’s Safari browser. This comes as no surprise, as they did the same thing with their Google Latitude application.

All of this only further serves to highlight the importance of net neutrality, something I have been passionate about for a number of years. Internet service providers want desperately to filter content, giving preferential treatment to those who pay extra for tiered services. They claim that since they own a section of the delivery mechanism (the “end of the pipe,” as it were) they should be able to control what passes through those pipes.

If net neutrality is not supported, services like this from Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com, even salesforce.com – could be significantly crippled, devastating the productivity of hundreds millions of people around the world in both their personal and professional lives.

I take the view that the Internet was originally built with public money, and is continually supported with both public tax dollars and ISP subscription fees. If the ISPs can’t get their act together to make a profit at the rates they charge, then they should raise their rates to a level the market will still support – not suppress everyone else with draconian law.

Twitter remains a popular topic in the mainstream media these days, gaining more and more popularity with public support from celebrities like Oprah and Ashton Kutcher. Most recently it garnered worldwide attention for its role in documenting the uprising in that followed the country’s controversial election.

Some people have even suggested that Twitter can be a useful business tool, but many remain skeptical of its practicality. My experiences tell me that if used properly, it can indeed be a useful tool for business people, and I’ll give you an example of a B2B webinar I recently ran along with some metrics to give you an idea of just how powerful it can be.

Straight to Performance Numbers

I decided to promote this webinar in two ways: traditional email marketing and Twitter. My email marketing plan was fairly straightforward with two targeted email blasts headed to 7,363 contacts in our company’s database, scheduled within three weeks of the event. After two email blasts with a 1.06% clickthrough rate, I had 66 registrants.

Twitter’s turn. I posted a registration link to our corporate Twitter page, which has about 400 followers including our customers and partners, as well as people who are generally interested in Cloud Computing. The link was almost immediately re-tweeted and subsequently read by thousands of Twitter users due to the viral effect. Numbers? 107 additional registrants, nearly double what I got from two separate email blasts.

In doing some analysis on the people that registered via Twitter, I found that they did not previously exist in our Salesforce database, meaning these people were likely hearing about us for the first time. When we actually held the webinar, Twitter registrants accounted for 60% of the attendees. They also had higher GoToWebinar Interest Ratings of 52 vs. the other attendees’ average rating of 46.8. The rating is a statistic built using a proprietary algorithm calculated based on attendance length, attentiveness, and a few other factors.

The case for Twitter use in a B2B marketing environment is clearly enforced by positive numbers, provided that you set appropriate metrics to begin with. Since this is such a new medium, some of the traditional direct marketing principles no longer apply.

How Else Can it Be Used for Business?

How about customer support? After posting the recording of our webinar to Twitter, we had someone reply that our recording wasn’t Mac-friendly. I apologized, mentioning that GoToWebinar’s only output is in Windows Media Format, unplayable on Mac machines. Within just a few minutes, GoToWebinar replied on Twitter to both of us, providing a workaround that made the recording available to anyone, regardless of their operating system.

The idea that Twitter can be used to provide customer service is catching on quickly with many companies. These include salesforce.com, Comcast, Zappos, Sun Microsystems, and many others. All of these companies are using Twitter in much the same way as GoToWebinar – responding to customer issues quickly and without pretense. Salesforce.com even offers a solution that pulls customer tweets right into its CRM application to notify customer service representatives of the need for follow up, further promoting goodwill in the community.

In addition to interacting with customers and prospects, Twitter offers up a wealth of free information from subject matter experts. All you have to do is find them and follow them, and odds are you will learn a great deal about best practices for any number of business disciplines. There are marketers, accountants, salespeople, operations gurus, you name it – and they’re out there.

I find myself following people and companies in all sorts of industries, just because it’s interesting to hear perspectives different than your own, 140 characters at a time. It’s quick and easy to digest, and is absolutely worthwhile as a business tool.