For a long time now we have been helping clients to tailor their Salesforce configurations with Custom Development by our expert team of developers.
With the launch of the Salesforce AppExchange back in 2005 it provided the opportunity for us to enhance this offering by using our experienced developers for the Salesforce platform to develop Apps to meet the needs of a wider audience.
When working on Custom Development projects we develop solutions, including custom apps, for the client’s specific business need or process. However, we often come across the same requirements or pain points for more than one client, which means developing an App that multiple clients could use is a better solution.
Apps for pain points – rather than just by industry
Although the cross-overs in requirements sometimes came where clients were in the same industry, more often than not the solution required was not related to any industry specific requirements.
This highlighted to us the need to develop Apps that fixed an issue, filled a gap or otherwise helped clients in their use of Salesforce – no matter what industry they were in.
An example of this is Activity Comments Enabler one of our free Apps, which allows users to view Activity Comments quickly on Related Lists within Salesforce avoiding having to click to view the comments. This simple app has been praised by users for creating an easy add-on that allows the user to use Salesforce the way they want to and save time.
“I LOVE this add-on. It really should be a standard feature with Salesforce”
Chandler Willman – AppExchange Review of Activity Comments Enabler
With hundreds of licences of this one App across various industries it has obviously fixed a real pain point for many users.
Big or Small – It all helps
Our Apps Lab contains different apps – most of them Free – that solve various requirements. Some of the Apps are more complex such as our Flexpricer® CPQ app to improve pricing, and some are very simple like the above example – but equally valuable to users who are looking to solve that particular issue.
So Big or Small, we should all continue to develop Apps that really help Salesforce users.
Because of this we are continuously on the lookout for common requirements or frustrations to lead us to ways of enhancing the core platform with complementary Apps.
Apps inspired by implementations
We came to the world of App development organically through our years of Salesforce implementations and then Custom Development.
Using what we have learnt over the years about Salesforce, clients and how best to match the two together, has really put us in the best position to use Apps as just another tool to achieve this.
So if you are developing Apps for Salesforce, make use of your own and other users experiences to make them the best possible fit and truly useful.
If you are a user selecting Apps from the AppExchange make sure they work for your needs and help to simplify, not complicate, your processes and use of Salesforce.
Join the conversation
- Are you using Apps to enhance your Salesforce configuration?
- What common Salesforce issue do you wish could be solved by an App?
- Any other thoughts or questions – please comment below
