Is there anything Google can't do? For those of us that spend our work lives knee deep in Salesforce, the obvious answer to that question has been, "integrate Gmail with Salesforce easily and for free."

With the Salesforce Spring 17' release however, Gmail takes a giant leap for all email kind with the introduction of a Beta version of Lightning for Gmail. Previously, integrating Gmail with Salesforce in a functional fashion required 3rd party tools like Ebtsa or Cirrus Insights that often came with an additional per user, per month license fee.

To get started with Lightning for Gmail, simply navigate to Lightning for Gmail in Salesforce Setup and click on the Settings link. 

After enabling Lightning for Gmail, you can create custom Email Application Panes with the Lightning App Builder, assign those Email Application Panes by Profile, and create custom Publisher Layouts (we'll cover these in a future post).  

Installing the Lightning for Gmail extension is also a breeze! Simply click the link to the Chrome Web Store in the instructions at the top of the page and download the free extension. This will add the extension to your Chrome browser. Note, the Lightning for Gmail functionality is only available with a Gmail for Work account and while using the Chrome browser. 

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Squareblue Consulting Receives 2015 Best of Marietta Award

Marietta Award Program Honors the Achievement

MARIETTA July 22, 2015 -- Squareblue Consulting has been selected for the 2015 Best of Marietta Award in the Consultants category by the Marietta Award Program.

Each year, the Marietta Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Marietta area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2015 Marietta Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Marietta Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Marietta Award Program

The Marietta Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Marietta area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Marietta Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

SOURCE: Marietta Award Program

CONTACT:
Marietta Award Program
Email: [email protected]
URL: http://www.awardcontact.org

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March 10, 2015--SquareBlue Consulting is pleased to announce the promotion of Josh Hunt to Chief Information Officer & Lead Salesforce Engineer.

During his tenure at SquareBlue, he has led the growth and excellence of both SquareBlue Consulting's partner program and the development team. “We are excited to be able to leverage Josh's talents and relationships in both the non-profit and for-profit client sectors. His dedication to our client base and to continuous development of our internal apps and his contributions to the Salesforce knowledge community provide ongoing value," SquareBlue President Susan Connor said.

With this announcement the SquareBlue development team will report directly to Hunt, and his key initiatives will include developing relationships among SquareBlue's partner community as well as leading the strategic development of SquareBlue applications.

Josh is a certified Salesforce Administrator and holds an MPA from Kennesaw State University.

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About SquareBlue Consulting

SquareBlue Consulting is a full-service marketing consultancy providing guidance on integrating key CRM technology with sound marketing, business development, and lead generation strategy. From developing a sound marketing strategy that drives both inbound traffic and partnership with your sales team, SquareBlue offers a comprehensive set of customer relationship management, marketing, and sales process advisory services for small- and medium-sized businesses in banking, wealth management, professional services, healthcare, software, events management, non-profit, and more. 

Contact: Phillip Poskus | [email protected]

We’ve all heard the quotes about the importance of the process; “it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game,” many of us were told growing up.  Salesforce, starting with a beta release in Winter 14’ and a full release in Spring 15’, has changed the way Salesforce Administrators will play the game through their Lighting Process Builder and its related components.

One of my favorite new additions to the Force.com platform, Process Builder allows even those new to Salesforce to automatically create or update records, launch flows, post to chatter, create e-mail alerts, or even trigger APEX code based on set criteria, all with a point and click user interface. 

As with any beta release, Process Builder had a few “quirks” (they didn’t call it a beta release for nothing!). Whether it was the inability to effectively update once-activated processes or something as simple as not having a clear path to navigate back to Setup, Process Builder had some characteristics only a mother could love.

Below, I’ll highlight several of my favorite, post-beta Process Builder updates. And yes, one is a simple link back to the Setup page.

1. The ability to Manage Versions. 

From inside a process, you can now clone and save as a version of the current process. This provides a much more efficient and practical way to keep track of the changes to your process. Previously, after activating a process for testing, if there were errors to be corrected you had to clone the process, save as a new process, make the changes, and reactivate. This vicious cycle often left you with a series of “Process Name Version …” and multiple inactive processes that could not be deleted for at least 12 hours. 

Version history is now succinct and streamlined.   

2. Familiar logic when establishing criteria nodes. 

When creating a criteria node to be evaluated, you can use custom filter logic just as you would when creating a report. This is a nice step forward from the “All of the conditions are met” or “Any of the conditions are met” options from beta.

3. The ability to evaluate a record multiple times in a single transaction.  

The help text took the words out of my mouth!

4. Finally, we have a link back to the Setup menu. 

Ah, the little things in life.

As a kinesthetic learner, my favorite thing to do is to dive into Salesforce and get my hands dirty; make a few test processes, you can always inactive and delete later. If you prefer a more calculated approach and less of the “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality, there’s plenty of good reading floating around the Internet. I’d recommend starting out with the Spring 15 release notes featured in a previous blog post (click here).  

Check back soon for Part II of this post detailing a few shortcomings/areas of improvement related to Process Builder.

You stay classy, Salesforce!

Phillip Poskus
Lead Salesforce Administrator & Operations Manager
SquareBlue Consulting

February 19, 2015--Due to high demand, the opportunity to register for SquareBlue Consulting's Salesforce Power Hour is running out--just two tickets remain.

The Power Hour event is intended to provide local businesses the opportunity to explore the benefits of adding a CRM to their business process and to help current users optimize their system.

"We have been delighted with the response from our local business community," says Susan Connor, SquareBlue's President and Chief CRM Strategist.     

Registration for the two remaining consultations can be completed online at https://squareblueconsulting.eventbrite.com. 

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About SquareBlue Consulting

SquareBlue Consulting is a full-service marketing consultancy providing guidance on integrating key CRM technology with sound marketing, business development, and lead generation strategy. From developing a sound marketing strategy that drives both inbound traffic and partnership with your sales team, SquareBlue offers a comprehensive set of customer relationship management, marketing, and sales process advisory services for small- and medium-sized businesses in banking, wealth management, professional services, healthcare, software, events management, non-profit, and more. 

Contact: Phillip Poskus | [email protected]