2 Program Benefits to Up Your Product Innovation Game
The new year, for many of us, is a moment for some much needed meaningful reflection. And then, in what feels like no time at all, we jump into strategizing and tackling the year ahead. A new year is also a great opportunity to re-evaluate product roadmap priorities and begin testing new positioning— seeing what resonates with key audience segments. When it comes to Salesforce technology, the new year is a chance for ISVs to think about the future of your app business and how to innovate in order to accelerate customer usage and demand.
What’s great for ISVs partners is that you have access to a variety of tech and product resources as part of the AppExchange Partner Program. To learn more about the value of these ISV tech resources, who better I talk with than our very own Technology Evangelists? I chatted with Cliff Armstrong and Vydianath Iyer — both leaders on our AppExchange Technology Evangelist Team — to learn about two tech program benefits that are game-changers for any product leader.
AppExchange Platform Expert Consultations
Why is this benefit valuable to ISVs?
Vydianath Iyer: The breadth and depth of platform technologies offer tremendous opportunity for AppExchange partners to “ride the innovation wave” with Salesforce. At the same time, the variety and complexity can also be overwhelming. Platform Experts, with their deep hands-on platform and business experience, can inspire the evolution of your product offerings and provide prescriptive guidance to ensure your long-term success.
These consultations with experts help you to not only solve your current technical and platform challenges, but also to dig deeper into product and development best practices. These can be used to help you architect and design secure, scalable apps all while getting insight into relevant cutting-edge platform developments. Even better, you’re able to build a product pipeline for steady ACV growth.
What’s your favorite part about AppExchange Platform Expert Consultations?
Vydianath Iyer: I like the fact that experts can engage with partners across the spectrum to help solve their complex challenges. The experts can cover a wide range of challenges all the way from front-end to back-end technologies, API and integration design patterns, analytics, security, reliability, and performance. In addition to that, and very importantly, experts help guide partners on nuances of ISV specific technologies like packaging.
What feedback have we received from ISVs?
Vydianath Iyer: So far, the feedback has been very positive. To share an example, we had an ISV partner that was interested in creating intelligent analytics to optimize resource allocation. They wanted to do this by conducting a “risk” vs “needs“ assessment and create trend reporting to compare pre-covid data with current data. A Platform Expert was able to show the partner the value of Tableau CRM Analytics and the availability of new SKUs for OEMs to build analytics solutions – thereby increasing the value proposition of their offering.
In another consultation we had with an ISV partner, our Platform expert shared the pros and cons of migration to 2nd generation packaging with prescriptive guidance on the migration path. The partner was very appreciative and found the insights both valuable and timely.
AppExchange Tech and Product Consultations
Why is this benefit valuable to ISVs?
Cliff Armstrong: AppExchange partners have access to an unparalleled set of tools and technologies that is constantly expanding. And, these tools and technologies aren’t just for building apps. AppExchange partners also have access to exclusive tools for licensing, upgrading, and supporting their solutions. In short, there’s way too much to for our partners to keep track of. That’s where the Technical Evangelist team comes in – we keep up with all these changes. During these consultations, we’ll work with you to review the different facets of your solution and operations and identify technologies and products that can help you deliver your best solutions.
What’s your favorite part about this program benefit?
Cliff Armstrong: The best part of this benefit is connecting the dots and identifying a Salesforce technology, tool, or feature that solves a pressing problem or opens up a new capability for a partner.
What feedback have we received from ISVs?
Cliff Armstrong: For ISVs that we’ve consulted with so far, they’ve found the benefit incredibly valuable. To bring up one example, we had a consultation with an ISV partner that is heavy user of Salesforce technology and always great at staying up-to-date on our latest features. At the start of the consultation, the partner had a certain understanding of a particular technology’s capabilities and features. As the consult went on, and through a deep discussion with our Technical Evangelist, their understanding of the technology completely shifted. It was a big lightbulb moment for them. To top it off, they even realized they could use this technology to solve a problem they’d been scrambling with for months!
To learn more and get access to these ISV tech program benefits, log a case in the Salesforce Partner Community.
