Salesforce Spring ’16 Highlights

With Salesforce Spring ’16 rollout, the update is enriching the instances with an array of enhancements and new features. The release is focused on the enhancement of stability and Lightning Experience.

Here’s a brief, cloud-wise overview of the latest features and enhancements Spring ’16 offers:

Service Cloud

1. Work orders for field service: Work orders for field service help field technicians to track work to be performed for customers. For example, if a customer is facing a problem with a product after purchase, they can easily create a work order task. This work task will be directly routed to the field technician so that they can provide repair services for the product.
2. Assets: The Assets tab now comes with default ON for all those profiles that are created in or after Spring ’16 release. These assets are available with External Identity and Customer Community licenses to users. Both the licenses by default are available with Read, Create, and Edit permissions.
3. Improved Omni-Channel service: If a support agent is unresponsive to a request made by a customer, the work request will automatically re-route to the agent. This will save the customer’s time as they will not have to struggle for help.

Community Cloud

1. Chatter in communities: The two column layout in chatter allows community users to find and view information about other users, such as their profile pictures, contact information, Chatter statistics, followers and who they follow. The interface is responsive and shows the entire information in a single column layout on a mobile device under four tabs: Feed, Details, Cases, and Related.
2. Improved navigation: The navigation menu now supports opportunities, leads, and groups, which makes community navigation even easier. To get the navigation in a particular order, users can drag the items according to their own preferences.
3. Files in communities: Files in communities allow users to attach up to five files in a single post and view them as thumbnails. Community users can view files in a post attached to them in a unified form. They can also upload a file and preview these files using Lightning file preview player.
4. Community builder: It is now easy for community members to easily create/delete pages, add variations to pages, and access properties of a page. With improved page loading, community users will see a ghost version of the community page, instead of a blank page, until the page is loaded.

Marketing Cloud

1. Predictive journeys: Leveraging predictive journey, marketers can now use data signs to predict customer behaviour, such as steps they’ll take in the future. With new score models, marketers can now score their customers with four standard engagement actions, i.e. open, click, email, make purchases.
2. Group connect: With group connect, members can not only manage multiple applications but can also engage with individual customers using stickers and messages.
3. Advanced layout options: The new eight layout options include four screens with images. They also include six pages of content that can be added to a single message including coupons, programs, and announcements.

Analytics Cloud

1. Wave analytics: Data analysis can be taken to a higher level by exploring, visualizing and designing data in a new way with the use of drag and drop chart setup, SQL editor and new chart types.
2. Reports and dashboards: You can now apply filters to dashboards, read tabular data, show hidden details of matrix reports, modify the colours of charts, run, edit/delete reports and dashboards directly from the lists view.

Sales Cloud

1. Offline for mobile: This new feature will allow sales reps to stay in touch with their clients, and keep records, activities, Chatter conversations up to date, from anywhere. It will also help them to become more productive. Also, they will get every bit of information about customers right away on their mobile.
2. Accounts, campaigns, opportunities, and more: Sales reps can now store information about people they work with, and do business with and generate outbound campaigns that bring more business to their company. Integrated emails, calendars, activity timeline, and events will help sales reps to stay focused and keep moving along the deals.

Make the most of Salesforce Spring ’16 release