“Enterprise integration solutions on CloudHub empower companies to run flexible enterprise integrations across a hybrid of business infrastructure environments eliminating expensive and brittle point-to-point integration solutions”, says Zenon Rawley, Director of Software Development. “CloudHub gives our customers the ability to connect, integrate and manage their application integration seamlessly on a robust integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) ”, he added.

To use an example, a business can integrate logistics and fulfillment systems into their ERP system, inventory management system and CRM, all seamlessly automating the workflow processes and data exchange across the entire organization, Rawley explained. CloudHub integration solutions take care of connecting and integrating enterprise applications, so businesses can focus on what they do best – running their core business. When businesses grow or needs change, enterprise application integration changes can be quickly implemented on a single platform instead of across a number of integration points.

“We are excited to be expanding our MuleSoft partnership and to be delivering solutions on CloudHub. This integration platform enables our customers to quickly leverage business opportunities and react to market conditions, creating greater revenue opportunities while reducing integration costs”, said Phil Loeffel, Riptide Software, President and CEO.

Based in Central Florida, Riptide Software offers a full-array of commercial software services for various industries and technologies, leveraging the latest in Cloud computing and on-demand technologies. Riptide Software is a Mulesoft integration partner experienced in Mule Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and CloudHub. Riptide’s services include: mobile application development, Cloud computing, enterprise application development, e-learning, and a host of other services.

To find out more, please visit www.RiptideCloud.com or www.RiptideSoftware.com

Riptide Software, a Salesforce certified consulting partner experienced in all aspects of custom development and integration on the Salesforce platform, today announced the availability of two new courses, Salesforce Administrator and Salesforce Advanced Administrator.  Designed as virtual-classroom training for the busy Salesforce professional, both courses address how to examine key workflows and business processes, and then use workflow automation to achieve greater process control and efficiency.

The Salesforce Administrator course describes how to set up dashboards, customize applications, and to acquire the essential skills needed to take on the role of a Salesforce Administrator.  For the experienced Salesforce Administrator looking to further add to their repertoire of skills, the Salesforce Advanced Administrator course covers such topics as change management, custom objects and applications, analytics, point and click development and a  host of other advanced subjects.

Click here for online registration, pricing and detailed course descriptions.

Today Riptide Software has a celebration of 17 years in business. Our wonderful company has evolved from a small software development start-up of just several employees into a leading provider of innovative software solutions with over 100 employees.

“We started out 17 years ago with a small team in a garage and have grown into a business far exceeding expectations,” said Phillip Loeffel, Riptide Software founder, President and CEO. “We are very proud of our accomplishment and grateful to our customers and employees who helped us achieve this success.” Founded in 1995 by entrepreneurs Loeffel and Barry Clinger, Executive VP and CTO, both men had an extensive background in computer science and information technology. Together, our combined depth of experience and dedication helped gain the early recognition of clients. “This experience, along with a constant eye on customer needs, and the hard work and dedication of our employees has led to our rapid growth and success.” Loeffel pointed out.

To back up Loeffel’s statements, Riptide has received numerous awards and recognitions. Recent accolades include Lockheed Martin’s Small Business of the Year, and Military Training Technology’s Top 100 Modeling and Simulation software companies and numerous product awards in mobile, cloud, and SaaS implementations using Salesforce. Although it’s been more than a decade since Riptide was recognized by Deloitte & Touche as one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America, Riptide continues to provide the leading edge of technology to all of our clients.

Riptide’s products and services to the armed forces live training communities have included HITS, DRTS, Sight and Titan. Riptide Software holds the distinction to be the only industry partner to contribute to all PEO STRI Live Training Transformation (LT2) product line software products. Contributions include state-of-the-art military C3 systems and simulation systems used in LVT, and Constructive Training.

A full-service software company, Riptide Software offers a full-array of commercial software services for various industries and technologies, leveraging the latest in Cloud computing and mobile technologies. Riptide Software is a Salesforce certified consulting partner and experienced in all aspects of custom software development and integration on the Salesforce platform. Its services include: mobile application development, Cloud computing, enterprise systems integration, eCommerce, e-learning, and a host of other client solutions.

Happy Birthday, Riptide – we all are so proud to be a part of this great company and amazing team.

The next release of Salesforce is coming very soon (September 7^th for some Sandbox and Dev orgs and by October 25^th for full release to all Production Orgs) so here is a (fairly) quick summary of the most interesting new features and updates. This is by no means a complete list of upcoming changes and the full preview release notes can be found at (Click Here). This post will only cover updates for Chatter, Force.com and Salesforce.com, please review the release notes for changes to Database.com, Site.com, Data.com or other Salesforce properties being updated.  It should also be noted this post is based on preview release notes and the final release of Winter ’13 may not reflect the topics discussed in this post.

Salesforce.com

Management of multiple Salesforce organizations has never been easy so with Winter ’13 Salesforce is hoping to alleviate that problem. They are introducing the Environment Hub so that organizations with many organizations can record and track their orgs in one place. Users will be able to list, tag and organize their Salesforce Instances as well as search the list of orgs or see the relationships between different organizations.

Salesforce has also included additional chatter features such as polls, interface customization, an updated chatter desktop and media previews. Outlook and Salesforce integration has also had a major improvement. Now Salesforce information can be see directly in Outlook in the Salesforce Side Panel and more data is available for syncing back to Salesforce from Outlook.

A pilot program in the upcoming release is Salesforce Communities. Salesforce Communities bring enhanced collaboration features to Salesforce. These communities allow organizations to create groups made of internal users or to include external users such as customers with control over what is shared to the community. The communities can be branded to match the companies creating the communities. Those interested in Salesforce Communities should contact their Salesforce rep to see they qualify for the pilot program.

Salesforce and Force.com Development Changes

Salesforce has introduced a new field type for the Winter ’13 release called geolocation. Geolocation fields store the latitude and longitude of a location in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds or Decimal notation. A geolocation field also use up three custom fields (latitude, longitude and internal use) from the orgs governor limits when created and is called in apex as each of the three separate fields. Salesforce does not provide a geocoding service to translate addresses to latitude and longitude for this new field type.

Additional security features are being introduced with Winter ’13 such as organization wide permission sets (rather than user license based) and manual sharing on user records. Also included are clickjacking protect, OAuth and SAML improvements.

Polymorphic SOQL queries have been introduced for polymorphic relationship fields. If a relationship field could be for more than one object type than a SOQL query can now be written to select different fields based on the object type of the relationship field. See the documentation for specific examples.

Apex code has also seen a couple of changes one of which is that map keys and sets can now be non-primitive data types. They can now be user defined class types, sObjects, other collection types as well as standard Apex classes.  Webservice and HTTP request callouts can now be tested natively in unit tests and importing test data for unit tests has been made easier.

Developers can now define default values for sObject creation or upload test data in static resources and call that data in their tests. Developers now have the option of avoiding of the hassle of defining new custom data for every single unit test. This hardly all of the development changes to Salesforce for this release so please review the release notes to see the other changes in detail.

Canvas Framework

A new development coming in Winter ’13 as a pilot is the Canvas Framework. This addition is so large it gets its own user guide (which can be found at http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/platform_connectpre/canvas_framework.pdf). Canvas Framework brings a whole new component to integrations between external systems and Salesforce.

With Canvas Framework developers will now be able to implement external web apps directly into Salesforce orgs themselves. The web apps will be framed into the org in a 800 x 900 pixel frame. These web apps can take advantage of OAuth or signed requests to authenticate the app from Salesforce. Canvas apps can also call back to the Salesforce org they current running into to get some context information about the org.

If we got a little too techy for you, no worries, this is what we here at Riptide love to do! Contact Riptide to help you take advantage of all the NEW cool Salesforce features!

Computer hardware these days has about a 3 to 5 year lifecycle. At the end of that lifecycle, the computer is replaced with a brand new shiny one. When you first got that computer, it ran great. Software was installed, updated and upgraded, and new hardware and gizmos and gadgets were brought into the mix. After a few years of that process repeating itself, your computer starts to run noticeably slower – primarily due to the new software and gadgets and gizmos you’re running on it (For the geeks out there, this falls under Moore’s Law).

The same principle holds true for any technology you use on a daily basis. Every couple of years, it’s vitally important to take a fresh look at what you have set up. Is Salesforce configured properly for how you’re conducting business today? Is your website properly optimized for not only how you do business, but how the search engines are working today? Is your business taking advantage of the latest in Social Networking? Are there plans, processes and procedures used on a daily basis that need a new outlook?

Software based technology is often overlooked when it comes to technology refreshes. Some people will often mistakenly file software and hosted solutions under the proverbial “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” category. Sadly, this can lead to lost time, lost productivity, unhappy personnel, extra hours, more frustrations, and in the end, lost revenue.

In almost every company doing business online today, the tools, systems, policies, and procedures they have been working with over the past few years need refreshing. Here’s how to tell if your company needs a technology refresh:

1. Have you been using the same software based system for over a year?
2. Do you find yourself struggling to get reports done at the end of each quarter?
3. Are there more than 3 functions in your system that you are completely unfamiliar with?
4. Can you identify at least two “information silos” – where a single person holds all the knowledge on how to perform the particular task?
5. Can you pinpoint the decision made to use the particular technology?
6. Do you need to change the final results of your technology in order to better make use of it? (File format, ordering, number formatting, fonts, etc)
7. Is the process of using your technology so daunting that when you do use it, you rely on a “cheat sheet”?
8. Is the technology you use a closed system that has no way of sharing its information with other technology you use on a daily basis?
9. Has your business model changed in the last 12 to 18 months?
10. Has your company undergone a major shift in other areas? (Personnel, Hardware, Locations, Product, Services?)

If you can answer “yes” to any ONE QUESTION above, your company needs a technology refresh. Choosing to Ignore the signs that your business needs a technology refresh will only ultimately result in lost revenue on some level. If you did have a “yes” answer to any of the preceding ten questions, now is the time to find a technology partner you can trust to give you an honest review of systems, policies, procedures, software, and any other technology your business is currently using. Now is the time to make sure your website is interacting seamlessly with your CRM; that your CRM is interacting seamlessly with your workflow process; that your workflow process is integrating seamlessly with your personnel. Now is the time for your technology refresh.

It really doesn’t matter what you do, your business most likely falls into one of three distinct categories in today’s cloud-based market: You either have a cloud app, you need an cloud app, or you make cloud apps. Regardless of which of the three categories your business falls into, you need a clear and concise edge over your competitors. You simply need that sizzle that they don’t have. Let’s face it, today’s online market is the fiercest it’s ever been, and it’s just going to get worse in the near future. It’s time you learned to harness the power of on-demand cloud computing to give your cloud-based application the technical advantage it needs to succeed.

Consider the following five keys to online success that savvy businesses are using to power their cloud-based applications:

1. They Completely Understand the Fundamentals of Cloud Computing Cloud Computing is more than just a buzzword to be thrown around at business and development meetings. There’s an entire infrastructure with complex routing, business logic, and management and scalability concepts to master. Understanding how cloud services work will give your application the technical edge others do not have.
2. They Cultivate Healthy Partnerships with Cloud Computing Consulting Companies
Success isn’t a destination you arrive at on your own. By doing business with cloud computing firms that specialize in a particular niche, you can effortlessly give your application the advantage that the others simply do not have.
3. They Continually Monitor What Other Companies In Cloud Computing Are Doing
 Oftentimes, market shifts are kicked off by a few select companies either adopting a specific technology or shunning another. Knowing who your peers are and what the other cloud computing companies are doing will keep your application current, agile, and ready to evolve to the next level.
4. They Constantly Leverage the Power of the Business Cloud for Themselves 
Successful applications are powered by businesses that are using cloud computing services to their fullest benefit. By utilizing online collaboration suites, document sharing, and on-demand computing power, the team behind your application can work together in a smarter, more efficient manner, giving your application the social step-up it needs.
5. They Confidently Offer Additional Business Cloud Services to Their Customers 
You can extend cloud computing for businesses on a segregated private network reserved just for your customer. This facilitates access to troubleshooting and allows you to easily update, maintain, and manage the service, extending the versatility of your application.

No matter where your business finds itself in today’s cloud-based market—either using an app, needing an app, or selling an app—understanding the five key points mentioned above will greatly impact the business lifecycle of your application in a positive manner. Your next steps are fairly simple: familiarize yourself with the list and begin to implement techniques on a daily basis to out-sizzle your competition!

Visual Workflow also known a Salesforce Automation gives you the ability to create a visual representation of a business processes which can be used to drastically reduce the amount of time spent getting information into Salesforce.  Imagine having the ability to take your iPad anywhere and enter in a new Lead by simply entering information in on a form, or having preset scripts for your call center representatives which will walk them through each step of a process. Visual Workflow makes this all possible and much more.

The Visual Workflow interface is drag and drop, making it very easy to create a process using the Clicks – not Code process.  Each flow is embeddable and supports custom tabs, VisualForce pages, and Salesforce Sites.  Visual Workflow can create records, look-up to and/or edit existing records, and even delete records.

The Visual Flow Designer comes in two versions, each with its’ own advantages and capabilities.

Desktop Designer

Cloud Designer

Hands down, advantages!! There’s no denying “mobile” is a hot topic these days.  From native apps, HTML5, to the different handsets and tablets coming out, there still seem to be mobile Web browser experiences that people either love or love to hate. When you think of your site you just want it to be mobile ready! You also know this means new technology and trying to understand how to maximize the ability for your site to be used on EVERY device.

Chances are, unless you’re designing for only one device you’re quickly going to be faced with a common problem experienced by designers who work with mobile devices; figuring out what screen size to actually design for.

For instance: The iPhone retina display has a resolution of 640 × 960 at 326 ppi. Newer devices often support a landscape mode where the width and height are spontaneously reversed. Blackberry screen resolutions range anywhere from 160 x 160 pixels all the way up to 324 x 352 pixels.

This seems too complex already. How do we possibly design for an “n-variable of devices”?! Riptide knows how! “Responsive web design” which is a design shift built on the growth of mobile.

The concept was first introduced by Ethan Marcotte in his article “Responsive Web Design,” which launched the initial concept behind responsive design and was based on the emerging responsive architecture in which rooms and spaces have the capacity of automatically adjusting according to the number and flow of people within it.

The concept of responsive web design makes a reference to the process of designing and developing websites that are able to react to user’s actions and detect the medium where the site is currently being watched in order to provide the best experience possible to the user in terms of navigation and readability. The theory behind responsive design involves the utilization of several grid and layout systems, image optimization and CSS media queries, therefore, no matter how many devices are released in the future, responsive websites will always be able to provide a proper response.

We at Riptide love how one design can work on different form factors (mobile phone, tablet, and desktop) and degrade gracefully. We’ve tried to do this in the past with older desktop browsers and are now applying the same concept for mobile. In addition to being able to check your site out on your mobile browser, you could look at it on your desktop browser at the largest resolution and start narrowing your browser window. You will be able to watch the content adjust to fit. Magic!

Knowing when you should move to the Cloud is as important as the move itself. You need to be prepared for the migration, and have a solid plan in place. Some basic things to consider before your move to the Cloud:

• Are your Server and Network demands spiking or peaking?
• Are growing User Loads causing application or resource bottlenecking?
• Do you have limited storage space that is causing an issue?

Answering yes to the above questions puts you in prime position for a Cloud Migration.

While the Cloud in-and-of-itself is a technical behemoth, the decision to move to the Cloud is not fully in the hands of the IT Personnel. There are several factors that must be evaluated outside the technical scope, such as:

• What is the growth and scale plan of your business?
• Are the employees local, remote, or a mixture of both?
• What business units are controlled by other people?
• How much control is your business willing to give up?

Hands down, the most difficult task in Cloud Migration is moving control from one business unit to the cloud. Once this task is accomplished, and the remainder of the Human Resource questions is covered, it’s time to move onto the budget side of things.

While moving to the Cloud will incur some upfront costs, overall the monetary savings will outweigh them. You should know what you’ll be charged for, and roughly how much you’ll be paying for the initial migration, and on a month-to-month basis. While the price range differs from provider to provider, the basics remain the same:

• Total Bandwidth (to/from the servers)
• CPU/Processor Power
• Availability/Uptime/Processor Time
• Total Resource Consumption
• Storage Space

After you have made a full business analysis, put a simple plan into action:

1. Know the fundamental key areas of your business
2. Document your business objectives
3. Get Management backing
4. Put your full team together (IT and HR)
5. Restate the goals and objectives
6. Identify key decision makers
7. Execute the migration
8. Monitor the process
9. Double check everything (IT, HR, Processes)
10. Train your users

A vitally important step, which is often overlooked, is to factor in the continual monitoring of your new Cloud based system. It is unquestionably important to know what to do, who to contact, and steps to mitigate issues when something catastrophic happens to your Cloud resources.

Moving to the Cloud isn’t a single person’s decision or responsibility. The whole company must not only understand the process, but also support the decision and process to make the move to the Cloud. As evidenced by the above factors, migrating to the Cloud should never be done unless you know the answers to When, Why, Who, How, and How Much.

Salesforce automation Workflows help to automate the processes in your organization and can be used to do a myriad of tasks.  Examples include:  updating of fields, sending of alerts to internal users or external individuals, assigning of tasks to users, etc.

How do I set up a Workflow?

The first step is creating the Salesforce automation Workflow Rule.  You’ll need to name your rule, choose when the rule is executed and enter any associated filter criteria.

1)     Name the Workflow rule

2)     Evaluation Criteria – When will this rule execute?

1. Option #1 – When a record is created or when a record is edited and now meets the specified rule criteria.
2. Option #2 – Only when a record is created.
3. Option #3 – Every time a record is created or edited.

3)     Rule Criteria – Field Filtering*

1. Example: Opportunity Stage = “Closed Won”
2. Example: Lead Status = “Qualified”

* You may also specify Filter Logic (Exp:  1 AND 2 must be true, 1 OR 2 must be true, etc.)

Defining a Workflow Action

Once you have the Workflow rule created, you need to tell the rule what action to perform.  Before you do this, make sure to consider when you want the action to take place.  There are two options available:

1)     Immediate Workflow Actions – As soon as the Workflow rule executes the action should also execute.

2)     Time-Dependant Workflow Actions – The action under the Workflow rule should be delayed.

1. If this is selected, you will need to set a Time Trigger.

Picking an action – There are four basic actions that a Workflow Rule can perform for you:

1)     New Task – This can be helpful in Lead assignment.  Example:  when a new Lead is entered into the system via a Web-to-Lead form the Workflow rule would create a task requiring the Lead Owner to follow up with the Lead.

2)     New Email Alert – This can be helpful in Case management.  Example: when a customer has entered in a support request the Workflow rule could send a message back to the customer acknowledging receipt of the request.  Email Alerts can also be sent to internal Salesforce Users, Public Groups, Roles, etc.

3)     New Field Update – This could also be used in Case management.  Example: If a case has gone longer than X days, the Status field on the Case could be updated to “HOT”.  This could be paired with an Email Alert to a supervisor, a reminder to the Case Owner or even a new Task assignment.

4)     New Outbound Message – This functionality will need to be enabled by your organization’s administrator.  Outbound messaging allows you to send information about a record to a Web-Service (URL).

So I’m done, right?

Not quite!  You must make sure to activate your workflow rule after setting up the actions.  Once you have activated the Workflow rule, make sure to test each scenario to confirm the desired results are achieved.