Report, dashboard, and Tableau integration improvements, supported browser updates, and changes in security and identity will have greater impact on B2B marketing organizations than many of the new features lauded by various analysts (1), (2), (3). An exception is Rakesh Gupta writing for Automation Champion. He cited two of these three important developments (4).
Report, dashboard, and Tableau integration improvements (5)
Creating reports is now faster and new capabilities have been added. Dashboard settings can be saved in a custom xml and reports exported as Excel files. WIth the latter development, Salesforce users can share their reports widely with people not having Salesforce licenses. Also Salesforce-generated reports can now be easily combined with other data sources to provide true Business Intelligence. Far more exciting for B2B marketing departments than the recent acquisition of Slack was the 2019 acquisition by Salesforce of Tableau. In the Spring 2021 release, Salesforce has renamed Einstein Analytics as Tableau CRM. Beyond the name change, the new release includes these enhancements:
- Use of Data Prep to link Tableau CRM with other business information
- Reusable dashboard components
- Import of models from outside sources to Salesforce predictions
Supported Browsers (6)
These changes include both bad and good news. First the bad news:
Internet Explorer 11 support for the Lightning mode has ended resulting in unpredictable performance and no help from Salesforce in providing workarounds or repairs.
- Apple Safari browser users will not be able to use Tableau CRM.
- Lightning will not work on mobile browsers nor in incognito/private mode on any browser.
- Both Lightning and Classic lost support on the non-Chromium version of Microsoft Edge late in 2020, i.e., six weeks before the Spring 2021 general availability.
The good news:
- Lightning is supported on ipad Safari.
- All Salesforce products work on the Google Chrome browser with no limitations.
- Most Salesforce products work on Microsoft Edge Chromium, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari with only a few limitations.
Security and Identity (7)
Sweeping changes have been made in security and identity features. These focus primarily on ease of use, especially secure access to information. As examples, the Security Center now has more available views and it is easier to monitor third-party authenticators. Here are just a few others of the myriad of changes:
- Device Activation is the new name for Identity Confirmation.
- Support has been enhanced to include new requirements in various browsers.
- Testing of custom networks can now be done in a sandbox.
- Automation of Real Time Event Monitoring has been introduced.
- Predicting security issues is now simplified with 30 day trends and 6 months of history.
Recommendations
No B2B marketer has time or need to explore the dozens of new features and the small number of lost features in the Spring 2021 Salesforce release. He or she should request assistance from the company’s Salesforce administrator and supply that administrator with the list of Salesforce features most often used by his or her marketing department. RightWave provides SalesForce support along with in-depth support for Marketo, HubSpot, Eloqua, Salesforce MCAE (formerly Pardot), and other marketing automation systems.
For more assistance, please contact RightWave.
References
1. McCarthy, Ben, “10 of My Favourite Salesforce Spring ’21 Features”, SalesforceBen, December 21, 2020, https://www.salesforceben.com/10-of-my-favourite-salesforce-spring-21-features/
2. Levy, Katie, “Salesforce: Nine Fantastic New Features in the Spring ‘21 Release”, Higher Echelon, January 7, 2021. https://www.higherechelon.com/salesforce-nine-fantastic-new-features-in-the-spring-21-release/
3. Ganjikunta, Jayakrishna, “Salesforce Spring’21 Release Notes/Features”, Jayakrishna Ganjikunta, December 27, 2020. https://jayakrishnasfdc.wordpress.com/2020/12/27/salesforce-spring21-release-notes-features/
4. Gupta, Rakesh, “Salesforce Spring’21 Release Quick Summary”, Automation Champion, December 20, 2020. https://automationchampion.com/2020/12/20/salesforce-spring21-release-quick-summary/
5. Analytics, Spring 2021 Release Notes, Trailblazer Community, undated, https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_analytics.htm&type=5&release=230
6. Supported Browsers, Spring 2021 Release Notes, Trailblazer Community, undated, https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_supported_browsers.htm&type=5&release=230
7. Security and Identity, Spring 2021 Release Notes, Trailblazer Community, undated, https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_security.htm&type=5&release=230
