Blog

Category: News

ProvenWorks graduates from Salesforce Accelerate Grow

by Ruth Cawdron in News April 4, 2023

In 2022, we were delighted that our application to join Salesforce Accelerate Grow program was accepted. Following four-months of a curriculum involving lectures, seminars and online learning, we are graduates of the program and we’re ready to take ProvenWorks to the next level!

What is Salesforce Accelerate Grow?

The Salesforce Accelerate program has two distinct offerings: 

  • Salesforce Accelerate Build is a more typical incubator offering, supporting startups as well as established software companies develop apps from scratch for the AppExchange marketplace.
  • Salesforce Accelerate Grow is Salesforce’s offering for more experienced ISV Partners who are hitting certain metrics and therefore recognised as in their growth stage. This program helps them accelerate their expansion in the AppExchange marketplace

Our Salesforce Accelerate Grow cohort was the 13th iteration of the program and we were delighted to share our journey with a global group of ISV partners that comprised over 250 individuals from the ecosystem.

The virtual four-month program was primarily built around weekly lecture-style sessions run by various mentors from the ecosystem. These sessions covered four main units:

  1. Strategic alignment
  1. Positioning and marketing
  1. Operational excellence
  1. Go to market

Additionally, fortnightly mentor pods offered seminar-style groups intended to be more conversational and a chance to discuss our experiences, homework and learnings. For us as a British ISV Partner, it provided a fantastic opportunity to meet and build relationships with more EMEA ISV Partners.

Finally, ongoing homework complimented these lectures and seminars, set via the Salesforce Partner Learning Camp.

What’s next for ProvenWorks?

Salesforce Accelerate Grow provided an intensive, purpose-built program for us as an ISV partner to step back, align strategically and identify where we should focus our time. Now it’s time to implement. We can’t wait to see what’s next for ProvenWorks, but we know where we’re headed… upwards! 🚀

About ProvenWorks

We mean it when we say we’re Salesforce experts. We work exclusively in the Salesforce ecosystem and our products are built 100% for Salesforce.

About Us

Beyond equality: why gender equity is essential for a thriving tech industry 

by Ruth Cawdron in News March 8, 2023

Let’s talk about why gender equity matters in the tech industry. #EmbraceEquity is the theme of International Women’s Day 2023, and for good reason. As a tech industry, we need to prioritise both gender equity and gender equality if we want to create a more diverse, inclusive and successful workplace. More on that later. 

Gender equality is all about providing equal opportunities for people of all genders. It’s a great start, but it doesn’t take into account the unique challenges that women and other individuals from minority groups may face in the workplace. That’s where equity comes in. 

So, what’s the difference between gender equality and gender equity? 

International Women’s Day lays out two clear definitions: 

“Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. 

Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” 

Source: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/EquityEquality 

How equity empowers 

According to a recent study by McKinsey & Company, companies with diverse workforces are more likely to outperform their less diverse competitors. In fact, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity in their leadership were found to be 25% more likely to have above-average profitability. That’s a compelling reason to make gender equity a priority in our industry.

As Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, once said, “When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.” By prioritising gender equity, we can create a more inclusive industry that benefits everyone.

What can equity in the workplace look like? 

Gender equity initiatives might include mentorship programmes for women, flexible work arrangements to accommodate caregiving responsibilities, and policies to address gender-based harassment and discrimination. These measures can help to create a workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and contribute to our industry’s success.

As a tech industry, we have a responsibility to build products and services that work for everyone. By prioritising gender equity and gender equality, we can tap into the full range of talents and perspectives that our employees have to offer, driving innovation and growth. That’s what we’re all about!

So, let’s work together to build a more inclusive tech industry. By prioritising gender equity, we can create a better future for all of us.

#EmbraceEquity ProvenWorks honours International Women’s Day 

Women are critical to ProvenWorks’ success. Whether it’s in our development team, marketing team or front-facing in sales, we wouldn’t be who or where we are without the women among us.

We aim to ensure that women are fairly represented at all levels and given equal opportunities to participate and grow in ProvenWorks life as well as our decision-making processes.

In keeping with our value of transparency, we’re taking this opportunity to reflect on where we are today. Currently, women represent nearly 40% of the ProvenWorks team, and 30% at the leadership level.

Whilst it’s vital to honour the achievements of the women we work with, these celebrations are not some sort of ‘conclusion’ or a goal that we’ve reached. We recognise that gender bias exists across the software industry. Therefore this moment must serve as an inspiring reminder of how much further we must go to reach gender equality and how much more we will accomplish when we do.

ProvenWorks is proud to offer its support to International Women’s Day, and we commit to #EmbraceEquity.

5 tips for choosing a solution on the Salesforce AppExchange

by Ruth Cawdron in Data Management News February 28, 2023

Here are our 5 top tips to help you choose a solution on the Salesforce AppExchange.

With over 5,000 solutions and growing, the Salesforce AppExchange has definitely earned the title of the world’s leading business app marketplace. There are solutions that enhance Salesforce’s existing functionality, there are apps designed specifically for certain industries and Salesforce Clouds, and there are nifty components that you can drop into Lightning pages with little customisation or configuration required.  

It’s safe to say that the Salesforce AppExchange is the place to look when you’re shopping around for a solution. But with so much choice available at your fingertips, how do you know what you should be looking for? What are the steps you can take to make sure you choose an AppExchange solution that’s right for you.

So without more preamble, here are our five top tips to help you choose an AppExchange solution!

1. Read the reviews

Whether you’re heading to the cinema, buying a new phone or picking a restaurant for dinner, your first instinct is probably to read some reviews. It’s the same with the AppExchange. 

The AppExchange gives customers the opportunity to rate a solution 1-5 stars and leave a written review. When you’re choosing between solutions on the AppExchange, take time to read each solution’s reviews. Does one have significantly better reviews? What are the recurring messages in the reviews? If there are any negative comments, do these suggest a one-off experience or do they point to a more concerning trend? 

If a solution has no reviews, that’s not necessarily a reason NOT to investigate it further. It might be brand new to the AppExchange, or built by a tiny ISV who don’t have resource capacity to dedicate time to asking for reviews because they’re too busy delivering a great product! 

Whether the reviews are great, worrying or non-existent, there are more steps you can take to help you correctly choose an AppExchange solution… so let’s take a look at them! 

💡 The AppExchange is as good as we make it. We really encourage you to leave reviews on the AppExchange as they really help the Ohana understand first-hand experience with a product. It only takes a couple of minutes and you’ll be helping so many people in the future!

2. Check the releases

Each AppExchange listing will show the date of the solution’s most recent release under the More Details tab. How recent the latest release is or is not can be a great way to understand how well the developers are keeping the product updated with the Salesforce platform. Salesforce operates triannual releases and is often introducing new, exciting functionality. Often these changes need to be reflected in AppExchange products, so check how recent the most recent release is.  

Don’t just stop on the listing if its last release was way in the past. You may be able to check the product’s release notes directly with the vendor; there can often be supporting services that can be updated without the need to issue a new package to the AppExchange. New version information may be published on the vendor’s website so keep your eyes peeled! 

Overall, there is no clear-cut answer to ‘how long is too long’ between releases, but this is definitely another important data point to consider when evaluating different solutions and ultimately choose an AppExchange solution. 

3. Try the documentation 

Most solutions on the AppExchange will come with some amount of documentation. As a minimum, solutions generally provide installation and configuration guidance. At the other end, some solutions by bigger vendors give consultancies and end users demo kits with use case-specific documentation and orgs configured ready for testing. 

Is the documentation provided sufficient for your needs? Can the team in charge of implementing a solution understand it? Is the documentation up to date for the most recent release of the solution? 

If you find yourself trying to install a solution and getting lost in the documentation, it might be a sign that a certain level of knowledge is expected to use the solution (e.g. the target audience may be developers not admins). This is something you need to consider when you’re reviewing who will need to configure and/or use the solution and therefore possibly its documentation too. 

But there’s always the support team on hand to help… 

4. Test the support team 

This is one of my favourite quick tests you can run whilst you’re evaluating any sort of purchase. Send an email query over to the support team and see how quickly they respond to you. Is it hours? Is it days? Is it ever?! 

As one esteemed contact said on LinkedIn recently, “if you reach out as a prospective customer and don’t love the response/timeliness/etc, don’t expect it to get better after you buy.” 

5. Run a trial 

If you’ve gone through steps 1-4 and you’re still considering purchasing the solution, it’s a good sign!  

At this point, it’s time to try out the solution for yourself. Install the solution in a sandbox, try to build out a small Proof of Concept (PoC) to help establish how easy it is to use and to see if it can meet your requirements. Reviews, releases and documentation are important, but nothing beats getting your hands on a solution. Your org will have its own nuances and your business will run things in a certain way. You need to be confident that whatever solution you purchase can work seamlessly for you. 

It’s time to choose an AppExchange solution  

We can’t make the choice for you, but there are our five tips for making sure you’re choosing the right AppExchange solution. None of these steps in isolation should form the basis of your purchasing decision. However, as you work through them, you’ll find yourself building an impression of the solution and the team behind it. 

Remember, if something doesn’t feel right, ask!

  • Ask if you can extend your trial of the solution.
  • Ask the question that’s been bugging you.
  • Ask around the community to see if anyone who uses it is happy to share their experience. 

Good luck and enjoy the process of finding your latest favourite solution! 

Enjoyed this blog post? 

Check out our 4 easy steps to upgrade an AppExchange app. 

About ProvenWorks

Founded in 2008, we’re one of the longest-established British Salesforce ISV partners. We build solutions exclusively for Salesforce CRM that empower you and your users to be data heroes.

Learn more

ProvenWorks team shares career advice with university students 

by Ravi Chudasama in News December 20, 2022

Ruth, Marketing Manager at ProvenWorks, stands with her co-speakers in front of a room of university students

If you thought that ProvenWorks is only a software vendor focused on the bottom line, you’d be wrong!

People are at the heart of what we do and giving back is a big part of our culture. When it comes to universities, we’re always looking to build a close relationship, not only as a software vendor but also working with individual students and graduates, as well as more broadly with university career centres.

Denis and Ruth, our Sales Executive and Marketing Manager, were invited to two different universities in the UK to share their career advice with students and answer questions about careers in software.

Denis headed to the University of Aberystwyth

Denis was invited to the University of Aberystwyth to talk about careers within the Salesforce ecosystem to Computer Science undergraduate students. Denis shared her role at a Salesforce ISV partner and the roles and responsibilities of four major career paths in the ecosystem including Salesforce Administrator and Salesforce Developer. At the end of the talk, there was even time for a 1:1 mentor session for in-depth discussion to follow up on questions and discussion.

Ruth visited the University of Reading

Meanwhile, Ruth spoke at the University of Reading for their Careers in Marketing week. Ruth focused on marketing within software and the Salesforce ecosystem, talking about her daily and weekly responsibilities to help the students understand what to expect in the software industry. Ruth shared actionable tips for the most important parts of job searching – the CV and LinkedIn. She shared her recommendations on how to stand out from a crowd; let us know if you’re interested in learning more!

The future is waiting!

We’re privileged to have these opportunities to share our experience and help the future ecosystem early in their career journey. Not to mention it’s inspiring to see young talent thinking about their future and wanting to stand out.

We can’t wait to see how they will change the future!

Want to learn more?

Why work for a Salesforce ISV?
How to get a job at a Salesforce ISV

5 reasons why you should use Salesforce CRM

by Ravi Chudasama in Data Management News December 14, 2022

If you are looking for a way to manage the relationship between your company and your customers across their lifecycle, Salesforce CRM could be the solution for you. 

But first, do you know exactly what Salesforce CRM is? Perhaps it’s worth defining a few key terms. 

What is Salesforce CRM?

CRM stands for ‘Customer Relationship Management‘ system, a tool that helps businesses manage and nurture all relationships, both with existing and potential customers. 

A CRM replaces the obsolete ways to track client data, for example, using spreadsheets and databases, resulting in better efficiency, minimised error and centralised data. 

Salesforce is one of the world-leading providers of CRM technology. Apart from Salesforce, there are many other CRM solutions like Zoho and HubSpot, but why use Salesforce instead of others? 

Several points come to mind so let’s take a look! 

Why should you use Salesforce CRM?

1. Security

Data security is always one of the most crucial considerations of businesses purchasing new software. Salesforce treats data security as one of its key areas, stating that “Trust is our #1 value”. Having a comprehensive and world-class security system to protect your data and applications is vital. Salesforce Security offers a lot of features to enable users to work securely and privately, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), Trusted IP ranges and Salesforce Shield, making Salesforce CRM a reliable and secure CRM.

2. The Salesforce ecosystem

One of the reasons that Salesforce is so popular is that the Salesforce ecosystem is unique compared to other software. It has its own partner community to develop different apps (ISV partners) and help businesses implement Salesforce successfully (SI partners). ISV partners create solutions that expand the functionality of Salesforce, making them available to search on the Salesforce AppExchange (app store for Salesforce). 

Also, Salesforce itself offers add-on functions, for example, contact management tools and customer engagement tools. With the apps established by ISV partners and Salesforce’s own add-on features, you can build a CRM tailored specifically for your industry, your business and your way of working. 

💡 We’re a Salesforce ISV which means we create apps for Salesforce CRM and sell them on the Salesforce AppExchange. Take a look at our products!

3. Intelligent data reporting

Every business works with a lot of data from different sources, from accounting software to LinkedIn and Google Analytics. However, data is not useful until it is cleaned and analysed. With Salesforce’s Einstein Platform services, you can create customised AI-powered apps to generate intelligent reports to help you to grow your business and automate your processes. 

4. Customer-centric industry solutions

Salesforce provides you with a CRM where you can build a quality relationship with your stakeholders and track every moment of their journey from start to end. This is thanks to Salesforce’s Industry CRM solutions, known as “Clouds”. There are plenty of Clouds on Salesforce to meet different business objectives.

💡 Check out our ‘Head in the Clouds: What are the Salesforce Clouds?’ series to know more about which Cloud suits you the best. 

From government and manufacturing through to healthcare and education, Salesforce offers purpose-built industry-specific Clouds (versions of its CRM) to help you offer the best experience to your constituents, customers, patients, students or whoever you work with!

5. Educational resources

Salesforce CRM is suitable for any company of any size and industry. As long as you have a computer, you can use Salesforce! Even if your organisation is relatively small and has limited in-house IT expertise, you can use Salesforce “out of the box” or make adjustments on the administrative side to better suit your business.

💡 Salesforce offers a completely free learning platform called Trailhead, providing free modules and industry-recognised certifications to train you to be more familiar with the Salesforce ecosystem and to be capable of managing your CRM system.  

Why use Salesforce?

We have examined what a CRM is as well as what Salesforce CRM is specifically. We’ve also learned about the benefits of using Salesforce for managing your relationship with your clients and pointed you towards resources where you can find out more.

Learn more

Learn more about Salesforce CRM and its industry-specific solutions (“Clouds”) with our blog series: Heads in the Clouds: What are the Salesforce Clouds?

How to succeed with a Salesforce ISV partner

by Ruth Cawdron in News November 28, 2022

As a Salesforce ISV partner since 2009, we’ve seen every kind of org, customer and implementation. Of course, each ISV partner in the ecosystem operates slightly differently but here we’ve compiled our cheat sheet of how to succeed with a Salesforce ISV and make your next purchase the most successful yet!

So, let’s jump into the questions you need to ask and the tips you need to action to succeed with a Salesforce ISV partner. 

1. Do your prep internally first! 

Once you recognise that there’s a need at your organisation for purchasing a solution from an ISV, it’s all too tempting to jump straight onto the AppExchange or start filling your calendar with product demo calls. 

Don’t fall into the trap of looking at specific solutions too early! It’s vital to do your internal research and stakeholder consultations first. You need to understand the longer-term plans of your organisation to make sure any solution you choose can scale and meet the needs of changing processes. Not to mention you need to understand who will be involved in purchasing approval. 

What kind of questions should you ask? 

  • How urgent is this need? 
  • Is there a budget? 
  • Are there non-negotiables? 
  • What other integrations do I need to consider with this tool? E.g., marketing platforms, fundraising platforms, events platforms 
  • Who will need to “see” this tool, either in demo or poc, before sign off? 
  • How do we anticipate this process to look in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years?

💡 Top tip: There are free templates online like this one for helping you evaluate software and making sure you cover the non-negotiables

2. Communicate with the ISV

Once you’ve done your internal research, it’s on to the fun bit… shopping around for solutions! During your prep, you’ll have established the right stakeholders who need to be involved with demos, testing and procurement from your organisation. It’s time to put that knowledge into practice.

Effective meetings 

Make sure the ISV is aware of which roles, responsibilities and seniorities you are bringing to calls so that they can mirror this. There’s no point bringing your CRM Architect to a call being run solely by an ISV’s Account Executive. Make sure your attendees and agenda are known in advance to make the most out of the time you’re spending on calls with ISVs. 

Set expectations clearly

We also recommend setting expectations early with the ISV on the project duration and urgency. Examples of this could look like: 

“I’m the only person actively involved right now so I’ll check back in after a month when I have more time to dedicate to this.”  

“This is not an urgent priority for us. I’m just having a look around for now.”  

“This is extremely urgent and our go live is the end of next month. Can you dedicate resource to us to help us reach that deadline?” 

Price transparency 

Pricing opacity is far too common in the software industry. We’ve all been on introductory calls where we’ve wasted 25 minutes of our time only to find out that a solution is way out of our budget. It’s a good idea to ask directly about pricing upfront to save yourself time evaluating solutions you have no intention of buying. 

“I see that there is a license cost of x per user. Are there any additional or hidden costs on top of this price?” 

💡 Top tip: We have the benefit of being part of a super friendly and accessible ecosystem. Ask around the Salesforce Community to see if anyone uses the solution you’re evaluation. Most people are happy to jump on a quick call to share their experiences, good or bad, of their purchase. 

3. Test the solution 

You’ve done your internal research and you’ve started to identify specific solutions that you want to evaluate. There is no better way of evaluating a solution than getting hands on with it. 

Get a test drive or free trial of your solution and start playing around with it. This is also a great time to ask more about the product and the team behind it. ISVs vary in how much support they offer and at what price point. Salesforce encourage all ISVs to offer at least some level of free support but it’s worth understanding exactly what you can expect – a dedicated mailbox or maybe even a dedicated point of contact. 

What kinds of questions should you ask? 

  • How much does support cost (if anything?) 
  • Is there “premium” support available, and if so, what does that include? 
  • Are there any other features in the product that can be beneficial? 
  • Is there much of a product roadmap?

💡 Top tip: Sandboxes provide perpetual site licenses in Salesforce so it’s a great idea to install trials in a sandbox. 

4. Clarify post-purchase support 

It’s easy to think that the moment you purchase a solution, you’ve completed your project. However, the nature of Salesforce ISV partner solutions and SaaS software means that this will be an ongoing relationship! Testing a solution is very different to pushing it into production and onboarding your users. It’s worth making sure you understand what happens if you do decide to purchase. 

What kinds of questions should you ask? 

  • What is your customer onboarding process like? 
  • Do you have a dedicated customer success team? 
  • How long from purchase to implementation? 
  • Do you use your own product? 
  • Will you notify us of upgrades to your App?  
  • How many releases do you do a year? Do we need to do anything to upgrade?  
  • Do you stop supporting older versions?

💡 Top tip: Make sure you have another point of contact at minimum that isn’t sales. Aim to have at least 3 contacts from different departments. 

It’s time to succeed with a Salesforce ISV partner 

There you have it – our introduction into the world of working with ISV partners. This is by no means a complete list of questions and considerations when purchasing an ISV solution, but this is a great place to start. Like with most things, clear communication and expectation is at the heart of how to succeed with a Salesforce ISV partner. 

So, with this in mind, we wish you the best as you make your next ISV purchase armed with our questions and top tips. 

You’ve got this!

About ProvenWorks

We mean it when we say we’re Salesforce experts. We work exclusively in the Salesforce ecosystem and our products are built 100% for Salesforce.

About Us

Find out what Salesforce Ben has to say about SimpleImport

by Ruth Cawdron in News SimpleImport November 10, 2022

Salesforce Ben has published their review of SimpleImport, our data import solution for Salesforce! 🚀

Andreea Doroftei, writer for Salesforce Ben, talks through the key features of SimpleImport as well as ideal use cases, setup effort, and how this importer could be a great addition to your Salesforce org.

“SimpleImport is a powerful time-saving tool for anyone – power users, end users and partner users. Whether it’s importing order forms on opportunities, handling deal registrations in a partner portal, or something completely custom, SimpleImport opens the door to a new approach for importing data.”

Lucy Mazalon, Salesforce Ben

Check out this in-depth review of SimpleImport by Salesforce Ben.

Read the Salesforce Ben article

Interested in seeing it for yourself?

If you’re interested in finding out more about SimpleImport, use the scheduler below to book a demo with our team.

Can you import data in a Salesforce digital experience?

by Ruth Cawdron in News SimpleImport November 3, 2022

It is not possible, with standard Salesforce functionality, to allow digital experience users to import data to Salesforce.

SimpleImport is the only managed package in the Salesforce ecosystem that solves this common problem. Setup is quick and easy so continue reading to find out how!

We’ll look at both:

  • the business value (👋 hello C suite, ops managers, other people who have been sent this link to review)

Why is it useful to allow partner users to import data into Salesforce?

Salesforce Digital Experiences (Communities) built on Experience Cloud have been growing in popularity. It’s easy to see why they’re so popular, since digital experiences can be used in so many contexts: partner portals, e-commerce sites, help centres and even franchisee hubs.

With so many different digital experience audiences come lots of reasons why external users need to import data into Salesforce CRM:

  • Partners submitting deal registrations 
  • Franchisees uploading quarterly / annual sales information 
  • Retailers importing point-of-sale data 
  • Offices and field units reporting stock management

Organisations need a simple, fast and secure way to enable external users to import data in a Salesforce digital experience.

How to provide import functionality to a Salesforce digital experience

This is where SimpleImport comes in! SimpleImport is our exclusive-to-Salesforce spreadsheet data import solution.

SimpleImport is available on the AppExchange. Start your 14 day free trial and empower digital experience users to import data to Salesforce CRM.

Once you have installed SimpleImport, the steps are simple:

1. Configure an import ‘mapping’ for the partner data and save it.
  1. We‘ve got a handy User Guide to help you configure your import. 

💡 Top tip: To make things easy for the partner, provide a downloadable template spreadsheet file that matches this import mapping.

2. Copy the import mapping ID.

The saved mapping results in an import mapping ID. You just need to copy the ID.

3. Paste the mapping ID in SimpleImport’s Lightning Component.

Place SimpleImport’s Lightning Component on your digital experience and paste the mapping ID to configure the component.

The results 

When it’s time to import, the partner users simply need to drag and drop their completed templated spreadsheet onto the component… 

and that’s it… the import is done! 

What are your other options? 

Let’s take a closer look at one example. An organisation can use a digital experience for enabling partners to register multiple deals. 

With standard Salesforce, the organisation has three options: 

  1. Register these deals one at a time using the Deal Registration Global Action 
  2. Add multiple deals to a spreadsheet and send them to an internal user to import 
  3. Develop and maintain a custom solution 

Empower partner users to import data in a Salesforce digital experience 

SimpleImport is the only managed package in the Salesforce ecosystem that solves the problem of external users importing data in a Salesforce digital experience. 

And if you need more convincing: 

  • Partner users can import their spreadsheet data themselves – no more relying on admins which can result in bottlenecked tasks! 
  • There is no onboarding time – partner users just need the spreadsheet and a drag and drop. There’s no more fiddling with CSVs. Users won’t even realise they’re using an import solution.
  • You’re not compromising minimum-access security – don’t compromise the permissions you have in place. Limit object and field mapping access by user or profile. 
  • Imports take less than 20 seconds on average* (varies on the file size). 

How much does SimpleImport cost? 

We price our SimpleImport digital experience implementations on a case-by-case basis depending on: 

  1. Number of digital experience users who will be importing 
  2. Number of admins who will be managing the back end of the solution 
  3. How frequently you’ll be importing 
  4. Average size of file you’ll be uploading 

That’s why we’d recommend scheduling a demo call with us to discuss your requirements and create an accurate quote.

Book a demo of SimpleImport 

Do you need to empower external users to import on a Salesforce digital experience? 

Check out SimpleImport for yourself on a live demo with one of our team.

Book a demo

B. Braun Medical stays compliant whilst reaching out to healthcare organisations thanks to PhoneTools

by Ruth Cawdron in News PhoneTools Success Stories October 13, 2022

B. Braun Medical stays compliant whilst reaching out to healthcare organisations thanks to PhoneTools

“With PhoneTools, we found that around 20% of doctors surgeries and health centres are registered on the CTPS, meaning they have opted out of live marketing calls.”

Matthew Metcalfe, Business Technology Manager, B. Braun Medical Ltd

Watch B. Braun Medical’s success story

Don’t just take our word for it! Watch what Matthew Metcalfe, Business Technology Manager at B. Braun Medical Ltd had to say about choosing to use PhoneTools for their CTPS screening.

Finding a new process for connecting with healthcare organisations

B. Braun develops effective solutions and guiding standards for the healthcare system in a constructive dialog with their customers and partners. B. Braun Medical Ltd. is a subsidiary of the B. Braun Group and is one of the leading providers of international Healthcare products in the UK. 

As part of a changing healthcare landscape since COVID-19, B. Braun needed to establish a new business process to reach out to healthcare organisations safely whilst staying compliant with UK privacy laws. 

B. Braun needed to call healthcare organisations

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, B. Braun, like many medical technology companies, would connect with healthcare organisations by having reps visit locations in person. Since COVID-19, the preferred approach for connecting healthcare product providers and healthcare organisations has shifted away from in-person.

With phonecalls becoming the first point of contact, B. Braun needed a new process in place.

Staying compliant with UK privacy laws

Since the arrival of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) which sit alongside the Data Protection Act and GDPR, it is illegal for UK entities to cold call people and businesses who have opted out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. This opt out register is called the the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

B. Braun needed to be able to quickly screen healthcare organisation phone numbers against the Telephone Preference Service to check if their reps could call them for marketing purposes.

Keeping users on the Salesforce platform

Well-embedded on the Salesforce platform with a multi-cloud implementation, finding a solution that enabled B. Braun to build their marketing call process on Salesforce was a big win. They looked at directly licensing the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) themselves as well as searching on the AppExchange, which is when they found PhoneTools by ProvenWorks.

Implementing and onboarding staff quickly

“It took almost no time at all to train our users; the concept takes longer to explain than the app.”

Matthew Metcalfe, Business Technology Manager

Built for the Salesforce platform, PhoneTools has a user-friendly component that can be placed on any object to screen the record’s phone numbers. After either a manual or automated screening job, PhoneTools shows the status of each phone number using a simple traffic light system. 

With PhoneTools in place, B. Braun reps can clearly see at a glance, without leaving the Salesforce platform, whether the healthcare organisation is registered on the Corporate Telephone Preference Service database or if it is safe to call.

Making marketing calls with a seamless compliance process

“PhoneTools provides us with an easy, simple and incredibly clear method of showing the preference of healthcare organisations to receive marketing calls.” 
Matthew Metcalfe, Business Technology Manager

Since using PhoneTools to screen healthcare organisation phone numbers, B. Braun has found that: 

  • Around 20% of doctors surgeries and health centres are registered on the CTPS, meaning they have opted out of live marketing calls. 
  • 141 UK hospitals are registered on the CTPS, including large teaching hospitals and major chains.
  • They have avoided facing fines of up to £500,000 in place for breaches of PECR regulations.

Thanks to PhoneTools, B. Braun has empowered their reps to confidently reach out to healthcare organisations compliantly without adding additional friction and effort to the marketing call process.

Why B. Braun Medical Ltd recommends ProvenWorks

Business Technology Manager, Matthew Metcalfe says:

“PhoneTools is simple to install and get running, it provides a clear, cost effective method of navigating C/TPS screening.” 

And when it comes to working with the ProvenWorks Support team:

“The support team were helpful and incredibly responsive, questions were answered quickly and effectively.”

Get compliant with PhoneTools

Whether you’re a healthcare product provider reaching out to healthcare organisations, or you work in any industry and plan on making live marketing calls to prospects, it’s vital to screen your phone numbers against the Telephone Preference Service.

Get in contact with us to discuss how PhoneTools could be your in-Salesforce solution for staying compliant. It’s that simple.

PhoneTools

Are you cold calling UK phone numbers? Screen against UK TPS and CTPS lists to stay compliant with UK privacy laws. Learn more and book a demo.

Find out more

You don’t want to miss these Dreamforce sessions on Salesforce+

by Ruth Cawdron in News September 14, 2022

Dreamforce, the world’s largest software conference is back!

This year, from the 20th to the 22nd of September, the global Salesforce community is descending on San Francisco, California for the largest annual event in the Salesforce calendar.

It’s safe to say that there are plenty of us who cannot attend the keynotes, panel sessions, community building and after parties in person. But there’s good news… Salesforce has announced that you can experience Dreamforce on Salesforce+ for free!

Once you register, you will have access to the full three days of Dreamforce streaming live on two channels with 72 hours of content, global takeovers, as well as over 200 on-demand episodes.

Who is speaking at Dreamforce?

Salesforce has gained fame for its ability to call on some of the world’s most exciting philanthropists, celebrities, politicians and executives to speak at their events. Dreamforce 2022 is no different.

There are the to-be-expected leaders Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor (co-CEOs of Salesforce) and Stewart Butterfield (President & CEO of Slack) as well as C suite representatives from Salesforce’s global partner and client base – PWC, Slalom, IBM, Accenture, Deloitte Digital, Calendly, Vimeo and even Build-A-Bear.

Then there are the celebrities and philanthropists – Jennifer Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Jane Goodall DBE, Bono and athletes like professional rock climber Alex Honnold, basketballer Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Olympians Dina Asher-Smith, Allyson Felix and Paralympian Melissa Stockwell. Add to the list former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and it’s safe to say that after a stripped-back, mostly online event in 2021, Dreamforce 2022 is back at full power.

See the full list of Dreamforce 2022 speakers.

Don’t miss out on these Dreamforce 2022 sessions

With 72 hours of content to choose from, catering for timezones around the world, it can be hard to decide where to begin. Which is why we’re here to make your choice easier! Here are our top 10 events that you don’t want to miss at Dreamforce 2022 and how to watch them for free on Salesforce+.

1. Dreamforce Main Keynote

Sep 20
9:00 PM – 10:30 PM BST
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM EDT

There’s no better place to start than Dreamforce’s kick-off keynote hosted by Salesforce Co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor along with a few special guests! You can expect key announcements as well as some inspiring words to kick off Dreamforce 2022.

If you’re short on time, you can watch the Highlights from the Keynote which streams just after, running for 30 minutes as opposed to the full 90 minutes.

2. The New Frontier: with Matthew McConaughey

Sep 21
1:00 AM – 2:00 AM BST
Sep 20
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT

Actor, author and Salesforce brand partner (remember the Superbowl halftime ad?) Matthew McConaughey sits down with Marc Benioff to discuss how to turn values into action that is good for the earth and everyone on it.

The combination of McConaughey’s renowned personality and Benioff’s ability to extract real value from one-to-one conversations makes for a promising hour!

3. Digital Transformation for an Evolving Future

Sep 21
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM BST
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT

Hear from a panel of CEOs (Deloitte Digital, Build-A-Bear, Standard Bank) about their journeys to accelerate and harness the power of digital transformation to drive success.

With an eclectic mix of industry expertise, this session promises to be an interesting insight into the minds of leading CEOs.

4. Using Business as a Platform for Change

Sep 21
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM BST
11:00 AM – 11.30 AM EDT

A number of top CEOs sit down to discuss how to lead companies who take a stand for social justice and how they prioritise diversity. The conversation features Salesforce’s Chief Business Officer and Chief of Staff Ebony Beckwith, CEO of Nextdoor Sarah Friar and other guests.

5. Art, Activism & ‘Surrender’: Benioff and Bono

Sep 21
11:00 PM – Sep 22, 12:00 AM BST
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT

Lead singer of U2, cofounder of (RED) and ONE and author of upcoming new memoir ‘Surrender,’ Bono sits down for an intimate conversation with Marc Benioff.

6. Women’s Empowerment Takes Center Stage with Jennifer Hudson

Sep 22
12:30 AM – 1:00 AM BST
Sep 21
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Jennifer Hudson needs no introduction and we can‘t wait to hear how she is using her platform to lift up women around the world.

We’re excited for Hudson’s dynamic conversation with LaShonda Anderson-Williams, EVP and CRO of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at Salesforce.

7. The Future of Our Planet with Al Gore

Sep 22
1:30 AM – 2:00 AM BST
Sep 21
8.30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT

In this half an hour session, Al Gore shares the latest on the sustainability revolution. Get ready to be inspired to tackle the climate crisis!

8. Dreamfest, the Concert for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals

Sep 22
3:00 AM – 3:30 AM BST
Sep 21
10:00 PM – 10:30PM EDT

Dreamforce’s annual concert, Dreamfest, is an unforgettable night, and this year Salesforce has announced that Red Hot Chili Peppers will be headlining this charity event!

9. Leading in a Flexible Work World

Sep 22
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM BST
9:00 AM – 9:45 AM EDT

The dialogues around Digital HQs is only gorwing and we’re excited to hear about the challenges these CEOs are facing and how they support their organisations in the evolving digital nomad landscape. With Calendly CEO Tope Awotona, CEO of Vimeo Anjali Sud and President of NYSE Group Lynn Martin, we’re excited to see this group of leaders sit down together!

10. True to the Core

Sep 22
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM BST
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

Join Salesforce Co-Founder and CTO, Parker Harris, Chief Product Officer, David Schmaier, and a range of Salesforce product leaders for a live Q&A forum about the Salesforce product roadmap.

It’s time to look forward! This one is a little different, and definitely not one to miss as Salesforce users.

How to watch Dreamforce for free

We hope you’re getting excited for Dreamforce 2022 after seeing the top 10 sessions we’re looking forward to!

You can register for free on Salesforce+ to watch all of these Dreamforce sessions and much more.

Register

However you end up watching Dreamforce this year, we hope you enjoy it and find friends, colleagues and watch parties to share your experience with.

Dreamforce 2022 here we come!

About ProvenWorks

We mean it when we say we’re Salesforce experts. We work exclusively in the Salesforce ecosystem and our products are built 100% for Salesforce.

About Us