NimbusPoint now offers Certinia PSA, a Salesforce-native solution that gives businesses complete visibility across projects, resources, and delivery. Empower your teams to plan, execute, and deliver with confidence through one connected cloud platform.

Certinia PSA unifies project planning, time tracking, resource management, and delivery oversight, eliminating data silos and manual effort. As projects grow in complexity, maintaining control and visibility becomes essential. With real-time insights into project health, utilization, and performance, your teams can make faster decisions and achieve better outcomes.

You may have seen we have some exciting news…we’ve now joined Capficiency Private Equity.

Capficiency is a private equity firm based in Toronto, their aim is to help NimbusPoint capitalise on new opportunities and build a stronger, successful business and partnership to Salesforce.

NimbusPoint are the Salesforce strand to Capficiency’s expanding portfolio, sitting alongside experts in Microsoft365, Sharepoint, Sage and Netsuite. Combined, the business will have over 200 employees and with operations across the North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Since 2011 we’ve seen amazing growth as a business, year on year success, and have an incredible team of expert consultants working tirelessly for our customers. As we’ve expanded, our capacity to deliver exceptional customer service has also grown, with this acquisition we can collectively fast forward our growth strategy for the benefit of our customers and stakeholders.

Capficiency’s investment means we can offer our customers an even better experience with us, with increased resources, expertise, and products and services by having the support and gravitas of a much larger group.

Capficiency Private Equity Group (“CPE”) acquires certified Salesforce Partner NimbusPoint Consulting to expand their growing portfolio of investments in the IT industry. This follows Capficiency’s previous investments in Appficiency Inc. in 2018, KWIZ in 2022, and ProvisionPoint in 2023. With NimbusPoint’s expertise, Capficiency now provides a full-service offering in both Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies, incorporating solutions from Netsuite, Microsoft, and Salesforce.

NimbusPoint Consulting’s deep expertise in Salesforce solutions will significantly enhance Capficiency’s IT Platform to deliver comprehensive ERP and CRM services to its valued clients. This partnership will drive innovation and efficiency, helping clients address complex business challenges with advanced technology. This acquisition will further advance Capficiency’s ability in the IT industry to provide robust, end-to-end solutions that meet diverse and evolving client needs.

“CPE’s vision is to continue building a global platform that services a client’s end-to-end digital transformations, from implementing new technologies and applications to providing better, faster and more insightful data and analytics” said Michael Diep, Managing Partner of Capficiency. “ We strive to provide the best advice to capture the full potential of any organization’s technology investments so they can continue to improve their operations, focus on supporting their people, and realize their vision for growth”.

About Capficiency
Established in 2018 and headquartered in Toronto, Capficiency is a private equity firm that partners with founders and management teams to fuel growth. At Capficiency, we help companies navigate change, tackle challenges, and capitalize on new opportunities to build stronger, more valuable businesses. To learn more about Capficiency, please visit us at www.capficiency.com.

About NimbusPoint Consulting
Established in 2011 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, NimbusPoint specializes in implementing and customizing Salesforce solutions tailored to clients’ unique business needs, maximizing their CRM potential. With over 250 projects completed, NimbusPoint empowers organizations to streamline operations, enhance customer relationships, and drive sustainable growth. To learn more about NimbusPoint, please visit us at nimbuspoint.com.

About ProvisionPoint Limited
Established in 2016 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, ProvisionPoint provides tailored productivity software and consulting support to commercial enterprise customers leveraging the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. To learn more about ProvisionPoint, please visit us at provisionpoint.com.

About KWIZ
Established in 2005 and headquartered in Toronto, KWIZ Corporation specializes in developing productivity add-on apps for Microsoft SharePoint. KWIZ has a diverse customer base with over 900 active clients globally, operating in industries ranging from government, financial services, retail, pharmaceuticals, and education. To learn more about KWIZ, please visit us at kwizcom.com.

About Appficiency Inc.
Established in Toronto in 2014, Appficiency is a provider of IT consulting services focusing on leading ERP solutions in North America and around the world. Appficiency is committed to serving our clients by helping them respond to complex business issues and evolving service needs and opportunities with innovative technologies. Over the past few years, Appficiency has grown to be market makers that have redefined industry solutions with complex software adaptations in markets like warehouse distribution, advertising, media, publishing, and construction. To learn more about Appficiency, please visit us at appficiency.com.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for regular updates on what we’re up to. 

We are delighted to announce the newest returning member of our team, Alex Bond! Re-joining NimbusPoint as our seasoned Salesforce Consultant, Alex brings with him a wealth of experience in Marketing Cloud Account Engagement and Marketing Cloud. 

With a robust background spanning 5 years in the Salesforce ecosystem, Alex’s journey began with mastering MCAE, eventually expanding his expertise into Salesforce and MCAE implementation. 

Alex excels in email and digital marketing, consistently delivering innovative solutions using Salesforce to ensure client success within Sales and Marketing. He thrives on understanding various processes and tools, often finding inspiration from his colleagues. 

Beyond his professional achievements, Alex’s interests are quite diverse. An avid outdoor swimmer, playing the Alto Saxophone, and he enthusiastically participates in competitive board game tournaments, revelling in occasional victories. 

Now Alex is back from his travels we had to pick his brain on all things Marketing Cloud. 

Q: What’s your experience with Salesforce, particularly in Marketing?  

A: One of my first jobs was creating and sending emails was using Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, aka MCAE (formerly known as Pardot) in late 2018, and I got hooked on Salesforce ever since! I’ve been able to use this hands-on experience as a marketer going forward, to the point where I’ve worked on more MCAE projects than I can remember, and a few Marketing Cloud projects too. However, there’s always more to learn, and that’s what keeps the job exciting! 

Q: What’s your favourite aspect of Salesforce marketing, especially concerning MCAE and Marketing Cloud? 

A: While MCAE isn’t the most intuitive or slickest tool to use out of the box, I don’t think there’s a better marketing automation tool for SMEs. MCAE rewards you for the time that you invest into it and is flexible enough to accommodate most marketing requirements that the average business will face. I love being presented with a question or challenge and knowing that 99% of the time, it can be achieved – the fun is in figuring it out! 

Q: What are your predictions for the future of Salesforce Marketing, given your extensive experience? 

A: To look at the future, we must look towards the past! Salesforce bought ExactTarget (now known as MC) and MCAE several years ago, and they’ve represented the marketing offerings that Salesforce as a business can provide. Now, there’s a lot of talk around Marketing Cloud growth, which represents one of the first major innovations that Salesforce has pushed in the marketing space – with a new email builder, and built on the Salesforce ‘Core’ platform, this represents a new chapter for Salesforce’s B2B marketing offering. With Marketing Cloud Growth Edition, Salesforce is showing us what a marketing app built in alignment with Salesforce’s core platform would look like – I’m curious to see what Salesforce will do with this product. Watch this space! 

Q: Can you share a favourite project or describe something you’ve done that you really enjoyed during your time with L’Oréal Australia & NZ? 

A: I was lucky enough to experience working for the L’Oreal during my recent time abroad, and it was a geeky joy to see what Marketing Cloud could do and offers when ran and used well, and work alongside some very talented people. I’m very grateful I got the chance to be part of that. 

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for regular updates on what we’re up to. 

What is Barbour ABI?

What if you knew every project that was happening in every region, across every sector and what stage that project was at, giving you the opportunity to target these projects and build quality pipeline? This is what Barbour ABI can do in a nutshell. They have the UK’s largest team of construction researchers and experts performing over 100,000 hours of research every year, providing you with a 360-degree view of the construction industry.  

How can Barbour ABI and Salesforce work together?

By integrating Barbour ABI and Salesforce you can benefit from the detailed information on the construction industry with the number one CRM software.

• Streamline the lead generation process and ensure that your sales team have access to up-to-date and relevant opportunities. 
• Prioritise leads based on construction project data, allocate resources effectively, and focus on opportunities that align with your business strategy. 
• Identify and target specific industries, regions, or types of projects helping to create high quality pipeline.  
• Keeping Salesforce synchronised with Barbour ABI ensures that your CRM data is always up to date. This real-time information is crucial for making timely decisions, especially in industries where project timelines and statuses can change rapidly. 
• Better communication and collaboration between sales, marketing, and project management teams by providing a centralised platform for sharing construction project information and customer data. 
• Automation of workflows reduces manual data entry, minimising errors.  
• Integrated data enables better strategic planning by aligning construction market trends with your business goals. You can then make informed choices about resource allocation, expansion strategies, and market positioning. 
• Stay ahead of industry trends, identify opportunities early, and respond proactively to market changes. 

Integrating Barbour ABI with Salesforce

When it comes to integrating Barbour ABI with Salesforce, speaking to a partner to gather expert advice based on experience is invaluable. At NimbusPoint we’ve successfully completed multiple projects and integrated Barbour ABI and Salesforce for Manufacturing and Construction companies across the UK. Each integration is different and bespoke to the client’s needs, we know it’s not a one size fits all so we design the functionality of the integration based specifically on our client’s needs  

The integration gives you a 360-degree view of the industry on one platform. You can choose which information you want imported from Barbour ABI into Salesforce such as project information, value, start date and contact details, automatically or with a custom button you can search the Barbour ABI database from inside your Salesforce org. As well as access to all the relevant information, you can set up automations that will pull your chosen data through, updating your projects for you. 

For more information on a bespoke integration contact us. 

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for regular updates on what we’re up to. 

Why is Salesforce migrating my org? 

Executing org migrations allows Salesforce to continue providing customers with the same levels of performance they have come to expect. They regularly move customers in order to balance workloads and modernise their systems. This migration is the Hyperforce migration and there’s no additional cost to your business.  

What is Hyperforce?

Hyperforce is Salesforce’s renewed infrastructure architecture, based on the consumption of public cloud services. It is designed to offer customers a more powerful and easily scalable platform and allows the platform to be deployed on public cloud infrastructure providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. You can learn more about Hyperforce by looking at the FAQs. 

How do I know if my org is going to be migrated?

You’ll receive an email from Salesforce notifying you of when the migration will happen, this email also includes some useful information about what will happen, what will be available and how you can reach out for help. In our experience the migration isn’t always a smooth process so we want to make sure you’re prepared for what could happen and make sure we’re on hand to iron out any problems.  

What do I need to do? 

Firstly, you need to pick a date that works for your business, if the date Salesforce has given doesn’t work for you, you can change it. In some cases, this migration can mean your org is only available in read only mode which you don’t want at your busiest time of the year.  

Once your migration date has been confirmed it’s the perfect time to review all your integrations and look at how these will work with Hyperforce. You should also allow time after the migration to test all your integrations and make sure your org is configured correctly.  

You can prepare for your org migration by accessing Salesforce Hyperforce Assistant, the assistant takes you through a guided journey to explain the benefits of Hyperforce and outline key steps you can follow to avoid any service disruption and ensure a smooth upgrade. To access the assistant from Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Hyperforce Assistant, and then select Hyperforce Assistant.  

After your production org migrates you can start to refresh any sandboxes that exist in Salesforce Managed data centers to Hyperforce by following the steps in this Refresh Your Sandbox article. Any future sandbox creations or refreshes are routed and stored in Hyperforce. A new sandbox is created in Hyperforce and the existing sandbox in the Salesforce Managed data center is deleted. 

Can I access Salesforce during the org migration?

Salesforce will notify you of your org’s availability during the migration before it happens. Read-only mode may be available for a portion or the entirety of the maintenance window. The migration shouldn’t take long at all.  

How can NimbusPoint help?

As a Salesforce partner we can configure the migration for you. This migration can cause some problems and will need vigorous testing to ensure the integrations work in a sandbox environment as well as making sure the changes are deployed into the live org correctly. We can help with this.  

Our expert team can also review your integrations and find out what other benefits Hyperforce can offer your org and review your org overall to ensure it’s ready for the migration. We’ve already helped our clients with a variety of issues related to this migration including hard coded Salesforce instances instead of enhanced domains.  

After making your initial Salesforce investment it can be daunting knowing where to go next and what exactly you should be doing. A Salesforce Partner can help.

Let us guide you on the benefits of using a partner such as NimbusPoint.

It can be tempting to self implement Salesforce without a partner. Although there may appear to be initial quick wins, you maybe missing out on the expertise and experience which would guide you through any issues or obstacles. Being Salesforce experts means that Partners can often pre-empt any design flaws before they even occur, ensuring a smooth delivery so that you can benefit sooner than later.

Partners will ensure you make the correct decisions at every stage of your implementation and answer all your questions as they arise.

Here we focus on 3 key benefits of using an accredited Salesforce Partner:

1. Better Adoption Rates

New systems often require good change management to overcome adoption issues. Partners will bring the experience from many successful Salesforce roll outs and help you overcome challenges you may face. This experience is backed by certified consultants with have both breadth and depth of specialist knowledge.

Partners will also ensure there is adequate tailored training in place for your staff to become experts quickly and proficiently.

2. Value Added Experience and Future Proofing

Understanding the terminology and the ins and outs of Salesforce is key to making your implementation successful. Salesforce partners live, breathe and sleep Salesforce, making them the perfect tool to use to optimise your return on investment. Partners will bring specialisms in industry verticals ensuring they add value to your business irrespective of the the size and scope of the project.

Partners are scored on their delivery of projects by customers and you can see how the partner is rated. The right partner will not only help you with your current implementation, but also use their expertise to plan for the long term. Having built a good relationship with a partner means they are are always available to help you with any new beneficial features Salesforce may release.

3. Tailoring Salesforce To Your Business

Every Salesforce implementation is different, and every organisation will have different desired goals and outcomes. The highly customisable nature of Salesforce allows organisations to have solution that is personalised and fits perfectly for your needs. Whether is is functional configuration for quick powerful tailoring or requires bespoke code for complex solutions, the partner will have the know how to get the best solution delivered for you.

 

If you’re interested in using a Salesforce partner, here  at NimbusPoint we have experienced consultants who are proven experts with several years’ experience. Explore our customer success stories to discover how we’ve helped businesses similar to yours make the most out of their Salesforce investment, or contact us for an informal chat about how we can help.

LiveMessage

Support your customers on the digital channels they love. LiveMessage in Lightning Experience makes it easy and convenient for customers to get support when they need it using text messaging and Facebook Messenger. Agents can work seamlessly across channels in the Service Console that they are already familiar with.

Support Your Customers with Text Messaging and Facebook Messenger

Customers can use text messages and Facebook Messenger to conveniently contact your support center to get their issues resolved. Agents can use LiveMesssage to respond from the Lightning Service Console, so they can support customers while having all the benefits and information of Service Cloud at their fingertips. Use the guided flow to set up messaging.

Set Up LiveMessage with a Guided Setup Flow

Give your customers a convenient way to communicate by adding SMS text messaging and Facebook Messenger to your support channels. Use the LiveMessage guided setup flow to get started. You can choose which channels to add and whether to set up Omni-Channel to route incoming messages to your support team.

Set Customer Expectations with Automated Response Messages

Use predefined automated responses to set the tone for your agents’ conversations with customers. The Chat Acknowledgment message is sent in reply to a customer’s initial text message and assures customers that their messages got through. Send automated messages when agents accept and end messaging sessions, when customers consent to receiving messages from your company, and when they revoke consent.

Customize Automated SMS Opt-In and Opt-Out Messages

When a customer sends an SMS text message to your company, LiveMessage replies with an automated message confirming that the customer consents to communicating by SMS. Customers can choose to opt in to receive messages or opt out by replying with a keyword, such as “STOP.” LiveMessage then sends an automated message that acknowledges the customer’s preference. Salesforce provides default text for the opt-in and opt-out messages, and you can customize them to better suit your company’s branding and tone.

Keep Customers in the Know with Automatic Text Message Notifications

Use LiveMessage to automatically send SMS text message notifications to customers based on certain events. Personalize the message by inserting merge fields to fill in variables such as the customer’s name or the case status. You can also use Process Builder to define a process that sends the message when certain criteria are met. For example, you can create a process that texts the customer when the status field on the customer’s case changes.
Send and Receive Images and File Attachments with SMS Text Messaging and Facebook Messenger

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Agents and customers can get straight to the point by sending images and files in an SMS message and Facebook Messenger.

Marketing Cloud

Social studio: real time reports

An important part to marketing is staying informed and up to date with relevant topics and brand conversions. You can now create triggered alerts based on key words and phrases. Follow and keep up to date with everything relevant to your company, from major social media influencers to people posting about your company or talking about relevant topics.

Social studio: inbound/outbound

Now within social studio you can comment and reply to your customers on social media. You can moderate comments and replies on Instagram from your business account, making the process quicker and more efficient. Social studio now can modify what you see and only show you posts which are posting to your brand or your own posts. This is great for people who just want to see what is important and specific to you!

Pardot in lightning experience

Pardot in lightning experience provides marketers with a 360-degree view of their customers which will help to: nurture leads, maximise ROI and close more deals. With Salesforce campaigns, marketers now have increased report functionality and an increased level of insight into the campaign health. With campaign path, marketers can create a customisable path for every different campaign and organise information accordingly. From here, you can create stages as: planned, in progress, approved, completed, cancelled and complete. Everyone on the campaign will also have access to B2B analytics.

Lightning Experience

Density settings

With the new Winter ’19 release, the density of your Salesforce screens can now be changed for users. As well as the “comfy view” which customers will be familiar with there is also a “compact view” option. This will enable you to see more on your screen with a compacted view and there will be a lot less white space! With the “compact view” users can now access 30% more views on a single page, which is perfect for those who hate switching between each tab.
Quick search

With quick search for reports and dashboards it is easy to find data within the context of reports and dashboard tabs. Now you can find what you need faster than ever before! Quick search is available to all users and it applies to the lightning experience. One thing to remember… quick search only shows the first 20 results. However, if there are more results, you will be notified!

To learn more:

https://releasenotes.docs.salesforce.com/en-us/winter19/release-notes/salesforce_release_notes.htm

Great article by Joshua Sophy over at Small Business Trends reminding us why Salesforce is also great for the small business and not just for the Enterprise

1 Salesforce started small too — 18 years ago in a small apartment.

It’s easy to forget that Salesforce was started by three people including Marc Benioff back in 1999 seeking investors, and today has a turnover in the billions!

2 Salesforce has more than 150,000 customers, many of which are small businesses.

Salesforce started off by providing services to small businesses in it’s early days, but has made sure not to forget those customers.

Salesforce got off the ground by serving small business needs. Today, some of the biggest companies in the world rely on Salesforce but still, many of its customers are startups and small businesses. The company is not taking its eye off the customers who got them where they are today.

DUFL is a great example of a company that has grown tremendously with Salesforce. Acting like a personal valet for business travel, DUFL cleans and stores garments customers need for their trips and ships them directly to their destination. DUFL uses Salesforce to keep a complete record of each individual’s unique needs so it can then deliver personalized, 1-to-1 experiences to its customers. With Salesforce supporting its sales and customer service, DUFL’s team of less than 50 employees has seen 10% month-on-month growth while maintaining a retention rate of more than 99%.

3 Today, Salesforce is much more than CRM.

Sure, Salesforce is nearly synonymous with CRM, especially for small businesses. But the company is getting a reputation for other services it provides companies like yours.

For instance, a few years ago Salesforce acquired Demandware, which it now calls Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Commerce Cloud allows small businesses to create unique shopping experiences for all its customers, including new ways of engaging customers on mobile devices at any time.

Salesforce also offers Quip, content collaboration tools for businesses.

4 Salesforce puts on one of the largest user conferences in the United States.

You’ll never walk alone at Dreamforce. That’s the annual user conference put on by Salesforce. And this is a big deal. It’s the largest software conference in the world.

Dreamforce offers the opportunity to learn first-hand how Salesforce — and any of its offerings — can help your small business. And if one of the many experts on hand isn’t enough, you’ll have a chance to meet the 175,000 or so attendees at this year’s event. That’s right — 175 THOUSAND!
“It’s bigger than a lot of cities,” says CRM Essentials co-founder Brent Leary, a regular at Dreamforce.

Many of those at Dreamforce are small business customers. This year there will be over 300 sessions dedicated to small businesses.

5 Salesforce has invested big in artificial intelligence.

Salesforce is integrating artificial intelligence with its CRM platform. The company calls its AI Einstein and promises to make everyone in your small business using it smarter.

In an interview with Small Business Trends, Salesforce’s Tony Rodoni stressed the role and impact of AI for a small business.
“No small business should have to have a data science department,” Rodoni said. “But we want to put functionality into the product that helps them see trends, recommend actions, and take next steps. And our SMB customers are going to see that in our products pretty darn quick.”

Your small business can access capital, find an investor, or get help on growth with Salesforce.

6 Salesforce has its own venture capital and investment arm called Salesforce Ventures.

The company has also created the AI Innovation Fund and is investing $50 million in startups that use AI to integrate their companies’ products with Salesforce.

Salesforce for Startups provides startups with access to the Salesforce technology, resources and expertise needed to become thriving customer and community-focused companies. Salesforce helps startups build, grow and give back through the AppExchange Partner Program, Salesforce Ventures, Pledge 1%, customer-focused products and much more.

7 Salesforce has a 1-1-1 philanthropy program.

Making an impact on your community, outside of being a successful company, adds value to any small business. Salesforce.org is based on the company’s own 1-1-1 model of social philanthropy.

And the 1-1-1 model is ideal for small businesses to donate from the beginning without stunting
their own growth. The 1s in 1-1-1 represent a percent of time, resources, and products that go to the common good of the community surrounding every business who’s pledged to contribute.

Salesforce.org says, to date, it has donated $168 million in grants, 2.3 million hours of community service, and product giveaways to more than 32,000 nonprofits and higher education institutions.

8 The AppExchange offers other apps for your business that automatically integrate with Salesforce.

Salesforce was the first to come out with an app store for third party integrations and extensions. It’s called Salesforce AppExchange. The AppExchange is where you’ll find other business apps that integrate with Salesforce.

The AppExchange recently reached its five million installs milestone, which shows the accelerating momentum of the AppExchange. Salesforce hit one million installs after six years, but in the last 12 months, it has grown from four to five million. This illustrates the exponential growth and strength of Salesforce’s partner ecosystem, which empowers SMBs with pre-integrated business apps to help them run their business efficiently.

9 Salesforce training is gamified.

Salesforce has a learning system dubbed Trailhead. The company calls it the fun way to learn how to use Salesforce.

Trailhead is free and offers learning modules and guided trails for every skill level. Check out this blog post to learn more about how small businesses can use Trailhead. There’s even a special “Trail Mix” designed especially for small businesses.