DATAVIA Consulting - Book Review

DATAVIA Consulting

"Salesforce.com for Dummies"
is written by Tom Wong, Liz Kao and Matt Kaufman, all of whom have a long relationship with salesforce.com, either as an employee, a partner, a consultant, a user, or all of the above.
The reviewed book is the fourth edition. It was released at the end of 2010 and contains updates based on the status of the salesforce.com product around early 2010. It is stated by the authors that the book was written for users. As such this book is a good source of knowledge for new users of salesforce.com.

The introduction starts with the various target audiences. It also lists the updates in the 4th edition and some guidelines on how to use the book.

The book explains the Salesforce.com basics, the functions for the various roles of people in the organization. This also addresses the different editions that are available for the users. Then the various apps and database functions are described. How setup the system for your purposes, such as setting up accounts, entering and managing contacts and activities.

Sales functions are explained, such as lead management, opportunities tracking. Also the management of products and price lists and quote generation.

Then the marketing tools are described. Developing campaigns and managing mailing lists. Also building an internet marketing channel and the use of Google adwords. Tools for document management are available as well.

Customer support tools are available in the Service Cloud. Support case management and communication with the customer are functions in Salesforce.com.

Business analysis tools help the user analyze the results of his sales efforts. How is data extracted from the database and analyzed, which can then be presented via reports. Standard reports are available, which can be customized and new ones created from scratch. Dashboards are another form of presentation of business intelligence.

For advanced customers there is the possibility to develop new applications based on user requirements. For this customization the user utilizes Force.com, the platform on which salesforce.com is built itself.

The book is rounded of with two sets of "Tens", ten ideas to improve the utilization of the salesforce.com product.

Conclusion:
The authors say in the introduction that it is not about "how salesforce.com works". This is not my impression after reading it. To me it does pretty much that; it reads like a popular manual. It does not go into all details of the traditional user guide, but it does address the range of functions of the system. It is the author's advise to read the book while being logged onto the salesforce.com application, inviting the reader to be hands on.
My initial reaction after reading was one of surprise: "this is not available in the salesforce.com user guide?" Guess not. Being the 4th edition, there must be demand for this book.
It is written from a practical point of view and that is useful for the majority of users.

The reviewer Marinus M. Grootenboer is a consultant and program/project manager with extensive international experience. As ICT Project Manager (PMP certified) he managed large system implementations in Europe and the USA for a variety of industries, such as software vendors, airlines and gaming companies. Salesforce.com is one of the many systems he implemented. He also developed project management methodologies for European and American organizations.

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