This is an exciting development because we'll now be able to write one application in a Salesforce org and make that system available to any device that users in the org decide to carry.
Where I think we'll be helping our clients most with Salesforce1 is by writing visualforce pages to deploy custom functionality to IOS and Android mobile devices. Over the years we have written hundreds and hundreds of visualforce pages. Now we can deploy these pages to the mobile devices. Any visualforce pages deployed to a custom tab in the salesforce org can be enabled for a mobile device.
Example: A Mobile Quoting Tool
I'll give a simple example. Let's say we want to give a quoting tool to a sales rep in the field. The quote consists of a few details from the account, a few primary fields from a contact record, and the basic fields on the opportunity along with the product line items. The rep would like to be able to use one form to enter all the relevant details, have the system create the resulting Account, Contact, and Opportunity, and Product Line Item records, generate a PDF, save it against the opportunity, and email it to the client.A visualforce page could be written, enabled for mobile devices, and deployed to a tab called "Mobile Quote". Then on the mobile device, the user simply selects that tab and they will see the form where they can conveniently enter all the relevant details. Since it is visualforce, we can also provide countless conveniences geared towards the client's business model. For example, rather than having to use a cumbersome lookup to find relevant products, those could be presented in a picklist or found by enter a couple letters from the product name, whatever the users think would be most convenient.
When finished filling out the form, in one click the PDF could be generated, saved against the opportunity, and emailed to the client.
The options really are endless. This will be a system that we put to great use for our clients. Salesforce1 is finally making mobile a reality for our clients.
If you have a project in mind or simply wonder if the idea you have is feasible, contact us through www.snapptraffic.com, we'd love to hear about your project and let you know what it might take to develop it for you.
