In the Summer ’21 release, there are actually quite a few new features for Salesforce Maps. In this blog post, we will guide you through them.
If you haven’t heard of Salesforce Maps before, you can get a good introduction from this video, that takes you through some of the different features.
Now, moving on to the new features that come with Summer ’21! The first one is very relevant in our current times, as it allows you to automate safety protocols for customer visits. You can now request approvals from managers for on-site visits and you can also prompt reps to review and respond to your company’s safety requirements. With COVID-19 changing the way that we all work, this feature is incredibly helpful, as you can identify the safety protocols that you would like your reps to follow, and make sure that not only are they are safe, but the customer is also safe. For example, for an onsite visit, your company may have a safety checklist that needs to be completed before your reps are able to interact with the customer, with the automation of safety protocols in Salesforce Maps you can make sure that your reps have signed off the safety checklist, before they continue with their visit.
The next new feature is also a very helpful one. There is nothing more annoying than having all your data spread across multiple systems, and not being able to keep track of it all. This is especially annoying when that information is going to influence or schedule customer visits. Turning up to a customer site and them not expecting you, or even worse, not turning up at all because all your information was on a different system, is now a thing of the past. You can now schedule customer visits in Salesforce maps using data that you store outside of Salesforce! Using Salesforce Connect, you can now connect your own data sources and then plot those points on your map so that you never miss an appointment again! You can also set limits on these markers that you plot to make sure that your data security is still adhered to.
The last two features that we are going to talk about are more improvements, rather than being brand new features. The first of which is the ability to specify which custom actions appear for each object in Salesforce Maps. This is a really helpful improvement, as it makes your reps’ lives easier, and saves them time having to go through all of the different actions they have available to them. For example, if a rep is going to see a customer, they arrive on site and go through everything they need to do. When they are leaving, they need to update the Opportunity stage to represent the completed visit. You have a custom action that does this for them. With the ability to choose which custom actions show on each object, you make sure that the update Opportunity action is the only one available, so your rep can quickly and easily update the Opportunity and head off to see their next customer.
The final improvement is that you will be able to map more shape layers than before. You are now able to plot specific area using new geographic location and grow your business using the latest public data. This will allow you to expand you business all over the world and enhance the data you have for each location. A full list of the new shape layers is here.
As the world starts returning to normality and onsite visits become more and more common, these new features in Salesforce Maps will help you and your reps keep on top of all of their appointments, and will also allow you to have as much data on them as possible, whilst keeping you safe.
To view other enhancements that have been made to Salesforce Maps, and the rest of the Summer ’21 release notes, click here.