#df14

This years Dreamforce had 135,000 registered attendees from 91 countries. The word on the floor rumored the final total was 144,000! More than twice as many as Oracle Open World. Dreamforce is an event unlike any conference. It is a massive experience that takes over San Francisco. Here are my top 5 highlights from this years Dreamforce, aka #DF14.

#1  No No No more Marketing Automation alley

The presence of marketing automation platforms like Eloqua and Marketo was non-existent. Act-Onhad a small booth with a Silver level sponsorship, but I did not notice it or any other marketing automation platform as I walked the Expo floor. Obviously, changes in the marketing automation space, like Oracle’s acquisition of Eloqua (Dec 2012), and Salesforce’s acquisition of Pardot (via ExactTarget 2013) makes it tenuous.

This year, the positioning of Salesforce Pardot and ExactTarget (Salesforce Marketing Cloud) was much stronger and clearer. Last year, everyone was questioning if Pardot would even exist (or be blended in). The clear answer this year is YES.  Salesforce Pardot for B2B. Salesforce Marketing Cloud for B2C. In a nutshell, Salesforce Pardot has the robust nurturing and scoring engine to support extended and complex buyer’s journeys.

  #2  Analytics Analytics Analytics!

Big Data. BI. Salesforce announced its entry into the BI/analytics market with Wave, Salesforce Analytics Cloud platform. 

“There’s going to be 10 times more mobile data by 2020, 19 times more unstructured data, and 50 times more product data by 2020.” -Marc Benioff, CEO Salesforce.com

We should pay attention to what he says.  He is one of the most powerful tech CEO’s and even autocorrect know’s him.  I typed “Benihoff” and got a red line then corrected to “Benioff.” Since I am a child of the 80’s, I may have been thinking of David Hasselhoff from my childhood favorite TV series, Knight Rider. BTW, autocorrect caught both. I am not saying they are equal or alike, just stating for the record. Okay, back to Dreamforce.

Wave is Salesforces entry into a $38B market. Many say it seems a bit late for such an innovative cutting edge company. I would have to agree. Marketers have been clamoring for better ROI analytics and have had to rely on integrating marketing automation and buying MA embedded/white labelled BI tools. Wave does have a clear advantage with being native to Salesforce, but the devil is in the details, yet to be discovered.

Wave promises to be visual and interactive. It must be, it was announced with the Beach Boys playing “Good Vibrations.”

#3  Vertical Vertical Vertical!

For the first time, to my knowledge, Salesforce had an industry specific demo area. It was not highly promoted and even tucked away. Great move as Dreamforce gets bigger and bigger.

  #4  It is still a Party. Party, Party

Dreamforce, unlike any other conference I have attended, makes the attendee feel special. Music and entertainment everywhere. Knowledgeable and friendly service personnel to assist around every corner. More interesting sessions than anyone could possibly attend. Even the food is relatively decent. I have to give bonus points for anyone that can make/store/distribute over 100,000 eatable lunch boxes that are a cut or two above vending machine sandwiches.

    #5  The giving and giving back BIG continues 

O Dreamforce é o principal evento de Salesforce e decorre todos os anos em São Francisco, Califórnia. Com 135.000 pessoas presentes em 2014 (e vários milhões a assistir ao vivo via Internet) o Dreamforce que ontem terminou é um dos principais eventos mundiais na área das tecnologias da informação.

Eis as principais novidades deste ano:

Wave, Analytics Cloud - Os Beach Boys apresentaram a mais nova nuvem de Salesforce, que lhe dá a informação que lhe interessa, na altura certa, em qualquer lugar. Os colaboradores da sua empresa vão gostar de aceder e partilhar a informação relevante para o seu trabalho, desde os seus telemóveis ou tablets. Os responsáveis de informática vão gostar da gestão fácil e da máxima segurança da Wave. Finalmente, os programadores da sua empresa vão poder desenvolver soluções à medida das necessidades da sua empresa. A plataforma Wave não necessita de investimentos iniciais (tal como todos os outros produtos Salesforce) e é alugada na cloud por 250 USD/mês para "Builder User" (utilizador que cria, implementa e mantém os sets e as ligações de dados) e por 125 USD/mês para "Explorer User" (utilizador que acede, personaliza e partilha os dados).

Salesforce1 Lightening - uma nova plataforma de Salesforce para criar rapidamente aplicações mobile para a sua empresa. Usando sobretudo o rato - e sem conhecimentos de programação - pode criar apps para todos os ecrãs: desktop, tablet, smartphone e até wearables.

Várias novidades em todas as Clouds da Salesforce - durante o evento, foram mostradas centenas de novidades para todas as nuvens. Sugerimos ver os keynotes em  ou consultar as novidades da versão Winter'15.

Wearables - Salesforce entra em força no mercado dos wearables, adaptando a sua plataforma tecnológica para que developers consigam desenvolver apps para esses dispositivos.

Mulheres na tecnologia - Salesforce está cada vez mais empenhada em envolver e dar mais poder às mulheres num sector tradicionalmente masculino.

Economia Social - Salesforce reforça, uma vez mais, o seu empenho em apoiar constantemente as organizações sem fins lucrativos. Em Portugal, a Dom Digital tem orgulho em ser o braço direito de Salesforce nessa missão, através do Sol Global.

Pode encontrar mais informação sobre o Dreamforce em http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/ ou contatando a Dom Digital (Primeiro parceiro de Salesforce em Portugal, Silver Consulting Partner e ainda ISV Partner)