2nd May 2013 | General Information
Having been to the Customer Company Tour at the ICC Excel Centre in London I can see that Salesforce is continuing to reach out to Charities and Non Profit organisations.
There are so many advantages for charities. For up to ten licences Salesforce will give you free access to their Enterprise product. (This is the same solution used by Coca Cola, GE, Guide Dogs, Accenture, G4S and so on.) If you need more than ten licences you get them at a discount rate through the Salesforce Foundation.
Charities do not get a cut-down product, they get the full product PLUS free customisations (the Non Profit Starter Pack) that gives extra functionality. As they are getting the same product as the big companies, charities get all the advances and stability that the big companies rely on.
Adding to my knowledge of VisualForce, Apex and Force.com. These go beyond the point and click customisation that most of Salesforce is configured with. They allow for a really deep customisation.
Thanks Salesforce – lets get this Force for Good working to promote the work of charities!
30th Apr 2013 | Salesforce
I am just on my way to the Salesforce Customer Company Tour. This is a chance to find out about the latest innovations at Salesforce. They are continuing to push the idea of the social web – knowing more about your customers and donors by making use of the information they put out on the web. Most obviously this information is there for all to see in people’s Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. The other aspect of the social web is that your team on Salesforce can communicate efficiently and easy using the various features of Chatter. I am also looking forward to finding out about the continued work of the Salesforce Foundation and how they continue to help charities to achieve their aims. In all, it should be exciting and interesting. Perhaps I will see you there?
Itinerary
10th Mar 2013 | General Information
I am excited to be writing to you from Wales. It is not that that makes a significant difference to my work, but I am now surrounded by beautiful countryside rather than urban sprawl.
Part of the move involved my laptop going missing. You know… the one that contained everything of importance to my business.
My first concern would have been my clients’ data. Fortunately I have my hard disk encrypted. Recovery without the correct credentials is impossible.
Then there was getting back to work. Fortunately, everything is backed up through the day. I was able to use a desktop PC and restore everything overnight. In the mean time, the things I was working on were backed up to the cloud, so were available in a few minutes.
Everything that I have on Salesforce is available with just a web browser and is stored in the cloud. Nothing lost there then!
Finally, my internet landline was not due to arrive for a couple of weeks! Fortunately, Virgin had given me a very good deal on 3G unlimited broadband. As long as the dongle was near the window it all worked. With all the furniture still to be unpacked I was running the company and developing Salesforce installations and websites from a table that was two foot square (60cm x 60 cm).
I recommend using cloud solutions for all the reasons outlined above. I was able to experience the true benefits myself. (As well as the reassurance of good backups!)
28th Jan 2013 | General Information, Salesforce, Web Hosting, Websites
The good news is that we have survived the move!
The even better news is that, with the business based in the cloud, there were no servers to move. Even our removal company, who seemed intent on damaging as much as possible, could not compromise our data – it is all safe on servers in data centres.
As far as the business is concerned, it is business as usual. Until the landline internet is connected, we are working off the local 3G signal. The 3G in this area gives us a similar speed to that expected off the wired internet. Thanks to Virgin Mobile, we have unlimited internet at a very reasonable price.
If only all the office furniture were based in the cloud! Much of that is in need of unpacking. For you, our loyal customers, it is business as usual. Even our 0800 number is automatically forwarded to our new line. (Thanks to Telecoms World for that.)
I suppose that you do not really need to know where we are located, as we can work from anywhere. For the curious, we are in a village near Ammanford in the county of Dyfed, just off the end of the M4. The full address is on the Contact Us page.
8th Dec 2012 | General Information
I received some bad news today! Google Apps is no longer to offer its free product to new customers. Until now, it was possible, after the initial trial of Google Apps for Business to downgrade to Google Apps Standard, which was free.
At Cloud Genius we see great benefit in the Google Apps product – we use it ourselves.
This policy change at Google will affect our offerings – we can still set up Google Apps for you as part of one of our great website offerings. We will even set it up for you as a standalone product. Unfortunately, after the first month you would have to pay Google a fee. Currently that starts at £3.30 per user per month (less if you pay annually). It is still a great product.
Exact pricing details are at: Google Apps Pricing
