The Salesforce Admins Podcast

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Sharon Klardie, Senior Director of AppExchange Labs & Innovation at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about how Labs empowers Salesforce employees to build and share solutions on the AppExchange, and what that means for admins navigating the new world of AI. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Sharon Klardie. What is Salesforce Labs? Next year, Salesforce Labs will celebrate its twentieth birthday. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s an innovation program for Salesforce employees to create solutions, package them, and share them with customers like you. That’s why I was so excited to sit down with Sharon Klardie. She’s the Senior Director of AppExchange Labs & Innovation, and as she puts it, her team’s job is to “showcase the art of the possible.” If you’ve ever stared at a new feature and felt some blank canvas anxiety when it comes to how to actually implement it in your org, browsing through Salesforce Labs solutions could be a great starting point. Even if you don’t end up using something, you can see what’s possible and even look at how they did it on GitHub. The key to AI implementation If you’re like most of the admins I talk to, you’re probably looking for new ways to use Agentforce. As Sharon puts it, “How do you have meaningful and mindful implementations of AI at your organization?” You can get a lot of ideas looking through Labs apps that incorporate Agentforce. However, as Sharon points out, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. You need to get your data in a good place and build a solid foundation for scalable AI, and there are several Salesforce Labs solutions that can help you get started. Best practices for AppExchange Finally, we talk through some AppExchange best practices that will help you get the most out of any Labs solutions you want to try out. First and foremost, never install an app you haven’t used directly into production. Spin up a dev org or sandbox so you can test without breaking anything. But more importantly, make sure you have a solid rollout and change management plan for any new functionality you’re adding to your org. You need to tell users what’s new, teach them how to use it, and be ready to handle any edge cases that will inevitably pop up. Be sure to catch Sharon’s presentations at Dreamforce, and say hi if you see her! And don’t forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Trailhead Module: Salesforce Labs Basics Trailhead Module: AppExchange Basics AppExchange: Trending on Salesforce Labs AppExchange: Salesforce Labs App Guide YouTube channel: AppExchangeTV GitHub: Salesforce Labs Help Article: How To Get Support for Salesforce Labs Created Applications Dreamforce session: 7 Free Solutions to drive Your AI Strategy Forward Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Sharon on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike: This week on the Salesforce Admin Podcast, I sit down with Sharon Klardie, who’s the senior director of Salesforce Labs, to talk about, well, what else? Free innovation. Sharon shares how labs empower Salesforce employees to build and share solutions on the AppExchange and what that means for Salesforce admins navigating the new world of AI and why, this is important, you should never install a new app straight into production. Now, whether you’re Dreamforce-bound or catching up after Dreamforce, this one’s packed with a lot of great tips from Sharon and a lot of AI strategy gold. So tune in, take notes, and let’s get Sharon on the podcast. So, Sharon, welcome to the podcast. Sharon Klardie: Thank you for having me, Mike. Mike: I find it hard to believe, but you are one of the few people in the world that hasn’t been on the Salesforce Admin podcast despite you and me being in the ecosystem for like a thousand years. Sharon Klardie: I know. I was thinking about this morning and I was like, “I can’t believe I haven’t been on here yet.” So I’m super excited to share with the listeners here today. Mike: Well, let’s talk about that. So how did you get started in Salesforce and in the ecosystem, and what do you do at Salesforce? Sharon Klardie: Oh, I love a Salesforce origin story. So picture, it’s 2010, and I’m working at a software company that gets bought by an equity partner, and that equity partner implements Salesforce at every company they buy. And that was my first introduction of Salesforce back when it was just Sales and Service Cloud. And I absolutely felt in love with the platform. I felt empowered. There was community behind it. And ever since then, so from 2010 till today, I’ve been all Salesforce all the time. Mike: Wow. And you joined Salesforce. What part of Salesforce did you join? Sharon Klardie: So when I joined Salesforce in 2018, I joined leading the Salesforce Labs program. That was exclusively my focus. It’s been part of my remit my entire time, almost eight years here at Salesforce. And I’ve added some other things to what I do on the daily basis, but the Salesforce Labs program, community innovation, it’s my passion area. It’s what brings me joy. I just actually love being part of it, seeing the creativity of the employee community, creating labs, and seeing the creativity of our trailblazers who are using Labs solutions. Mike: So for anybody that hasn’t heard about Labs, when you say Salesforce Labs, what do you mean? Sharon Klardie: So Salesforce Labs is a program that’s actually turning 20 next year, if you can believe it. It’s an innovation program where we empower Salesforce employees to create solutions, package them, and share them on AppExchange for our customers to use. And Salesforce Labs solutions are always free. They’re community-driven. You can think of them like an open-source project. So it’s volunteered by employees. It’s not an employee who is on a product team and this is part of their regular release roadmap. This is an employee who sees a problem in the space that they want to solve, or they have a really creative idea on how to use our technology. So the Labs program really helps trailblazers to learn new technology, play around with it, get starter packs and templates. Blank canvas anxiety is a real struggle as an admin, throwing back a few years from my admin days, but sometimes a new feature would be rolled out and you’d be like, “I’m not sure where to start.” So the Labs program really tries to help trailblazers be able to adopt new technology, understand how you can use it, and showcase the art of the possible. Mike: That’s good. I know as an admin, I found Labs because I needed a project management app, and at the time, Reid Carlberg had a really cool one, so I was like, “Oh, that’s kind of cool.” And then from there on, I looked for the little beaker logo. Sharon Klardie: Yeah, we love that beaker logo, and then we evolved the logo to actually use the periodic elements of tables to use labs spelled out because we’re geeky like that. Mike: Right. I know. It kind of has like a Breaking Bad feel to it. Sharon Klardie: Yeah. Mike: I’m all about that. So at Dreamforce you’re going to talk about seven free solutions to drive your AI strategy forward, and it’s going to be a really cool presentation, and some people are going to get to see it, some people aren’t. Why is it important for admins to look to the AppExchange and some of our Labs apps in terms of moving AI forward in their organizations? Sharon Klardie: Yeah. So right now, AI is moving at the speed of light or whatever is faster than the speed of light. I’m not sure what that is, but there’s probably something faster than the speed of light, and that’s what it feels like is happening right now. So one of the benefits that the Labs program will have is we can showcase different solutions on how to use this new technology, but also I think even more importantly is how do we think about how do we want to implement AI at our organization. And sometimes that might actually be using a Labs solution or another partner solution on AppExchange that isn’t actually AI-driven, but helps set the groundwork for how do you have a strong AI strategy. So an example of that would be, is there a set of technology or tools or processes that you should have in place at your organization to really help you identify what are your goals and use cases for using AI? And we have a number of different Labs solutions that we’ll share. Pro-tip for anybody who’s going to see the content, it would be probably a few more solutions than seven. We’ll throw a couple bonus things in there and some shout-outs. But there’s a lot of technology out there to really help you frame is your data ready. Data readiness is super important as an AI strategy to move forward in the space. If you’re going to train your AI or use AI on your data and if your data is no good, then you’re going to have a problem. The AI isn’t going to respond the way that you expect or what your business needs. So we want to showcase these solutions that you can use to get started to help ground you in strong AI strategies. Mike: So it’s not just downloading agents. Sharon Klardie: Exactly. It’s going to be more than that. It’s really about thinking about how do you have meaningful and mindful implementation of AI at your organization. And we’ll also have some showcases of how to use cool Agentforce and AI technology. Mike: Oh, nice. I noticed you put the word free in your title. That implies that there’s some that aren’t free. Sharon Klardie: Yes. So all Salesforce Labs solutions are free. So anything that our employees create and contribute are free to download from AppExchange. But there are other solutions from our partner ecosystem and some are free and some are paid. It is important to note for anybody who’s not familiar with the Salesforce Labs program is these are not official Salesforce products, which is actually called out in the master service agreement, the MSA. These are community contributions, so you can’t pick up the phone and call support and get help for them. We generally try to open-source all of our Labs solutions on GitHub so you can actually use it to learn new technology, see how an employee built that solution, or maybe that solution does 80% of what you want, but you want to change it. You can go get the source code and then go customize it for whatever works for your business. And if the solution that the employee built hits a home run and it solves your business challenge you’re trying to solve, you can go install the managed package and off to the races. Mike: Yeah. And I’m also thinking any of your Labs apps are also going to immediately be able to be agentified? Sharon Klardie: I would say. So we have some Labs solutions. I wouldn’t say that’s a hundred percent guarantee, although most of them should be able to be extended, but we have over 500 Labs solutions on AppExchange and I can’t say conclusively that all 500 would become- Mike: You don’t know all 500 just like the back of your hand? Come on now. Sharon Klardie: I, unfortunately, do not. I know many of them, but not all 500. But yeah, most of them should be extended. We’re actually looking at engaging with some of our more popular Labs solutions and having conversations with the builders to say like, “What are ways that we could extend this using newer technology that’s come out?” Either adjacent, something like if you want to use AI, you can add onto it, but if you still want to use the main core functionality, like custom objects and flows that was there but not to have an AI arm to it, then you could still use the original. But how can we take these to the next level using the great technology that’s come out over the past couple of years? Mike: Yeah. Now, I think the use of apps within Salesforce has probably evolved since you and I were out in the world as we little admins wandering blindly through the Salesforce universe, because it’s become ubiquitous that you’d use an app on your phone, right? Like there’s specialized apps to do things. Oftentimes on my iPhone, I’ll get an app, I’ll try it out, it won’t work, I’ll just delete it, but I don’t have a spare phone. What is best practice for admins evaluating apps, be it from Labs or somewhere on the AppExchange, in terms of trying and testing something out perhaps before it goes into production? Sharon Klardie: There absolutely are some best practices. Number one will be we do not install brand-new apps we’ve never explored into production. We do not do that. I’ll repeat, we do not do that. Some trailblazers like to explore in a dev org first, but the cons of that is you don’t have your unique customizations. A lot of trailblazers have a lot of success in installing a Labs solution or a partner solution in a sandbox first so you can see how it interacts with the customizations you’ve made to the platform. But both either a dev org or a sandbox is absolutely where you want to start to check out any new solution, whether it be Labs or partner solution. Mike: Yeah. So that was the first mistake that I made back in the day. I would just try things out in production. Why not? Sharon Klardie: Yeah, no, hopefully nobody takes that guidance, Mike. Definitely it’s much more advantageous for everyone to play around and see how things work. And it gives you a little bit more freedom as an admin to look under the hood and see how exactly it’s going to work and then what your rollout plan is. Because it’s just like what I tell my Labs builders, it’s not if you build it, they will come. It’s not if you install it, it will work, right? Mike: Right. Sharon Klardie: So you also need to have that kind of change management process at your organization. If you just install a new app and have some great functionality, if you don’t tell your users about it once you move it to production, they might not know what to do with it or they might not use it in the way that you had in mind. I think we all know in technology, when we release things into the wild of our user base, we are going to come across some use cases and edge cases that we never thought might be the reality. So the more that you can get ahead of that and the change management process, it’s just going to be smoother for both you as an admin and also for your end users. Mike: Yeah. Now, one thing I’d be remiss not to cover, we talked a lot about consumption part, but you mentioned Labs is also open to non-Salesforce employees, correct? Sharon Klardie: No. So only Salesforce employees today can create and distribute a Salesforce Labs solution. Mike: Gotcha. But our AppExchange is open to non-Salesforce? Sharon Klardie: Absolutely. We have a very robust partner ecosystem and a process to engage. It can be a free solution that somebody wants to create as a business to kind of spin up and share with the community. You can go through our partner program to do that. And of course, it’s an ecosystem, so if you have a solution, idea that you believe is of value to our broader trailblazer community and customers, then you can engage with our program and list there. But anything created by Salesforce Labs is created by a Salesforce employee. Mike: Yeah. Sharon Klardie: And I just also want to note Labs go through the same security review process that all of our partner solutions go through as well. Mike: Oh, so no cheating because it’s a Salesforce employee? Sharon Klardie: That’s exactly right. Trust is our number one value here. We want all the Labs to adhere to that as well. Mike: Right, yeah. No, it’s same rules apply for everybody. That way you get the same quality and consistency. So that makes sense. Well, Sharon, thanks for coming on the podcast. I think this session’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait to hear what people have to say about it, and I can’t wait to see what new stuff comes out from the Labs team. Sharon Klardie: Yeah. Well, thank you for having me. Hopefully, it’s the first time, but hopefully not the last time. I’ve really enjoyed chatting with you, Mike, and if anybody is at the session and shows up at Dreamforce, stop by and say hello. I’d love to meet you. And I’m on LinkedIn, and if you want to engage with that way, share any feedback about the Labs program, I’m happy to engage. Mike: So a big thanks to Sharon for joining us and sharing some behind-the-scenes look at the Salesforce Labs. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to fire up a sandbox and test drive some :abs apps. That was always the most fun part for me as an admin. But remember, not in production, just in a sandbox or not in production. But hey, if you’re heading to Dreamforce, don’t miss her session on the seven, plus she says a few bonus free sessions to fuel your AI strategy. And remember, best part about Salesforce Labs apps is they’re free and open, and they’re built with you, the community, the Salesforce admins, developers, architects in mind. So with that, until next time, we’ll see you in the cloud. The post How Can Admins Use Labs Apps To Get AI-Ready? appeared first on Salesforce Admins.

In this engaging discussion, Abhishek Saxena, a Technical Architect at Copado with over a decade of Salesforce experience, shares insights from his journey to understand Data Cloud. He recounts the challenges he faced, including the overwhelming terminology and resources. Abhishek emphasizes that Data Cloud is essential for data unification, creating a centralized Customer 360 profile, and enhancing AI responses through context. His passion for teaching shines as he prepares to simplify these concepts for others at Dreamforce.

Denise Carbone, Director of Delivery at ImagineCRM and a seasoned Salesforce admin, shares her journey from business analyst to consultant. She emphasizes the importance of understanding business needs before technology, advocating for a 'process first, technology second' mindset. Denise discusses the growing relevance of BA skills in the age of AI, including the need for verification of AI outputs and the art of asking 'why' to foster deeper engagement. Her insights on mentoring and navigating imposter syndrome make for an inspiring listen.

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Nicole Pomponio, Director of Delivery Management and Operations at SaltClick. Join us as we chat about how admins can unlock the full potential of Slack in Salesforce. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Nicole Pomponio. Why Slack is changing what it means to be an admin If you’re planning on coming to Dreamforce this year (or catching it at home), you’re probably going to hear a lot about new ways of combining Agentforce and Slack. That’s why I’m excited I got a chance to sit down with Nicole for this episode and have a conversation about her Dreamforce presentation. Nicole is the Director of Delivery Management and Operations at SaltClick, a consultancy for Salesforce and Slack, so she’s eager to find new ways to get the most out of both platforms. The ever-deepening integration between Salesforce and Slack means there are all sorts of new ways to connect users with data. As Nicole explains, all this means that the entire idea of what an admin can do is becoming more and more expansive. Getting organizational buy-in for Slack If your organization isn’t using Slack, how do you get the buy-in you need to overcome inertia? And if you are using Slack, how do you get the most out of it? Nicole is an admin, but she’s also a decision-maker at SaltClick, and when she puts on her leadership hat, she wants to hear about business problems and possible solutions. So the key to getting buy-in is to reposition Slack from something that sends messages to something that can solve real business problems. “I think the magic of Slack is that when you’re using it and when you’re using it right, it’s easily adopted,” Nicole says, “you don’t have to sell it because when you use it, you showcase it.” For example, identify how many meetings can be eliminated with a dedicated channel on Slack, or show how much you can simplify your team’s workflow with the Jira integration.   Tips, tricks, and best practices for Slack As Nicole explains, it’s helpful to establish some rules of the road for how your organization will use Slack. Here are a few tips to get started: Have consistent naming conventions for channels. SaltClick uses prefixes to keep things organized: #ext for external channels, #int for internal channels, and #salt for fun stuff like #salt-babies. Let your users know how to organize things for themselves, especially how to leave or mute a channel that they don’t need to use every day. Make a channel for dedicated Slack support, so you can quickly help folks who get stuck. Establish guidelines for what Slack etiquette means at your organization and any emojis you’re using. Make space for fun, but mostly on a different channel from work. Make sure to check out Nicole’s Dreamforce presentation, in-person or online. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you never miss an episode. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Add her Dreamforce session to your agenda: Discover Salesforce Channels in Slack Salesforce Admins Podcast Episode: What Can Salesforce Admins Do With Slack and Agents? Salesforce Admins Blog: Slack and Salesforce: The Power of No-Code Automation Salesforce Admins Blog: Getting Started With Slack and Agentforce Integration Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Nicole on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike: Slack-first doesn’t have to mean Slack-only. And today’s guest, Nicole Pomponio, tells us why. Nicole is the delivery and operations manager at SaltClick, and she’s going to tell us, Salesforce admins, how we can unlock the full potential of Slack and Salesforce. In addition, Nicole shares her journey from accidental admin to leadership, and she gives us some insight into building intentional channel structure, integrating external platforms, like Jira, and reshaping the admin role in this new very connected era. So whether you’re Slack-curious or already swimming in salty channels, you’re going to walk away with some ideas you can use. And with that, let’s get Nicole on the podcast. So Nicole, welcome to the podcast. Nicole Pomponio: Thank you so much for having me, Mike. Super excited to be here. Mike: I’m excited for everything that’s coming up for Dreamforce. Last week we got done talking about navigating flow errors as an administrator, and the irony is I had to do a workshop and navigate my own flow error. So it’s fortuitous the way things happen sometimes when you report a podcast. Nicole Pomponio: It was meant to be. It was meant to be. Mike: But Slack is a thing, and Slack’s been a thing for a while, and you’re going to present about Salesforce channels inside Slack. Before we talk about that, let’s learn a little bit about you, Nicole. Tell us what you do in your everyday life and how you got into the Salesforce ecosystem. Nicole Pomponio: Absolutely. I have been in the Salesforce ecosystem for about 14 plus years. I stopped counting because it makes me feel old. Got started reporting, and it grew from there. I was lucky enough to become a solo accidental admin, and then the opportunities just spun up from there. My day-to-day life right now, I manage delivery and operations over at SaltClick. We’re a consultancy for Salesforce and Slack, so I get to work with very bright people building out super fun solutions for customers and ourselves, and that’s Salesforce and Slack together, which also gets me very excited. Mike: I reached the same kind of milestone where my Salesforce experience, somebody said, oh, it’s old enough that it could have graduated from high school. Nicole Pomponio: Oh, ouch. Mike: Yeah, burn. Yours at least has a learner’s permit. Nicole Pomponio: I’m almost driving, yeah. Mike: Right, almost driving. Nicole Pomponio: I’m almost driving. Mike: There’s no segue to talk about Slack and driving. Things you shouldn’t do while driving. Nicole Pomponio: There you go. Mike: Have your phone and use Slack. Why do admins need to discover channels in Slack? Nicole Pomponio: It’s such a great timely question, Mike. For me, there’s no better time because Slack is being positioned in front of Salesforce, and I know we just aged ourselves a little bit, but it’s really the first time that I’ve seen that happen and seen it done in a really meaningful way. So from my perspective, we’re starting to see a really close merge of Slack, this communication powerhouse, with Salesforce and having the ability to understand and navigate both right now is going to be such an amazing opportunity, and I think it starts to rewrite the narrative of what an admin is. Mike: Oh, how so? Nicole Pomponio: An admin, I think it’s been changing over the years. If we look at what a Salesforce admin historically was, we’re creating workflows, we’re navigating some fields, some page layouts, and then we’re growing from there. We’re working with flows, and we’re starting to dip our toe into becoming developers maybe, if we want to take that path. And now it’s merging more with other platforms. As a Salesforce admin, I need to also understand connected platforms, how to maybe connect to different systems. So over the course of, I think rapidly the past three years, what an admin has been I think is no longer just those foundational Salesforce elements. It’s really starting to evolve. So I see that happening too with Slack, so bridging the gap a little bit, expanding out to other systems. So I do think it’s shifting, and Slack has helped shaping that. Mike: I mean, I always look at how many meetings are people in. And I remember when Salesforce required Slack. Of course, we had a lot of collaboration tools, and organizations have a lot of collaboration tools. With channels, does the collaboration tool become the channel, or how does it really narrowly define what some of the users are looking for in terms of supplemental data outside of what’s on the record? Nicole Pomponio: That Slack channel, now merging with Salesforce, of course, we’ve got Salesforce channels, really is that collaboration. It’s a point where teams are coming together. They’re not having to wait for that weekly meeting. I’m not having to wait for my monthly meeting, my weekly meeting. I can work async in Slack, but all of that information is being condensed and surfaced in that Slack channel, so it’s easier for us to find what we’re looking for. Everything stays together. If we’re using threads like we should, all of those answers are within one thread. We’re seeing associated files. And now with Salesforce channels, we’re seeing that Salesforce data as well in details tabs and related lists. Everything’s right there surfaced and condensed for us, so it really creates an efficiency that I don’t think we’ve seen before. Mike: Do you feel in terms of broadening the reach and looking at other platforms, I mean at Salesforce we look at Slack and Salesforce is really just the platform, how have you navigated working with others in your organization to integrate platforms into Salesforce? Nicole Pomponio: It’s one of my favorite questions. Mike: Ooh. Nicole Pomponio: I love to bring things into Slack. I really want to, and this is a little bit selfish of me, I just want to be in Slack. I’m biased heavily here. So the more that I can bring in, I think the better it’s going to be for me. But also our teams. We talk about Slack being our work operating system and wanting to do more in the flow of work, all these buzzwords and phrases we hear. What does that really mean? It’s bringing those systems in, whether it’s just the data or it’s actually actions and connecting out too. So I think the example that is top of mind for me, because I’m in it constantly, is Jira. So I want to connect with Jira through Slack so that I can create issues, I can update issues. I just get things done faster with pulling in those external systems, the data, but now the actions too, right? Mike: Right. Nicole Pomponio: Which that gets me really excited because if we’re talking about our agentic era, then if I start to think about the data that’s available to me and the actions I could potentially do, I think natural next step is can I get an agent to do them for me? Which, if we’re talking about efficiency, frees up my time for the higher level things. I love to spend my time with people. So I know that was a long way from connecting systems and bringing things in, but it becomes my favorite question because we can start to do so much when we connect systems that we’re using every day and when we’re actioning in those systems too. Mike: Well I, just for clarity’s sake, I prefer the long scenic route of the answer, not the short, short route. Nicole Pomponio: Oh, good. Oh, good. Yeah, mine are long. Mike: Drive around the block, got to see everything, take the long way. Sunday afternoon cruise in the convertible. Nicole Pomponio: Perfect. Mike: So one question I have, and this goes back to maybe I was an admin in a different era, it sounds like your organization is bought in and your leadership is bought in to let’s make Slack the interface for a lot of our work. Is that true? Nicole Pomponio: Yeah, we are Slack-first. Mike: Okay. Did you sell that vision or was that a consensus that came down from leadership that you embraced and get to work towards? Nicole Pomponio: I mean, Mike, I would love to take all of the credit for this. Sometimes I do. Just kidding. I don’t. It’s a top-down, bottom-up type of approach. I think the magic of Slack is that when you’re using it and when you’re using it right, it’s easily adopted, and I don’t have to sell it, if you will, because I use it, I showcase it, and then everyone sees the power of that. My favorite thing is the light bulb moments. So the more that we can do that, the easier that story becomes. But I will say when I started at SaltClick, it was almost three years ago, time flies, it was already heavily being used, and one of my predecessors was really starting to push on what is Slack, how can we use it? And I really gravitated toward that, so I just started to pick that up, training sessions for folks, really empowering people and pushing them to Slack’s help articles because they’re amazing. So it just became a natural conversation for us. And now it’s people coming to me saying, hey, can we do this with Slack? I just posted something about Gearset and getting notifications and then linking out to pull requests to understand what’s being validated, what’s failing. That wasn’t my idea. Shout out to Jacob on my team because he knows that we can use Slack for many different things, and he wants to make his own life easier. So it’s become a natural conversation for us. What can we do in Slack, and how can we do it? People come to me with half-baked ideas. I love it, and then I just help get it to the finish line. I might have an idea I reach out to somebody about, but it is really all hands in on Slack. Mike: Okay, you win. You got the fun leadership. So let’s play the opposite side of that coin. The admin’s bought in, you, and you see the vision, you see the potential, but perhaps leadership, they’re busy. They don’t pay attention 24/7, like you do, to the innovation that’s coming out of Salesforce and Slack. But you know your users and you know the pains and the gaps within the organization. What would your advice be for an admin that’s maybe going to go to Dreamforce or maybe watched a YouTube video online about Slack or just knows that their organization has Slack, but it’s like, to me it’s like Slack’s like a Ferrari and you use it to go to the store and buy a gallon of milk every week and you don’t use it to its full potential. What would your advice be for those admins to get the organization to flip to where you are at? Nicole Pomponio: I think that’s such a great question. And just to be fair for the previous question, I am on our leadership team, so that was- Mike: So you have sway there too. Nicole Pomponio: …it’s an unfair advantage for me. But if I put my leadership hat on, what I’m looking for is not just the problem but the solution. So for folks that are trying to navigate, well, how do I really showcase this, it’s really difficult sometimes to get enough data to show ROI. But if you go to leaders in your organization, you say, hey, I see this problem. I think that Slack can solve this for us, can fill this gap, here’s how we could do it, I don’t know many leaders that would just say, hard pass. I don’t want to even look at that. I think taking that initiative would really show that you’re invested and showing the solution to that problem I think would be phenomenal. I think as leaders we tend to see problems and we have potential solutions, but we really want input and buy-in from the people that are using the tools, right? Mike: Right. Nicole Pomponio: It shouldn’t just be the Nicole show. I want to definitely understand that it’s going to add value for folks. So if you are one of those people that are really trying to showcase what Slack can do, I would suggest going to Slack sessions at Dreamforce. I would suggest joining the Slack community and making some friends in there. I’ll definitely say hi to you, but really poke around at here’s a problem I’m trying to solve, what’s a way I could do it With Slack? I know I would be willing to help folks, but anyone in the community would be willing to help too. And I bet you, in some of the sessions that you’re going to, you’re going to see a lot of use cases and a lot of ways to solve those problems. So that’s what comes to mind for me when I think, how do I reposition this tool that might just be seen as a way to send messages to something that can actually solve some business problems for us. Mike: I mean, I’ve felt that way. So you opened up a whole other can of questions when you said you’re on leadership. I think that’s incredibly awesome that you’re a Salesforce admin and you’re in leadership. For admins that aren’t in leadership, was this just the way that your organization operates, the admin is part of leadership, or how did you get that seat at the table? Nicole Pomponio: Such a great question. Many of your questions are great questions. Mike: I try really hard. I’m thinking of hosting a podcast where I ask questions. What do you think? Nicole Pomponio: I think this would be a great journey for you [inaudible 00:14:58]. Mike: Okay, we’ll see how it works out. Nicole Pomponio: I think in our organization I have the flexibility and opportunity to be the Slack owner as well as participate in being that Salesforce admin as well. It’s a shared responsibility, so it’s not just me doing it. But because of the experiences I’ve had, not only being a Salesforce admin, being a Salesforce BA, being the doer and the navigator in different business units in my past life, I’ve been able to take that with me wherever I go. So it is a gift that I’m able to bring at SaltClick to be able to do multiple things, but I really enjoy coaching others on that too. So for me in leadership, it’s been very powerful because I can understand how we can use our systems to really solve our business needs. And again, SaltClick gives me the opportunity to continue to do the things that bring me joy. Mike: That’s a really good, really good answer. See good questions, good answers. On the subject of Slack, because I’d love to know, how often do you communicate with your users broadly? Do you have a dedicated Slack channel? Do you run help through Slack? Is there a place for them to ask questions? How do you run user engagement on your end? Nicole Pomponio: So from the SaltClick lens, we have fun channels. We have learning channels, training channels. We have chit-chat channels. We all have some salty channels as well because we like to have fun. We have Salty Babies and Salty Pets. I’m a jokester, and I can’t help but bring corny jokes into every aspect of my life. And then as a Slack community group leader, I have a channel in our Slack workspace as well. So from the Slack community lens, the engagement there is really answering questions that come in. Sometimes you’re going to get a meme. Sometimes you’ll get some help articles and some directions and a path forward. And it’s really posting consistently there to help people understand that you’re there for them, that you can bring them information in the flow of their lives that’s going to help them. On the SaltClick side, it really is about trying to organize because I did some kind of research pretty recently to understand how many channels are we in, how many messages and files and all kinds of stuff are we sending around. It’s a lot. I think on average people are in 100 or 200 channels, so the noise can become pretty robust. You want to try and organize that and make it meaningful. So really helping navigate with channel descriptions. What are we even doing in this channel, what’s our goal, what can you expect? Letting people know that they don’t have to be in a channel. They can exit it. They can leave. They can set their own notifications. I really like to advocate for not only the way that we have our channels set up, but the way that they can help themselves in that experience as well. But we have all kinds of fun. I think my favorite is probably the Salty Babies one. Mike: I won’t dig into that because who knows where that goes. I would like to know because, and we have this a little bit at Salesforce, did you enforce or did you… Enforce sounds bad. I don’t have a different word for it. Parameter, I don’t know, fence. Did you put out guidelines? That feels the best. Nicole Pomponio: Guidelines feels right. Mike: You put out guidelines. Guidepost, yeah. Because people can name channels whatever they want, did you put out a naming thing so that people know… You mentioned salty channels and chit-chat channels, and boy, say that one five times fast. Nicole Pomponio: I can’t. I can’t. Mike: I will. I’ll just get myself kicked off the air. And work channels, and we have that at Salesforce too, did you put out a guide and get leadership, I mean, you’re on leadership, but a corporate understanding of here’s how we should name things so that people can easily quantify stuff? Nicole Pomponio: Yes. You want to have some pretty solid channel naming conventions to help people organize their day and to make it easier to find things. So I did mention the Salty Babies channel. The fun ones could start with Salty. They could start with Fun, but you want to make sure that you are outlining what those are for your teams and that you’re building out some Slack etiquette. But thinking about too not only our internal channels, our external ones as well. Mike: Oh. Nicole Pomponio: So yes, we don’t want to confuse ourselves or our vendors or customers, so. And I’m sure you know, you might be in many different channels. And you have an external channel, you want to quickly know that it’s external, so putting ext in the front of it is definitely helpful for your eye to make sure you understand you’re posting something in the right location. And then if it’s internal, putting an int in front of it. And then we did develop a standard naming convention for our project channels because again, we are Slack-first. So we are running our projects through Slack, and then we have our customers in Slack channels as well. So we wanted to define what those naming conventions were so that we could organize ourselves a lot more efficiently. And then we also think about too what should go in that channel. Should there be a canvas or not? So not only are we thinking about standard naming conventions for channels, we’re also thinking about what would add value right there in the channel. So if I have a canvas for a project, what should I have in that canvas? If I have a canvas and a DM with one of my direct reports, what should I have in that canvas to make it meaningful? So in my mind, it’s definitely thinking about the structures of the channels, how we’re using Slack, what our etiquette is for each other. And even things like defining the emojis that you use. A thumbs up or thumbs down could mean something else to someone. I like to give the example of my parents texting one another back and forth. My mom sent a long paragraph to my dad, and then his response was a thumbs up, but we probably had a good five-minute conversation around what his thumbs up meant. Was it a good thumbs up? Was it a sarcastic thumbs up? So defining what your emojis mean could avoid some confusion down the line. Mike: Yeah, I would agree. There’s a few channels that, well, we have one internally on the admin team, and we use an emoji just to recognize or put your hand up for something, and I never realized how many different hands there were as emojis. Because it also kicks off a workflow that like, hey, so-and-so said, yes, and they would do this. And I’m like, I put my hand up. Why didn’t the workflow fire? Oh, I used the wrong hand. I used hand two instead of hand one. Nicole Pomponio: There are a lot. There are a lot. And then you can make your own custom emojis. That can get real. Mike: Oh, well, that’s a requirement on my team. Everybody has to have their own emoji. Nicole Pomponio: You have to have it. I love that. Mike: And I’m blessed enough somebody made one of me giving a thumbs up, so I got both. Nicole Pomponio: Nice. Mike: I got me and a thumbs up. Nicole Pomponio: That’s awesome. Mike: Last question. For all of the stuff that you’re working on for Salesforce, for Dreamforce… Sorry, so many forces. I’m sure it’ll be Slackforce, right? Nicole Pomponio: It could be. Mike: If admins were listening to this and they had to go what’s one reason I need to talk to my leadership about Slack and why because I heard it from Nicole, what would that answer be? Nicole Pomponio: My gosh, Mike, no pressure. Mike: No, none. Nicole Pomponio: I truly believe that we are going to continue to see an evolution of the integration between Slack and Salesforce. It feels like we’re on the arc, we’re on that path, right? Mike: Uh-huh. Nicole Pomponio: Purchased in 2021, started to hear some rumors about things being connected, started to see it happen. We’ve got Salesforce channels. We have to be empowered to understand what we can do with both systems. And the best way to do that is to immerse yourself in at least three days of sessions heavily centered around what you can do with Slack, what you can do with Salesforce, and what you can do by combining them. I think it is the perfect opportunity. I was at TDX and started to hear a lot of Salesforce people asking, what’s up with Slack, what can we do there? A lot of people are starting to join the Slack community. It’s the perfect time. And I think with how fast things are changing, I don’t want anyone to get left behind. I don’t want them to feel like they’re being left behind, certainly not anyone’s company. So I think, for me, it’s really, really being at this point of being able to understand both and connect them. Mike: Well, I think that’s very, very solid reasoning right there. I can’t think of anything better. Nicole Pomponio: It feels right. I feel like anyone would say yes to that. Mike: I mean, it’s also one of those pretty obvious things. AI is a very conversational tool, and so is Slack. Nicole Pomponio: Yes. Mike: It’s made for each other. Nicole Pomponio: I think so. I want an agent right in there chatting with me helping me with my day. Mike: I would love. I’m a fan of Marvel. One of these days I’m going to get my own assistant. Nicole Pomponio: Yes, yes. Mike: And it fires up, “Good morning, Mike.” Nicole Pomponio: I want my own J.A.R.V.I.S. I wouldn’t name them J.A.R.V.I.S., but- Mike: Oh, I would totally name them J.A.R.V.I.S., and I expect him to have a British accent because it sounds just very proper. But yes, open up my shades, tell me what the weather’s going to be in my first meeting and summarize the urgency of Slack messages that I got. That’s what I want. Nicole Pomponio: I don’t think we’re asking for too much. Mike: No. I mean, we were supposed to have flying cars by now. Nicole Pomponio: Yes. Mike: So… Nicole Pomponio: The least we can do is have a Slack agent that could do work around our house. Mike: That speaks in a British voice. Nicole Pomponio: Yes. Mike: Cool. Thanks, Nicole, for coming on the podcast. I appreciate it. Nicole Pomponio: Thank you so much for the opportunity. Mike: Big thanks to Nicole for sharing how she’s leading with Slack and evolving the admin role along the way. I really love the fact that she is an admin for multiple platforms and has leadership in leadership at her organization. It’s great to hear from her how she’s building smart channel conversations and also, yes, finding that seat at the table. I don’t know about you, but I got a lot of strategy. I got a ton of inspiration out of this episode. Now I know not everybody’s headed to Dreamforce, but if you are, I hope this session got you excited for some of the content that’s out there. If you’re not, that’s okay. There is a ton of content on Slack, on both Trailhead, on our YouTube channels. You’re not going to miss out. We’ll also broadcast a whole bunch of this. I do believe Nicole’s session will probably also be online, so I’ll just let that out as a sneak peek. Now, if you learned something new or you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, share it with somebody, promote it on social, spread the word. Let other admins find some of this great content that you enjoy listening to. And with that, until next time, I’ll see you in the cloud. The post Slack Is Redefining the Salesforce Admin Role appeared first on Salesforce Admins.

In a lively discussion, Salesforce Administrator David Simpson from the 1916 Company shares his insights on navigating Flow errors. He breaks down a five-step troubleshooting process, emphasizing effective user support and smart testing in a sandbox environment. David humorously addresses the challenges of cryptic error messages and the importance of learning from trial and error. He also highlights the evolution of Salesforce flow management and the pitfalls of over-relying on AI for solutions. It's a must-listen for any new admin!

Join Jim Ray, Director of Developer Relations and Advocacy at Slack, as he shares insights on enhancing the Slack experience with new usability upgrades. Discover how the revamped Workflow Builder now supports conditional paths to simplify automation. Jim highlights the power of Slack as a centralized hub for AI interactions, making it easier to integrate AI teammates into daily workflows. Listeners will also learn about innovative features like canvases for organizing data and lists serving as handy semi-databases.

LeeAnne Rimel, Senior Director of Admin and Developer Strategic Content at Salesforce, discusses the launch of the True to the Core Deep Dive series. This initiative allows Salesforce Admins to engage directly with product leaders for an in-depth look at key topics like Setup and user access management. LeeAnne emphasizes community feedback’s importance in shaping discussions and upcoming features. She also hints at exciting plans for Dreamforce, including more community-led sessions and the necessity of addressing security despite its low popularity.

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Kate Lessard, Lead Admin Evangelist at Salesforce. Join us as we chat about the new Agentforce Adoption Framework and her new YouTube series, “Kate Clicks Through It.” You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Kate Lessard. A flexible, nonlinear learning journey for admins It’s been a while since we’ve had Kate on the pod, but she’s been cooking up something cool, and I wanted to sit down with her to hear all about it. It’s called the Agentforce Adoption Framework, and it’s your guide for bringing the power of AI into your organization. Kate and the Evangelist team identified a gap: admins needed a structured path to get up to speed with everything Agentforce has to offer. The framework breaks this down into five areas of focus: Explore what’s possible Get curious Try it out Make it work Use it often You can check out Kate’s post on the Admin Blog for more details, but the goal is to help you set goals for your organization and get ready for what’s coming next with AI. Hands-on learning through “Kate Clicks Through It” Kate’s also started a new YouTube series, “Kate Clicks Through It,” where she walks you through Salesforce processes step by step, with demos so you can click along and try them yourself. “I personally am someone who learns best by doing,” Kate says, “I need to get hands-on, I need to do something. In many cases, I need to do it over and over again.” The videos are around 10 minutes long, giving you quick tutorials on subjects like how to build an Agentforce data library, or how to use Org Check as an alternative to Optimizer. A framework for learning just about anything The Agentforce Adoption Framework was developed through tons of research and feedback from admins, Salesforce MVPs, and folks on the product team. We think it’s pretty spiffy—so keep an eye out for more adoption-focused content at Dreamforce or even an event near you. As Kate points out, while Agentforce might be the shiny new toy, the adoption framework can be adapted to just about anything you want to implement. She uses the example of Data Cloud to highlight how important it is to have that fundamental level of adoption for both your users and your external customers. There are so many more great insights from Kate about how to level up your understanding of Agentforce, so be sure to check out the full episode. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Salesforce Admins Podcast so you can catch us every Thursday. Podcast swag Salesforce Admins on the Trailhead Store Learn more Admin Blog: Your 5-Step Guide to Successful Agentforce Adoption YouTube Series: Kate Clicks Through It Admin Trailblazers Group Admin Trailblazers Community Group Social Kate on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on LinkedIn Salesforce Admins on X Mike on Bluesky social Mike on Threads Mike on X Full show transcript Mike: Welcome to the Salesforce Admin’s podcast. This week, admin evangelist Kate Lessard joins us to dive into the Agentforce adoption journey. From building a foundation AI to launching the new Kate Clicks Through It YouTube series, Kate walks us through how admins can thoughtfully and confidently bring AI into their organizations. We also chat about how feedback shaped the adoption framework and, sneak peek, what you might see at Dreamforce. So if you’ve been wondering where to start or where you are on your AI journey, this episode’s for you. Let’s get Kate on the podcast. So Kate, welcome back to the podcast. Kate Lessard: Thanks. It’s been a while. Mike: Yeah. January. Was it when we did the kickoff? That was the last time. Kate Lessard: Maybe. Or maybe did we do a TDX, prep for TDX call maybe? Mike: We might’ve. Other podcasters would remember their episodes, but me, just crank them out. Kate Lessard: Yeah, you’re a little busy. Mike: It’s okay. So you’ve been busy as well. Let’s talk about Agentforce stuff and YouTube stuff and everything you’ve been working on. Kate Lessard: Yeah, absolutely. It has definitely been a busy year. It’s been flying by. And some really exciting stuff that we’ve been working on for admins this year. Mike: First up being Agentforce stuff, because Agentforce. I know there’s not too much Agentforce out there. People say that, there’s not. When we’re recording this ChatGPT is coming out with a new model. This is our new norm. It’s like when the iPhone drop, there’s not enough iPhone information out in the world. There’s always iPhone information out in the world. There’s always going to be AI stuff for us to learn. Kate Lessard: Yeah, agreed. I think that that’s the really cool thing about Agentforce and the job that we get to do is that we get to play with and learn the new things as they’re coming out because it’s so important for us to share with others and let them learn from our mistakes. So I think that that brings a lot of fun experimentation into our jobs. Mike: Right, absolutely. So speaking of that, how do we kind of walk people through the journey to Agentforce? Kate Lessard: At TDX last year we, or I guess this year, we announced that we have this Agentforce development life cycle. But then we kind of started asking what comes before that? How do we get into this cycle where we’re iterating through ideation, configuration, testing, deployment, and supervising our agents? How can we get ready to actually go live with agents and Agentforce and using it? And so on the admin relations team, we kind of took a step back and started to think about adoption and how we can set up adoption for admins and get them not only familiar with Agentforce, if they have no idea what it is, where they can get started, how they can start to learn the fundamentals of AI just in general, and then dive into Salesforce and Agentforce and using AI within their CRM. That’s been something we’ve been really focused on, is creating the concept of this adoption framework to help admins get ready to move their organizations towards actually using Agentforce consistently. Mike: Yeah, because I think it’s one thing … I mean, it’s a little different than … And I use this a lot when we talk about Flow or some of our other products. Automation within the CRM space has always been there. We didn’t really have to learn it. But with AI, we’re all learning AI on top of our organizations learning AI, on top of us going, “Okay, so now how do we use this? And what’s the best use of this?” And all of that has to transfer into the admin sitting there going, “Oh my, I have a lot to learn. Where am I at?” And I think that’s really one of the goals of coming out with the journey, is helping people understand where are you at, where do you want to go? Kate Lessard: Agreed. I think that the development of Agentforce and of course more widely artificial intelligence, it’s fast. It feels like there’s something new to learn every week. I think that can cause a lot of overwhelm because we’re trying to keep up without maybe even having a solid foundation. So this concept of the adoption framework was really designed as a baseline for admins to be able to take stock of where they are in their Agentforce learning journey, overcome that analysis paralysis that I think many of us have been feeling over the past couple years, and then have resources and a guide for exactly where they are now and what is coming next. Mike: Yeah. So where is this guide or the adoption journey going to show up for us? Kate Lessard: So you will be able to see it, we have a nice blog on the admin’s website right now. It is called Your Five Step Guide to Successful Agentforce Adoption. Just double checking that title, but that is correct. And this kind of introduces that adoption framework, the steps that are included with it, some resources for each step along the way. And then you might see this show up in a couple other places. It might show up in a Dreamforce session or it might show up on our website or any other place that I could maybe tease that it would come out. I think it’s something that you might see here and there. And the nice thing is that it’s ever-changing because we’re constantly having new content and new resources to add to it in each step. So I think it’s something that you’re going to see in multiple places moving forward. Mike: And I was a part of you brainstorming this and bringing it to the team, and really it was everybody on the team had something to contribute to this. Where do you feel like admins are progressing through in terms of the journey? Are we starting off? Does everybody start off at the beginning, or we jump in steps? I mean, is it like a step method, everybody has to go through every single step? Kate Lessard: I think you go through every step, but maybe you don’t recognize that you’ve gone through some of them. So our first step is really exploring what’s possible and just really understanding what AI fundamentals are, what is Agentforce? And a lot of our admins are really active. They’ve already been hands-on in Trailhead. So they’ve maybe gone through this stage themselves without even realizing it because they’ve kind of figured out how the technology works. They’ve actually done a little hands-on work. They have been picturing use cases for their organization. And so maybe they’re hopping into that next phase where they’re actually sharing this and doing demos to their stakeholders and trying to bring this to their organization. So I think everyone goes through all the stages, but you might not be just starting directly at the beginning. Once you become aware of this framework, I think that you can hop in and find the point that is most relevant to where you are on your journey and be able to kind of pick up from there. Mike: Yeah. And hopefully it kind of helps you gut check content and say, “Hmm, Maybe this is for next week when I’m moving into a different phase.” Not to say that it would be a week that you would be in a phase. I’m just using it as a example. Kate Lessard: Absolutely. I mean, admins move fast. I would not be shocked if some of them were moving from phase week to week. Although I would be surprised if they didn’t spend some time in that phase where they’re building out a demo and getting stakeholders involved in really building that support. I feel like that always takes time. Mike: Yeah, absolutely. So in addition to the adoption journey, what else have you been working on? Kate Lessard: Lots. It’s been a busy year. I’m super excited to share some of the things that I’ve been working on and the team’s been working on. We recently launched a new series on YouTube called Kate Clicks Through It, which has been just a labor of love. And I feel like it has been something that I’m really excited about, really excited to put out into the world because it is a series that allows admins to get hands-on and follow along different Salesforce processes step by step. And I personally am someone who learns best by doing. I need to get hands-on. I need to do something. In many cases, I need to do it over and over again. I need to try. I need to fail. That’s why admins love sandboxes so much. That’s why we love Trailhead, so that we can get in there and we can actually just try things out and see what works and what doesn’t, and then take the best version of that to our business. So Kate Clicks Through It launched in July. We have two episodes out right now, one on Agentforce data libraries and one on using Org Check as an alternative to Optimizer, which is retiring this winter. And it’s just a way to follow along step by step. They’re short episodes, less than 10 minutes spent on each demo so that you can actually have your computer up and click along beside me, and by the end we’ve accomplished something together. Mike: It’s kind of like a Salesforce Twitch stream. Kate Lessard: Yeah, absolutely. Mike: You’re not playing the video game, you’re building the app or clicking through the app. Kate Lessard: Exactly. Mike: Cool. So Kate, it is, boy, end of August. Well, end-ish of August. I swear these months, it’s like it took forever … February took like eight or nine months. And then we had TDX, and then it was spring for a day, and now Summer is flying by, it’s already the end of August. The kids are back in school. Dreamforce is right around the corner. Which usually for most of us is September. It’s October this year. It’s not close enough to Halloween, but it still would be close enough that you could totally get away with wearing a Halloween costume at Dreamforce. I just realized that, that might be kind of fun. I mean, the biggest costume is Cloudy and Codey. They would win, I suppose. Would they wear a costume? Would the costume wear a costume? Kate Lessard: I don’t know the answer to that. Mike: It’s inception, like Astro in his Tanooki suit, would he wear another costume on top of that? These are the things that keep Mike up at night. We did wear a Yeti suit. Kate Lessard: [inaudible 00:11:30]. That is true. The Yeti suit and the safari suit. Mike: I forgot about the safari. Kate Lessard: I think we could all just call it a win across the board and wear some awesome admin capes. Mike: Right. I mean, if you don’t wear that in your every day, just because you could. We’re going to see some of the Agentforce adoption journey show up at Dreamforce, maybe in the keynotes, maybe in the track? Kate Lessard: Maybe. I think that the nice thing about the adoption journey is that it really is applicable to so many situations. I think that it is, even if it’s not called out directly, it is going to be there and you’re going to start noticing it as part of that underlying education and the foundation of how we’re talking about and building things. It’s also really nice because it doesn’t just have to be for Agentforce either. I think that what we’ve created is really applicable for a lot of different adoptions of different technologies. So I think that it’s something that maybe we’ll see as the world continues to progress and AI gets more advanced. So it’s definitely something that you’ll start to notice at Dreamforce. Mike: Yeah. I’m also thinking of, it always seemed as when I was an admin going to Dreamforce, nine times out of 10 it was, I need to learn about this other cloud because we’re getting ready to implement it. So I could see that Agentforce adoption journey being applicable as you’re looking at additional clouds as well. Kate Lessard: Yeah, I think especially if you’re using something like Data Cloud to unify your data and bring things from multiple sources, that it becomes really important to have that foundational level of adoption for your users in general and your customers, external customers as well. Mike: Yeah. One thing we didn’t touch on, and we’re not giving away the chili recipe … I always think back to Food Network where they’re, I’ve got some … It’s always they’re making a sauce and they put in, “Well, I’ve got some salt and pepper and some onion powder,” and you’re like, “Yeah, that goes in everything.” And then I got my seasoning blend, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s you don’t want to tell us everything else that you put in there.” Kate Lessard: The secret admin sauce. Mike: The secret … Yeah. But I mean, I don’t want people to think like, “Oh, well, Kate just sat down and mapped out a journey and presented it to the team, and then now it’s on the website.” What was some of the process or the input that we got on the adoption journey? Kate Lessard: Absolutely. That is a great question because we involved a lot of people in creating this. Not only the team, although that’s where we certainly started, but the framework was not built in a vacuum. We had a ton of feedback and interaction both internally and from the community as we developed this. So we got feedback from members of our product team at Salesforce. We did a very soft launch at TDX as part of my demo to deployment session and got some feedback from that. And then we continued to refine and then get feedback from admins in a survey that we shared at a local community conference. And then after that, we took that survey to the Salesforce MVPs and got some more feedback from some of them as well. So everyone that weighed in helped us refine this framework. They called out some things that maybe we hadn’t thought were really that important for admins to include in this journey, this roadmap. But once we heard that and we saw it consistently show up, we added it in. So a lot of people weighed in and helped us create this journey map. Mike: And some of it was us just looking at each other and being like, “Is this what we’re going through?” Because we’re going through Agentforce adoption as well. I mean, from the moment the product hit some of our orgs for us to try and play around with, it was, what are we learning and is this what we’re going through? Kate Lessard: Absolutely. And I think that that really hits the nail on the head. I think that we went through a lot of these different emotions that we associated with each stage here. We were curious, we were frustrated, we were feeling really proud once we got to this stage. So selfishly, this framework has kind of evolved into a game changer for our team internally and our internal content strategy as well, because we’ve been able to see where there are content gaps that we have experienced, as well as what we’ve heard from the community and what we should be focusing on to give admins the knowledge that they need for a successful Agentforce implementation. And we’re able to collect that feedbacks from the admins and the community about what they’ve been struggling with and what resources and discussions they feel have been missing, which was the biggest thing that was contributed to us as we were building this. Mike: So here’s a meta question. Did you use AI to create any part of the adoption journey? Kate Lessard: I did. Okay. So let’s think back to this … It’s been such … Oh gosh, we’ve been working on this for months. But- Mike: Got to do the flashback [inaudible 00:16:51]. Kate Lessard: First it started off with just a giant brain dump mind map. That was what helped us kind of sort out the emotions and the stages. And then they’ve shifted terminology and what we are referring to them and how we process them a few times. I think AI really helped me with the survey, is where it helped out. So I was like, “These are the things that I’m trying to get. This is how I’m trying to ask the questions. This doesn’t feel quite right. Can you help me refine this?” And so I did use AI to help me with that survey. And then got feedback from our internal marketing team as well to make sure that it was capturing what we needed it to. Because I think the biggest thing that we see with surveys in general, and this is me going down a total rabbit hole from my past project management and consulting experience, when you send out surveys or you’re gathering requirements or you’re asking questions, if you do so without having the specific goal in mind of what you’re trying to get back, you can get so much information that is valuable, but maybe not what you’re looking for or answering the questions that you really need answered. So I think that AI, as well as our internal marketing team, was super helpful in refining that. Mike: That, or what I’ve found is you can ask the question in such a way that it elicits only a certain answer, as opposed to kind of an A, B, C answer. Really you’re asking it, is it this or not this? And then you end up with an answer where the person really kind of hones in. And it’s almost like, I don’t know if the term confirmation bias is right, but I do know a friend once asked me, “When you ask somebody their opinion, it’s because you really want them to confirm that you’re right.” And I was like, “Oh, yeah, that’s kind of true.” Kate Lessard: Right. Yeah. Do I look good in this? Mike: I mean, all of the time. Yeah. You ask questions like that, “Do you really think I should buy this house?” And it’s like, you don’t want them to say no. You want them to be like, “Yes, it’s going to be an amazing house for you.” Kate Lessard: Yeah. Mike: “Absolutely. It’s a totally good decision.” I don’t know. That just stuck with me, that kind of thing. Kate Lessard: Yeah. Big shout out to our research team that does that every day, right? They’re putting together these questionnaires and they’re talking to people at events like TDX and Dreamforce and having to just put together these thoughtfully designed surveys and questionnaires, and it really is an art. Mike: Well, Kate, I appreciate you coming on the podcast and talking about adoption journey and Kate Clicks Through It. You’re out there helping admins progress through different emotions, not just learning. Because that’s also important, because emotions drive a lot of things, and creativity and inspiration are definitely two of those things. So I appreciate you coming on the pod and talking about that. Kate Lessard: Absolutely. And I think that you’re exactly right, those emotions are important. And they help make us better admins and the passion that we have for helping out the business and the organizations that we work with. It’s just really important. It’s a driving factor. And that’s part of what makes us so successful and helps make both our users and our external customers happy. Mike: Big thanks to Kate for walking us through the Agentforce adoption framework and showing us what a thoughtful community-driven AI adoption can look like. Be sure to check out her YouTube series, Kate Clicks Through It, and explore the resources linked in the show notes. Whether you’re starting or already building AI demos, I promise you this journey’s for you. So until next time, we’ll see you in the cloud. The post The 5-Step Framework To Help You Navigate Agentforce appeared first on Salesforce Admins.

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