Foreword

We are in the middle of one of the most exciting times for business and technology, with technological change happening at an unprecedented rate. Everything is getting smarter—cars (self-driving cars), houses (self-regulated houses), hospitals (smart medical devices), shops (1:1 marketing)—and we are moving to "systems of intelligence", but the customer remains at the center. Companies need to be smarter for their customers—connecting the dots and building more intelligence for sales, service, marketing, analytics, communities, apps, and so on. Salesforce's customer success platform will take customers there.

Customers and devices are being connected in a way that was unimaginable a decade ago, and as they do so, a large amount of data is created. Every customer, including you, expects a better service, personalized by knowledge of every interaction with every business or organization. All of these customer connections require a customer-focused technology platform to manage these interactions.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce, the customer success platform and the world's #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. It allows companies to grow sales faster, deliver customer service everywhere, create 1:1 marketing journeys, engage with customers in interactive communities, deliver analytics for every business user, and create custom apps that run on any device. All of these interactions create large volumes of data, which organizations need to be able to view and report on in real time. At its core, Salesforce also has a powerful dashboard and reporting capability, allowing you to view that data in real time.

Johan Yu, Salesforce MVP in Asia, has a deep understanding and knowledge of Salesforce technology and is instrumental in answering questions from many Salesforce customers through Salesforce communities. This book gives every Salesforce user the power to build dashboards and reports quickly and easily on the Salesforce platform. It provides an explanation of the Salesforce data model, how to manage data in Salesforce, how to create reports and dashboards, and how to work with filters, security, and formulas. Finally, Johan explains how to access all of your Salesforce information on a mobile device using the Salesforce1 mobile app.

This book is aimed at Salesforce administrators, business users, and managers who use Salesforce for their daily work. It will provide you with the expertise to unlock all of the data held in Salesforce, thereby increasing the ability to make effective data-driven decisions. As a result, companies become more customer-centric, more efficient, and ultimately, more successful.

Gary Luton

Vice President, Asia - Customers for Life, Salesforce