Salesforce IoT for Partners

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Salesforce IoT helps businesses monetize their investment In IoT by routing data generated from connected devices directly into Salesforce, where sales, service, marketing, and other teams can act on it. Businesses now have the ability to add meaningful business value to every connected device with IoT. 

The Internet of Things doesn’t just make new devices possible, it also makes whole new industries possible. High-profile examples include ride-sharing, home automation, electric cars, medical monitoring, even manufacturing robots. For those ready to take advantage of it, the Internet of Things will create huge opportunities, worth trillions in increased profits over the next decade.

As a Salesforce Partner, if you would like to engage with IoT, watch the demo in the Media section, the What You Need to Know to learn more about the product, additional Resources (like the Salesforce IoT First Call Deck), and an FAQ. 

Questions? Engage with us in the Salesforce IoT for Partners Group.

What You Need to Know
  1. Take the IoT Basics and the IoT Design and Rollout Trailhead modules. 
  2. Review the following eBooks:
  3. Understand how IoT works inside the Salesforce Platform.
  4. The engagement model for IoT is still being defined by product management. AppExchange Partners (ISV) and Consulting Partners can learn more about IoT with the posted training links (above), and ask questions in the Salesforce IoT for Partners Group.

Resources

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Q: What is Salesforce IoT?
A: Salesforce IoT is a cloud-based application that creates meaningful business value across every IoT-enabled device. We do this by combining streaming IoT device data with customer context data from your CRM system in an accessible low-code environment. This allows business users to create meaningful customer experiences across every device in real time.

Q: How does IoT work with other IoT device management platforms? 
A: IoT provides a layer on top of device-management platforms such as AWS IoT and Azure to ingest data at scale and make it actionable across other Salesforce clouds. Device functions, such as updating firmware, happen at the device-management layer. Functions that touch a customer, such as creating a case to address an impending product failure, happen in IoT. IoT connects to your chosen IoT device platform(s) to ingest, transform, and enrich raw device data with context. Business users can then — with clicks, not code — create contextual business rules to drive measurable outcomes.

Q: How does IoT work with other Salesforce clouds?
A: IoT natively integrates across the entire customer success platform. It allows you to create meaningful customer experiences across every business function and every device.

Q: What can I sell to customers today who want to connect products to Salesforce?
A: Contact your Partner Account Manager to review your customer’s requirements. 

Q: When will IoT be made available? 
A: IoT is available today in limited General Availability. 

Q: How are we explaining IoT to customers? 
A: Salesforce IoT helps companies transform connected products into customer experiences: 

  1. Rapid Innovation - Trusted Low-Code technology accessible to business users
  2. Customer Context - Bring the full context of customer relationships into real-time decisions
  3. Engagement in Real-time - Connect any device to proven Salesforce systems of engagement 
Use the IoT First Call Deck to understand how to position the value of IoT in your presentations. 

Q: What technology is powering IoT?
A: Salesforce IoT is built on a combination of Heroku and AWS (Amazon Web Services). This gives us the flexibility to build an IoT solution using the the latest tools and frameworks like Kafka, Storm, Cassandra, and Spark. Customers can still expect the same security, trust, and ease of use that comes with all Salesforce products, right out of the box. 

Q: I've heard references to "Thunder". What's the relationship between Thunder and the IoT?
A: Thunder is the name given to the technology that is powering IoT. This powerful event ingestion and processing engine can deal with the massive inflow of IoT data - either directly or via a third party system - and connect directly to all Salesforce clouds. 

Q: Will AppExchange Partners (ISV) and Consulting Partners be able to use IoT?
A: The engagement model for IoT is still being defined by product management. AppExchange Partners (ISV) and Consulting Partners can learn more about IoT with the posted training links (see "What You Need to Know" tab), and ask questions in the Salesforce IoT for Partners Group.

Q: When does Salesforce plan to have connectors to partners available?
A: Look for upcoming announcements with IoT technology partners such as Cisco Jasper, AWS IoT and others that compliment our customer strategy. 

Q: Does IoT support other types of IoT partners?
A: Yes, connectors into and out of IoT are built on open standards (REST APIs).

Q: What should I do if I have additional questions?
A: Engage with us in the Salesforce IoT for Partners Group.