One of the biggest announcements at Dreamforce ’13 was the launch of the Salesforce1 Platform. Salesforce1 represents a leap forward in delivering the mobile revolution to companies in the Salesforce ecosystem, however, many questions surround exactly what Salesforce1 is, and how to best leverage it.

According to Bluewolf’s State of Salesforce Annual Review, 42% of respondents are already using the Salesforce Chatter Mobile/Salesforce1 mobile application, 30% are taking advantage of a mobile solution from the AppExchange, and 52% have already, or are considering, building a custom mobile application on the platform. These numbers indicate that customers are interested in leveraging their Salesforce system from mobile devices, but there is a lot of room to grow in the actual delivery of these initiatives to end users. 

The biggest question coming out of the community is, “How can Salesforce1 help my organization cross this bridge, and tie vision to reality?”

Earlier this month I hosted a webinar on just this topic. I was joined by Robert Duffner, Director of Platform Mobile Strategy at salesforce.com, and we discussed the positioning, benefits, and limitations of the Salesforce1 mobile capabilities. You can find the full recording here (56 minutes).  

Here are the top five things to know about using Salesforce1 to deliver on your mobile initiatives in 2014:

1. It’s a platform, an app, and a UI

This is one of the more confusing issues when it comes to talking about Salesforce1—the name actually refers to 3 different products, with different capabilities and use cases.

• The Salesforce1 Platform refers to the set of platform components and APIs that one can use to build custom applications. The Force.com platform branding has been minimized, and replaced with the more encompassing Salesforce1 branding, which includes the Heroku1 and ExactTarget Fuel platforms. The Salesforce Mobile SDK and Developer Build Packs are mobile-specific components of the Salesforce1 Platform.
• The Salesforce1 app is the off-the-shelf successor to the Chatter Mobile application. It combines the best of that app with other approaches, such as Salesforce Touch, to create a ready-to-use, highly configurable launching point for delivering Salesforce functionality to your users. Note: At the time of writing, this application is available for iOS and Android platforms only.
• The Salesforce1 UI is the mobile browser interface that allows users of non-supported platforms, or those who do not wish to install the downloadable application, to experience the same mobile-optimized look and feel. This setting can be enabled by your Salesforce administrator, and will automatically show users the new user interface when they log into your system from a supported mobile browser like Safari on iOS or the native browser on an Android device.

2. It’s a great way to get mobile - fast

In a 2013 survey by The Economist, 54% of global executives interviewed stated that “mobile apps are critical,” however only 26% actually have apps deployed. This “app gap” reinforces the notion that delivering mobile initiatives is not easy, but Salesforce1 can lower the barriers to entry. Here’s how:

• Instant-on: Salesforce1 delivers the bulk of native Salesforce functionality out of the box. Record viewing, creation and updates, dashboards are all available as soon as you login.
• Expose existing customizations: Custom objects, fields, tabs? Check. Workflow?  Check. Visualforce pages? Simple configuration options allow you to expose these to your users.
• Design for mobile: New capabilities like custom Publisher Actions, compact layouts, and flexipages allow you to design for mobile first.

3. It is not a silver bullet

Salesforce1 offers great ways to get mobile functionality into the hands of your users fast and easily, but it’s not without its limitations.  

• The Salesforce1 mobile solutions (app and mobile browser UI) still lack some important capabilities—chief among them, the ability to customize the UI and branding to suit your needs. This is an important concern for customer, partner, or ‘across the desk’ facing applications. Additionally, support for offline data storage is not currently available in the downloadable app, but is on the roadmap.
• Complex workflows may not be a good candidate for exposing via the Salesforce1 mobile solutions. One tactic to understanding whether your use case is a fit is to count the clicks necessary for a user to get to a value-add action: If it’s more than a handful, you may want to look at a more focused, purpose-built solution for your needs.

4. There are already apps out there

Your favorite AppExchange partners are already delivering their apps, optimized for Salesforce1.

• As of this writing, there were more than 20 AppExchange packages built specifically for Salesforce1. These apps are purpose-built to extend the standard Salesforce1 experience with additional functionality, with all the ease of installing an AppExchange package. Expect this number to grow as more partners look to Salesforce1 as a ready-made mobile enablement strategy.
• The Salesforce1 downloadable app also offers the ‘Today’ app, a powerful combo of information in your on-device calendar and Salesforce system data around attendees, available “out of the box” when you install.

5. It is one part of a comprehensive mobile strategy

Enterprises in the process of developing a well-rounded mobile strategy can look to Salesforce1 as a component. Successful mobile strategies embrace the idea of an ‘app suite,’ a collection of tools, each individually targeted at specific workflows, versus the ‘kitchen sink’ approach of one monolithic app that does everything.

Organizations today can look to multiple sources of mobile experiences for their users—from off-the-shelf apps like Evernote or MobileDay, to first-party configurable apps like Salesforce1, to completely custom efforts like the ones Bluewolf has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline and Stanley Black & Decker to build for their teams.

The Salesforce1 mobile solutions offer a path to delivering mobile functionality to your user base with a low barrier to entry. I challenge you, the reader, to take the following steps in 2014 in order to push the mobile edge forward at your organization:

1. Turn it on
2. Establish ways to measure usage and collect feedback
3. Iterate and elaborate

To learn more about how Bluewolf can help you build a comprehensive mobile strategy or deliver an impactful mobile experience to your users, get in touch today or watch the recorded webinar on this topic.