Category Archives: News

5 Reasons Why We Think You Should Join Us At Dreamforce 2017

Salesforce’s annual conference, Dreamforce, takes off in San Francisco and it gets bigger and better every year. We’re extremely excited to announce that Oktana will be attending this coming November again for the four-day event and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been up to!

While we’re super stoked and eager to plan our Dreamforce 2017 adventure, many of you are probably asking: “What’s in it for me?” 

Dreamforce 2017

Dreamforce conference 

Do you ask what exactly is all of the big hype around Dreamforce? It’s just a tech conference, so why is it important for people outside of the tech industry?

1. Well, to start off, Dreamforce isn’t just any kind of annual tech conference. Sure, it’s in San Francisco (aka the hub for any kind of high-tech event or news), but over every other tech event, Dreamforce is the largest software conference in the world. This means that there are more people and more opportunities related to software and innovation here than at any other conference in the world. That, itself, speaks volumes.

2. In today’s world, almost everything is run by technology. Additionally, the pace of technological revolution is at its record high, and sometimes, it can be difficult to keep up with. This conference is here exactly to help bridge that gap. There are over 2000 learning sessions and learning programs at Dreamforce for everyone that teach attendees the latest Salesforce products and how to utilize them to the furthest potential. This is great for those with no tech background because, at the end of the day, we all want our businesses to be successful and absorbing all of this knowledge is the best way to make that happen.

3. With it being the biggest software conference in the world, people from all over the globe are attracted to this event. All types of executives and creatives come to see what’s offered, making Dreamforce the perfect opportunity to network. People aren’t just here to learn about Salesforce and its products, people also come to meet more folks! The number of doors that Dreamforce can open for a person is countless.

4. With so much intelligence packed into a four-day Salesforce conference, there will be so many ideas sparking from every corner! Whether it’s a new app possibility or a solution to a consistent issue, Dreamforce attendees can discuss these thoughts with industry leaders already present at the conference to make these ideas a reality.

5. Technology has constantly been changing the way we live on a global level. In the hospital, the classroom, or even the laboratory, the creation of innovation has helped humanity reach levels of success like no other. Salesforce supports this ideology and continues to make Dreamforce an event of giving back. There are plenty of ways to contribute to the community since the conference partners with many organizations such as (RED), Girls Who Code, and Vetforce. Dreamforce wants to help society and give to those that need it, and by attending, it’s giving that much more support to an initiative to improve our world.

Bottom line: Dreamforce is THE event to go to for the year; no matter what, there’s always something to be taken away from it. Oktana is honored to be part of this event, and we look forward to hopefully seeing you there!

Read more about Oktana services and solutions. 

How Our New App, Tok, Can Improve Business Communication

If you work in a large organization or collaborate with multiple teams within your department, then you know how important it is to make sure everyone is on the same page with communication. Not just dialogue, but all methods of effective and most importantly, efficient communication.

How Our New App, Tok, Can Improve Business Communication

As technology has become increasingly innovative, we’re always finding better ways to manage the mutual response. Phone calls can get annoying, it’s hard sometimes to track down the person you want to speak to in person, emails take too much time with finding the person’s email and then adding a title and then writing your message….and then, you have chat.

Chat is the best way to send a quick message and it’s not time-consuming nor complicated. There are tons of chat apps you can use, but our chat app, Tok, is probably one of the best, and currently, it’s the only instant messaging client that runs on Salesforce for free!

Oktana’s Tok team created an app that we began using at our company a few months ago.

Not only has the app improved internal communication for us, but it has created a work environment where we’re able to have more time on building quality work, rather than letting miscommunication take over our day.

From our experience of creating it and now using it, here are a few ways Tok can also help your business communication:

 

Group Messaging Features

With general chat applications such as iMessage, Skype, Facebook Messenger, etc., you can send messages to people quickly. The issue with this is there are too many mediums of chatting and sometimes, it can get difficult backtracking and remembering which method you used to reach colleagues. With Tok, your entire organization is in one place and if you need to reach out to more than one person, you can quickly set up a group message. No more searching for a colleague’s email or Facebook name!

 

Tok’s Built-In TokBot

To make things more efficient for you, our team has built a new TokBot within the app itself. Just send a message to TokBot and he’ll grab stored messages that you’re looking for, help you make a group chat quickly, and even set up a poll for others to vote on such as where to eat for lunch for the day! When it’s crunch time, TokBot can ease some of the stress and he’s always there to help you 24/7.

 

Mobile/Desktop/Browser Interface

Picture yourself during your lunch hour eating a salad at the nearby cafe. You have your phone on you just in case your boss calls, but the reality is he decides to message you on your chat app, instead. Unfortunately, you won’t see this message on your until you return from your lunch, and who knows, at that point, he may not even need you anymore. With Tok, we’ve set up a desktop version, a mobile version, and a browser interface! It’s all about keeping you connected, no matter where you are and with so many different ways you can access Tok, you’ll never miss an important deadline or reminder.

 

Salesforce Shield Protection 

Another concern that came up when using the app was privacy and security for messages. There may be times when you have to give confidential info to a supervisor or a colleague and by texting them the info or sending it through Gchat, the risk of that information getting hacked is SUPER HIGH. With Tok’s browser interface, the app is set up inside Salesforce, so there’s an extra layer of security with Salesforce Shield.

To bring it all together, the value that Tok can bring to your workplace would maximize your time with work and get business taken care of. Time is of the essence so if there’s an option out there that can give you some more of your time back, why not take advantage??

 

Install Tok from the AppExchange and also check out the Tok page at this site!

See how your company’s communication gets better! Let us know of any thoughts or ways the app helped you, and if you have any suggestions, we’re open to ideas since we’re constantly updating Tok with cooler features!

 

Tok 30 day trial

Our Take On Salesforce’s New, Einstein Analytics

The Salesforce platform has always been about helping you manage your business in a way that can leverage your growth. Whether it’s from a sales, marketing or even services perspective, understanding the analytics behind what we’re doing currently and how we can make it better is what Salesforce’s new Einstein Analytics is all about!

Our Take On Salesforce's New, Einstein Analytics

Salesforce Einstein Analytics

Thousands of Salesforce users are already noting data for performance to get a better understanding of their organization’s results. What’s great about Einstein Analytics is that it isn’t changing the way we strategize our data, instead it’s adding an extra layer of AI to our analytical productivity by automatically giving CRM insight and recommendations so we can make a better, informed decisions.

Einstein Analytics includes an entire portfolio of analytics-related apps exposing information even further for us, such as Sales Analytics, Service Analytics, and B2B Marketing Analytics.

GM of Salesforce Analytics, Ketan Karkhanis, states:

“With Einstein Analytics, every CRM user can now see not only what happened in their business, but why it happened and what to do about it, without requiring a team of data science experts.”

For Oktana, this new approach to analytics is something we see as extremely noteworthy. The new layer of AI in analytics, we believe, would help users tremendously with learning what exactly customers are looking for and give users the exact feedback needed to move up in the development process.

Einstein Analytics, in our perspective, brings users closer to reaching goals for growth. Rather than making decisions on assumptions, the analytics portfolio will expose raw data to help make decisions based on real numbers. Instead of creating campaigns believed to be great for exposure and branding, Einstein Analytics would assist with focusing on creating campaigns that customers would actually want to see.

It’s important for companies, including us, to ensure that customers are getting a great experience and if there’s an option available to link that to bringing value, such as Einstein Analytics, then we would like to take the opportunity to learn as much as we can to benefit from this!