Blog
September 28, 2022
Salesforce.org Consulting Partner of the Year – Education, Attain Partners, shares expertise at Dreamforce
Our Salesforce Innovation team members love sharing their expertise and connecting with fellow trailblazers and digital transformation innovators. In September, some of our experts attended Dreamforce, which was back in person this year, to connect with trusted partners, share client successes, and say hello to their many friends and colleagues in the ecosystem.
At Attain Partners, we leverage expertise from more than 950 Salesforce projects across the higher education and nonprofit sectors to implement cost-effective, easy-to-manage, and highly impactful solutions. Learn more about our Salesforce Innovation services and hear what our experts had to say about Dreamforce 2022.
Chris Pifer, Salesforce MVP and Senior Solutions Architect at Attain Partners
“This year’s Dreamforce was primarily a chance for me to connect with Salesforce leadership, product staff, and the leadership of some of the product partners we work with regularly.
Some key highlights:
- I had a detailed conversation with the product lead at AWS responsible for new Salesforce/AWS offerings for nonprofits, and I am excited to be able to offer it as an accelerator to our clients that need basic data warehouse and backup options. I look forward to future opportunities to collaborate with his team.
- I had the chance to connect with the head of Higher Ed Product for Salesforce.org, Chris Clark, along with several other members of the Salesforce.org product team to discuss strategic product roadmaps and provide some feedback to further polish the products we work with every day.
- Finally, and maybe most exciting, as a Salesforce MVP, I had the opportunity to converse directly with Salesforce senior leadership, including Co-CEO Bret Taylor, CMO Sarah Franklin, and SVP for Community Leah McGowen-Hare. There was a lot to be excited about in the updates they shared; it’s clear that the ideas and concerns the MVP community has expressed over the past year have been heard. It also provided an opportunity for me to share some real feedback on the challenges and needs I hear regularly from clients where Salesforce could do better. This is clearly just the beginning of a conversation. I look forward to seeing where it leads.”
Alanna Steffens, Sr. Principal and Practice Lead
“Having the ability to meet with clients whose projects kicked off during the pandemic made the moment that much more surreal to put a real person to a video conference face! We not only discussed project particulars, but we were able to share ideas on expanding the reach of the current solution and plans for new functionality. The announcement of Salesforce Genie provides the momentum for our clients to bring in data from every channel to ensure a true Customer 360 profile that provides excellent constituent experiences.
We additionally had the honor to continue to forge deeper relationships with Salesforce leadership with a focus on ‘Better Together,’ finding ways to make the partner program even more valuable and beneficial for our shared customer base.”
Kristi Phillips, Associate Business Development Director
“We have all learned how to work remotely effectively and productively. But, Dreamforce reminded me that there is no replacement for being able to engage with our community face-to-face. Being able to finally meet some of our Salesforce partners, Amp Impact partners, and clients in person was unparalleled. Those conversations—albeit, sometimes short and not at all about work—are instrumental in forging long-term, collaborative, successful engagements with our clients and the broader Salesforce ecosystem. The future is bright!”
Susan Tobes, Senior Director of Strategic Growth
“Dreamforce 2022 was a physical and energetic reminder that we are part of a large and vibrant community of vendors, customers, partners, and friends. Nothing can replace an in-person event for growing knowledge and building relationships, and that is exactly what we did. And, from the announcement of Genie to the Net Zero Cloud and the expansion of Hyperforce, Salesforce Innovation announcements did not disappoint. But, my favorite moment was when I was walking through the Trailblazer area listening to Benioff’s keynote and he raised the word shoshin (初心), a Japanese concept meaning ‘beginner’s mind.’ With all we’ve been through these last few years, how do we recultivate our beginner’s mind? What’s really important? Dreamforce left me inspired and ready to take on the future.”
Sean Speer, Associate Business Development Director
“Dreamforce, as usual, was a whirlwind of meetings, conversations, presentations, and great meals shared with clients and partners. For me, a key takeaway was Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
RPA tools allow you to automate just about any activity a human user can do on a computer, and do it with multiple applications, just like a human user. Have a tedious process where one of your staff exports data from one system, and then manually enters it into another system? There’s a good chance that can be automated with RPA tools. Or, maybe you have PDF documents that come in via email and then someone has to manually key the data into Salesforce? RPA it!
RPA tools are automation for knowledge workers. It’s going to fundamentally transform how people see working with systems and data. These tools will take away so much of the rote processes that are now managed in nonprofits and higher education institutions and free up time for staff to work on more complicated and sophisticated problems.
Salesforce is entering this space with MuleSoft RPA. I fully expect RPA to be the next big thing. I have the same feeling looking at RPA tools today that I did when I first saw Salesforce a decade and a half ago.”
Esteban Silva, Associate Business Development Director
“This was my first in-person Dreamforce, and it definitely delivered on being an opportunity to connect with valuable partners, champions, and clients. Taking the time to sit down with Salesforce’s Nonprofit Industry Advisor and discuss the needs and priorities of our mutual clients in the space will yield immeasurable benefits down the line. In addition, meeting with important partners, like Amp Impact and Salesforce account executives, face-to-face strengthened those relationships and opened the door for further collaboration in the future. In fact, we’re working on a webinar with Salesforce right now as a result of one of these discussions! The energy and enthusiasm of the attendees were palpable, and the insights gleaned from the keynotes—especially the nonprofit keynote—provided us with new resources and tools to share with our clients.”
Eric Magnuson, Associate Business Development Director
“At Dreamforce this year, I was able to reconnect with dozens of old friends, make many new connections, and learn a thing or two along the way. Some of the things I learned include:
- Amazon Web Services and Salesforce are getting closer – besides the continued drip of information about an open-source AWS service for providing Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) users with data lake capabilities, I also saw their partnership expanding to include AI and machine learning in support of the biggest new technology announcement, Salesforce Genie.
- Salesforce is all in on the Trillion Trees campaign. I commend them on their climate change corporate signaling.
- While the nonprofit/education presence was strong at Dreamforce, there is growing consensus that the real action is at the more localized Dreamin’ and World Tour events.”
Attain Partners – Salesforce Experts
No matter if your organization is beginning its Salesforce journey or 10+ years into development, we are here to help you achieve your goals. Contact Attain Partners today to learn how we can help you achieve your goals by harnessing the power of Salesforce.
To learn more, check out our Salesforce innovation services, read case studies about our transformative work, and explore blog posts from our Salesforce team.
