Blog
August 26, 2015
SALESFORCE ANNOUNCES LIGHTNING EXPERIENCE
Yesterday, Salesforce held a live event announcing a huge evolution called Lightning Experience. Lightning Experience from the CRM user perspective is essentially a “new Salesforce desktop.” It features a totally re-vamped, modern look — but this is so much more than an external makeover.
With this announcement, Salesforce has placed a significant focus on user efficiency. In the upcoming Winter ‘16 release (scheduled for October) Lightning Experience will focus on Sales Cloud and include features such as a drag & drop graphical opportunity pipeline, proactive alerts to the user on common deal downfalls (such as lack of recent activity), and reimagined charting similar to those now offered in Wave analytics.
Lightning Experience will then expand from the initial Sales Cloud-focused release to the rest of the CRM capabilities over a series of subsequent Salesforce releases. Customers will have the option to turn the new user interface (UI) on in their org at their leisure (and turn it back off if desired). Some users can use the new Lightning UI while others can remain on the classic “aloha” desktop.
While it is easy to focus on the new look, for me the real excitement in this announcement is the framework underlying the new UI. As I blogged after Dreamforce 2014, the Lightning Component framework is the game changer here. The new desktop UI is built using Lightning Components (as is Salesforce1 mobile). Going forward, configuration changes to CRM pages will be accomplished using the Lightning App Builder – UI changes from simply rearranging fields to replacing a part of a page with a custom developed or AppExchange Lightning Component will all happen in that component architecture.
At ACF, we tailor Salesforce to the unique processes of nonprofit and higher ed organizations. So the promise of more easily swapping out pieces of the standard Salesforce desktop and mobile functionality will be a great benefit to ACF and our clients.
After Dreamforce, we will be back with another installment on Lightning Experience and how we see it impacting our nonprofit and higher ed clients. In the mean time, you can sign-up for a Winter ‘16 pre-release org and start exploring the new Lightning Experience capabilities today.
