CPQ-211 availability - Salesforce CPQ Admin Essentials for Experienced Administrators Updated: 2023

Google Analytics 4 properties can now be connected to Salesforce Marketing Cloud using the Sales Marketing Cloud interface.

Integration is available to both GA4 standard and 360 properties for the first time to anyone who was previously using the same setup with Universal Analytics 360.

Why we care. GA4 integrated with Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows you to sync audiences from Analytics to Marketing Cloud. You can then use these audiences in your Salesforce email and SMS direct-marketing campaigns, offering a smooth and targeted method to reach your audience more effectively.

Synchronize audiences with Marketing Cloud. Once you’ve linked Analytics to Marketing Cloud, you can sync audiences within Marketing Cloud itself. These audiences will be visible in the Audiences list in Analytics under Admin > Audiences. It may take up to 24 hours for the audiences to be visible in Salesforce Marketing Cloud and ready for targeting.

How it works. When a user clicks through to your site from a Marketing Cloud campaign, and the link sends the Marketing Cloud Subscriber ID (SFMC ID), Analytics automatically detects and stores the SFMC ID with your other Analytics first-party data.

Once you complete setup within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, any audiences that you create in Analytics and synchronize with Marketing Cloud are populated in Marketing Cloud as a list of SFMC IDs.

Requirements. Google has stated that there are some criteria in place to enable integration between Salesforce Marketing Cloud and GA4 properties:

• Create audiences in your Google Analytics property that you want to use in Salesforce.
• Ensure your URLs are tagged with the Marketing Cloud Subscriber ID.
• Configure the Google Analytics Integration for Marketing Cloud in Marketing Cloud
• Marketing Cloud's Journey Builder

Deep dive. Read our guide on how to set up an offline conversion import from Salesforce into Google Ads for more information.

Veeam Software, the leader in Data Protection and Ransomware Recovery, today announced it has launched Veeam Backup for Salesforce v2, available on Salesforce AppExchange Veeam Backup for Salesforce eliminates the risks of Salesforce data and metadata loss from human, integration, and corruption errors. This latest version from Veeam — the #1 data protection provider — extends support for multiple clouds, provides greater security with single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication (MFA), and provides a safe environment for testing and developing via sandbox seeding. Organizations can deploy on-premises or in the cloud, recover exactly what they need when they need it, and experience backup that is custom-engineered for Salesforce data and metadata.

Alice Steinglass, Executive Vice President of and General Manager, Platform at Salesforce, said, “Veeam Backup for Salesforce is a welcome addition to AppExchange, as they accelerate business transformation for customers by backing up and quickly recovering Salesforce data and metadata in the cloud and on-premises. AppExchange is constantly evolving to connect customers with the right apps and experts for their business needs.”

Veeam Backup for Salesforce  

Data loss is inevitable within an organization, so it’s important for organizations to protect themselves at all costs. This latest version builds on the success of Veeam Backup for Salesforce with its already powerful, rapid-recovery capabilities for IT departments and Salesforce administrators. It underlines why Salesforce data backup is critical to prevent data loss, ensures compliance and enables fast recovery by providing a comprehensive, purpose-built Salesforce backup solution that gives organizations the ability to recover from Salesforce data loss with speed and confidence.

New capabilities of Veeam Backup for Salesforce include: 

• Salesforce business applications: Extended support of the Salesforce platform, including Salesforce Government and Education Clouds, Field Service, CPQ, Person Accounts, and managed packages, is now part of data backup offerings to ensure critical field service data meets compliance and is protected when off-site.
• Salesforce SSO and MFA: Enable role-based access for backup and restore operators via Salesforce to simplify and Boost the security of your systems. Audit trail will keep track of all the sensitive operations.
• Sandbox seeding and enhanced restores: Restore to your sandbox with data from production or from another sandbox. Set alternate keys and get better controls over hierarchy restores. Enhance your company’s ability to test, develop and troubleshoot with the option to restore production data to your sandbox.

Danny Allan, CTO at Veeam, said, “Reliability and consistency of protecting SaaS data is a key driver for improving data protection in 2023, according to the Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023. However, many organizations still don’t believe that Salesforce needs to be protected and that their data and metadata are safe in a cloud somewhere. We disagree – and so does Salesforce. Veeam Backup for Salesforce bookings grew 195% quarter-over-quarter for Q3’23. With V2, we’re excited to continue to support our customers and partners in this shared responsibility to ensure that their business is kept running and critical data is both protected and quickly recoverable in case of human error, integration error or data breaches.”

Veeam Backup for Salesforce is a separate standalone paid product that is new to Veeam Data Platform. Available today from Veeam technology partners, Veeam Backup for Salesforce is sold in one- to five-year annual subscriptions, priced per user license. Veeam is currently offering promotional packages through December 31, 2023 for current customers.

Veeam Backup for Salesforce Community Edition is currently available. Community Edition provides fully functional free backup and recovery of Salesforce data for organizations with 50 Salesforce user licenses or less.

Enterprise Strategy Group Practice Director Christophe Bertrand, said, “Our accurate study on the disconnect in SaaS data protection reveals that while most end-users recognize the importance of Salesforce environments and data, they find it challenging to safeguard these assets from the threat of data loss. Veeam for Salesforce V2 provides essential features to mitigate this risk and enhance data and metadata protection at scale, making it an ideal solution for many organizations in need.”

Salesforce has joined hands with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Academy and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to introduce the Educator’s Empowerment Program (EEP) on Salesforce Technologies. This collaboration is driven by the shared vision to empower educators with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of technical education, thereby ensuring quality education for the learners. 

The program will support virtual internships, leveraging Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform as part of the instructional practice. Three specific tracks have been identified, which include the Salesforce Platform Developer Track intended for individuals who have knowledge, skills, and experience building custom applications on the Lightning Platform. The Salesforce Administrator Track, a guide to customise the platform while connecting business and technology and lastly, MuleSoft training on seamlessly inter-connection of data, applications and devices across on-premises and cloud computing environments. 

The EEP will include 40 hours of training spread over five days, providing an on-campus learning experience that facilitates faster upskilling and cross-skilling. Faculty will obtain a certificate of participation as per the requirements from Academia (EEP from ICT Academy is supported by AICTE). Additional certification will be provided through NASSCOM Future Skill Prime on Salesforce Developer Catalyst, Salesforce Administrator and MuleSoft. 

According to IDC, the global Salesforce economy, powered by AI, will create a net gain of 11.6M jobs and $2.02T in business revenues between 2022 and 2028. In alignment with these global objectives, Salesforce is actively collaborating with academia in India to enhance the availability of skilled talent through the unique EEP.

Sanket Atal – Managing Director – India Site, Operations and Technology & Product, Salesforce India, said, “The role of educators in this ever-evolving world is crucial in shaping the future, and we are committed to providing them with the tools and knowledge they need to excel. The Educator’s Empowerment Program on Salesforce Technologies is a testament to our dedication to elevating the standards of technical education in India. Through this program, we aim to equip educators with the skills and expertise required to stay ahead in their field, foster innovation, and prepare students for the challenges of the future. We believe this initiative will not only benefit educators but also lead to an enriched and dynamic learning experience for students across the country and thereby empower the education landscape.” 

T. G. Sitharam, Chairman at AICTE said “In this dynamic and fast-changing world, it is paramount that we deliver our teachers new skills, and more exposure to professional development programs that prepare students to be confident of adapting to the environment. We are delighted to partner with Salesforce through the ICT academy, to ensure upskilling of students with new concepts and techniques and encourage learning of Salesforce technologies to support learners’ needs.” 

Hari Balachandran, CEO at ICT Academy said “ICT Academy in association with AICTE and Salesforce, is proud to bring the “Educators Empowerment Program” on the Salesforce Technologies to the faculty members of higher education institutions across India. The groundbreaking initiative exemplifies our unwavering commitment to fostering educational excellence. By investing in our faculty’s professional growth and equipping them with the latest teaching methodologies and skills, we are creating a ripple effect that will positively impact our entire academic community.” 

• Faculty member who is teaching at the – B.E/B.Tech/M.Tech Departments in: Comp Science/Information Science/Electrical & Electronics/Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning/Data Science & Analytics/Internet of Things/Cyber Security/Computer Science & Design and other related fields.
• Interested in upskilling and cross skilling
• Who wants to learn the trending and emerging technologies
• The faculty member who would like to be an ambassador/catalyst in teaching the Salesforce technologies at the campus/region.

Salesforce has announced general availability of MuleSoft’s Anypoint Code Builder, which uses trusted generative AI to help developers reduce costs and speed up software development cycles.

Why it’s relevant: Businesses are racing to develop software that can power their business applications, but 80% of IT leaders say integration challenges slow their digital transformation. And, 86% of IT leaders expect generative AI to soon play a prominent role at their organizations.

Innovation in action: Anypoint Code Builder is an integrated development environment (IDE) that lets developers build APIs and integrations with modern tooling through Visual Studio Code, use natural language prompts to generate code, and access a variety of deployment environment options available for desktop and cloud IDEs.

Anypoint Code Builder allows IT teams to:

Use AI to accelerate development. Einstein for Anypoint Code Builder (currently in pilot) lets developers use generative AI with natural language prompts to generate code and integration flows — visual representations of the code and business logic needed to connect systems and applications.
Build faster with next-generation developer tooling. Developers can access a comprehensive ecosystem of extensions that facilitate interoperability across diverse technology stacks and ecosystems.
Maintain agility with flexible development environments. Anypoint Code Builder offers flexibility through a choice of development environments, including a desktop IDE that can be locally installed within the popular Visual Studio Code, and a cloud IDE that is accessible through any web browser.
Accelerate industry-specific integration. Companies can speed up industry-specific integration via packaged solutions that streamline critical business initiatives, speed up implementations, and help companies adhere to industry best practices. For example:
Healthcare: Organizations can streamline patient data integration across various electronic health record (EHR) systems to enhance patient care coordination
Financial Services: Firms can facilitate secure and compliant data sharing between financial institutions and fintech partners, expediting the development of innovative financial products and services.
Retail: Companies can seamlessly integrate ecommerce platforms with inventory management systems, improving order fulfillment efficiency and inventory accuracy.
Salesforce perspective: “MuleSoft’s Anypoint Code Builder modernizes our core integration tooling with the power of AI and a new Visual Studio Code-based foundation. This empowers developers to build integrations and APIs faster in their preferred environment, ultimately creating new ways to reach customers, generate revenue, and build more impactful software by integrating with other relevant technologies with greater ease.” – Param Kahlon, EVP, Automation and Integration, Salesforce

Customer perspective: “MuleSoft’s Anypoint Code Builder’s seamless integration with numerous programming languages, and its extensive library of extensions and customizable interface makes it the ultimate coding companion. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced MuleSoft developer, Anypoint Code Builder empowers you to write code efficiently and with style.” — Rajesh Nagarajan, Senior Manager, Enterprise Data Integrations, AVEVA

© 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

News

Microsoft Goes Big with Multiple Copilots at Ignite Event

• By Kurt Mackie
• 11/15/2023

Microsoft's Ignite event happening this week elicited the declaration that "Microsoft is the Copilot company" now, and there were lots of product announcements attesting to it.

Microsoft's generative artificial intelligence-based Copilot assistants are integrated across Microsoft 365 apps, Azure services, and developer and administrative tools. New Copilots pop up frequently, and Microsoft sometimes changes the names of the ones that had been introduced earlier in the year.

A few Copilots have already reached the "general availability" (GA) commercial-release stage, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, released earlier this month, which Microsoft has now renamed as "Copilot for Microsoft 365." The ability to use plugins and Microsoft Graph connectors with Copilot for Microsoft 365 is currently at the preview stage. IT pros can find and set policies for these plugins via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, a capability that's at GA stage.

Microsoft also commercially released Copilot in Power Apps last month. In July, Microsoft Sales Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, now called "Copilot for Sales" (renamed from "Viva Sales"), reached the GA stage.

The following Copilot updates mostly derive from this announcement by Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft 365 and future of work, and this announcement by Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of modern work and business applications, plus Microsoft's Book of News, section 5.

Copilots Minus the Bing
Microsoft is removing the "Bing" branding from some its search AI assistants and giving them the "Copilot" brand instead. Update 11/15: A Microsoft spokesperson explained that these search AI assistants are just getting called "Copilot," adding that "Copilot is available in various experiences and, when relevant, you may see references to Copilot in Bing, Edge, or Windows." So, in a nutshell, here's the new naming convention, minus the Bing:

• "Copilot" is the new name for Bing Chat, which is accessible via a Web portal, Windows and Bing search itself.
• "Copilot" is the new name for Bing Chat Enterprise, which adds "commercial data protection" for organizations by not saving user chat data.

Copilot is expected to reach the GA release stage on Dec. 1. Details can be found in the Bing blog.

Microsoft had released Bing Chat Enterprise as a preview back in July as a free offering for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium subscribers. It'll also be available maybe on the Dec. 1 GA date for Microsoft 365 F3 subscribers, which is a new product addition. In August, Microsoft announced a preview of Bing Chat Enterprise in the Windows Copilot preview, which will require having E3- or E5-type Microsoft 365 licensing to use it.

Microsoft also plans to release Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) as a "standalone" product offering, priced at $5 per user per month.

As for Windows Copilot, it's at the preview stage, and is available with the Windows 11 version 23H2 operating system product that was released last month.

New Copilots
Microsoft also announced new Copilots this week, including Sales and Service implementations, a Copilot for Azure, plus many others.

Copilot for Azure, used for gaining insights into Azure workloads, is now at the preview stage. Copilot for Azure may depend on using Azure Arc, Microsoft's multicloud management solution, as Microsoft stated that "Copilot [for Azure] will leverage large language models (LLMs), the Azure control plane and insights about a user's Azure and Arc-enabled assets."

On the Dynamics 365 product side, new products include "Copilot for Service" and "Copilot for Sales" for use with customer relationship management solutions. Microsoft indicated that Copilot for Service will be integrated with "Salesforce, ServiceNow and Zendesk," and can be "extended to other systems with more than 1,000 pre-built and custom connectors." Copilot for Sales, on the other hand, actually reached the GA release stage in July, although it was called "Microsoft Sales Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales" back then.

Microsoft also has a separate Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales product, which got a few updates this week. For more on the Dynamics 365 Copilots, please see this RCPmag.com article.

Copilot in Microsoft Fabric is now at the preview stage. It works with the Azure OpenAI service and can used to "create dataflows and data pipelines, generate code and entire functions, build machine learning models or visualize results" using natural language prompts.

Copilot in Microsoft Loop is at the preview stage, with a more general rollout expected "next year." Microsoft Loop, which lets people collaborate on Microsoft 365 app components, reached GA this week.

Copilot in Viva Insights was described as "our latest experience." It lets users query data harvested by the Viva Insights employee productivity and performance app. Copilot in Viva Insights "will be in private preview in January 2024."

Other Microsoft Viva apps getting Copilots include:

• Viva Goals: "preview in December 2023."
• Viva Insights: "preview early next year."
• Viva Learning: "private preview for joint Viva and SAP SuccessFactors customers by the end of 2023."
• Viva Engage: "preview in January 2024"
• Viva Glint: "private preview in January 2024."

Copilot in Microsoft Outlook, helping users with meeting preparation and scheduling, "will begin to roll out in early 2024."

Copilot for Microsoft 365 Developer Sandbox is at the private preview stage. It lets developers "build and test plugins and Graph connectors in a non-production tenant environment."

Microsoft Security Copilot in its "embedded experience" is currently at the private preview stage. It works with the Microsoft Intune Admin Center to provide guidance on endpoint policy creation and deployment. Security Copilot also is getting integrated with Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Entra, as well as Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel.

Microsoft additionally mentioned that it has a "new Copilot profile" capability for Microsoft 365 users. Copilot profile lets Copilot for Microsoft 365 users gain "greater control over your Copilot interactions" by specifying their preferences. Copilot profile will be coming first to the Word and PowerPoint Microsoft 365 apps, but the timing was not indicated.

Copilot Studio
Copilot Studio is a new "low code" conversational AI product with an "integrated Admin Center" that was introduced this week. Microsoft described Copilot Studio as being "built on the foundations of Power Virtual Agents and the broader Microsoft conversational AI ecosystem."

Copilot Studio is used for connecting Copilot AI solutions to data sources. It has prebuilt plugins for that purpose, or custom plugins can be used. It also works with OpenAI's GPTs, or generative pre-trained transformers, used with large language models for generative AI. Its use with GPTs lets organizations "create a tailored version of ChatGPT that is more helpful for specific tasks," including the ability to customize Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Organizations can use Copilot Studio to connect Copilot for Microsoft 365 to other data sources besides the Microsoft Graph data that underlie Microsoft 365 services. Here's Microsoft's description to that end:

Until now, Copilot for Microsoft 365 has relied exclusively on your business data within the Microsoft Graph. But not all your data lives within the Graph, in Copilot’s reach. With Copilot Studio, you can deliver Copilot access to the trove of information that lies within your CRM, ERP, and other line of business systems.

Microsoft indicated that Copilot Studio works with "any system of record, from SAP, to Workday, to Service Now, to your own proprietary line of business solutions."

Copilot Studio users can also use it to access Azure AI Studio, which is designed for use by "professional developers with the ability to run Azure OpenAI on your data and leverage custom language models."

The ability to use Copilot Studio to customize Copilot for Microsoft 365 is at the public preview stage right now. The ability for organizations to create "a custom copilot" using Copilot Studio is at the GA stage.

IT Tools
The Microsoft 365 Admin Center now has a new "Copilot for Microsoft 365 Usage report," which is at the GA stage. Organizations can use this report to gauge their Copilot readiness.

Microsoft also promised that it is beefing up its Adoption Score tool to show generative AI-based "content summarization and creation" use across an organization. This information will be available under Adoption Score's "AI assistance category."

A new Microsoft Copilot Dashboard, "powered by Viva," is another tool for IT pros. The Microsoft Copilot Dashboard provides stats on Copilot use across apps and is currently at the public preview stage. Microsoft Copilot Dashboard will be "coming to the Viva Insights app in Teams and on the web in December 2023."

Microsoft also announced Copilot in Microsoft 365 Admin Center, which is used for managing Edge for Business, which is Microsoft's scheme for separating business Microsoft Edge browsing data from personal browsing data. Copilot in Microsoft 365 Admin Center is "currently available in private preview."

Microsoft also described a "Copilot for Microsoft 365 admin" offering, also in private preview, that's designed to help IT pros with Microsoft 365 tooling and configurations, plus Microsoft Edge and Windows Update management. It seems to be the same thing as described above.