Certified-Development-Lifecycle-and-Deployment-Designer questions - Certified Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer Updated: 2023

Salesforce Inc. said today it’s adding yet another artificial intelligence capability to its arsenal with the launch of a new application called Service Intelligence within its Service Cloud, its flagship customer relationship management platform for customer service and support.

The new offering is powered by Salesforce’s hyperscale data engine, Data Cloud. The company said it gives service agents and managers all of the information they need to streamline customer service at their fingertips, meaning they no longer will need to toggle through multiple screens and dashboards to find what they need.

According to Salesforce, Service Intelligence will enable customer service professionals to make more informed decisions, faster than before, enhancing customer satisfaction to supply themselves a competitive edge over their competitors.

Service Intelligence is built on the concept of customizable dashboards that provide an at-a-glance view of essential metrics such as customer satisfaction and individuals’ or teams’ workloads. Managers can use these to create a quick overview of their teams and the issues they’re working on and react quickly to any challenges. For instance, it can help them determine when a particular team or agent needs more support during busy times, the company said.

Perhaps the most notable feature of Service Cloud is the Einstein Conversation Mining capability, which uses AI to analyze customer conversations to help service managers quickly identify trends and the most pressing customer issues. As an example, Salesforce said, service leaders will be able to determine if a larger-than-usual number of customers are calling with questions regarding a product’s return policy. Salesforce’s AI customer service bots can then be trained to recognize whenever a customer contacts them about this issue, and direct them to a self-help article that answers their questions quickly.

Meanwhile, users have the ability to quickly jump from the Service Intelligence dashboard to a data exploration visualization in Tableau Software while retaining the same data context. These visualizations can also be embedded directly into Service Intelligence, making it easier to share the most important insights users surface.

Those features in Service Intelligence are available now, but the company has lots of additional planned updates down the road. For instance, with the availability of Einstein Copilot in Service Intelligence next year, users will be able to ask Einstein, a generative AI assistant, questions about their dashboards and the metrics and trends they discover in a conversational way. Also coming next year, Einstein Studio will help users to quickly surface additional insights, such as the propensity for a customer to escalate by elevating a complaint, as well as predictions regarding the resolution times of specific issues.

Finally, there’s a new feature called Customer Effort Score coming next year that will provide a holistic view of how difficult the service experience has been for each customer. Along with this, it will offer recommendations on what agents can do to Boost each customers’ satisfaction, for instance by offering a discount whenever the experience has been particularly difficult.

Valoir analyst Rebecca Wetterman said customer service industry success is generally determined by how easy and efficient customer interactions are made. Customers want to be able to resolve their issues quickly and without any stress, and AI can help to achieve this, she said.

“Salesforce’s Service Intelligence solution empowers service providers to better understand agent performance, foresee a customer’s propensity to escalate, and identify opportunities for automation and improved technology management,” Wetterman explained. “[These are all] factors that drive a more positive customer and agent experience.”

Today’s updates are the latest in what has become an almost constant stream of new AI features introduced by Salesforce this year. The company has invested billions of dollars in research and development over the past several years, with much of that effort focused on AI.

Earlier this year it rolled out new generative AI capabilities in its Sales Cloud and Service Cloud applications, which came after similar updates to Marketing Cloud and Commerce Cloud. In September it announced the coming launch of its Einstein Copilot, which will be integrated with every Salesforce product. And last month it introduced generative AI capabilities into Anypoint Code Builder, an integration platform from its MuleSoft subsidiary.

Salesforce’s AI push has also seen it collaborate with the likes of IBM Corp., with the focus there being to help customers adopt its generative AI tools faster and benefit from them more effectively.

Alice Steinglass, executive vice president and general manager of platform at Salesforce, recently stopped by SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio theCUBE during the Supercloud 4 event to discuss the goals of the company’s generative AI revolution. Among other things, Salesforce is determined to use generative AI to help customers transform their workloads and processes in areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, finance and more.

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Salesforce offers a full suite of add-ons available mainly on the SalesForce AppExchange. These optional Salesforce programs include tools to support different needs and industries. Depending on the complexity of those needs, you’ll pay anywhere from nothing to hundreds of dollars for one (or multiple) apps. You can also find add-ons under the “products” tab on the Salesforce website.

Salesforce’s apps come from both first- and third-party providers. They also vary in pricing, often including new tiers that differ from what Salesforce offers. Simple apps, like 360 SMS, start at $7 per month but might cost more depending on how many texts you send. Other apps, like the Salesforce Adoption Dashboard, are entirely free. You also have freemium apps, like JotForm, which are free for the first five forms. 

Each app is different, requiring another knowledge base to learn this optional system. Much like shopping for CRM systems, you must go through testing and adoption phases. Thankfully, Salesforce is a cloud-based SaaS system, meaning you can easily customize it according to your needs. Below, you’ll learn more about some of the most popular add-ons you might consider. 

Pardot Pricing

Salesforce Pardot is a popular marketing automation platform that comes in four tiers. Here’s a breakdown of what those tiers provide:

• Growth: $1,250/mo; focuses on marketing automation 
• Plus: $2,750/mo; provides deeper analytics and personalization features
• Advanced: $4,400/mo; AI support and developer sandbox features
• Premium: $15,000/mo; offers predictive analytics and personalized product support

Pardot supports up to 10,000 contacts, with its higher tier supporting 75,000.

Service Cloud

Service Cloud focuses on the customer support side of Salesforce. It also has identical pricing compared to Sales Cloud (Salesforce’s primary offering). Here’s a breakdown of pricing:

• Starter: $25/user/mo; provides a simple customer case management dashboard
• Professional: $80/user/mo; provides case swarming and computer telephony integration (CTI)
• Enterprise: $165/user/mo; provides AI features and a self-service system for your customer support staff
• Unlimited: $330/user/mo; 24/7 support alongside AI-powered chatbots
• Unlimited+: $500/user/mo; advanced AI support and the ability to better integrate data across Tableau Analytics and Data Cloud

Sales Cloud does not come with Service Cloud. However, you can discuss discounts for integrating both when talking with an account executive. 

CPQ and Billing

Both CPQ and Billing are features you can find under Salesforce’s Revenue Cloud service. 

CPQ (Configuration, Pricing and Quoting) is a flexible pricing system that changes price depending on usage level or optional features. When selling software with add-ons, it can help you simplify billing customers. It comes in two forms:

• CPQ: $75/user/mo; provides limited customization options
• CPQ Plus: $150/user/mo; provides more process control and automated features

Billing is another feature of Revenue Cloud which comes in two forms, although the pricing requires you to call in:

• Growth: Has a built-in invoicing system for scheduling and merging multiple invoices
• Plus: Advanced billing systems based on usage ratings; supports automatic payments

If purchasing the complete sales CRM, some of these features are integrated with advanced plans, meaning you don’t need to pay extra. 

Einstein Analytics

Einstein Analytics is the AI-driven analytics software from Salesforce that comes with the Unlimited plan. Enterprise customers might choose to pay separately, selecting one of the four plans below:

• Einstein Predictions: $75/user/mo; provides simple, automated insights
• CRM Analytics Growth: $140/user/mo; more advanced analytics platform without AI features
• CRM Analytics Plus: $165/user/mo; combines features from Predictions and Analytics Growth
• Revenue Intelligence: $220/user/mo; provides revenue insights as well other features

MuleSoft

MuleSoft is an integration-based platform that connects multiple apps, helps integrate numerous APIs and provides automated systems between those softwares. Another way to look at it: it’s a complex version of Zapier with way more power for programmers. 

MuleSoft’s pricing varies heavily but can cost up to $250,000 per year. You’ll need to call and discuss your unique needs for a quote. 

Genentech, Tesla, Cruise, Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente, Chronicle Books, Minted, CamelBak, Bold Insight, InterVenn Biosciences, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, and The Hartford were all there.

“When our students talk face-to-face with smart, energetic young alums from top companies, career dreams become career realities,” said Stephanie Belfiore, assistant director of employer relationships at the Career Services Center.

Students Learn

Gurshan Singh ’27, a computer science major, met with Salesforce, Tesla, and Cruise. “I hope to work in a field that gets me to the front end of stuff since my background is in design,” he said. “I enjoy trying to make something that looks nice and something that people can connect with.”

Lilliah Aaliyah ’23, an entrepreneurship and innovation major who met with Salesforce and Cruise, said she wants to work in business relations or operations. For her, the highlight of the event was hearing “tricks and tips on how to get these jobs.” 

Chloe Ramirez ’24, a computer science major who met with CamelBak and Bold Insight, said she’s interested in machine learning, augmented reality, virtualization technology, “and the interactive/creative side of tech. Meeting people who have gone to this school makes me feel hopeful to be in that same position.”

Yazan Tadros ’24, a business management major who also met with Salesforce, Tesla, and Cruise, said, “I’m most excited about possibly getting a business development and marketing job. This event felt casual and comfortable and enabled me to be myself.”

Alumni Advise

Three USF graduates who represented their employers at the event gave this advice to students:

“Network!” said Natalia Clarke ’20, the social media manager at Minted. “Network as much as you can. Connect with people on LinkedIn; send out as many messages as you can, just to get exposure to the people that you’re talking to.”

Lauren Quiring ’22, who works in event marketing at Cruise, said, “My advice would be to constantly raise your hand for things and put yourself in front of future employers.”

Emilio Ashley ’22, associate people development partner at Tesla, said, “Utilize your resources on campus. You’ve got career coaches, counselors, and professors who have backgrounds in the field you want to work in. These people are there at your fingertips. They’re there to help you.”

Alumni Identify the USF Difference

Asked what sets USF students apart from other job seekers, Emilio Ashley ’22 said, “At USF, you are literally in the hub of opportunity, and companies like that because you’re familiar with the culture, you’re in a diverse setting, and you value different perspectives — that puts you ahead of the game.”

Natalia Clarke ’20 said what sets USF students apart “is how much they want to make a difference in the world. That’s super unique.”

Catherine Rivera ’24 contributed reporting to this story

Alon Jackson is the CEO and cofounder of Astrix Security, a leading enterprise solution securing app-to-app interconnectivity.

In modern development environments, "secrets" are authentication keys that are created by research and development teams to allow access to and between different resources and data. Secrets also allow services and non-human identities, such as third-party apps, to connect to your system, enhancing overall productivity and operations for the business.

To keep pace with the competition, it's essential—and also inevitable—that we continue integrating non-human identities and generative AI tools into our systems, ones that will help with everything from email writing to lead generation insight.

Secrets are created almost on a daily basis, but securing them is a difficult task. In fact, wondering whether these secrets are actually safe and not exposed can keep security teams up at night.

Internal Vs. External Secrets

Secrets are typically bucketed into two categories: external and internal.

• External secrets are secrets (API keys, OAuth tokens, SSH keys) that you don’t own or have possession of, usually used by operating systems, i.e., plug-ins, add-on extensions and third-party applications that are connected to core critical systems like Salesforce, GitHub, and Microsoft365.

• Internal secrets are API keys and other tokens created by R&D teams within the organization. These "internal" secrets are sometimes shared, however, with external entities that often haven’t gone through proper security vetting and now have the same access to sensitive information—without your security team’s knowledge.

Securing secrets is difficult to understand, and ultimately manage. Oftentimes, DevOps and R&D teams own them but are not responsible for securing them. This leaves ample room for missteps, which results in secrets being leaked by human error, such as if an employee unintentionally shares a secret through a different channel or portal, a ticket or a Slack message.

The latest Microsoft breach, for example, occurred when a key was leaked in between processes. Ultimately, this allowed the attackers to download the memory and the secret key in plain text, giving the hacker access to enterprises and Microsoft accounts across the globe.

The Misleading Concept Of Vaults

In the physical world, you deposit your valuables inside a vault and there it stays, securely stored until you open it again. In the digital world, vaults simply store secrets, they don’t manage or monitor them from end-to-end—leaving them open for anyone to access and copy these keys and spread them elsewhere.

While vaults are an important part of a security strategy, they don’t provide additional insights or intelligence about the usage of secrets once they are created. They merely are a place to hold your secrets, which—without the right context and knowledge—frequently leads to exposed secrets.

Best Practices For Securing Your Secrets

Because of the limited roles of vaults, having strong governance around secrets is critical in ensuring they remain protected. Here are three non-negotiable best practices for securing your secrets.

1. Differentiate between internal and external secrets.

Knowing that there are third-party or external entities who have access to keys to your core sensitive systems is vital. Create a clear-cut set of guidelines of what’s deemed "internal" and "external" by asking questions like, “Do any third parties currently have or need access to this information?” Make sure there are no gray lines and that security teams understand the differentiators.

2. Implement strong behavioral analysis practices.

This allows you to understand and have knowledge about the fact that some internal secrets are actually being used externally. Continuously monitor and track your secrets so you’re aware of each one, who has access to it and how it is being used. Identify every aspect of the secret to ensure you are protecting it from external usage or leakage. Applying a daily checklist to your secrets will ensure there is no stone—or in this case, secret—left unturned.

3. Continuously seek context with different edges of the enterprise.

Simply knowing that a secret was leaked or that a third party has access to your business’s systems or data is not helpful to remediate and respond. You need to have context. For instance, if a breach occurs due to a leaked secret, it’s critical to ask questions like: What is this secret enabling access to? When was it last used?

This way, you can prioritize your resources and remediate them faster. Or perhaps an attacker gains hold of an OAuth token that a third-party tool uses to access your Salesforce environment—it’s critical to know where it’s connected and its access permissions—can it read, write or delete records? This will help you quickly minimize the potential damage of such a supply chain breach.

While companies understand the need to control these secrets better, since this is where the vast majority of attacks are coming from, we’re still falling short by not implementing strong governance. At this rate, the cyber world may be full of secrets that aren’t so secret anymore.

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In a notable insider transaction, Srinivas Tallapragada, the President and Chief Engineering Officer of Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), sold 10,000 shares of the company on November 13, 2023. This sale is part of a series of transactions over the past year, where Tallapragada has sold a total of 267,538 shares and has not made any purchases. The insider's recent move has caught the attention of investors and analysts, prompting a closer look at the implications of such insider activities on the stock's performance and valuation.

Who is Srinivas Tallapragada at Salesforce Inc?

Srinivas Tallapragada plays a pivotal role at Salesforce Inc, holding the position of President and Chief Engineering Officer. His responsibilities include overseeing the technological advancements and engineering efforts that keep Salesforce at the forefront of the Customer Relationship Management (NYSE:CRM) industry. With a career deeply rooted in software engineering and development, Tallapragada's actions and insights are highly regarded within the company and the tech community at large.

Salesforce Inc's Business Description

Salesforce Inc is a global leader in CRM solutions, providing a suite of cloud-based applications for sales, service, marketing, and more. The company's platform is designed to bring companies and customers together, helping businesses of all sizes to grow and manage their customer relationships more effectively. Salesforce's innovative approach to CRM has revolutionized the way companies engage with their clients, making it a critical tool in the digital transformation of businesses worldwide.

Analysis of Insider Buy/Sell and Relationship with Stock Price

The insider transaction history for Salesforce Inc reveals a pattern of insider selling, with 280 insider sells and no insider buys over the past year. This trend could be interpreted in various ways. On one hand, insiders might sell shares for personal financial planning reasons that do not necessarily reflect their outlook on the company's future. On the other hand, consistent selling by insiders, especially without any offsetting buys, might raise questions about their confidence in the company's valuation or growth prospects.

Story continues

On the day of Tallapragada's recent sale, Salesforce Inc shares were trading at $212.86, giving the company a substantial market cap of $215.21 billion. This price point is particularly interesting when considering the company's price-earnings ratio of 139.11, which is significantly higher than the industry median of 26.97. Although this elevated P/E ratio might suggest a premium valuation, it is lower than the company's historical median, indicating a potential normalization of valuation multiples.

The relationship between insider selling and stock price can be complex. While insider sales can sometimes lead to negative market reactions, the impact on Salesforce's stock price must be analyzed in the context of the company's overall financial health and market conditions. It is also essential to consider the volume of shares sold relative to the total number of shares outstanding; in the case of Salesforce, the insider transactions represent a small fraction of the company's total market cap.

Valuation and GF Value Analysis

Salesforce's current stock price of $212.86, when compared to the GuruFocus Value (GF Value) of $268.46, suggests that the stock is modestly undervalued with a price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.79. The GF Value is a proprietary intrinsic value estimate from GuruFocus, which takes into account historical trading multiples, a company-specific adjustment factor based on past returns and growth, and future business performance estimates from analysts.

This modest undervaluation could be an attractive entry point for investors, especially if the insider selling is not indicative of underlying business issues. It is also worth noting that the stock's valuation is not solely dependent on insider transactions but also on broader market trends, investor sentiment, and Salesforce's continued performance and growth trajectory.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the recent insider sale by Srinivas Tallapragada at Salesforce Inc warrants attention but should be contextualized within the broader scope of the company's financials and market valuation. While the pattern of insider selling over the past year may raise some eyebrows, the current GF Value suggests that Salesforce's stock might still be an attractive investment opportunity. Investors should continue to monitor insider activity, alongside other financial metrics and market trends, to make informed decisions about their investments in Salesforce Inc.

This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.