IoT Salesforce – When IoT Code Meets Sales Strategy
In this article, we are going to look at the topic ‘IoT Salesforce’. We shall go through what the salesforce IoT cloud, its components, how it works, and the implementation algorithm of IoT salesforce. We shall conclude by looking at the benefits of salesforce and a couple of things to consider before implementing the salesforce IoT cloud. So let’s get started.
What is Salesforce IoT cloud?
We all know that IoT is widely used in today’s world. To put that into perspective, here are some analytics: according to multiple reports, more than 30 billion IoT devices are expected to reach 60 billion by 2025!
We all know the brief working of IoT (if you don’t, you can read my other article where I have covered the working of IoT in detail) – the sensors gather data and send this data over to the cloud through a protocol or connection. The cloud then processes this analogue data into a digit and machine-understandable form and stores it.
Salesforce IoT cloud acts like the “cloud”. It stores and processes the IoT data and is backed by a Thunder engine that gathers data from devices, websites, applications, etc.
Salesforce is a business application that provides services to end-users or business users. It improves services with the help of big data obtained from connected devices. Salesforce can directly talk to the connected devices and start context-based alerts and actions.
Salesforce IoT cloud can improve customer experience, customer satisfaction, and customer service at an exponential rate. To get a better understanding of salesforce, let us look at some real-life IoT applications:
1. Finding lost keys using Home monitoring systems, RFID tags, smart security systems, etc.
2. Wearables like fitness trackers, smart watches, smart glasses, smart clothes, smart shoes, etc.
3. Turning on lights upon detecting motion and automatically turning lights off or dimming when a person is not in the room.
4. Smart locks and doorbells that automatically start recording when they detect motion.
These examples cannot even scratch the surface of the countless more examples of the salesforce IoT cloud.
What are the Components of a Salesforce IoT?
The components of salesforce IoT are very similar to that of the components in an IoT ecosystem. An IoT ecosystem requires the following components:
1. Sensors
2. Connectivity
3. Cloud (Data processing)
4. User interface
As mentioned earlier, I have already written an in-depth article covering the working of IoT. Hence we shall only take a brief look at the 4 components:
1. Sensors
Sensors convert the information obtained in the outer world into data for analysis. This includes data regarding the process or environmental surroundings like temperature, fluid flow in the pipe, air quality, and more.
2. Connectivity
Connectivity is essentially a protocol. It helps all the devices in an IoT ecosystem communicate with each other (including the cloud). How a device is connected to the cloud depends on various factors, like the data being collected and how it will be processed.
3. Cloud (Data Processing)
Data processing is where the cloud converts the raw data into a machine-readable form so that the IoT device knows what should happen next. Machines cannot understand the analog data that is collected by the sensors, which is why the cloud processes it into a digital form.
4. User Interface
User Interface (UI) plays a vital role in the working of IoT devices. The UI gives the output to the user after the data is processed. UI is also used for human interaction.
How Does the IoT Cloud Work?
I mentioned earlier that the salesforce IoT cloud is powered by Thunder, a powerful rule-based event-processing engine that will collect, filter, and answer events in real-time. The Thunder engine is built on four open-source tools. Let us take a brief look at each one of them:
1. Apache Kafka
Apache Kafka is a messaging system that handles incoming data from all connected devices.
2. Apache Storm
Apache Storm is a Big Data event processing platform. Storm gets the data from Kafka and handles events.
3. Apache Spark
Apache Spark is a Big Data processing platform that processes batch and streaming data. Spark also can handle analytics well.
4. Apache Cassandra
Apache Cassandra is a Database Management System (DBMS) used for handling Big Data.
These four open-source technologies run on salesforce’s proprietary Platform as a Service (PaaS) – Heroku. Heroku uses REST API to communicate with IoT devices.
IMAGE
Implementation Algorithm
While implementing the salesforce IoT cloud, we follow an algorithm that includes the following steps:
1. Plan – Identifying actions, alerts, and event triggers.
2. Connect – Finalising the data sources that need to be connected.
3. Transform – Changing practical user scenarios to technical terms.
4. Build – Using formulae to include the necessary logic.
5. Deploy – Activating and understanding the state of IoT devices.
Even non-development teams can use the Salesforce IoT Explorer edition as it has an easy-to-use visual configuration where you can create workflows with pre-configured elements, conditions, actions, and more.
Benefits of Salesforce IOT Cloud
I have already written a separate article that entirely focuses on the benefits and advantages of the salesforce IoT cloud. However, here are the top three benefits.
1. Salesforce IoT cloud is a data repository for multiple connected IoT devices. The collected and stored data can be used to get driver-specific actions.
2. Salesforce brand loyalty and customer experience as it provides notifications in advance. These notifications, which contain updates and alerts, keep the customer well-informed and not frustrated due to last-minute changes.
3. The Salesforce Einstein analytics can be used to visualise and process data from multiple connected, intelligent devices, create reports and dashboards, find trends and patterns and be proactive.
Challenges of Using Salesforce IoT Cloud
Nothing in this world is perfect, and so is Salesforce IoT Cloud. Let us look at 3 of the most challenging aspects of Salesforce:
1. For IoT systems, security has always been a disadvantage as connected devices and big data generate additional security concerns.
2. With security comes the privacy of data. Since Salesforce collects and stores all information in the database, this might make customers feel uneasy, as all this data can be compromised in the case of an attack.
3. Flexibility and scaling are other things to consider before using the Salesforce IoT cloud. Although the low-code approach of Salesforce gives a set of predefined elements, this can be a limitation if the feature needed is not present.
Summary
As you have seen, the Salesforce IoT cloud is a simple business application that provides services to end-users or business users and improves services with the help of big data obtained from connected devices.
You have now learned the basics of the salesforce IoT cloud, including its meaning, components, working, and implementation algorithm. We finally concluded by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the Salesforce IoT cloud.