Opening new doors
Posted on June 21, 2008
Filed Under Kids | 10 Comments
A few months ago, I said I would never blog about my kids again. I’m going to make an exception for this post. I also mentioned that it had to do with a legal dispute and how what I said on this blog was twisted and used against me.
Now the legal matter is over and I’d like to set the record straight about what I was talking about. I started this post at least 30 times, trying to find the right words to explain what happened once and for all. Part of me wants to maintain silence. Part of me wants to say what happened to serve as a warning to other parents of special needs children who may be considering due process.
Guess which part wins?
Convio is building CRM for the rest of us
Posted on June 19, 2008
Filed Under Internet & Technology, Nonprofit | 1 Comment
Allan Benamer has a great post which gives an overview of all the fun stuff that’s happening in the nonprofit technology space these days.
I was going to leave a comment on his post, but then decided it’s time to throw my own $0.02 into the conversation.
I will never forget the chat I had 2 years ago with the senior GetActive employee who oversaw data integration projects. I asked about plans for integration between GetActive and Salesforce. To say that he blew me off was kind. And look at ‘em now!
I am very happy for my friends at Convio and the Salesforce Foundation that this is happening. I’ve had a chance to see an early demo of Aikido, and it’s incredible for such a young project.
Alas, to answer some questions I’ve been getting, despite what may appear to be an obvious fit for C3 (Convio? Salesforce? Hello!) I have decided not to participate in the Charter program. I wanted to, I really did. There are features in Aikido that had me cleaning up my chin after I saw them (think: relationship management). But we’re too far gone in Salesforce. Even though Convio’s CRM is built on Force.com and is Salesforce, there’s currently no easy way I can add it on to my existing Salesforce instance without losing some of the customization I’ve built on over the years.
For example, let’s say someone buys pins on our website through our Convio eCommerce store. Overnight, the buyer is added as a contact in Salesforce, the transaction is added as an opportunity (along with appropriate workflow rules so the office knows to send the pins and we can track that they did and when). At the same time, the inventory custom object we have is updated to reflect that pins will soon be leaving the shelf. The Convio CRM wouldn’t be able to do anything with this, and I couldn’t have Aikido and the opportunity-based customizations I already had at the same time.
That was a deal breaker for us. Aikido is a great fit for an organization that will either be touching Salesforce for the first time, or has been using the nonprofit template with minimal changes.
Anyway, why is Convio for “the rest of us?” Back to Allan’s post:
Despite the self-imposed quiet period due to the acquisition of Kintera by Blackbaud, Kintera issued a press release on June 6th touting the ability to add custom entities (database tables) to Kintera and have them automatically exposed through the Kintera API. Yes, you can now develop unique third party apps in Kintera that have nothing to do with fundraising (even though everything has to do with fundraising).
Huh? Guess what, not every nonprofit has a developer down the hall. Even organizations twice our size (which are still pretty small) glaze over in fear when you start talking about custom development. They just want to save the world, they don’t want to program it.
I am not a developer or programmer. A lot of what I’ve been able to do for C3 in Salesforce has been possible just by reading some simple documentation where I didn’t need a programmer translate for me. It’s that easy. And that’s why I’ve become a bit of an evangelist for the platform. Since Aikido is built on the Salesforce platform, you’ll be able to tap in the AppExchange and all the functionality that already comes with the Enterprise edition. Plus, Aikido is fully supported by Convio. Organizations will have all the Salesforce support resources plus Convio support resources. Honestly, if you can’t get your question answered with all that you aren’t asking it right. Cool stuff.
Convio hasn’t released any information yet about Aikido pricing, but some of the preliminary strategy has been privately shared with me. I can tell you right now that what is most exciting about this project is how approachable it will be for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes. Trust me, they’re thinking of us little guys as well as the organization with the $10 million budget. It’s not just a new toy, it’s a strategy shift. This isn’t your grandmother’s Convio.
Before we can play the metered broadband game, don’t we have to understand the rules?
Posted on June 14, 2008
Filed Under Internet & Technology | Leave a Comment
Seems a lot of articles are popping up on metered broadband, especially on GigaOm. Essentially, charging “heavy” internet users more for broadband than “regular” users.
I read things like “5-gigabyte monthly cap” and it’s like talking about how much something costs in rubles when you have no idea what that means in the dollars you spend.
They keep talking about “abuse” but I have no idea what that means. How much is too much? Who sets that measure, and who agrees that it’s fair? Does it take the telecommuter and web worker into consideration? Doesn’t appear to be the case from the stories I’m reading. “Abuse” is measured by volume only, not intent. I’m online for many hours a day. I watch videos but don’t download movies, upload some graphics, manage C3’s various websites and web services which often means a bit of uploading and downloading, write for WebWorkerDaily, etc. Eric and the girls are on our DSL modem too, doing their thing. Should I be nervous about metered broadband? I have absolutely no idea.
Appirio Calendar Sync and Salesforce Summer ‘08
Posted on June 11, 2008
Filed Under Salesforce | 2 Comments
To my fellow Salesforce admins: If your organization has enabled the Appirio Calendar Sync to sync Google Apps calendar with Salesforce, and your organization has been upgraded to Salesforce Summer ‘08, have your users double check their settings in the sync application. It’s likely they’ll find something like this:
The sync stopped on Friday, June 6, just as we were being upgraded to Summer ‘08. I have administrator login privileges on a few user accounts, and sure enough their sync stopped at exactly the same time.
Thoughts on today’s nearly-everyone-but-SteveNote
Posted on June 9, 2008
Filed Under Macintosh | Leave a Comment
Over an hour of demos?!?! Seriously?!?
I find it hard to believe that what we saw/heard was what was planned. Can you imagine?
Steve: “Okay, folks, I only have 2 things to announce this time and a lot of time to kill. So instead of my standing up there turning the reality distortion field to full blast, showing off the fact that I am one the world’s best public speakers and can make those apps look great, we’re going to have speaker after speaker come up on that stage and show their own apps. Dry, stiff and boring, please. Let’s not coach them much. The more nervous they are, the better. That way, by the time I get up there it won’t matter what I say…those Mac fans’ll be so glad to see me they’ll cheer their heads off.”
Something felt “off” about this keynote, and way too long demos wasn’t all of it.
The energy wasn’t there.
Isn’t it strange that they brought the Apple Store down this morning, only to update it with products you can’t buy. When the iPhone was first introduced, Jobs made it clear that you couldn’t buy it online because they were still waiting for FCC approvals. I wonder if it’s a similar situation now. Why else wouldn’t Apple open the iPhone to preorders since they have no other iPhones to sell? Rumor has it that the new iPhones have to be purchased and activated in-store, so that may be part of it.
And I never like when companies introduce new products by telling you what sucks about the product it replaces. Like the “new” headphone jack. It should have been flush to begin with…that’s not a feature! Tell me why I want one of these over the new BlackBerry Bold I have my eye on. Because today, Mr. Jobs, you didn’t convince me.
