With every release, Salesforce rolls out yet more incredible features and enhancements. As a Salesforce Administrator, it’s your responsibility to stay up to date on these key changes and continuously aim to review and enhance your Salesforce org. It’s not all about you though! Many new fun features can enhance productivity for your users.
In 2024, I predict a continued focus on increasing ROI (return on investment) by optimizing your existing Salesforce setup to include the latest features and enhancements already at your disposal. In this article, I’ve put together my top five features every Salesforce Admin needs in 2024 to stay ahead of the curve and bring your Admin a-game!
1. Permissions
The retirement of permissions on Profiles may have been delayed. However, Salesforce is still moving towards a Permission Set security model, and now is a great time to get ahead of the curve and start planning your migration.
“Hey, #AwesomeAdmins, I wanted to update you on the End of Life of Permission on Profiles. We are no longer going to enforce the Spring ‘26 end-of-life date. However, I still wholeheartedly recommend you operate with a permission set-led security model. All of our investments are very mission set and permission set group focused from a permissions standpoint. In the coming weeks, you will see some updated blog posts from me on the @SalesforceAdmns blog.”
Cheryl Feldman, Salesforce
Salesforce has introduced numerous new features over the past few releases to help you view and analyze your profiles.
When moving from Profiles to Permissions Sets there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid! Check out the article below for 5 important things to avoid.
Still a bit new to Permission Sets? Not to worry. Andreea has put together lots of tips for you to get you started successfully.
And while we’re at it, you should also swot up on Permission Set Groups which allow you to group Permission Sets.
2. Dashboards
Engage your users and key stakeholders by upgrading your dashboards to incorporate the latest features and enhancements.
You and your users can now create visually stunning and engaging dashboards with images, rich text, and dashboard widgets that are bound to impress your users and key stakeholders. Increased user adoption and engagement!
To get started, click “+ Widget” and select the type of widget to add when editing a dashboard.
You can also add up to five filters (instead of three) from the Spring ‘24.
Save valuable admin time by transferring dashboard ownership. Historically, when the owner of an important dashboard left the company, you had the hassle of cloning and recreating the dashboard. From Winter ‘24, you can transfer ownership of a dashboard and the new owner has complete control of the dashboard.
If a user with multiple dashboards leaves the company, you can also transfer dashboards in bulk!
Don’t forget that dashboards are not just for the Dashboard tab – dashboards can be embedded in other places, such as the Home page, to give users the metrics they need as soon as they log in to Salesforce.
3. Dynamic Forms, Dynamic Actions & Dynamic Related Lists
I’m starting to sound like a broken record – I’ve been advocating for Salesforce’s dynamic product suite for years now! The absence of support for standard objects and mobile may have prevented you from exploring these features but I have good news for you! As promised at Dreamforce ‘22, Salesforce has extended Dynamic Forms to support hundreds of standard objects! Specifically, support has been extended to the majority of LWC-enabled standard objects (Lighting Web Component enabled).
In addition, Dynamic Forms is generally available for mobile as of the Winter ‘24 release.
With Dynamic Forms now readily available on most standard objects and mobile, 2024 could be a good time to assess your existing page needs and have fun re-designing and re-building with Dynamic Forms, Actions, and Lists.
Still unsure if these features are for you? Here are a couple of use cases to spark some inspiration.
Dynamic Forms
Remove the need for multiple page layouts by using a single Dynamic Form and making Fields or Field Components visible to specific users. For example, you could create a Dynamic Form for Cases and display different information to your Support Team and Sales Team.
You can also make Fields and Field Components conditionally visible based on Record Type or a field’s value. A classic example might be to make the Closed Lost Reason field visible only when an Opportunity record is Closed Lost. Or perhaps the Contract Renewal Date field should only appear once an Opportunity is Closed Won. The possibilities are practically limitless…
Dynamic Actions
Do you have any actions that are only applicable to part of a process or a particular group of users? Dynamic Actions can be configured to display based on filters you determine. You could choose to only allow managers to view a “Send Contract” action or hide a “Send Follow-Up Email” action when a Case is closed.
Dynamic Related Lists
Use Dynamic Related Lists to create related lists that are filtered to specific records. For example, Closed Won Opportunities, Open Opportunities, and Open Cases. Name your Dynamic Related Lists to ensure it is clear to your users what records are being presented. In addition, you can configure what fields are displayed and in what order, choose the number of records to display, and also select which actions are available.
Get started now with the following guides:
- Salesforce Dynamic Forms: Overview & Deep Dive Tutorial
- Salesforce Dynamic Actions – Overview & Deep Dive Tutorial
- Ultimate Guide to Salesforce Dynamic Related Lists
4. Einstein AI Tools
Stuck on where to start? For now, let me give you some idea of the features available to you and what’s coming soon.
- Einstein Search: Provides users with personalized and predictive search results within the Salesforce platform. Einstein Search uses machine learning algorithms to understand user behavior, preferences, and context to deliver more relevant search results. This helps users find the information they need faster and more efficiently.
- Einstein Lead Scoring: Utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze and predict the likelihood of a lead converting into a sales opportunity or becoming a customer.
- Einstein Opportunity Scoring: Utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze and predict the likelihood of success for sales opportunities.
- Einstein Forecasting: Uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to bring more certainty and visibility to your forecasts.
- Einstein Activity Capture: Allows users to automatically capture and log emails, meetings, and other activities related to customer interactions directly within Salesforce.
- Einstein Case Classification: Automatically categorize and classify support cases submitted by customers.
- Recommended Articles in Flow: Provides personalized self-service support to customers by recommending relevant knowledge articles during their interactions with a Flow.
There are plenty more AI features currently available. Check out Lucy’s article on the 50+ Einstein AI products and tools.
Coming Soon
Einstein for Formulas
Anticipated to be released at the end of February, after the Spring ‘24 release, Einstein for Flow will act as your assistant and explain formulas in formula fields, validation rules, and default values in fields. The assistant will be available when you create a new formula or when you modify an existing one.
Einstein for Flow
Currently in pilot with a group of customers, Einstein for Flow is expected to go GA in Spring ‘24. As an Admin, you’ll describe the Flow you need in natural language. Einstein for Flow will then generate the Flow for you.
Copilot
As a personal assistant, Einstein Copilot will sit in the CRM app and respond instinctively to any user queries. Powered by Prompt Builder, you can create and manage natural language prompts that can be used to interact with Einstein Copilot in the front end. Accessing this tool means all the information being delivered is reliable and accurate, as it is technically being engineered by the admin.
In addition, you can test out how your prompt works in the playground environment, allowing you a space to trial and error your responses!
Prompt Builder
Salesforce Prompt Builder is a new feature in Salesforce that was also announced in the Spring ‘24 release, that lets you create prompts to generate personalized content. These prompts are like short questions you ask Salesforce to make content for you, such as personalized emails, social media posts, or website pages.
Instead of giving users a blank slate like ChatGPT, it uses templates for specific situations, like “Write an introduction email to this customer” or “Write a follow-up email to this case”.
It’s a powerful tool for enhancing customer engagement and sales, but it’s important to use it ethically and ensure the generated content is accurate and non-discriminatory.
I expect we’ll see further AI announcements for Admin at TDX, so be sure to check out our coverage of the event to stay up to date on the latest news!
5. Intelligence View & Seller Home
As businesses strive to keep up with customer expectations and stay ahead of their competitors, an engaging and efficient Salesforce interface for sales users becomes increasingly important.
Several new features have been rolled out for sales teams over the past few releases, including Intelligence View and Seller Home. Both features are designed to offer users an easy way to access information and identify tasks to be done and records that need attention.
Intelligence View
Intelligence View for leads, contacts, and accounts is a great way for users to simply and easily identify prospects and customers that need attention. This will save them time, with less need to wade through every record and they can also take action directly from the Lead, Contact, or Account tab. Fewer clicks = happy users.
Seller Home
Seller Home is designed to drive success for your sales team by giving them a complete view of their business. Sales users can get a ton of useful information at a glance including:
- Opportunity overview
- Account overview
- Lead overview
- Contact overview
- Weekly or monthly goals
- Today’s Events
- To-do items
- Recent Records
- Contact suggestions – identified by Einstein from a user’s emails and events
This new dashboard-like home page is the default Home page for the Sales, Sales Console, and Sales Engagement apps. It will appear automatically unless you have customized those pages, in this instance, you can manually enable it from Setup.
Summary
With every release, Salesforce gives us new features and enhancements to explore. As Admins, we should proactively keep up to date with all of these exciting changes to ensure we are following best practices and utilizing Salesforce to get the greatest return on investment.
Do you have any other essential features for Salesforce Admins in 2024? Let us know in the comments!
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