Making your Salesforce more visual can help everyone in your organization be more efficient and organized. With new developments and applications being created all the time, it’s hard to track what’s visually possible (and viable) in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Maybe you’re already using some visual elements in your Salesforce – displaying a partner logo on an account or the photo of a person at the contact level (and having those available in views and reports). Organizations are using images in astounding ways, including cataloging products, doing field inspections, etc.
But images are just the beginning! The visual use cases we’ve seen extend to sketching, aerial views, digital documents, floor plans, and more.
In this article, we will cover the general uses of images in Salesforce and then take a look at a few of the expanded visual use cases being adopted by Salesforce users across the ecosystem, depending on their industry.
Note: Some of these use cases can be accomplished through development, while others will need a third-party application.
Uploading and Using Images in Salesforce
The core of having a more visual Salesforce comes in the utilization of the most basic images. This concept includes everything from snapping photos to uploading, rendering, and manipulating them within Salesforce.
Image Inputs – Getting Images into Salesforce
The standard Salesforce image upload methods will work for someone who has only the most basic image needs. The two standard image upload functions in Salesforce are the “image upload button” component and the rich text field. The Salesforce mobile app can even access your device camera for easy image upload.
However, there are limitations in quantity and/or image file size for these stock upload features. Because of those limits, third-party applications exist to facilitate image upload in bulk and from mobile devices – particularly for field service and inspection use cases, where taking multiple photos as evidence is very common.
For example, the SharinPix mobile app allows users to take pictures from a pre-set checklist and upload the images automatically to be viewed later in Salesforce. The features surrounding the SharinPix app even work offline.
Image Outputs – Using Images and Sharing Them From Salesforce
Once the images are collected and uploaded onto Salesforce, there are many possibilities for how they can be used to make internal processes easier – plus, they can also help improve interactions and relationships with clients and partners. Images can be pushed out to web pages, emails, and even documents made available for distribution digitally or in print.
For example, a real estate company will want to manage photos of their properties within their Salesforce for internal review purposes (such as appraisals and inspections), but they have external image needs as well. No one will consider buying a property or house, without having some idea of what it looks like. Put simply, visuals help realtors sell homes.
With well integrated images in Salesforce, users can use a PDF document generation tool to populate a brochure with Salesforce data related to a property (address, price, property size, number of rooms, etc.). But they still need to add the visual element.
Much image integration onto a generated document is possible with existing Doc Gen tools through merging images via URLs. You can even work with images outside of Salesforce to make them ready to be used in the generated document.
Alternatively, third-party apps can process this for you by optimizing and reformatting images with unexpected ratios and resolutions into the highest quality for the asset.
So, combine a doc gen tool with a proper image management tool externally to format a header for your document. Or, take advantage of a third-party solution that works inside Salesforce to automate an overlay of specific info over a custom formatted image with a transparent design. Then, you can populate images optimized for size and quality in predefined locations on the document to complement the text information.
The result is an asset like this:
Visual Use Cases in Salesforce: Beyond Basic Images
Making your Salesforce more visual goes far beyond simply uploading and exporting basic images. There has been so much ground covered in the world of visuals in the last few years that the sky seems like the limit, so here are a few examples of the possibilities…
Aerial views
Working with maps in Salesforce can help in planning a new delivery route and organizing information based on sales or distribution territory. But you can also turn those maps into visual assets.
For example, you can capture the aerial view from a map and use it to draw and calculate area and distance, as well as snap it into a sales or technical document to be generated – all without leaving Salesforce.
Floor plans and blueprints
Upload PDFs, images of blueprints, or technical plans to work with them at a technical level. You can place remarks, make annotations, or even run an inspection, linking images to locations on the floor plan.
Template images
Create a template image and add your own annotations per instance. For example, car inspections may utilize a photo outline of a generic car, so the field technician can mark damage by drawing on the template image and adding a description to describe it.
Scanned documents
For businesses who still use paper documentation, or those who are transitioning to being fully digital, working with scanned documents in Salesforce is key. Scan in your documents and have the text information extracted and saved as fields within Salesforce.
Digital documents (with photos)
If your business is leaving paper documentation behind, create your documents for client signature to be filled in on an iPad or other tablet. The fields can be prepopulated with client information and they can leave their signature directly on the form. There’s even a possibility to add images from a successful delivery or repair job right on the form.
How Can You Make Your Salesforce More Visual?
With so many visual possibilities within Salesforce, it’s crucial to have expert help in achieving the right visual setup for your Salesforce org.
At SharinPix, we have completed over 600 implementations of visual use cases for our Salesforce customers and we’re always surprised at how our clients come up with new ideas to use visuals in Salesforce.
We’re always happy to discuss any challenges you might be facing around the use or manipulation of images or other visual elements within Salesforce – and we’d love to make your personal visual needs a reality!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on this article and to learn more about SharinPix, please visit our AppExchange listing.