The “Ask Me About” Button Gets a Digital Upgrade
iCOMPEL™ WDS: Wearable Digital Signage features a 2.4” LCD player that you can attach to your shirt via a magnetic clasp. According to the Blackbox website, you can: 
» Upload media and assemble loops via their web interface.
» Create digital tags that attract attention. Apply special effects and add scrolling text with your logo and branding.
» Complement your existing in-store digital signage system.

Is this product a useful tool for an in-store marketing campaign, or just another distraction from real customer service that people are looking for? How annoying would it be to ask a salesperson a question about a particular product while a video for 50% off clearance winter clothing plays on their lapel? Or does this type of distractive technology have a place in the retail environment?

Digital shelf talkers (like iShelf) are also becoming more prevalent in grocery and discount stores. Does anyone make purchase decisions based on in-store digital shelf displays, or are they just another noisy distraction? According to a Nielsen Media Survey, 44 percent of shoppers agree that in-store television could influence them to buy the advertised product versus the item they planned on purchasing. Other than the Nielsen survey, there is very little data available to gauge the effectiveness of any in-store digital media. There is, however, high demand for the technology. ABI Research recently reported that the global market for digital signage technology will reach an impressive $4.5 billion in 2016, roughly triple the $1.3 billion spent in 2010.

My point in all of this is to have a marketing plan in place first before investing in the latest technologies like Wearable Digital Signage or iShelf to deliver your message. Does your customer want to be engaged by these products or do they prefer one-on-one methods? Thorough research will give you those answers and help you connect with your customer by their preferred method.

Last month, the Force.com Developer Relations team held a Holiday Cookbook Contest to spur user-generated content. There were a good number of high-quality submissions that were reviewed, tested, and edited before being posted to the Force.com Cookbook site. You can see my own submission here.

I want to point out one cookbook recipe that is of particular interest, which is Luke Freeland’s recipe for automating the execution of unit tests in a Salesforce org. The big idea is to use Schedulable Apex to periodically add all Apex classes that start with “Test” as records in the ApexTestQueueItem object to be executed. The icing on the cake is that Luke created another scheduled job that will check the results of these tests, which are stored in the ApexTestResult object, and email them out.

While the idea of Continuous Integration is very common in traditional desktop development projects, it seems to have been largely forgotten in the migration to the cloud. If your Salesforce custom code base is small, then setting up a continuous integration strategy may be not that important, but many Salesforce users are increasingly demanding more custom code to be written to streamline their workflow in Salesforce.

I’ll give a quick object overview of Luke’s code for you to review if you choose to implement this solution and automatically execute your org’s unit tests.

AutomatedTestJobQueuer
+ execute
+ doExecute
+ createDaily4AMScheduledJob
+ enqueueUnitTests (Visible through API)
+ enqueueTests

AutomatedTestingJob
+ doExecute
+ createEvery15MinuteScheduledJobs
+ processAsyncResults
+ getCompletedAsyncJobsIds
- sendTestResultEmail
- getTestResultHtmlEmailBody
+ checkClassStatus
+ checkMethodStatus

After you understand the code and have it copied into your org, here are the commands to get the automation ball rolling.

Execute this Apex code to start the automated execution of Apex tests:
AutomatedTestJobQueuer.createDaily4AMScheduledJob();

Execute this Apex code to have test results emailed:
AutomatedTestingJob.createEvery15MinuteScheduledJobs();

Luke’s solution is quite barebones, so if you like an alternative solution with a bit more polish, you should definitely check out Matthew Botos’ Automated Testing for Force.com code on GitHub.
Matthew’s solution has a few advantages:
1) Ease of installation with the Salesforce package he supplies.
2) A nice UI which includes a Visualforce page and tab.

Image credit: Flickr

Last weekend, I enjoyed a return trip to Williams Arena – better known as The Barn to University of Minnesota basketball fans. I was accompanied by my almost-five-year-old, who made his first trip to the historic venue.

The Barn is a throwback in the high-stakes world of college athletics. While Minnesota’s conference foes play in multi-million-dollar, modern arenas with NBA-level amenities, the hangar-like Barn opened in 1928. It was built for $650,000. It features a raised floor that brings fans closer to the action and rattles opposing teams.

Generations of Gopher fans have faithfully trekked to The Barn. They embrace the chipped paint, cramped concourses and sometimes-obstructed views of the court. They see nostalgia and tradition. They can’t imagine the Gophers playing anywhere else.

Teenage Gopher recruits, however, often have a different view. They see a dumpy old gym with no air conditioning for summer workouts. They tour a venue with limited practice facilities and fewer major-college comforts. To a 17-year-old being wooed by many universities, the Barn’s charm sometimes falls flat – and last week, coach Tubby Smith renewed the ongoing discussion about whether the Barn should be replaced.

Don’t let your brand fall into a Barn-like state. You likely have a well-established base of followers. They stand by you, recommend you and faithfully buy your products or services. That’s a good thing.

At the same time, make sure you remain fresh and relevant to your next generation of fans and customers. Stay ahead of trends, understand what’s compelling to them, freshen your marketing and adopt new technology – before the competition forces dramatic change.