Salesforce Chatter goes mobile

IT World Canada Staff

12 years ago

Chatter, Salesfoprce.com’s enterprise social networking application, is going mobile with the company’s release today of a version of which can run on Android-powered mobile devices and another iteration for Apple’s iOS operating system soon afterwards.

The applications will enable users to access client relations management data stored in Salesforce.com’s cloud storage, create content and act on customer information from any mobile device, according to the company. Salesforce will extend the app to other mobile operating systems such as BlackBerry’s new BB 10 OS and Windows Mobile if it seens a demand for it.

“The biggest demand is in the iOS and Android platforms,” said Renny Managhan, Salesforce VP of marketing for Canada. “Availability for other platforms will come as popularity demands.”

Chatter, which became generally available in 2010, incorporates a suite of Facebook-like networking features such as user profiles, groups, document sharing and information feeds.

However, while Facebook is geared towards more personal social networking, Chatter is used in a business context. Essentially, Chatter provides subscribers with real-time information streams and updates about clients, partners and campaigns and enables users to share and collaborate on files.

Chatter now has 195,00 active social networks and is employed by such companies as Virgin America, Kelly Services, Design Within Reach and Vodafone Australia.

The application was previously focused on desktop and laptop computers but this most recent update brings it to the mobile realm, said Salesforce.com.

“The proliferation of mobile devices has changed employee expectations – they want the apps they interact with at work to be like the apps they use for their personal lives – easy to navigate and use from any device,” a statement from the company said.

With the new upgrade Chatter account holders can now use the app on mobile to do the following:

– Access all customer information stored inside Salesforce including customer accounts, campaigns, case leads, opportunities and custom apps built on top of the Salesforce platform. Users can get real-time updates such as quote approvals, service inquiry or social conversation

– Create and edit information from the new publisher tool that lets users scroll through a variety of photos, files, polls, task and other data

– Act on updates around contacts, accounts, opportunities, campaigns and customer record available from the Chatter feed.

Managhan said, the Chatter model plays perfectly into the current trends of mobile marketing, bring your own device, as well as corporate collaboration and customer engagement through social networks.

Chatter subscription owners, he said, can be used to create social networking groups among co-workers or teams and have the option of opening up the group to include customers.

“Organizations, from large enterprises to small mom and pop operations can build their own apps on top of the Salesforce platform and via Chatter view files and images, conduct polls, read update feeds and even get valuable feedback from clients,” said Monaghan.