This year at TrailheaDX, I had the privilege to sit on a panel with two other Salesforce partners to share our knowledge and insights about the AppExchange partnership program. The panel called Demystifying the AppExchange: Insider Tips for Success, also included me, J.J. Jakubik, Chief Architect at Vlocity and Dory Weiss, VP of Engineering at nCino.
We were there to share our stories with anyone considering or new to the AppExchange partner program. Let’s face it, getting direct information from current partners who have built their products and companies within the AppExchange ecosystem is an excellent place to start.
Before I share Metazoa’s unique story, let me give you a high-level understanding of who we are. Metazoa has developed the industry’s most popular tool for change and release management for Salesforce Admins. The product was first released on the AppExchange in 2006 as the company Dreamfactory. In 2018 The core engineering team from Dreamfactory, now Metazoa re-released the product with a major upgrade. Snapshot’s metadata automation, compliance and security reporting and org optimization was and still is a necessity amongst Salesforce’s largest customers.
As DreamFactory evolved and expanded with products outside of the AppExchange, the company’s focus shifted. After a successful exit with Dreamfactory, we returned to the Appexchange as Metazoa and 100% focus on Snapshot. With more than a decade of knowledge on how to simplify the task of change and release management for Salesforce admins and the extensive growth of Salesforce over the last 12 years, it was the perfect time to get back to our roots and the AppExchange.
While Metazoa is essentially back as a start-up company, both Ncino and Vlocity have each built their companies on the Appexchange platform from the start. It was incredibly informative for me to hear them both talk about the multitude of offerings Salesforce partners have access to today. Such as dedicated technical resources, access to early beta programs, online community groups and the AppExchange marketing programs.
For example, Dory explained that Ncino uses Trailhead as their onboarding and training platform for new hires. J.J discussed the challenges of building from scratch versus directly on top of the Salesforce platform. Being able to utilize those resources and capabilities drastically increased their speed to launch and reduced time to market.
The importance of trust and the reputation of being an AppExchange partner was also a significant factor for all of us. Because of that trust, 60% of the fortune 100 companies that are Salesforce customers use Snapshot today. While Metazoa is a “start-up” again, that is the number one reason we are banking on the AppExchange platform to build our business. One example of the trust and power of the AppExchange is during the time we were re-launching the company. We were still going through the product security review, didn’t have a listing yet and still working to get our website out. Still, with virtually no presence, we were able to close some of our largest key accounts to date. That is a strong testament to the power of the Salesforce ecosystem.
In the last 12 years, the AppExchange has continued to grow and evolve into a more enterprise-focused platform which was instrumental in the redesign of Snapshot 2.0. We focused on speed and automation for change and release management, added over a dozen security and compliance reports, built in org cleanup and optimization and DX compatibility. Snapshot 2.0 had to be and is the only end-to-end org management solution for the enterprise.
As many have seen first-hand, the power of the partnership is astounding. Salesforce has over 150,000 customers worldwide, and 87% of Salesforce customers leverage the apps on the AppExchange. So, whether you are a startup or a seasoned SMB, there are so many reasons to become a Salesforce AppExchange Partner. With so many offerings from marketing to sales, product development, and distribution, it really is just a much faster path to bring your product to market and achieve success.
If you weren’t able to attend the panel session at TrailheaDX ’18, there was a follow-up webinar which is now available on demand.
https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1650792/60021FB1ED5829AECC502266FAC43F88
Contact us to learn more.
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