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We recently sat down with Rick Craig, on our TechOps team, to get the inside scoop on the top 5 updates to look out for in the upcoming SFDC Winter 2024 release. According to Rick, the Salesforce Winter ‘24 release notes and updates are packed with exciting features and enhancements that will revolutionize the way we work with Salesforce. From dynamic forms to GenAI calls, and everything in between, this release is set to further transform the Salesforce experience. Let’s take a look at Rick’s comprehensive breakdown of the upcoming release!
Dynamic Forms
What’s new?
- Dynamic Forms is now available on hundreds of standard SFDC objects
- Enhanced page performance and layout control
- Dynamic Forms is now supported on Mobile
Why Do We Love It?
Dynamic Forms allow you to build flexible, dynamic layouts that can adjust the display of fields based on data within the record or user criteria. They allow full customization and control over the layout and organization of the fields on your page, reducing the need for custom coding of Lightning components. It also streamlines the data entry process and makes the interface more user-friendly with contextual display. From an admin perspective, it also simplifies managing custom views without having to juggle many custom layouts. It’s no wonder this was a top requested feature on the IdeaExchange.
Previously, Dynamic Forms was just available for custom objects and only a handful of LWC enabled standard objects in the Desktop experience. Now that it has rolled out for hundreds of additional objects plus the mobile experience, more users and admins can take advantage of the powerful flexibility of Dynamic Forms.
Generative AI Calls and Emails
What’s new?
- Einstein Generative AI for Sales can produce emails for leads and contacts automatically
- Product information and other key opportunity details can automatically be embedded in responses
- Einstein Conversation Insights can generate call summaries after video and voice calls that summarize customer feedback and next steps
Why Do We Love It?
Generative AI and LLMs are obviously a hot topic right now and Salesforce Einstein has ramped up the use of such features to rapidly increase sales and service productivity. Einstein uses your sales data to generate personalized emails using a method known as grounding. Grounding in the context of generative AI or natural language processing refers to the method by which concepts or words are connected or “grounded” in the real world. It translates abstract representations into something more concrete. Typical pre-built email templates either require a lot of re-writing before sending or sound just as they are: “pre-built”. With Einstein, sales can quickly send responses to leads or customers with common or custom prompts that are likely to get higher engagement. With Einstein Conversation Insights, notes can be auto-generated saving reps a lot of time re-listening to calls removes the guesswork from follow-ups but summarizing next-steps succinctly. Leveraging both can supercharge your reps productivity.
Flow Enhancements
What’s new?
- Data transformations can now happen in flows with the new transformation element
- Flows can be autolaunched based on Data Cloud changes
- Wait elements can be used in more flow types
Why Do We Love It?
It’s no secret that admins love Flow Builder for building powerful applications with clicks not code. The latest enhancements give even more flexibility to flows and even further reduce the need for APEX customizations. Data transformations are typically seen in ETL tools and allow you to manipulate groups or lists of data (for example, applying a formula to a set of fields, converting to different data types, or simple data normalization). This plus the ability to make HTTP callouts from a flow can allow building a flow that fully integrates data outside Salesforce.
Instead of being limited to just record-triggered flows, what if unified data from Data Cloud or updated calculated insights based off of new customer interactions, could immediately kick off a flow? Well, now in Winter 2024 that’s possible! What if you want to take action based off of changes to records or data cloud objects but you want a mixture of immediate and time-delayed actions? You can do that too! Previously wait steps in flows were limited to journeys but now can be used in auto-launched flows and schedule-triggered flows which is great when it comes to sending out alerts and escalations based on timed criteria.
Unified Account Data in Data Cloud
What’s new?
- Account data can be unified in Data Cloud in addition to person data.
- Identity resolution supports matching on business name, address, or other attributes..
- Support for custom rulesets.
Why Do We Love It?
Previously, Data Cloud could do identity resolution for people, but account based matching was lacking. The ability to do account based identity resolution is a huge boon for B2B organizations and will superpower account based marketing efforts. B2B marketers can now increase the accuracy of customer profiles by cross-referencing and consolidating information from various sources.
LWR Site Improvements
What’s new?
- New “Actions Bar” component can be used to take actions on standard and custom records
- Record Detail Component is now available for site visitors to view and edit more records
- Dynamic redirect rules can help keep users directed to your Experience Cloud site from your core site
Why Do We Love It?
Experience Cloud sites that leverage the LWR platform versus Aura have many performance related advantages. For orgs that have been waiting to migrate their Aura sites to LWR due to feature limitations in LWR, the latest enhancements make it easier to do so. There’s now no need to create custom components to handle simple actions and being able to leverage record details from core also reduces administration of sites by keeping views managed in one place. Finally, with dynamic rules, you can redirect users from your site to an LWR site URL—without any coding, creating a seamless web experience for your users.
Curious about how to make the most of your Salesforce investment? Talk to Shift Paradigm today!
THE AUTHOR
Rick Craig is a Salesforce Architect who has worked in the Salesforce ecosystem for the last 11 years. Prior to joining Shift Paradigm as a Senior Consultant, Rick lead the development of the Marketing Ops tech stack for a global manufacturing company.
