1) What was your first job? Not sure if you can count setting up a card shop and selling overpriced cards to my parents, so let’s say my first official job was working in a suit shop (Charles Tyrwhitt) whilst at college!
2) What positives do you see that have come out of the COVID pandemic? Since all of the Salesforce user groups in the UK turned into virtual meetups, it's been great to be able to meet so many people across the Salesforce community.
3) What is the best tech innovation you have come across in the last 5 years? It’s got to be the addition of Flows to Salesforce. The amount you can now automate with no coding is just insane.
4) What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever given or got? To breathe. When there are 100 things going on at once, take a step back and look at the big picture.
5) How did you end up working in/with Salesforce? I came across a part-time role at ProvenWorks in my first year of University and as they are a Salesforce ISV partner, I got stuck straight into the world of Salesforce from day one! Loved it so much I am still here!
6) How do you use Salesforce in your job today? I spend a lot of my time in Salesforce as the Operations Director at ProvenWorks. From using it as a customer, putting my admin hat on to find ways to make my colleagues lives easier, learning more about it on Trailhead, and giving demos of our solutions. I probably spend about 75% of my working day in Salesforce.
7) Any advice you can give for people starting out in Salesforce? There are so many different components to Salesforce - different clouds, learning modules, events, a whole new vocabulary and community - so start small by setting yourself achievable goals like a beginners trail on Trailhead.
8) Are there any good Salesforce resources (websites, groups, meetups etc) that you would recommend? SalesforceBen for sure! From in-depth reviews of products (like ours!) to career advice and Salesforce release previews it captures the full Salesforce ecosystem. Also any local user groups (you’re bound to make some friends here!) and Trailhead.
9) What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen Salesforce used for? I work a lot with our Not for Profit clients and love seeing how they utilise Salesforce for fundraising, from marketing campaigns to management of donors.
10) What do most companies get wrong when it comes to Salesforce? Trying to develop apps in house rather than getting solutions from the AppExchange. I am certainly biased working for a Salesforce ISV but our customers have saved a ton of time using our solutions. Plus most AppExchange solutions come with a dedicated support team too.
11) What do you wish was better about Salesforce? Nothing springs to mind here! It’s a great ecosystem to work in.
12) What’s hot in Salesforce right now? Slack! Great for communicating with both Salesforce employees and Trailblazer groups!
13) What could Salesforce recruiters do better? Understanding what the needs and qualities of individuals are as opposed to trying to fit someone in a role that might not suit them.
14) What tasks drive you mad? When I found out that members of our team have accepted manual time-consuming admin tasks as a necessary evil. I know there are definitely ways to achieve the same goal with more automation and much less burden. I wish they would tell me earlier so we can save them time!
15) Netflix or Prime or other (please specify)? It’s got to be Netflix purely because they stream Money Heist.
16) If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Hawaii so I could improve my surfing skills!
17) What tech content do you consume/follow/listen to? Most of the content I follow is on LinkedIn. I have connections with clients, consultants and lots of other people in the Salesforce community all over the world so it’s the perfect place to consume a diverse range of content.
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