Release Management
One of the biggest advantages of Salesforce CRM is that you get about 100 new features for the Force.com platform and the Salesforce CRM applications several times a year-without much effort on your part. And, unlike with traditional software, your customizations are never lost. When new releases become available, consider this approach:
1. Inform yourself with the following resources:
- The Release Preview for an overview of new features
- The Release Notes for details, including installation instructions
- A Webinar in which you'll hear from the product team from each area
2. Identify the 3 most promising new features:
- Use the vision and goals you defined earlier to select the features you want to activate
- Get input from your users to narrow your short list
- Sign up for the pre-release program to get your own test environment to try them out
3. Communicate about any changes
- Send an email and talk to your users
- Consider mini training sessions to get everyone up to speed
- Consider using some of the adoption techniques discussed in the Increase Adoption topic.
