A Salesforce ISV Partner is a company that develops a program or product based on Salesforce platform. ISV stands for Independent Software Vendors and they basically serve as product partners for Salesforce. By using the customizable features of the Salesforce platform, they can come up with unique software systems that can be used for a number of different purposes. These newly created software products are not readily available with Salesforce. The type and nature of the software items may vary greatly. For instance, there can be simple software applications like event planner to advanced applications like online movie ticket booking apps. Salesforce ISV experts are always in high demand as they can play a crucial role in advancing the software ecosystem associated with Salesforce.
Here are the 4 lessons from becoming a Salesforce ISV Partner as told by the Salesforce development companies in India.
1: Developing software applications and having them approved can take sufficiently long time
The problem with developing an application as a Salesforce ISV Partner is that it takes sufficiently long time to eventually get the application developed, tested and finally approved for large scale commercial usage. Even if you have your app’s coding completed perfectly, it can actually take you anywhere between 6 and 12 months for the development process to take off. There are going to be numerous rounds of preliminary technical reviews and business reviews before you can sign the ISV contract. Once you have signed on the ISV contract for the development of the application, you would still need to wait for the final and ultimate security review. You should also keep in mind that more than 60% of all applicants are not able to pass through this test the first time.
This can be a major setback for you, especially if you are the owner of a startup software development company. Most startups commence their businesses with limited funds and for this reason they are always on the lookout of making money quickly. Therefore, it can be a really difficult thing for your startup business to actually wait for 6 to 12 months before you can launch a software product. It is therefore vital that you come up with a proper timeline for your app development strategy in case you are looking to distribute your app through AppExchange.
2: You can try other ways for distributing your software
If you ask most of the leading Salesforce consulting companies of our country, they would be able to tell you that you do not actually need to distribute the software you are working on through AppExchange alone as there are other ways to do that as well. One of the mistakes many beginners tend to commit is that they think that it is vital to distribute an app through AppExchange if they want to become a fully accredited Salesforce ISV partner. However, this is actually far from the truth and you can launch your Salesforce app in other ways as well. A good way to achieve this goal would be to send your customers the installation links for your app. This can work out perfectly even if your app is still not approved by the team at Salesforce. It is true that your app won’t be distributed through AppExchange. You won’t even have much control over the licensing of your app. However, this process can definitely work best for you as it can help you to launch your app quickly and get all the customers you need as you wait for your app to get proper approval by the Salesforce team.
There is also another excellent way to launch your app through AppExchange. You can launch a sandbox or a beta version which can be conveniently installed in the Salesforce sandbox environments. It is important for you to note that the sandbox is only available with Enterprise Edition as an add-on for which you need to pay extra. You are not going to get sandbox with the developer edition. This can become a majorly complex problem for you if you are looking to have your application tested. Unless you have the Enterprise license, you cannot simply go ahead and test the software. You cannot also get the Enterprise license unless you become official partners. In such cases, you will need to pay $900 for the annual contract that can actually enable you to evaluate the application in the sandbox environment. You should also keep in mind that the amount for the sandbox will be charged from your licenses. Since it is not a flat fee, you are likely to pay a lot more if you are working with numerous seats.
3: Make the most of the assistance offered to you by the ISV account manager
When you are looking to become a Salesforce developer, you will find that you can work closely with the Independent Software Vendor partner account managers capable of helping you smoothly navigating through the whole process. These professionals are there to assist you work on your app concept internally within the world of Salesforce so that you can have all the approvals you need. These account managers can make life really easy for you as they are familiar about the whole process and can deliver you solutions that can be very helpful for you. Unless you have them working by your side, you can find it increasingly difficult to understand the complexity of the ways in which Salesforce operates.
These account managers have the responsibility to handle a large base of potential partners. They also have quotas that depend on revenue share of the AppExchange. Therefore it is natural that the greater levels of revenue margins you can generate the more active interest these account managers are going to take when it comes to promoting your requirements and interests.
While there is also a Salesforce program that is built for startup firms, it may not exactly help you to eventually become an accredited ISV partner. This program essentially focuses on assisting startups to working with the tools presented in the Salesforce app developer ecosystem.
4: The terminology associated with Salesforce can get pretty confusing
It is important to remember that Salesforce has its very own and distinct concepts and terminology that you may not understand as a startup. In fact, there are numerous versions of app development documentation you can find on the diverse Salesforce websites and in some cases the information presented in them conflict with one another. When you approach them for working on your very own ISV project, they are going to ask you about your incorporation certifications, business operation licenses as well as details about the engineers and developers working with you. You may face a difficult time to grasp ideas such as editions. You may also feel somewhat lost when you are looking to deal with the idea of organizations and logins. If you happen to experience any errors within the system or if you find that your login options have expired, it can take at least a few weeks to determine the glitch and then work on resolving it. For this reason, Salesforce has a detailed page that deals with issues pertaining to the login of their partners.
Whether you are looking to develop a program in association with the Salesforce CRM or develop a longstanding partnership with them, it can be difficult to find their approval as a startup. Becoming an ISV partner for Salesforce can open up a lot of doors for your business. You can also officially launch apps through AppExchange. Upgrading and managing licenses for your apps can also become easier when you work with AppExchange. For this reason, you should brace yourself from the start when you want to become an ISV partner for Salesforce.
