Investors Management Corporation (IMC) implemented AIM to gain visibility into their universe of potential investments and to streamline their evaluation process. AIM by Application Experts centralizes institutional knowledge related to investment due diligence and portfolio management and provides detailed reporting to improve operational efficiencies for Private Equity fund managers.

Read the full case study here.

As part of our 500th user celebration, App-X is rolling out a new feature on our website.  Tips & Tricks is a library of videos put together by App-X consultants explaining how to get the most out of AIM, PULSE, and Salesforce.

Adding a connection type, editing and creating a list view, merging accounts, and moving a contact to a new employer are just a few of the topics we’ve covered.

Keep an eye out for new videos in the coming weeks and months.  And if you have a suggestion for a video you’d like to see, let us know.

You can find the App-X Tips and Tricks library app-x.com/tips-and-tricks.

By Tommy Gaidus

This summer, I spent time with Application Experts testing what kinds of changes can be done to an org programmatically with certain tools like the Salesforce Metadata API and which kinds of changes must be done manually.

Through my work, I spent enough time with the Metadata API to really be able to call myself a veritable “expert” in that area. It is very unique for someone of my age and experience level to be given the opportunity to become so familiar with the increasingly important Salesforce Platform and explore its intricacies.

More broadly, this summer gave me a great introduction to the role cloud computing can play in business, specifically in Alternative Asset Management fields such as Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Impact Investing. As cloud computing becomes more and more prevalent in the future, I will be grateful for the experience I gained at Application Experts. Perhaps most importantly however, the adventure I had working with such a great group of people this summer is not one I will soon forget.

By Jeff V.

It looks like App-X will be sending a small contingent to Salesforce’s annual users’ conference Dreamforce in San Francisco this year.  As always, it looks like Dreamforce will be the place to be to get caught up on the latest news and to just hone one’s Salesforce skills.

I’ll be attending my 1st Dreamforce this September.  From all that I’ve heard, the sheer magnitude of this event will surely impress, not to mention the fact that Metallica will be playing live.  I’m picturing 20,000 people in business casual dress and nametags on lanyards around their necks lightly tapping their toes to a 5-minute guitar solo.  How the members of Metallica won’t feel like complete sellouts, I don’t know.  Or maybe I’m wrong—maybe there will be 20,000 people in a business casual mosh pit.

That said, as users and peddlers of the Salesforce platform, we’re in a unique position to become better users of the system, but also better providers of a platform that continues to gain momentum each year.  As a marketer, I’m interested to see what amount of focus is put on social media, especially with Salesforce’s recent acquisition of Radian6.

We’ll be live tweeting from the event (twitter handle: app_x) if you’re interested in following along or tweeting along with us.

And if you’re headed to Dreamforce in September as well, we look forward to seeing you there.  I’ll be in the mosh pit.

By Beth Busenhart

As a Project Manager here at App-X I have the pleasure of working with clients in the Impact Investing Space to implement AIM and PULSE. On June 20 and 21st, I had the added bonus of attending the ANDE Metrics Conference in Washington, DC. For two action packed days I was exposed to some of the most innovative thinking in the industry around tracking and measuring social impact. Those new to the space might be asking “What is Social Impact?” The answer is, “That is a good question!” and one that was explored in great detail at the conference. At a very high level, Social Impact is the result of the mission driven work that Foundations, NGOs, and non-profit organizations are doing in the world. Our partners at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) are dedicated to providing more concrete answers to this question through the development and propagation of the IRIS Taxonomy. A more important question is “How do we measure and benchmark Social Impact?” This was the underlying theme of the conference.

It was striking to participate with such a diverse group of people in getting excited about metrics and measurement. We were talking about data for two days straight and engagement remained high. One of the highlights of the conference was the release of the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) first IRIS Report. I can now imagine how excited the accounting profession must have been when GAAP was introduced. Now there’s a sentiment I never expected to express! Eyes lit up as the potential of sharing data and benchmarking the progress of an investment against a concrete set of indicators was unveiled. I am thrilled with the potential in this space and very excited to be working with this bright and motivated community.

As a service provider working with Alternative Asset Investors, I am a firm believer in the role that accessible technology plays in the development of Impact Investments as a distinct asset class. Imagine the possibilities in providing concrete evidence that social benefit and financial gain are not mutually exclusive returns on capital. The value proposition is high. As an industry that believes in collaboration and transparency, we are working together to lower the barriers to entry for others to join the movement.

By Ben Hendershot and Jason Viado

Integration between Salesforce and Outlook is a common request from our clients.  Syncing emails, contacts, and other information between the two databases can be an important part of getting valuable information into and out of your Salesforce org.  Unfortunately, the Salesforce Outlook connector has some shortcomings, making integration quite a bit more complicated than it would seem.

Much of the trouble between Salesforce and Outlook is due to the fact that there are two widely used versions of Outlook—the pre-2007 version and the post-2007 version—and the Salesforce connector behaves differently for each.  Since many offices often have the pre-2007 version running on some machines while the post-2007 version runs on others, some users will have access to functionality that is not available to other users.  For example, the pre-2007 version syncs attachments and the post-2007 version does not.

Additionally, since the Salesforce connector is a piece of desktop software it often runs into trouble with security restrictions like firewalls and administrative permissions depending on the organization’s IT setup.

Other problems with the connector include:

• Outlook must be open and running in order to sync with Salesforce; it does not sync to the exchange server.
• Bi-direction syncing between Outlook to Salesforce and Salesforce to Outlook can be problematic—multiple users are likely to produce conflicting data. 
• There also appears to be a bug that causes the connector to occasionally disable itself without warning or explanation.
• Users cannot sync a shared calendar from Salesforce to everyone’s Outlook, which is a very common request.
• The connector will only sync 5,000 contacts so users who rely on syncing with Outlook to get their Salesforce contacts on their mobile device don’t get all of the contacts in their Salesforce org if they have more than 5,000 contacts
• Commonly used Outlook functionality (Categories) does not sync.

Fortunately, there are some ways to make the Outlook connector more effective.  We recommend clients only sync from Salesforce to Outlook and not the other way.  This seems to be more stable and prevents user’s personal contacts within Outlook (like friends and family) from getting entered in Salesforce.  We have also developed proprietary software we call E2SF (email to Salesforce), which allows users to send emails into their Salesforce database and provide instructions for which objects the email will be related to.  This way, an email can be associated with a contact, an account, or an opportunity.

There are also a number of third party providers that address the issue of integrating with Outlook.  When evaluating these providers, we recommend looking for products that support various platforms, products that can be used with mobile devices, and products that are cloud-based and do not require any local software.

Congratulations to our PULSE project partner Acumen Fund for 10 years of philanthropy and positive change.

Some highlights:

• More than 3 million people have access to safe, affordable, and efficient energy
• 7,000 people have jobs and hundreds of millions of insecticide treated bednets have been produced by A to Z
• More than 330,000 farmers are changing their families’ lives with drip irrigation systems
• Hundreds of thousands have access to quality sanitation in Kenya – and Ecotact has become a model for other countries
• More than 150,000 farmers have access to quality, affordable hybrid seeds in Western Kenya
• 1298 is now answering more than 30.000 emergency calls every month in India (and has created more than 1250 jobs)
• Kashf has reached more than 300,000 borrowers with micro-loans and emerged as one of Pakistan’s important civil society institution
• The first commercial mortgages for the poor have been provided in Pakistan and Saiban has developed a working, sustainable model for low-income housing development
• More than 350,000 individuals have access to safe drinking water (and this doesn’t include the copycat companies that have emerged as a result of WHI’s innovation in the Indian marketplace)
• Aravind provides quality eyecare through telemedicine to millions across India and has served as a global model
• Sekem is the largest exporter of organic goods from the Middle East to Europe (working with 4,000 farmers on reclaimed desert land)

App-X and PULSE are proud to be a part of your success.

Hello from Colorado, USA.  Here at App-X world headquarters, we’re proud to announce the inception of our new blog.  Over the next few months and years, we’ll be sharing some of what we’ve learned over the last few years providing cloud-based solutions for the alternative asset management space.

We hope you enjoy reading what we have to say and we welcome your feedback.

                              The App-X Conference Room