A Few Nifty News Updates from Red Argyle!

Had a few exciting things happen this week that we wanted to share:

#1 - We are on the Appexchange!!!

The Red Argyle consulting services listing went live today.  Our public face is growing.  If you're interested, check it out and "Like" it, and if you've worked with us, we would LOVE to get a few ratings under our belt.

In addition, we also listed our first product.  It is a simple reporting toolkit to aid in customer retention reporting.  Fully documented, check it out!

Red Argyle Company Listing

Red Retention Toolkit Product Listing

#2 - We now have support access on our website!

We are in the process of implementing the Salesforce Service Cloud for internal use.  We'll have more releases about the support system in the future, but our email to case, and web to case functionality is now up and running.  The goal of this system is to better facilitate support requests from you, our customers.

So here's how to initiate a support request, either...

Go to http://www.redargyle.com/support/ and fill out the support form and submit.  Or...

Email support@redargyle.com

Either way, a case is immediately entered in our support system and you will be notified that it was successful.

That's all for now.  Thanks everyone for helping us get to where we are, and can't wait to see where we are all going to go together.

Garry and Tom

Facebook.. What are Your Thoughts?

The past two days I've been bombarded by references to the new Facebook feed changes.  People seem to HATE it.  While I don't think they are all amazing, I do have a few thoughts on it.

The Process

I hear chatter about Facebook not listening to their users and just "ramming changes down their throats".  I'm not an expert on thier process but some cursory research showed that they have focus groups and beta tests of new UI features, so it seems unlikely that they are completely deaf to what the users want.  Remember 3 years ago when suddenly they added user photos to the feed and everyone went ballistic?  Now that feature is a staple of the Facebook platform and it's just a normal way of life.

Innovation

Could it be that Facebook is innovating?  That they are trying to push the evenlope and push users outside of their comfort zone?  Apple does not do focus groups.  Neither does Farrari.  If Apple and Ferrari did focus groups and sent every design concept to committee, would we have the slick MacBooks, Ipods, and sports cars that we have today?  Sometimes, I think having a smaller group in control, a small, innovative focused group in control can make for a better product.

Our Relationship with Facebook

I may be going out on a limb here, but we all have a relationship with Facebook.  They exist to make money, period.  We are getting thier service for FREE, I remind you FREE.  Do we have the right to be so hard on them?  They've connected the world with their platform, and it's THEIR platform to monetize and improve on as they wish.  There are people there a lot smarter than I am and they probably see the future clearer than I do.  And they don't owe me anything.  I know, it's slightly demoralizing but in my opinion, that is just the way it is.

How to Reconcile

Ironically, I've always kind of been down on Facebook.  It's slower, heavier, and the friend method is much more restricive than (drumroll...) my favorite social network, Twitter.  I still climb on my soap box and proclaim how Twitter is great, how you can pick a client that has a user interface that you like, and have much more control and flexibility over how you interact with the service.  But alas, it often falls on deaf ears.  In Facebook land, I anticipate they will scale back a few of the most hated features and keep improving the setup/customization of settings to allow users to better tailor their experience.  If you're mad at Facebook, have you spent the time to go through and review all the options?  And remember, you have a choice.  You can take a Facebook vacation or just simply quit.  Life will go on.  I've taken two vacations, one lasted 6 months.  It was not a bad thing.

Conclusion

So, what are your thoughts?  Do you hate it?  Do you think Facebook has the right to do what they want to do with their platform?  Are you going to keep using it? Did you try Twitter yet?

Hello, World!

Well, I'm very excited to be posting to this new blog, I'm sure this will be the first of many.  There's some higher level information on the company changes here as well.

I'm excited to share that I am now serving as a Principal of this company!  With that, I thought I should quickly say hello and introduce myself.  I'm Garry Polmateer, CAE.  I've been in the IT business since 1996 when I started fixing my family's and neighbor's computers.  It's been a love affair with technology ever since.  Did a stint as a consultant, an IT manager, a phone systems installer, and lastly a Salesforce.com partner.  It was then that the world started opening up and I learned the power and awesomeness of Salesforce.com, cloud technology, and its community.

I will be operating in a few capacities here at Red Argyle.  I will be involved in consulting work, business analysis, project management, sales and marketing.  As Tom says "I am the consulting yin to his development yang".  Between the two of us, there is not much of Salesforce.com or the force.com platform we have not been into over the past few years.

I am very excited about the future of Red Argyle.  I know the Salesforce.com community well, and I know that it is full of great, fun loving people.  It's amazing how much love and fun can come out of an application.  I am greatly looking forward to being involved and serving the community in this new capacity.

Some Fun Things?

Well, writing intro/bio blogs is always fun :P.  I guess a few fun things..

• I went to art school, and was classically trained in painting and sculpture
• I play drums in a band
• I love Volkswagens.  Restored a 1981 Turbo Diesel pickup truck
• Drove said truck to all 48 states in the continental US
• Twitter is my favorite social network
• I am obsessed with finding good coffee
• Fitness - Lover of all things Tony Horton
• In contrary to the above bullet point, I could probably eat pizza every day and be happy
• Favorite movie is "Willow"
• I overuse the word "Awesome" unashamedly
• I try my best to be doing the thumbs up gesture in every picture

A big thanks to all of Red Argyle's current customers who have enabled us to improve the business.  We are looking forward to continuing this journey together.  Thanks to my friends and family who have supported me in the past, helped me learn and effectively be prepared to make a move like this.  Finally, thanks to the Salesforce.com community and the Association community for being such great people and a constant source of information, amusement, and support.

Dreamforce is next week.  We will have a lot to say about it!  Check back soon.

Garry

Here is some of my contact information:

Phone:  781.RED.TEXT (781.733.8398)
Email:  My First Name at redargyle.com
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/darthgarry 

Change is Coming

A few changes are coming to Red Argyle that we are excited to share...

#1 - We are proud to announce that our team is growing!  The last few months have been amazing, but something has become apparent.  As more customers have chosen to do business with us we identified two needs.  First, we need a complimentary skillset to our current capabilities, one that covers the more strategic and administrative end of the Salesforce consulting spectrum.  Second, we have a sufficient volume of work to necessitate bringing someone on so that we can continue to deliver excellent customer service.

 
With that said, the search began for another partner.  We searched high, low, international, and in our back yard.  We were not going to let just “anyone” join the company, we knew that this person had to be a perfect fit.  Values, personality, and skills all had to be a match.  Luckily, we did not have to search too long.  A longtime friend and prominent Salesforce community member has accepted our offer for partnership.  Today, we are proud to welcome Garry Polmateer to the Red Argyle team!!

Garry will be assisting in Salesforce.com consulting projects, marketing initiatives, and spreading joy and laughter around the office.  We’ve worked together in the past and are very excited about working together again in the future.  To learn a little more about Garry, check out his Twitter page:  http://twitter.com/darthgarry.  He just may be posting to this blog in the near future with further introductions :)

#2 - Red Argyle, DBA is becoming Red Argyle, LLC.  As we have continued to grow and look towards the future, we understood that the current corporate structure would need to be upgraded.  This new corporate structure will allow us to meet the demands of running a successful, growing business.  

What do these changes mean for you?

There may be a few minor administrative changes related to the corporate structure change which we will send notifications directly to each customer with information and any needed actions.

Thanks.

We owe a big thank you to all of our customers and the Salesforce.com community for turning this dream into a reality.  We are very excited about the future and where we will be able to go together.