We’d like to know more about the fun side of the MVPs! And from what we heard, so do a lot of people in the community. Welcome to the Proust for Salesforce experts.
"I think you need to be frank and honest about the limits of the platform, but also guard it against potential bad users."
Q: How did your love for Salesforce start? Was it a conscious choice or did the whole universe just conspire and make it happen?
I loved Salesforce when first benchmarking it against on-premise alternatives, back in 2004, so it was more of a love at first sight for the delivery model than with the product itself. We used to run an on-premise CRM that was down all of the time for (financial) year-end. When we needed it the most to process all the incoming discount. With Salesforce, we were throwing so many deals at it and the system was always up and running…
So, I wasn’t the guy in charge to move to cloud computing but I thought that was a very good choice/change!
Q: What is your current role?
I’m a Salesforce Tech Lead meaning that I manage the tech side of engagements for my employer. We cut a delivery into a functional and a technical side. I’m leading the tech stream…
Q: What does being a Salesforce MVP mean to you?
It is a responsibility. I think you need to be frank and honest about the limits of the platform, but also guard it against potential bad users. The ecosystem being bound to explode with people coming from all horizons, I think we need to voice our concerns when people ask the wrong questions or state the wrong argument. We’re talking about enterprise software-as-a-service not single-user app on a hand-made PC…
Q: If not a Salesforce expert, what would you have become?
I guess I would have made my journey in IT. There so much to do…
Q: Which blogs/channels do you follow to get your Salesforce elixir?
There are quite a lot (“a lot” doesn’t do it justice). I’m gonna give you a few examples…
If you want to stay in touch with loads of blogs I suggest that like me you use a broker app like https://feedly.com (I’m not paid to say that :)).
Q: You were a co-founder of one of the first Salesforce User Groups in Europe. How has the idea of the community evolved over the years now?
The ecosystem as a whole is expanding. People are, for some reason, joining the Salesforce ecosystem expecting to find some form of user groups close to where they live. And there is now more than a thousand of these worldwide. So, I guess we’re getting there. From 2006 when I was part of the team starting the first London Group to today when User, Developers, Admin, Marketing, etc… all have their role in educating the new and existing users. This is so great!
Q: What’s next in line for you after attaining the coveted MVP title?
I don’t quite know and have no plan, except spending more time with my family than I currently do.
Q: What has been your most memorable Dreamforce experience till date? What are you looking forward to the most this #DF19?
Well, I’d say that I was educated on the subject of Women In Tech by Louise Lockie herself at DF16. It was an important moment in my career as I genuinely thought that there was no problem in the tech industry… I was wrong.
For DF19, I’m looking at the announcements, a status on DX and what’s happening with Blockchain.
Q: What is your advice to those stepping into Salesforce?
Hmmm…
Q: Do you have Salesforce certifications already/lined up? If yes, how many
Yes I have 4: PD1, Sharing and Visibility, Identity and Access Management, CPQ Specialist
Then depending on the project I’m about to board 2:
Field Service Lightning and Pardot
Q: Do you run a personal blog? Please share the link.
I used to run https://www.saas-components.com on Ghost but have changed the vendor recently. The aim is to restart on LinkedIn which is a bit different but I now think spot-on for us SaaS writers. I’m not sure what should be the first post on my new platform just yet though.
Q: Other than Salesforce, what does your world look like?
Salesforce is currently how I implement business change. Projects are sent at me with the expectation that my team and I will be using Salesforce to address customer needs. Which is fine by me. 🙂
Q: What’s something about you that you think would surprise others?
Q: Anything we missed?
Not that I can think of. Thanks a lot!
Fabrice is a Winter’17 Class MVP who co-founded the Europe’s first Salesforce User Group in 2006. He is a familiar face in community events and has spoken at Dreamforce, TrailheaDX, London Tour, London’s Calling, India Dreamin, DreamOle and multiple Dev Groups events.
Salesforce Certifications
