How Salesforce is using low-code orchestration to save '​floundering ​IoT ​projects'

Salesforce IoT's newest initiative is myIoT, the company announced at its Dreamforce conference on Monday, with a renewed focus on a point-and-click, low-code interface that will enable more Salesforce users to build and deploy Internet of Things (IoT) projects.

Some 60% of IoT projects stall when they get to the Proof of Concept stage, according to Cisco data cited in a Salesforce press release. Additionally, only 26% of companies said that they have had an IoT project that they would consider successful.

Salesforce's answer to these statistics is Salesforce myIoT. Through this platform, even non-technical frontline employees can build out an IoT solution, collect data at scale, and trigger actions based on that data, the release said. This data has the potential to help Salesforce users more proactively connect with customers in the sales pipeline, the release said.

SEE: Internet of Things policy template (Tech Pro Research)

MyIoT doesn't really bring any new products to the table. Rather, it's more of a clarification of the direction Salesforce is taking with IoT, and "a response to floundering IoT projects" and horror stories from business leaders, the release said.

According to the release, the initial tool used within myIoT is the Salesforce IoT Explorer, the firm's low-code IoT platform that was announced in October 2017.

Low-code will be increasingly important to help make up for the growing tech skills gaps in the enterprise. Because most companies cannot afford to keep hiring more and more specialized developers for each projects, they'll need platforms and tools that a broad base of users can work with. With Salesforce IoT Explorer, for example, a manufacturing professional could set up their system to trigger a service call when it receives data that indicate a component failure, the release said.

In addition to low-code, two other pillars will define myIoT: Customer context and proactive engagement. By enabling more connected devices, the release noted, Salesforce users will have even more data and context to work with. Once they have that data, they can more effectively target proactive sales opportunities. For example, service departments at car dealerships can trigger a sales opportunity when vehicles in for service hit certain milestones or approach end-of-life, the release said.

Also see

• Special report: Harnessing IoT in the enterprise (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
• Internet of Things: The Security Challenge (ZDNet)
• Salesforce IoT Explorer lowers barrier to IoT with low-code interface, proactive data (TechRepublic)
• Salesforce launches IoT Explorer, aims to bring sensor data to business users (ZDNet)
• The Complete Salesforce Administrator Certification Course (ZDNet Academy)