If you're familiar with the old process of becoming a Salesforce Partner, then you understand that it's not a rapid procedure, nor was it one that was especially clear as far as steps to take, things to do, or people to contact. Without a specialist on your side the process could be drawn out over weeks, or even months, with no clear idea what your next step was until the current step was done.
Was it worth it? Of course. Was it painless.... not so much.
I’d like to introduce you to something hot off the presses. This new on-boarding experience was designed by the team over at Salesforce whose task was to make becoming an ISV simple, direct, and with significant reduction in the Sisyphus effect (the feeling of pushing a huge boulder up to the top of a hill just to find another boulder and another hill).
There it is, the checklist you've been waiting for! I'll let you revel in the beauty for a moment...
From day one, you can see exactly what you need to do, how to do it, and what comes next. It even comes with those pretty arrows to take you to more details and information about every step by linking to the enhanced learning resources that they've set up for us. You can use them to learn more about Salesforce and why you want to become a partner, find details about packaging, jump right into related Trailhead lessons, and more.
Don't worry, things don't stop there either. They've taken the Technical Review Questionnaire that everyone is so eager to fill out and broken it out into smaller less-painful chunks, neatly organized right inside the Publishing Console. Just log in to your Partner Community, hop over to the Publishing Console and there you go, Business Plan right at the top!
Then when you're ready, they're even going to sit down for an hour with you and talk out your answers to those questions, and help you decide exactly what the best next steps would be to make you successful!
And there's even more goodness. Since you have that checklist to keep working with, and you know exactly what's coming up next, including having access to the Partnership Agreement. Got a Legal Team that fine-tooth-combs everything? That's fine, they can get a preliminary copy of the agreement even before you're finished your Business Plan questions so they can get to red-lining. More relaxed and ready to review but move quickly over the Agreement? In that case you can actually agree to the Partnership Agreement right online and keep moving into your security review and App Exchange Listing!
So it's punchline time. What's the big deal?
In this case, it's a new interface, clear transparency on all upcoming steps, more open and direct communication, a simpler questionnaire, and a more streamlined process to get you to the point where you're marketing and selling your App on the AppExchange that much faster.
See you on the Exchange!
Do you have questions about getting onto the AppExchange? Contact the CRM Science Lab Coat Geeks!
