Ideas Welcome: The IdeaExchange Turns 10

Lots of important things happened around the globe in 2006: NASA launched the New Horizons probe on the first mission to Pluto, English-language Wikipedia published its one-millionth article, and Roger Federer won the Australian Open and lost the French Open.

And in the midst of all that, Salesforce debuted the IdeaExchange to involve customers in its product roadmap. If you don’t think it was as important as the Pluto mission, well, think again.

Here’s how the IdeaExchange works in four easy steps:

1. You submit an idea for a product or feature you’d like to see in Salesforce.
2. Your friends, colleagues, and even frenemies vote on the IdeaExchange. Each vote is worth 10 points.
3. When an idea meets the minimum point threshold, product management gets involved.
4. Worker bees toil in the background to bring your idea to fruition. When development is done, its status moves to “Delivered.” And, there is much rejoicing!

Let’s put it in perspective, that is, talk in terms of food: You go to your favorite restaurant and change a menu item to your specifications. Everyone at your table thinks, I want to eat THAT and everyone orders your variation. Then, everyone in the restaurant orders the same thing. Then, the celebrity TV chef implements your menu and gives you major props. And, you become a legend.

Customers like you are actively influencing and changing the Salesforce product roadmap, and it’s nothing short of astounding. Since 2007, you’ve submitted more than 55,000 ideas, for things big and small, and we’ve delivered over 2,600 of those. So many great ideas, so little time.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” you’re thinking, “but what has the IdeaExchange done for me?”

What has the IdeaExchange done for me?

Remember that little feature called Process Builder, the tool that lets you automate business processes and help your organization operate more efficiently with just a few clicks? Yup, all started as an idea from the IdeaExchange, with the final product being the culmination of more than 100,000 vote points.  

Remember back in the day when dashboards were limited to only three columns? If you don’t, you probably started using Salesforce after the Winter ’16 release. That release inaugurated multicolumns—letting you go beyond the set-in-cement three. You can thank the community for that one as well. 

Have you ever wished you could attach the same contact to different accounts? Well, that’s actually happening in Summer ’16. And, guess what? It was also an IdeaExchange idea. Thank you, customers!

We know there are still tons of great ideas out there, and our work is by no means done. But with your creative genius at work, it’s no wonder that Salesforce just keeps getting better and better with each release.

In the past 10 years, you have cast a collective 1.1 million votes, for a total of 11 million points. Out of those, we’ve delivered on 3.3 million points, about 30%. In Summer ’16, we’ll be delivering on another 240,000 points. We always knew the Salesforce army was a fierce thing to behold, and we have the numbers to prove it!

Of course, the IdeaExchange isn’t going to celebrate its 10th birthday with a whimper. Be on the lookout for a newly revamped IdeaExchange experience, as well as special events during Dreamforce ’16.

Got an idea? What are you waiting for?