Cloud Galacticos 2021 Company Review

Cloud Galacticos 2021 Company Review

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Welcome to our Cloud Galacticos 2021 company review. We started 2021 after a challenging 2020 due to the pandemic and various lockdowns. Therefore, our aim for this year was to stay strong, bring the team together, and make sure we keep on delivering for our customers. Here’s the thoughts from our board on this year, 2021.

 

Phil Walton, CEO

Looking back it almost seems like a different world…Christmas 2020 was ‘cancelled’, the new year was still led by watching Joe Wicks and Rob Biddulph with the kids, we applauded the spirit of Sir Tom Moore, and we still had one lockdown to come. 

We were determined to battle though as best we could and ensure nobody would need to be furloughed… And it’s fair to say as we reach the end of 2021 we exceeded our goals! Not only did we keep all our team together, we expanded massively, we skilled up, we climbed the Salesforce Partner ladder, and feel like we have come out of a tough time in an even healthier position. 

Although Covid, Zoom, Tiger King, and remote working are here to stay, it is great to meet people again!

 

Cloud Galacticos Zoom Coffee Breaks

Cloud Galacticos Zoom Coffee Breaks

 

Paul Battisson, COO

For my Cloud Galacticos 2021 review, it’s has been a year that has driven a lot of optimism, both personally and in my role as COO. There is no escaping that the past two years have been extremely tough for everyone. 

I am extremely proud of the entire Cloud Galacticos team for the way we have managed to continue to deliver great work for our customers and grow the organisation throughout the pandemic. For me the biggest highlight of the year has been starting to visit customers and spend time with team members again. Nothing beats face to face interactions to ensure everyone is happy and on the same page, and it has been great fun getting to do this again in a safe way. I am hoping that things will continue to open up and return to “normal” next year to spend even more time catching up with people properly.

 

Cloud Galacticos York Catch Up

Cloud Galacticos York Catch Up

Neel Meghani, CTO

Coming out of 2020 both personally and professionally my mind frame was very much “OK that was a difficult year and we did very well. Now things can only get better!”. Then we went back into lock down. At that point I put to the back of my mind all of the things I was looking forward to….traveling, seeing clients and colleagues, getting back to normal…

BUT despite all of that we continued to grow through the year, ending the year in a fantastic place. We managed to win new clients and recruit some amazing new people. Despite being apart I felt the company coming together even more. I could not be more proud of the people that make up Cloud Galacticos and the work they do. The vision we have of the Galacticos ethos is now a reality. So I guess the hard times of the past year have made us be even better.

In recent months we have now begun to meet the team face to face. Even though we spent plenty of time on Zoom, the in-person meetings we have had so far have really left me on a high. Looking forward now to even more client and colleague meetings and keeping up the momentum of growth!

 

Cloud Galacticos London Catch Up

Cloud Galacticos London Catch Up

Some poignant words from our board for their Cloud Galacticos 2021 Company review. We’ll also be asking our team members their highlights from 2021. Watch for the blog coming soon!

 

ABOUT CLOUD GALACTICOS

Cloud Galacticos is a Salesforce Consulting Partner with an all-star team. We are user and developer group leaders, bloggers, MVPs and all round Salesforce nerds. Our Salesforce consultancy has people all over the UK including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, and London. If you are looking for a Salesforce partner with experience who can help you make the most of your org, why not give us a call?

 

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Salesforce Johannesburg User Group

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One of our developers, Nkosi Ncube, has recently become a co-leader of the Salesforce Johannesburg User Group. He’s the latest team member to be involved in a Salesforce user group. We already team members who run groups in Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle.

 

Hi Nkosi, when did you become a co-leader of the Salesforce Johannesburg User Group and what was your reason for becoming one?

I was approved as User Group leader in March [2021], I noticed that Africa is an emerging market with regards to Salesforce so I thought it would be good to share my experience that I have gained working for Cloud Galacticos.

 

What are you hoping to achieve with the Johannesburg User Group now that you’re a co-leader?

I am hoping to turn the user group into the biggest user group in the world! For it to have engaging sessions that will drive attendance which is very low at the moment, and it has has potential to be high.

You did a presentation on your ‘Salesforce Career Story’ at the most recent user group event. How was it?

The presentation was good and well received, I hope it inspired someone.

 

What kind of people have you got signed up to your group?

It’s still early days but I hope to have as diverse as possible a group of people. It needs to reflect the cosmopolitan nature of the South Africa region, and the international vibe of the Salesforce Ohana.

 

Anything you want to tell us about the Johannesburg User Group that’s different from other groups that you know about?

At the moment the difference is that it has potential to be massive. Unfortunately Covid has messed up a lot of things and virtual meetings have challenges this side of the world. I am sure when we can meet in person it will just grow and grow.

 

What kind of speakers do you have lined up for future events?

We have some Salesforce employees lined up. Obviously I am going to tap into the rich resources available at Cloud Galacticos in the near future. 

 

 

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Sinclair Spectrum and how it kicked off many careers

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So many of us in the IT/Cloud/Tech space started out with a Spectrum, a Commodore, or BBC computer. Even Marc Benioff started off writing games for Atari, so we are in good company. So thank you to those early pioneers, those we now call Trailblazers. People such as Sir Clive Sinclair, who sadly passed away yesterday. 

 

Sinclair Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer which was released in the UK in the early 1980s. It was one of the first mainstream home computers and captured many a child’s attention. 

I was recently visiting my parents house and happened to have brought my messenger bag that is styled to look like a ZX Spectrum. Upon seeing it my Dad went away and rummaged around upstairs, surprising me with the original ZX Spectrum he bought me many years ago to match.

It is the 48k ZX Spectrum that my father came home with in 1984. 

For those reading this of a younger vintage, the 48k stands for the 48 KB of RAM available to the entire computer, to give some perspective the first iPhone launched with 128 MB of RAM, or 131072 KB! 

Impressionable 8 year old me was soon bored of the three games that came with it and found out that by typing the programs in the manual, I could create my own games, and even better I could make the machine call my brothers names repeatedly with just 2 lines of code and a run command. 

Spectrum Books

More books were brought and magazines collected to allow my new found hobby to grow.

Instead of Stack Overflow and Trailhead, techniques and code were shared by the Spectrum Community in magazines and were typed in over many hours, in the hopes that the typo gods were kind, they often were not. 

A programmer was born, and like me thousands of children in the UK cut their teeth in development this way. Although I could not appreciate it at the time, lessons learned then still impact my work today.

This is the first program that I copied from the manual. 

Chapter 3 of the manual available here.

I agree it is very rudimentary and at first glance, does not appear to be related to how we should be coding today, but in only 7 lines of code we are covering the following. 

Documenting code

10 REM Guess the number

Tells us clearly what the code is doing

Using Variables

20 INPUT a: CLS

Tells us that a number that is entered is going to be stored in the variable ‘a’ (storage was a valuable resource and was not spent on meaningful variable names back then)
CLS just clears the screen to ensure that the guessing player can not see it. 

30 INPUT “Guess the Number”, b

Is requesting data from the user and storing that value into variable ‘b’ for testing. 

Conditions

40 IF b=a THEN PRINT “That is correct”: STOP

50 IF b<a THEN PRINT “That is too small, try again”
60 IF b>a THEN PRINT “That is too big, try again”

Here we are testing if the value stored in variable b is equal to , less than or more than a, and then displaying feedback to the user, as well as stopping the program if the correct value has been entered. 

Loops

70 GO TO 30
This completes the code by telling the program to go to line 30 and request a new number. 

This sort of loop is not available in salesforce, but the understanding of code coming back to a starting position is still relevant. 

Today the Raspberry Pi is the only computer that I can think of that fills this void, and the power of the machines and instant avenue of help available via the internet has changed the way people learn to code.

 

Thank you to those Trailblazers, and the fond memories they gave us!

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Salesforce Developer Podcast – Weird Apex and Being Inquisitive

by with No Comment DevelopmentNewsTeam Galacticos

Recently Josh Birk interviewed my for the Salesforce Developer Podcast on “Weird Apex”. You can find the full recording here. I’m going to share some additional thoughts about the background to the discussion and how the simple act of being inquisitive has lead me to some of the weird and wonderful things I discussed on the podcast.

 

Weird Apex Salesforce Developer Podcast

Image taken of https://developer.salesforce.com/podcast/2021/05/episode-82-weird-apex-with-paul-battisson.html

Love What You Do

When we meet clients for the first time, we tell them that at Cloud Galacticos we are 100% Salesforce nerds. We have team members who are MVPs, user and developer group leaders, and authors. We also have speakers, CTAs, and a number who tick multiple of these boxes. When hiring, one of the things we focus on is how much people enjoy working with the platform. I always ask “Why Salesforce?” Of course, sometimes working your way through a big set of profiles and permissions to figure out what the gaps are is not the most riveting work. I find that it is important to ensure I take time to do things I enjoy within my work to stay inquisitive.

A prime example of this is the VR setup I built with Vincent Reeder for a Dreamforce talk. Virtual Reality is cool and still fairly new tech, however it is not really enterprise friendly (as we discuss in the podcast). Still, Vincent and I took it as a technical challenge to see how we could get different pieces of the Salesforce Platform to play together to deliver something cool. Is this a completely practical exercise that we will reuse? No, but the learnings on how to use the different bits of technology will definitely help me in the future. It’s a much more fun way of learning.

 

Build a Career You’re Interested In

I’d highly encourage anyone who is looking to learn more about a particular topic to approach it in this way. By trying to keep this in mind I have built my career on Salesforce and have had a great time doing so. It has helped me learn enough to be able to write two books on Apex as well as given me the opportunity to speak at events all over the globe. I would recommend listening to other episodes of the Salesforce Developer Podcast. You will notice this is a common theme.

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Cloud Galacticos and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

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“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. It provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership.

Salesforce incorporated the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as the framework for how their partners are leading change across their communities.”

 

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

 

At Cloud Galacticos we are aware that we do not live in a bubble. What we do and how we do it has an effect on others. It’s an aim for any business to do well and grow. It is also important for us that we do good. With this in mind, we have committed to specifically target the following Sustainable Development Goals:

 

Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing 

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

 

Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

 

Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land 

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

 

Like the goals themselves, our work will develop and increase over time.  Our current initiatives include the following:

Pro Bono Charity Work

Pro bono work with charities such as Jigsaw, the children’s mental health charity (Goal 3). As a Pledge 1% member we work hard to donate time and resources to nonprofit organisations. We actively try to do this through both discounted rates for Salesforce.org customers and where possible, donation of time.

 

Clean Energy

We are currently working with a number of startups and organisations who are focussed on clean energy, such as electric charging stations. By helping organisations like these scale and grow, we can assist in ensuring that the infrastructure needed to tackle climate change (Goal 13).

 

Donations

Donations to causes we feel passionate about including Woodland Trust, the charity that targets planting, restoring, and protecting the UK’s woodlands and trees (Goal 15). And DEC (The Disasters Emergency Committee), to show our support to our friends and families in India. Our donation will help them by providing medical supplies, treatment facilities and logistics support to overwhelmed health services (Goal 3).

 

Nonprofit Organisations

We work with nonprofit organisations such as Church of England, Human Appeal, NCS, and others. We have a lot of experience in helping organisations set up the Salesforce NonProfit Success Pack. It helps them better manage their engagement with members and donors, This can be through the use of NPSP out of the box as a CRM, or integrated with Salesforce Community Cloud / Experience Cloud, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. 

 

There is still a lot more that we can do. For example, we are working on a set of updates to our website that will enable us to include donation buttons for those nonprofits we feature in our success stories. We know that this is a journey and not a destination. We are committed to continual improvement.  Watch this space!

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Cloud Galacticos is Sponsoring London’s Calling 2021

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Cloud Galacticos is sponsoring London’s Calling 2021. One of our favourite Salesforce community-led events will be happening again on Friday 19th March. Last year’s event was forced into a hybrid with people having the option to go in-person or watch the content online. This year will be the event’s first fully remote incarnation. Whilst it is sad we won’t be able to all meet up together in person, we are still really excited to be sponsoring and supporting the event.

 

More #SalesforceOhana

We are particularly excited that this year’s event will be more accessible for a broader range of people. One of the challenges for any event, particularly in London, is finding a good space. We know for the organisers it is a constant balancing act. They have to find somewhere big enough to allow as many people to attend as possible, whilst also keeping within a budget. London’s Calling is normally an affordable event, with tickets under £100 for attendees. As the name implies however, the event is in London, and for those attendees outside the city (or even outside the UK) their costs can add up.

This year however your only costs are the £5 for a ticket. That’s £5 for a full day of learning from the comfort of your own home. We know some people who are able to attend this year because of how much affordable it is for them. More people will get to experience all the great sessions at the same time as everyone else and feel a bigger part of the experience.

Highlights from London’s Calling 2019

 

Great #Trailblazercommunity Sessions

Speaking of the great sessions, I love the content at London’s Calling. For me it has a fantastic blend of people like Keir Bowden and Ines Garcia, both extremely well known and experienced, along with newer speakers who haven’t shared or spoken before. The content is all pre-recorded this year so there should be a smaller chance of any technical hiccups. For those who are speaking, they can also enjoy more sessions than they might normally be able to do. Our own COO Paul Battisson is also presenting for the 5th time at London’s Calling. Make sure you check his session out!

 

London’s Calling 2021

As with previous events, we are sure that the London’s Calling team will pull of another awesome Salesforce community event. Expect the usual amazing line up of speakers from the Salesforce trailblazing community,  great keynote speaker, exciting demojam, and much more.

The past year has been very strange and stressful for many people, we are very much looking forward to London’s Calling as a bit of ‘normality’. Whilst it won’t be the same being in person, we are really pleased the event is going ahead. We can still get to see the great content and familiar faces even if only through a screen. Get your ticket here.

 

Don’t forget to follow London’s Calling event on March 19th via the #LC21 hashtag! 

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Cloud Galacticos 2019 Highlights

by with No Comment CertificationDreamforceNewsSalesforce EventsTeam GalacticosUser Groups

Being the CEO of a Silver Partner Salesforce Consultancy and managing a UK-wide team of people is no mean feat. So it’s no surprise that Phil Walton, who is also in the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame, has a rather busy calendar. As we reach the end of another successful year, he reflects back on some of his personal highlights of 2019.

World Tour London and our Client Drinks Reception the night before (May)

Cloud Galacticos at Salesforce London World Tour with paul Sturgess

Team Galacticos with Paul Sturgess at Salesforce World Tour London 2019

 

For most Salesforce-ers Dreamforce is the highlight of the year. But for me, the London World Tour is the big one. OK so we didn’t have Fleetwood Mac or Alicia Keys, but it is a great chance for the UKI and European Salesforce Community to meet up in person.

We had a great day, meeting Clients and Partners old and new at our Gold stand. Plus we were joined by ex-Harlem Globetrotter and Britain’s tallest man Paul Sturgess, who not only attracted a lot of attention, but was a great guy to chat with!

North Africa Dreamin’

Phil Walton speaking at North Africa Dreamin

Phil Walton speaking at North Africa Dreamin

I was very proud to be invited to speak at Africa’s first Salesforce community event – North Africa Dreamin! It was a great trip to Casablanca, where I met some great people, and had some amazing food. It is amazing to see the Salesforce Ohana spreading around the globe.

Team Galacticos

2019 has been a fantastic year for Cloud Galacticos, with excellent growth in revenue and people. We have also picked up a number of new certification skills, and industry expertise. Between the team we have bags of experience in Healthcare & Life Sciences and also Financial Services, so they are now our official specialisms (although we work in many other sectors). 

We were really excited to welcome both Nkosi Ncube and Mike Gill (who you can see below at MuleSoft CONNECT 2019) to our development team. Both are smart, experienced, knowledgeable and great guys – exactly the type of people we want on the team!

Nkosi and Mike who joined the Cloud Galacticos team in 2019

Nkosi and Mike at Mulesoft Connect 2019

We also welcomed Malcolm Heeley to the team towards the end of the year. Malcolm has a lot of experience as a business analyst and project manager which we cannot wait to use!

Nell Meghani and Phil Walton with Malcolm Heeley (centre) who joined Cloud Galacticos at the end of 2019

Salesforce Consultancy

Certificates

Also between the team we have picked up a number of new Consultancy and Architecture certifications, which we are very proud of! We have also begun to deliver training for Salesforce, fantastic recognition of our deep knowledge of the platform.

Admin and Developer User Group

MuleSoft speaking at a User Developer Group

Manchester Salesforce Admin User Group

We also attended and helped run a number of user and developer groups in Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds – bringing Salesforce to the North of England! We had a variety of speakers including MulseSoft as you can see in the photo above.

Here’s to 2020!

About Cloud Galacticos

Cloud Galacticos is a Salesforce Silver Consulting Partner with an all star team. We are user and developer group leaders, bloggers, MVPs and all round Salesforce nerds. We have people all over the UK including Manchester, Leeds, York, Sheffield and London. If you are looking for a Salesforce partner with experience who can help you make the most of your org, why not give us a call?

 

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1 Year Down Here’s To Many More

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Back in 2012, I setup the North UK Salesforce Developer group and began meeting more members of the wonderful Salesforce community across the north of England. At some point I also attended the North England User Group for the first time and met its leader Phil Walton. Over the next few years we would work together on the groups and ran a number of combined events.

An Interesting Discussion

A little over 12 months ago at the end of an event Phil and I were having a beer together and began talking about Cloud Galacticos. He told me what they were doing, where he was taking the business and what they were looking to achieve. We also started discussing if this might be something I would be interested in helping with and where I might fit in.

Over the next few weeks we kept chatting and putting some plans together along with our CTO Neel.  I actually worked with Neel in a different IT role nearly 15 years earlier – it’s a small world after all! After some discussions we came up with a plan and a year ago I joined the Galacticos team as COO.

1 Year Down

It’s been a whirlwind year involving travelling across 3 continents, developing relationships with Cloud Galactico’s existing customers and helping to drive our growth with new clients. As I look back over the past year I am extremely proud of what we as a team have achieved including:

  • Hitting Silver Salesforce Partner status
  • Launching our Managed Services offerings
  • Growing our team with some amazing people
  • Delivering the same consistent quality for a range of clients – from FTSE 100 to brand new startups
  • Supporting the Salesforce Community across a number of events including Inspire East, London’s Calling, DreamOle, YeurDreamin, North Africa Dreamin and India Dreaming
  • Expanded into new specialisms such as Healthcare and Life Sciences
  • Began delivering training courses on behalf of Salesforce

Here’s To Many More

I’m extremely excited to build on this success next year. I can only imagine some of the great things we will be looking back on in 12 months time.

It’s been a fantastic first year and I want to thank everyone I have worked with and spoken to. The entire CG team, our customers and our partners have all made it unforgettable.

In what can only be fate, Phil and I were together at a User Group in Manchester on anniversary date! We managed to enjoy a beer together where the conversations all started from and began plotting the next 12 months.

So cheers! 1 year down, here’s to many more