Salesforce.com Announces Mobile Publisher for Community Cloud

Salesforce.com today announced Mobile Publisher for Community Cloud, a new capability that allows organizations with Lightning Communities to transform those communities into mobile apps for iOS and Android. More specifically, Mobile Publisher for Community Cloud enables Salesforce admins to take the digital experience of a Lightning Community—including its content, design, and layout—and package it into a branded mobile app that can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Additionally, changes made to the desktop version of the digital experience will be automatically updated and published in the mobile app.

“Today, our customers are able to build websites, portals, forums, and other experiences with Community Cloud. With Mobile Publisher, they can turn their digital experience into a native mobile app, without having to use code,” says Anna Rosenman, vice president of Community Cloud and B2B commerce marketing at Salesforce. “The first step is to use Mobile Publisher to add details about your app and add brand imagery, similar to filling in a Linkedin profile. Then, Salesforce takes care of the rest by publishing the app to the Apple App Store or Google Play.”

Updates to the experience with Community Builder are automatically pushed to the mobile app, she adds, making it easy to ensure customers enjoy a consistent experience across the brand.

Mobile Publisher has a number of key features. Organizations can brand the apps they create with a custom app icon, splash screen, and app name. Additionally, users who are logged into the community can close and reopen the app without being logged out, and a guest mode can be employed for unregistered users. Furthermore, users receive instant alerts and updates on their phone home screens in the form of push notifications, and they can upload local photos and files from their phones into the app.

Because Community Cloud is built natively on the Salesforce platform, the digital experiences created with Community Cloud “are powered by CRM data to deliver better service, more personalized recommendations, and targeted content that is most engaging to the customer. If a customer wants to use Mobile Publisher to transform the desktop version of the digital experience into a mobile app, the app will maintain that same level of connection to CRM data, process, and AI,” Rosenman says.

“Here’s why this is great: Whenever a piece of data is updated in Salesforce, that update is reflected in the digital experience. For example, if a customer calls a help desk to report a case, that data and any associated updates will be reflected to the mobile app. The customer will be able to view their case and its progress in real time as the customer service agent is working to resolve it.”