David Claiborne: Strategy Consultant Becomes Cloud Developer
The Force.com platform has completely transformed David Claiborne’s New Orleans-based consulting business. For more than eighteen years, Claiborne has operated as a technology strategist, or “ technoscout.” He has advised a diverse set of clients – ranging from enterprise to national law firms to small retail businesses–on how to get the most out of their technology investments. After discovering Force.com and its associated development toolkits, Claiborne found that he could do more than just guide clients; he could personally build Force.com applications to meet their business needs. Claiborne subsequently discovered another demand for his new skills – helping rebuild the New Orleans neighborhoods damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Becoming a Cloud Developer
He began the shift to development when he needed to adapt Salesforce CRM dashboards to enable a client to see, in a single report, how it was performing against a set of goals. While investigating the resources needed to build apps in the cloud on the Force.com platform, Claiborne quickly realized that building a new dashboard would be a relatively simple effort – easier than finding a contractor to do it for him. “I thought about using Java,” he says, “But I didn’t have the resources to set up a Java server. So I just picked up PHP and went to work.” The result was BIG Picture, an app that generated a snapshot showing performance against goals for key business metrics.
The app was so successful that Claiborne was approached by DealSheets, a third party ISV, to develop another one. The subsequent tool – which was also built using the PHP toolkit – is a quote/workflow app for Salesforce CRM. It takes advantage of the powerful Force.com API, which defines a web service that provides direct access to Salesforce CRM data from virtually any programming language or platform. DealSheets enables users to generate complex deal quotes in minutes, rather than hours or days. Both applications were well received and distributed via AppExchange.
Developer Success
After building those first two apps, Claiborne discovered that there’s a ready market for his blend of strategy and development services – and that to tap it he need look no further than the salesforce.com community. “I got my first client at Dreamforce,” he says. “Then I started following up on leads that appeared in the Force.com developer boards. I’d see a company that had a need, and contact them. All of a sudden I had more business than I knew what to do with.” Although Claiborne still peruses the discussion boards on a regular basis, the majority of his current customers have come through referrals.
One such referral was Vetrazzo, a leader in the rapidly growing recycled glass countertop business. Claiborne was introduced by a salesforce.com employee to the small company, which needed a cost-effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that could be customized to meet its unique manufacturing needs.
After scoping the company’s requirements, Claiborne determined that using Force.com's pages and Apex would best enhance the functionality that flowed naturally from the data object design, and be as fast and responsive as possible. The Force.com apps he developed help the company manage customer service, orders, finished goods inventory, production planning and scheduling, raw material inventories, shipping and logistics, documents, and warranties – all without the need for servers and infrastructure. After the first phone call, it took just three months to build the app and launch the solution.
Benefits of Force.com
The speed with which the Vetrazzo solution came together was not an anomaly. Developers often cite the Force.com platform’s support for rapid development of robust applications as a key benefit. Force.com’s unique point-and-click approach lets developers define the metadata that results in the “blueprint” for an application, including the data model, objects, forms, workflows, and more. The metadata-driven development model eliminates the need for code, making development of rich applications a snap.
Because they can prototype and develop new applications so quickly, developers can spend more time focusing on feature requirements – and less time worrying about code. For Claiborne, with his extensive consulting background, the fit is perfect. His experience in guiding client strategies gives him a distinct competitive advantage. “I bring to my customers an understanding of how business is supposed to work, a thorough knowledge of cloud-computing application capabilities, and the ability to develop new applications to solve their business problems.”
Force.com developers also benefit from the platform’s multitenant architecture in which all users and applications share a single, common infrastructure and code base that is centrally maintained. Claiborne and his clients can automatically leverage salesforce.com upgrades and development efforts. They can also take advantage of salesforce.com’s service delivery to ensure data is protected from loss and unauthorized use, that it is always available, and that it is sustainable as their businesses grow.
“I’ve never had to run my own servers,” Claiborne says. “It’s just me, my laptop, and an Internet connection. In the Force.com environment, there aren’t any overhead costs and there aren’t any overhead worries.”
In fact, when Claiborne was evacuated from New Orleans in 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina, his business was largely unaffected. Unlike many less fortunate hurricane survivors, the cloud-based platform helped him maintain business as usual.
Helping in Katrina’s Wake
Claiborne, whose Garden District home was not flooded by the storm, returned to New Orleans the first day that the city was reopened to evacuees. Soon afterwards he found that his new development skills could be extremely helpful in the city’s rebuilding efforts.
Claiborne is a member of the Louisiana Technology Council, whose TechAssistLA program helps small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-profits in the hurricane damaged zones of Louisiana utilize technology to rebuild their businesses. Claiborne helped the organization implement a Force.com application to manage membership via its portal site. All the data needed to meet federal reporting requirements, and ensure continued funding, is maintained in Salesforce CRM.
Through the council, Claiborne was connected with another non-profit, Beacon of Hope, which marshals volunteers to help with rebuilding tasks in the city’s damaged neighborhoods. The organization obtained non-profit licenses of Salesforce CRM through the Salesforce.com Foundation. Claiborne has helped it implement a system to track damaged homes and the status of their repairs, including incorporating Arrowpointe Maps, created by fellow Force.com developer, Scott Hemmeter.
Plans for the Future
In looking to the future, Claiborne plans to continue to expanding his development business using Force.com and enjoying having his own company. “I’m at the point where I don’t like to be in an office at a certain time each day. Or wear shoes to work,” he says with a smile. Claiborne intends to continue attending Dreamforce, and sharing his expertise with the Developerforce community via the same message boards where his successful development business first started.
He also plans to continue working with TechAssistLA and Beacon of Hope, and helping in the effort to rebuild New Orleans. “A lot of my work in New Orleans is not for profit,” he says. “But that’s okay.”
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