Webex integration

[Saulty]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to "really" integrate Webex with Salesforce?
I have been trying this for awhile (off and on of course) with no luck.

My problem is that I have a calendar of scheduled on-line webex sessions and also scheduled "events" in my Saleforce calendar. I would like to schedule all of this right from salesforce OR atleast have the calendar in Salesforce automatically recognize the Webex events.

Any help on this would be appreciated. I have already called Salesforce and I do have my API ID.

Thanks,

Chris

[AZGirl]

I have the same issue - can this be done?

[Saulty]

AZGirl,

Everytime I speak with Salesforce they tell me to call Webex and of course visa versa. Great idea to integrate, but I'm not sure if it really works.

Hopefully someone has had some luck and they will post.

Thanks,
Chris

[Scot]

I've also enabled the integration, but had less of an issue with copying schedules.
I'm not sure my experience helps, but ...

Overall conclusions:
> It's handy for scheduling an event in sf that will use WebEx
> I like having the sf search and databases to find attendees
> It's also easy to start the WebEx meeting from the salesforce event record
> The meetings are non-listed in WebEx. Not sure I like this.

On scheduling ...
> No surprise: the sf calendar is updated with the event automatically.
after scheduling an event in salesforce (which also scheduled the WebEx meeting),
that the event was immediately added to my salesforce calendar.
> You can update outlook easily
There was a button on the event itself which allowed me to export
the event into outlook, and that button worked.
> The info in the exported outlook schedule entry was pretty lean ...
It had the time, subject and description, but
NOT the invitees, a link to the salesforce event, or a link to the WebEx event.

I haven't released this to my users yet.

Concerns:
> Does the scheduling within salesforce add enough advantage?
> Response times have sometimes been quite slow.
Probably the result of requiring two servers and API's to respond, but ... it's still slow.

Scot

[Saulty]

Scot,

Thanks for your response and input. I was driving myself crazy thinking this was a smooth integration and I was doing something wrong.

I have had the same type of experience.

Chris

[Jack1234]

Hi Scott, would you be interested in looking at the integration we are doing?

Jack

[Scot]

Additional reactions after a little more experience:

   LIKE
       > tracking everything in salesforce
              (If the meeting is established there, all attendees and their status is available)
       > the invitation messages that are automatically sent from salesforce (better than those from WebEx itself).
       > the responses, and the dialogs provided for the responses, from the invitees

   DON'T LIKE, but can work with:
       > the meetings are setup as unlisted
              (you can modify them to be listed, however, on WebEx itself)
       > you can't link to a meeting already setup in WebEx ...
              (to use the facility, you must make the meeting within salesforce)
       > the number of options you can control from salesforce is minimal

   I do find it usable, and plan to roll it out to my users.

Note: I'm using the general Meeting Manager service; WebEx also has a more specific Sales Manager service which I understand may be better integrated??

[Scot]

WebEx integrates with both Outlook and Salesforce now.

With:
       Salesforce <--> Outlook
       Salesforce <--> WebEx
       WebEx <--> Outlook

...we have, if you'll pardon me, too many options.

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A salesperson, or support person, can schedule or start a WebEx session from:
       WebEx itself
       Outlook
       Salesforce
Once initiated, each product will try to own everything, and share parts. For example, each has it's own:
       list of contacts
       invitation mechanism (emailer)
       way to confirm attendance intentions
       list of attendees

 After experimenting with them, my conclusions are:
      > Outlook is the smoothest mechanism, but
      > Once initiated in Outlook, it's a bear to get the information on attendees back into salesforce

Since I have a high priority on capturing information in salesforce, I'm planning to encourage WebEx usage from within salesforce, and discourage the usage from Outlook

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I'm still very interested in other's experience with these options ... so please don't hesitate to contribute!!!!

Thx. 
Scot