Appfire

Appfire is the leading global provider of software that enhances, extends, and connects the world’s leading platforms to make work flow any way teams want to work, from planning to product ideation, product development, project delivery, and beyond. Appfire increases the value of platforms such as Atlassian, Microsoft, monday.com, and Salesforce, enabling teams to thrive and do their best work together. With more than one million users, Appfire’s popular solutions are helping teams with Enterprise Collaboration, DevOps, Workflow & Automation, Product Portfolio Management, IT Service Management (ITSM), Document Management, Business Intelligence and Reporting, Administrative Tools, Agile Tools, Developer Tools, Time Tracking, Publishing, Integrations, and Software Engineering Intelligence. Appfire has been selling its popular software products on the Atlassian Marketplace since it first launched in 2012, and today Appfire has the most widely adopted portfolio of Atlassian apps across tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Project objectives

To prioritize the needs, experiences, and growth of their partners in every aspect of their operations, and to drive partner revenue while improving engagement and collaboration, Appfire planned significant enhancements to its existing Salesforce Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution. They required a flexible solution capable of supporting multiple ecosystems and scaling with the business. Recognizing the extensive knowledge of Advanced Communities in Salesforce PRM, Experience Cloud, and expertise in UI/UX, Appfire chose us as the development partner to improve the design, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) for their partner community on Experience Cloud.

Solution

Together with Appfire, we focused on content personalization, updated branding, enhanced the partner portal’s design, and created different entry points to allow partners to find what they need within the Appfire system.

The main tasks included:

● Development of a new custom design for their PRM portal to improve the overall experience from a UI/UX standpoint

● Content personalization based on whether partners were using Atlassian, monday.com, Microsoft or Salesforce

● Pipeline enhancements. The opportunity management flow improvements like mass accept or mass reject the leads and opportunities.

● Implementation of additional enhanced features and functionality.

In terms of delivering branding and front-end services, Advanced Communities created and implemented a custom design, moving away from a standard Salesforce look to create a more unique and tailored feel. Styling was optimized to align with the Appfire Brand Portal and overall marketing and branding requirements. 

For ecosystem content personalization, we created different entry points to allow Appfire partners to find what they need in the specific ecosystem they use, whether Atlassian, monday.com, Microsoft or Salesforce. With the help of a custom component, users can easily switch between ecosystems as needed after accessing a specific one.

Regarding custom code solutions, Advanced Communities developed and implemented custom components to display important partner information at a glance, such as the partner’s name, partner level, year-to-date (YTD) revenue, and total open leads and opportunities – all on one page. Partners can also upload a .csv file with the total number of open opportunities if needed. A flexible, easily customizable carousel component enhanced the page’s aesthetic and delivered a personalized experience to the partners.

It’s been a year since Appfire’s Partner Portal launch and the results are whopping: 

Benefits and results

Unified access and growth

With the design enhancements, Appfire achieved their main objective: building trust and delivering value to their partners by making it much easier for them to find what they need, when they need it, all in one place. The intuitive, user-friendly portal now allows partners to learn and grow by providing access to a suite of resources and self-service tools necessary for education and selling, making these processes easier and faster.

Targeted resource allocation

Partners don’t have time. By creating distinct entry points based on the specific ecosystems partners belong to, Appfire provided them with the ability to easily find relevant information and resources tailored specifically to their needs, saving their valuable time.

Enhanced pipeline control

The enhancements to the pipeline management flow, including the ability to mass accept or reject leads and opportunities, have significantly streamlined the opportunity management process, helping to boost the overall productivity of Appfire partners.

Further enhancements

Looking for the solution for establishing co-branding with their partners and centralizing and managing their brand assets, Appfire also opted for the AC co-marketing app for Salesforce PRM – AC Partner Co-Branding. The solution lets Appfire partners automate the co-branded marketing and sales content creation within the partner portal in real time following their brand guidelines by using prebuilt branded templates and customizing them according to their needs. 

The AC Partner Marketplace application, another PRM solution utilized by Appfire, offers features to create a Partner Directory and Marketplace within a secure and customizable environment on Experience Cloud. Its main purpose is to facilitate lead generation and bolster sales for partners.

Next chapter of our journey

Expanding the Partner Ecosystem with Custom Enhancements

After successfully launching the Appfire Partner Directory with the AC Partner Marketplace app, Appfire returned to Advanced Communities with a new objective: elevate their directory experience with advanced customization and partner-driven features.

“We were already utilizing the AC Partner Marketplace app but wanted our directory to be further customized,” Ashlee Peterson – Lead Program Manager at Appfire – explained. “We utilized Advanced Communities to brainstorm how a custom solution would work and how to implement the work that was outlined.”

The goal was to move beyond a standard listing directory and instead offer a tailored experience for both customers and partners. With strong branding in mind, the Advanced Communities team implemented custom CSS to ensure the directory aligned visually with Appfire’s brand identity. But the real transformation came with the introduction of powerful new features, including:

● Custom location filtering

● Support for multiple partner locations per listing

● Award and badge displays for partners

● A customer-facing “Let Us Match You” form for lead generation

“Our goal was a custom partner directory that would fulfill a variety of needs and give our customers and partners a unique and intuitive experience.”

Having previously collaborated with Advanced Communities on other projects, the decision to re-engage was easy.

“Having worked with them seamlessly for other projects, AC was an easy choice for this project.”

Despite the challenges of building custom solutions on top of an existing product, the collaboration proved productive.

“The implementation process was smooth overall. It can be difficult to implement a custom solution on top of existing functionality, but we accomplished everything we wanted with the collaboration of the Advanced Communities team.”

Real Results: Better UX, Happier Partners, and Qualified Leads

Since the launch, Appfire’s enhanced partner directory has enabled a richer and more dynamic user experience. Customers now have the flexibility to filter partners more precisely, and partners are empowered to showcase multiple locations—one of the most frequently requested features.

“Our partners are now enabled to include multiple locations on their directory listing (which was their biggest ask). We now also offer more detailed filtering options to ensure customers can find the right partners to solve their needs.”

The new “Let Us Match You” form is already proving its value.

“We have generated over ten qualified leads with the new form—which we’ve been able to pass to our partners. Support on lead generation has been a big ask from our partners, so this is a great start.”

This phase of the project demonstrates how a Salesforce-native solution can scale with evolving business needs, and how customization—when done right—can deliver measurable value to all stakeholders.

And here’s what Appfire said about our performance:

“Working with Advanced Communities has been a game-changer for Appfire. Their team’s expertise and dedication transformed our project into a resounding success. 

The results speak for themselves. Thanks to Advanced Communities efforts, we achieved our goals and more. Their attention to detail and unwavering focus on customer satisfaction set them apart. It’s rare to find a partner who not only meets but exceeds expectations at every turn.

I highly recommend Advanced Communities to anyone seeking top-notch service and outstanding results. They are true professionals who are passionate about what they do, and it shows in everything they touch.

Advanced Communities has always been very collaborative and creative when it comes to developing custom solutions. Their team is always quick to jump in and goes above and beyond to ensure their customers are happy with the results.“

Ashlee Peterson, Lead Program Manager at Appfire

Watch our webinar with Appfire here.

Learn more about Advanced Communities:

Visit AC Consulting Services page on the Salesforce AppExchange.