Filecoin for Salesforce Files Connect

[zbraiterman]

Open Grant Proposal: Filecoin for Salesforce Files Connect

Project Name:

Filecoin for Salesforce Files Connect

Proposal Category: Choose one of Developer and data tooling, Integrations, Research & protocols, Storage, Retrieval, FVM, or Other. Learn what these categories are here.

Integrations

Individual or Entity Name: Is the proposal on behalf of an individual, or an entity/organization? Please note that the agreement and any payments must be completed by the same entity, either individual or organization.

Web3 Enabler, Inc.

Proposer: replace with your GitHub username

@zbraiterman

Project Repo(s) Please list Github repos used for this project work.

https://github.com/MuKnSys/ipfs-salesforce-files-connect

(Optional) Filecoin ecosystem affiliations: Please disclose any existing work relationships with organizations in the Protocol Labs Network, including Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, and any others.

Our parent company, Mutual Knowledge Systems, Inc., has done consulting work with Filecoin. From 2021-2022, our Chief Scientist, François-René Rideau, ported Glow, our domain-specific programming language for decentralized applications, to target zk-SNARKs via Filecoin’s Lurk. For more information, check the Filecoin Dev Grants proposal submission.

(Optional) Technical Sponsor: If you have previously discussed this project with a member of the IPFS or Filecoin project teams and they have agreed to be a technical sponsor, include their name and/or github handle here

Erin O’Connor (@ErinOCon)

Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this RFP under the MIT/Apache-2 dual-license?: Please respond with "Yes" or "No".

Yes

Project Summary

We propose to integrate Filecoin with Salesforce Files Connect, which allows Salesforce users to access, share and search external data from systems like Quip, Google Drive, SharePoint, or Box.

This will empower users to add files from Filecoin to Salesforce, similarly to how they currently use Google Drive.

Impact

Salesforce CRM is the industry leader in corporate CRM systems. With 25% market share, they are approximately 4x bigger than their nearest competitor. Salesforce CRM has a Files option, where users can attach files to Salesforce Records. In addition to the uploading of files, they have connectors for Google Drive, SharePoint, and Box.

By enabling Files Connect to work with IPFS, then IPFS is offering a service for companies to store data instead of using the existing centralized solutions. Company Sales data may not seem like the most obvious use case, but it is one of the most valuable ones. If companies are able to store files in IPFS and connect them to Salesforce, that removes a barrier to adoption.
We believe that projects like this will be key to the mass market adoption of IPFS for storage.

Outcomes

We propose to create an IPFS plug-in to allow file storage on Salesforce. We will also produce social media posts and webinars to promote the project.

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

The intended audience for this project is Salesforce users who would benefit from using IPFS directly from Salesforce.

Development Roadmap

Milestone 1 - Initial Build Out ($30,000) - 45 Days

The initial Salesforce Development project is created and the appropriate APIs are implemented. The connectors between IPFS and Salesforce are written at this time. This includes the Setup UI, the usage UI, and the Apex code to call IPFS endpoints and receive IPFS data back.

Milestone 2 - Completion of Open Source Documentation ($10,000) - 15 Days

Once the project is working, each component of the system shall be thoroughly documented. This allows developers to make adjustments and submit enhancements into the system. This can include deeper integration into Salesforce, or the providing of Metadata into the Salesforce user experience.

Milestone 3 - Unmanaged and Managed package creation ($5,000) - 5 Days

Submissions to Salesforce involves building the package, submitting it to the AppExchange, and creating the page. While Opensource Unmanaged Packages do not normally go through security review, Web3 Enabler may also release a supported Managed Package that will go through Security review. This process is common in open source projects for Salesforce, allowing companies to feel comfortable that Salesforce has reviewed the application for security, whether they use the open source version or the managed (closed source) version.For projects like this the code base should be identical, with regular released version going into the repository for those that want a supported version.

Milestone 4 - Documentation and Marketing Materials ($10,000) - 10 Days

Adoption of the project includes discovery opportunities in the AppExchange, SEO from Web searches, social media, and webinars. Creating these initial materials is important to help people find the project, learn how to install it, and start using IPFS for storage.

Milestone 5 - Promotion within Salesforce Community - $15,000 (across 90 days - Webinars, etc.)

Salesforce hosts a series of event called “World Tours” where they highlight products and services.

Total Budget Requested

$70,000

| Milestone # | Description | Deliverables | Completion Date | Funding |
|===|===|===|===|===|

| Milestone 1 | Initial Build Out | The open source app made available in the Filecoin for Salesforce Files Connect GitHub repository | 45 days | $30,000 |

| Milestone 2 | Completion of Open Source Documentation | A PDF file updated to the Filecoin for Salesforce Files Connect GitHub repository | 15 days | $10,000 |

| Milestone 3 | Unmanaged and Managed package creation | The app made available to Salesforce users | 5 days | $5,000 |

| Milestone 4 | Documentation and Marketing Materials | Updated PDF version of the documentation, as well as an updated README file in the GitHub repository | 10 Days | $10,000 |

| Milestone 5 | Promotion within Salesforce Community | 3 webinars (1 per month) and 3 SEO blog posts (1 per month), weekly social media posts (on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram | 90 days | $15,000 |

Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

The Files Connect API is very static in the Salesforce ecosystem. We anticipate maintaining an open source GitHub repository for reporting issues, which would allow simple patches and upgrades in time.

We plan to work with the Filecoin community to identify features necessary from the Filecoin side. We will either incorporate pull requests from the community, or implement the features internally.

Team

Team Members

https://web3enabler.com

Relevant Experience

Alex Hochberger, Web3 Enabler’s CEO, brings the following experience. 

• 20+ Years Technology Veteran
• 2 Successful Startup Exits
• 6 years Salesforce Ecosystem

The rest of our team brings the following experience. Globally renowned blockchain-focused software security research Blockchain development since 2019, including work on Filecoin’s Lurk from 2021 - 2022

Zoe Braiterman and Alex Hochberger are active participants in the Filecoin Builders Working Group.

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Team code repositories

XRP for Salesforce: An open source data mapping layer between the XRP Ledger and Salesforce

Additional Information

Contact email: [email protected]

[ErinOCon]

Hi @zbraiterman, thank you for your proposal! Will this project incorporate both IPFS and FIlecoin? If so, can you briefly speak to how this work will integrate Filecoin specifically?

[zbraiterman]

My pleasure, @ErinOCon!

• Files Connect Implementation connects IPFS into Salesforce, similar to the WebDav integrations.

• We plan to work with the Pinning Service to connect the data into Salesforce without running through our nodes.

• The Proof of Concept Use Case is probably: Use Web3.storage as your drag-and-drop UI, then attach the record to your Salesforce Org

• Future grants will explore how to add files to Filecoin without a third party UI like Web3.storage. This will be part of future iterations, but we anticipate a proof of concept here.

I hope this helps. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any further questions you may have.

[ErinOCon]

Thanks @zbraiterman! Do you have success metrics or projections available (i.e. users onboarded, etc.)?

[zbraiterman]

Of course, @ErinOCon!

Our main success metrics so far are related to integrations and partnerships.

• BitRank Verified compliance integrations for automating checks, such as know your transaction (KYT) directly within Salesforce / a company's existing workflows
• Circle Alliance partnership
• We have 5 corporate partners in the Salesforce ecosystem.
• We also received a grant from the XRP Ledger Foundation to build an open source app that allows users to accept and send payments in XRP directly to and from Salesforce.
• Our main commercial Blockchain Payments product, which is currently available in the Salesforce AppExchange allows users to manage transactions on EVM compatible and UTXO blockchains.

The search traffic to our website continues to grow.

• For example, our blog post shows up first when “Filecoin for Salesforce” is searched.
• Our Google Search Console performance metrics from September, 2024 include the following: 108 clicks (web), 9.41K impressions (web), ~67 pages with first impressions

[ErinOCon]

Hi @zbraiterman, thank you for these details! Are there anticipated or current use cases that you can share for this project? If anticipated, any timeline details you can provide would be helpful.

[ErinOCon]

Hi @zbraiterman, I hope you are doing well! Your project is currently shortlisted as a review candidate. If we have any remaining questions, we will contact you on this thread.

If you have any questions on your end, please feel welcome to be in touch at [email protected]. We would be happy to connect.

[zbraiterman]

Hi @ErinOCon,

I’m doing well, thank you. I hope you are, too. Thank you for the update.

Looking forward to further updates from you / the grants review team, as you have them.