Definition
Point is a feature or product within the Salesforce platform ecosystem that extends its core capabilities. It provides additional functionality, infrastructure, or services that organizations use to build, connect, or scale their Salesforce implementation.
Real-World Example
Consider a scenario where an architect at Skyline Consulting is working with Point to extend their Salesforce implementation to meet growing business demands. Point provides the additional capability they need without requiring a separate third-party system, keeping everything within the trusted Salesforce ecosystem and reducing integration complexity.
Why Point Matters
In Salesforce, a Point refers to a geolocation data type that stores a specific geographic coordinate as a latitude and longitude pair. This data type is used in geolocation fields on standard and custom objects to represent precise physical locations. Point data powers distance-based calculations, proximity searches, and map visualizations within Salesforce. For example, organizations can use Point fields to find all accounts within 25 miles of a location, plot customer locations on a map, or calculate travel distances between service appointments.
As organizations collect more location data from mobile apps, IoT devices, and field service operations, Point-based geolocation becomes increasingly valuable. Field service companies use Point data to optimize technician routing, retail businesses use it for territory planning, and logistics companies use it for delivery zone management. Without geolocation fields, organizations resort to address string comparisons and external geocoding services that introduce latency and complexity. However, developers should be aware that SOQL distance calculations using Point fields can be resource-intensive on large datasets, so indexing and selective query strategies are important for performance at scale.
How Organizations Use Point
- TerraField Services — TerraField stores technician and customer locations as Point fields. Their dispatcher uses SOQL DISTANCE() queries to find the three closest available technicians to each new work order. This reduced average technician travel time by 23% and increased the number of completed jobs per day by 15%.
- Metro Retail Group — Metro plots all 500 store locations using Point geolocation fields and visualizes them on a Salesforce map component. Territory managers use proximity analysis to identify coverage gaps — areas where potential customers are more than 30 miles from the nearest store — which informed the placement of 12 new locations.
- Pacific Logistics — Pacific uses Point fields on their custom Delivery object to track the GPS coordinates of each delivery drop-off. Their route optimization algorithm queries Point data to cluster nearby deliveries into efficient routes, saving an estimated $340K annually in fuel and driver time.