SAP Databricks is important because convenient access to governed data to support business initiatives is important. Breaking down silos has been a drumbeat of data professionals since Hadoop, but this SAP <-> Databricks initiative may help to solve one of the more intractable data engineering problems out there. SAP has a large, critical data footprint in many large enterprises. However, SAP has an opaque data model.  There was always a long painful process to do the glue work required to move the data while recognizing no real value was being realized in that intermediate process. This caused a lot of projects to be delayed, fail, or not pursued resulting in a pretty significant lost opportunity cost for the client and a potential loss of trust or confidence in the system integrator. SAP recognized this and partnered with a small handful of companies to enhance and enlarge the scope of their offering. Databricks was selected to deliver bi-directional integration with their Databricks Lakehouse platform. When I heard there was going to be a big announcement, I thought we were going to hear about a new Lakehouse Federation Connector. That would have been great; I’m a fan.

This was bigger.

Technical details are still emerging, so I’m going to try to focus on what I heard and what I think I know. I’m also going to hit on some use cases that we’ve worked on that I think could be directly impacted by this today. I think the most important takeaway for data engineers is that you can now combine SAP with your Lakehouse without pipelines. In both directions. With governance. This is big.

SAP Business Data Cloud

I don’t know much about SAP, so you can definitely learn more here. I want to understand more about the architecture from a Databricks perspective and I was able to find out some information from the Introducing SAP Databricks post on the internal Databricks blog page.

This is when it really sunk in that we were not dealing with a new Lakeflow Connector; SAP Databricks is a native component in the SAP Business Data Cloud and will be sold by SAP as part of their SAP Business Data Cloud offering. It’s not in the diagram here, but you can actually integrate new or existing Databricks instances with SAP Databricks. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I would definitely consider putting that other instance of Databricks on another hyperscaler. In my mind, the magic is the dotted line from the blue “Curated context-rich SAP data products” up through the Databricks stack.

Open Source Sharing

The promise of SAP Databricks is the ability to easily combine SAP data with the rest of the enterprise data. In my mind, easily means no pipelines that touch SAP. The diagram we see with the integration point between SAP and Databricks SAP uses Delta Sharing as the underlying enablement technology.

Delta Sharing is an open-source protocol, developed by Databricks and the Linux Foundation, that provides strong governance and security for sharing data, analytics and AI across internal business units, cloud providers and applications. Data remains in its original location with Delta Sharing: you are sharing live data with no replication. Delta Share, in combination with Unity Catalog, allows a provider to grant access to one or more recipients and dictate what data can be seen by those shares using row and column-level security.

Open Source Governance

Databricks leverages Unity Catalog for security and governance across the platform including Delta Share. Unity Catalog offers strong authentication, asset-level access control and secure credential vending to provide a single, unified, open solution for protecting both (semi- & un-)structured data and AI assets. Unity Catalog offers a comprehensive solution for enhancing data governance, operational efficiency, and technological performance. By centralizing metadata management, access controls, and data lineage tracking, it simplifies compliance, reduces complexity, and improves query performance across diverse data environments. The seamless integration with Delta Lake unlocks advanced technical features like predictive optimization, leading to faster data access and cost savings. Unity Catalog plays a crucial role in machine learning and AI by providing centralized data governance and secure access to consistent, high-quality datasets, enabling data scientists to efficiently manage and access the data they need while ensuring compliance and data integrity throughout the model development lifecycle.

Data Warehousing

Databricks is now a first-class Data Warehouse with its Databricks SQL offering. The serverless SQL warehouses have been kind of a game changer for me because they spin up immediately and size elastically. Pro tip: now is a great time to come up with a tagging strategy. You’ll be able to easily connect your BI tool (Tableau, PowerBI, etc) to the warehouse for reporting. There are also a lot of really useful AI/BI opportunities available natively now. If you remember in the introduction, I said that I would have been happy had this only been a Lakehouse Federation offering. You still have the ability to take advantage of Federation to discover, query and govern data from Snowflake, Redshift, Salesforce, Teradata and many others all from within a Databricks instance. I’m still wrapping my head around being able to query Salesforce and SAP Data in a notebook inside Databricks inside SAP.

Mosaic AI + Joule

As a data engineer, I was the most excited about zero-copy, bi-directional SAP data flow into Databricks. This is selfish because it solves my problems, but its relatively short-sighted. The integration between SAP and Databricks will likely deliver the most value through Agentic AI. Lets stipulate that I believe that chat is not the future of GenAI. This is not a bold statement; most people agree with me. Assistants like co-pilots represented a strong path forward. SAP thought so, hence Joule. It appears that SAP is leveraging the Databricks platform in general and MosaicAI in particular to provide a next generation of Joule which will be an AI copilot infused with agents.

Perficient is thrilled to announce its recognition as a winner in the 2024 Acquia Partner Awards for DXP Champion of the Year. This esteemed accolade highlights Perficient’s commitment to delivering superior customer outcomes, driving innovation, and achieving outstanding revenue performance within the Acquia partner ecosystem.

Acquia, a leader in open digital experience software, honored 22 organizations worldwide for their exceptional use of Acquia technologies. These awards celebrate partners who have set new standards for technical excellence by implementing high-quality solutions that help customers improve marketing outcomes and enhance business results.

“We’re honored to be recognized as Acquia’s DXP Champion & Partner of the Year! This award is a testament to the strong partnership we’ve built, working hand in hand to deliver comprehensive, end-to-end digital solutions that drive success for our clients. Together with Acquia, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the digital experience space!” said Joshua Hover, DXP Platforms at Perficient. “We are proud to be recognized alongside such an esteemed group of partners and remain committed to advancing the digital experience landscape through our innovative solutions.”

Partner of the Year – Perficient

Perficient is a leader in DXP solutions, helping organizations modernize their platforms and drive long-term success. As one of Acquia’s first Elite Partners and a multi-year Partner of the Year award winner, we have a proven track record of delivering innovative, future-ready digital experiences. Our expertise in strategy, development, and optimization ensures our clients stay ahead in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

“At Perficient, we are dedicated to not only delivering top-tier digital solutions but also forming lasting partnerships that foster our clients’ growth and success,” said Roger Walker, Senior Business Manager of the Perficient Acquia practice. “This recognition from Acquia reinforces our commitment to aligning with our clients’ needs, helping them achieve their digital transformation goals, and driving measurable business impact.”

Acquia empowers ambitious digital innovators to craft the most productive, frictionless digital experiences that make a difference to their customers, employees, and communities. We provide the world’s leading open digital experience platform (DXP), built on open-source Drupal, as part of our commitment to shaping a digital future that is safe, accessible, and available to all. With Acquia Open DXP, you can unlock the potential of your customer data and content, accelerating time to market and increasing engagement, conversion, and revenue.

Learn more at : https://www.acquia.com/partner-of-the-year“

We’re excited to share that Sitecore has honored six of our Perficient colleagues with the prestigious title of Sitecore Most Valuable Professional across all three categories—strategy, technology, and ambassador. With this achievement, our total MVP recognitions now exceed 80.

“Together, our team has continued to reach new heights and set a benchmark of excellence for our Sitecore practice here at Perficient,” Art Quinn, General Manager said. “Our six Sitecore MVP certifications are a testament to our dedication, teamwork, and relentless pursuit of innovation. Here’s to many more milestones and continued success!”

Our 2025 MVPs

Huge congratulations to our six well-deserving Sitecore MVPs:

Mark Ursino– 15x Ambassador MVP

Stephen Tynes– 13x Ambassador MVP

Joshua Hover– 4x Ambassador MVP

Megan Jensen– 4x Strategy MVP

Tiffany Laster– 2x Strategy MVP

Eric Sanner– 2x Technology MVP

This is Mark Ursino’s 15^th Sitecore MVP recognition. “I’m excited and honored to be receiving my 15^th Sitecore MVP award,” Mark said. “The Sitecore MVP community has always been a unique and fulfilling part of the growing Sitecore ecosystem and I’m humbled to be a part of a thriving community that evangelizes and educates the market on world-class Sitecore solutions. Congratulations to all the other MVPs and especially my MVP colleagues at Perficient.”

Sitecore MVP Program

Now in its 19th year, the Sitecore MVP program recognizes the most active Sitecore individuals from around the globe who share their knowledge with various Sitecore partners and customers. These MVPs represent talent from numerous countries around the world. Each year, Sitecore MVP titles award experts on the basis of three categories: technology, strategy, and ambassador.

Individuals selected for this elite honor experience several benefits including recognition within the Sitecore community, early access to product releases and resources, an exclusive invite to MVP discussion forums, and more.

Learn More About Our Sitecore Practice

We are a Sitecore Platinum Partner with specializations in XM Cloud, CDP, Order Cloud, Content Hub, and XP. With our long-standing Sitecore partnership, we look forward to continuing to elevate our Sitecore practice and work with brands to best utilize the platform. Being awarded the 2024 Sitecore Practice Excellence Award Global Winner, we will continue to implement and deliver enterprise-level sites that maximize this digital experience platform.

Congrats again to all six of our MVPs. To learn more about Perficient’s Sitecore solutions, visit our partner page, subscribe to Perficient’s blog, and follow us on LinkedIn.

GitHub Actions is an open-source CI-CD tool that is an extended feature of GitHub. It automates software workflows with world-class CI-CD. Build, Test, and deploy your code from GitHub.

How GitHub Actions Work

• Workflows: Workflows are automated processes defined in the YAML file and triggered on an event like Push.
• Events: Events are operations that change the repository, like Pull Operations and Push Operations.
• Jobs: Within Workflow, we can define one or more Jobs, such as a Build, Test, or Deploy Job.
• Actions: Actions define the Workflow’s inputs, outputs, and main entry points.

Kubernetes is an Open Source Container Orchestration tool that automates Containerized Applications’ deployment, scaling, and management. Kubernetes was invented by Google in 2013 and was handed over to CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation), which is a part of the Linux Foundation. However, Kubernetes is not handled by a single entity; instead, it is a contribution from a worldwide community or developers.

EKS is a fully managed AWS Kubernetes Service that allows you to run your application on serverless infrastructures. It requires installing and operating the Kubernetes Cluster, which can be time-consuming and complex. Instead of configuring the Kubernetes Cluster, EKS lets you focus on deploying the application.

What Problems are Solved by Container Orchestration Tool

• Manual Deployment: Manual Deployment of Applications across multiple Environments, Infrastructure Monitoring, and Network Configuration can be Solved by Container Orchestration Tools.
• Scaling: Kubernetes supports auto-scaling, which scales out Infrastructure Properties like CPU RAM, etc.
• Application Lifecycle Management: Handling application updates, rollouts, rollbacks, and failure recovery in a reliable, consistent, and efficient manner.
• Monitoring And Troubleshooting: The Container Orchestration tool allows you to monitor the application’s health and troubleshoot the debugging failures.

How Kubernetes Solves These Issues

• Configuration: Declarative Configuration can easily allow the user to define the desired state of the Application through the YAML File.
• Container Orchestration: Automates the Deployment, Scaling, and health check of Containers, which means K8s automates the lifecycle of Containers.
• Self-Healing Mechanisms: K8s also have a property like self-healing, which means that suppose one of the containers fails for any reason. Automatically, a new container can start in place of a failed container.
• Scalability: It enables the horizontal scaling of the application by adding or removing the pods based on application demand.

Architecture Diagram

In this Architecture Diagram, we have set up Git Repository and uploaded the application data along with the .github/workflow folder.

• .github/Workflow: in this folder, we have mentioned our CI-CD workflow in yaml file(GitHub-actions-ci.yml )
  When we push changes to the main branch, the GitHub Actions workflow triggers and executes all the commands mentioned in the Workflow.
• IAM Access: We have provided access to GitHub Actions, which will connect AWS Cloud, mainly AWS ECR and AWS EKS services.
• Amazon ECR: It is a Container Registry service. When workflow triggers, the Docker Image is stored in the ECR Repository.
• Amazon EKS: EKS Cluster has been created in Amazon EKS service, a Compute service. EKS pulls the docker image from ECR and Deploys it on the EKS Cluster.

We received the email notification for the successful completion of the workflow.

Installations Steps

Step 1: Create an EKS Cluster

To create a Cluster, we must Launch EC2 Instance in the us-east-2 region.

To create a cluster and provide access, follow the instructions in the link below:
https://github.com/prafulitankar/github-action-eks/blob/main/.github/workflows/eks-cluster-setup.md

Step 2: Create an IAM User

Create an IAM User and provide the ECR and EKS Access to the User, which is communicated to GitHub and AWS Cloud.

Generate an Access Key and Secret key for that Particular User, and don’t forget to store it somewhere.

Step 3: Create an ECR Repo in us-east-2

Remember, this is where we stored Docker Images.

Step 4: Create a GitHub Repository

You can clone my GitHub Repository: https://github.com/prafulitankar/github-action-eks.git

Step 5: Set up Repository Secrets

The IAM user’s Access Key and Secret Key will communicate between GitHub Action and AWS Cloud.

Step 6: Enable Email Notifications

We will receive an email notification on every Push in the main branch at the mentioned email address.

Step 7: Deploy the Application

Deployment of application trigger once code pushed into the main branch.
Some IAM Access is given at the Cluster Level.

Once we have successfully deployed the Application on EKS Cluster, we will get an email notification.

Output:

Conclusion

GitHub is a CVS that allows us to store Source Code and GitHub Actions, an extended feature of GitHub that provides the CI-CD feature for application deployment. We have deployed the source code on EKS with the help of GitHub Actions.

The insurance industry in 2025 is at a pivotal point, with key digital insurance trends leading the charge in transforming how carriers operate and interact with customers. Carriers must innovate, adapt to these changes, and leverage new technologies to maintain a competitive edge.

Insurance Trend #1: Building Business Resilience

Underwriting actions in response to increased claim frequency and severity are expected to stabilize combined ratios across most property and casualty insurance lines in 2025. At the end of 2024, Moody’s changed its insurance outlook to “stable,” citing their belief in the adequacy of rate increases to cover forecast claims cost. However, these higher rates are having noticeable impacts on consumers. 2024 closed with record-high average auto premiums which were up 26% from 2023. Customers are reacting by shopping insurance providers.

Recommended Approach: To buffer these external pressures, carriers and intermediaries must focus on operational efficiency, which can be accelerated through technology. Modernizing infrastructure and investing in intelligent automation and AI are crucial. Technology alone won’t solve all issues; carriers must ensure transparent, effortless, and personal interactions with producers and consumers across the value chain.

You May Enjoy: Manage Rising Expenses in Insurance

Insurance Trend #2: Digital Distribution Across the Value Chain

In 2025, carriers will continue to innovate with new tools and services to interact with customers and producers as roles, sales channels, and client relationships evolve. Carriers must digitize their operations, incorporating modern technology and data to automate and enhance the value chain experience, allowing consumers and producers to mitigate risk confidently.

Recommended Approach: Evolving distribution necessitates innovations such as embedded insurance to enhance brand awareness for producers and digital-direct consumers, offering convenience, transparency, and choice. Agencies will continue to play a critical role in navigating difficult underwriting conditions by tailoring policy coverages and providing transparency, which requires that they have access to modern sales and servicing tools. Adopting these strategies supports an intuitive, experience-driven buying process for both agents and direct customers.

Related: 3 Key Insurance Takeaways From InsureTech Connect 2024

Insurance Trend #3: Enhanced Customer Experience

Underwriting actions to restore profitability have negatively impacted industry perceptions and experiences. Tighter underwriting tolerance and rate increases have challenged producers and financially burdened consumers. Industry experiences have lagged due to outdated technologies, product-centric processes, and lack of transparency. Consumers prioritize customer experience in their purchase decisions, and producers favor carriers offering ease of use and flexibility on modern platforms.

Recommended Approach: Successful carriers leverage operational data to create actionable insights across a connected digital ecosystem, delivering integrated, seamless, tailored experiences. This approach goes beyond traditional omni-channel engagement, incorporating evolving technologies like social media, chatbots, and IoT, while respecting customer preferences and privacy. Omni-channel engagement offers smarter business decisions, real-time system access, and meaningful connections at every touchpoint.

Success In Action: Proving Rapid Value and Creating Better Member Experiences

Insurance Trend #4: AI Disruption and Enablement

AI and ML promise to enhance decision-making, servicing, and settlement processes in the insurance industry. AI won’t replace humans but will offer efficiencies that free up human mindshare, supporting the industry’s noble purpose of safeguarding futures amidst disruption.

Recommended Approach: AI, when applied to claims, underwriting, and customer engagement, creates a market advantage. We help clients advance AI capabilities through virtual assistants, generative interfaces, agentic frameworks, and product development, enhancing team velocity by integrating AI team members.

Explore More: Transform Your Business With Cutting-Edge AI and Automation Solutions

Insurance Trend #5: Assess Risk Using Data

The pace of change in the industry will continue to accelerate, with social inflation, weather, and economic inflation pressuring carrier loss ratios. Emerging risks like cyber threats create opportunities for new products but bring volatility that traditional risk models can’t predict.

Recommended Approach: The digital era introduces capabilities like personalization, AI, and document digitization. A strong data fabric becomes critical to enabling the trust and availability needed to support foundational and transformative opportunities and turn data into useful organizational information. Many insurance companies are data-rich but intelligence-poor, limiting their ability to identify and mitigate emerging risks. Prioritizing predictive modeling and data analytics is crucial to staying ahead of the competition.

Related: Data-Driven Companies Move Faster and Smarter

Next Steps: 2025 and Beyond

Carriers and brokers count on us to help modernize, innovate, and win in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Our solutions power personalized omnichannel experiences and optimize performance across the enterprise.

• Business Transformation: Activate strategy and innovation ​within the insurance ecosystem.​
• Modernization: Optimize technology to boost agility and ​efficiency across the value chain.​
• Data + Analytics: Power insights and accelerate ​underwriting and claims decision-making.​
• Customer Experience: Ease and personalize experiences ​for policyholders and producers.​

We are trusted by leading technology partners and consistently mentioned by analysts. Discover why we have been trusted by 13 of the 20 largest P&C firms and 11 of the 20 largest annuity carriers. Explore our insurance expertise and contact us to learn more.

In today’s digital age, personalization is key to keeping customers engaged and satisfied. Salesforce Experience Cloud offers various features that allow
businesses to deliver tailored experiences, making customers feel valued and enhancing their connection with your brand. Here’s a simple guide on how to leverage personalization to boost engagement.

1. Personalization: Creating Tailored Experiences

Personalization is all about showing customers the content and information that matters most to them. With Salesforce’s powerful data and AI capabilities, businesses can offer personalized experiences in real-time, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Here are some ways to use personalization:

Custom Dashboards

Custom Dashboard is one way to personalize the experience is by displaying custom dashboards for your customers. These dashboards can show relevant data, such as recent orders or support cases, giving users easy access to information that matters most to them.

Targeted Content

You can provide custom content based on customers’ interests, regions, and purchasing history. For example, showing product recommendations or blog posts that align with their past behavior can increase engagement and make customers feel understood.

User-Specific Recommendations

Salesforce also allows you to suggest knowledge articles, products, or services based on a customer’s past interactions. This makes the experience more relevant and helpful, improving both satisfaction and engagement.

2. Self-Service Capabilities: Empowering Customers

Customers want quick solutions, and many prefer to solve issues on their own without waiting for support. Salesforce Experience Cloud Communities offer a great way to provide self-service options that empower customers to help themselves. This reduces frustration and enhances their overall experience.

Knowledge Base

A well-organized knowledge base helps customers find articles, FAQs, and troubleshooting guides whenever they need them. By offering these resources, you can reduce the need for customers to contact support and encourage them to find solutions independently.

Case Management

Through case management tools, customers can submit support cases, track their progress, and view solutions directly within the portal. This feature streamlines the support process and makes it easier for customers to get the help they need.

Community Forums

Allow customers to interact with each other through community forums. These forums enable peer-to-peer support, where customers can ask questions, share experiences, and even provide answers to others. This helps increase interaction and creates a community feel around your brand.

3. Real-Time Collaboration and Communication

Effective communication plays a big role in building strong customer relationships. Salesforce Experience Cloud Communities offer various ways for businesses to engage with customers in real-time, creating a more interactive experience.

Chatter

Salesforce’s Chatter is an enterprise social network that allows customers to communicate directly with your brand. Customers can ask questions and get quick responses, which helps build trust and improve customer satisfaction.

Forums and Discussion Boards

Forums and discussion boards give customers a space to ask questions, engage in discussions, and receive answers from both peers and experts. This type of communication increases engagement and helps customers feel more connected to your brand.

Live Chat

With integrated live chat tools, customers can quickly interact with support representatives. Whether they need help with a product or have a question about services, live chat provides instant solutions, reducing wait times and improving engagement.

4. Gamification: Making Engagement Fun

Gamification is a fun way to keep customers engaged by rewarding them for certain actions. Salesforce Experience Cloud makes it easy to implement gamification strategies that encourage users to interact more with your content and community.

Badges and Points

Award badges or points to customers for actions like submitting feedback, sharing knowledge, or completing tasks. These small rewards can make a big difference in keeping customers engaged.

Leaderboards

Display a leaderboard that shows the top contributors to incentivize participation and foster a sense of friendly competition. This encourages customers to engage more and be part of an active community.

Challenges and Quizzes

Create challenges or quizzes where customers can earn rewards for answering questions or completing activities. Gamification adds an element of excitement and makes the customer experience more enjoyable.

5. Seamless Integration with Other Salesforce Products

Salesforce Experience Cloud integrates seamlessly with other Salesforce products, such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud, offering a 360-degree view of your customer. This integration enables businesses to deliver a unified experience across various touchpoints.

Customer Insights

Use data from other Salesforce tools to personalize the customer experience within Experience Cloud. By understanding your customer’s needs and preferences, you can tailor content and recommendations to be more relevant.

Automation

Automate key processes such as customer onboarding, case management, and communication to improve efficiency and create a smoother experience for customers.

Marketing Campaigns

By integrating with Marketing Cloud, businesses can deliver personalized email campaigns, newsletters, and promotions directly to community members, keeping them engaged with your brand.

6. Mobile-Optimized Communities: Engaging Customers on the Go

In today’s mobile-first world, ensuring that your community is mobile-optimized is essential. Salesforce Experience Cloud Communities are fully responsive, meaning they offer a great user experience no matter the device.

Anytime, Anywhere Access

Customers can engage with your community whenever they want, from any device—whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

Push Notifications

Use push notifications to send timely updates and alerts directly to your customers’ mobile devices, keeping them informed and engaged.

Mobile-Friendly Interfaces

A smooth, intuitive mobile experience ensures that customers will keep coming back. By optimizing your community for mobile, you ensure customers can easily interact with your brand, no matter where they are.

7. Rich Analytics for Continuous Improvement

To keep improving your community and customer engagement, Salesforce Experience Cloud provides powerful analytics tools that track customer behavior. By analyzing these metrics, you can identify trends and make informed decisions.

Community Activity Tracking

Monitor how customers interact with your content and see which topics generate the most interest. This insight helps you improve your content strategy.

Engagement Metrics

Measure customer engagement by tracking logins, forum activity, and support cases. This helps you understand how customers are using your community and where improvements can be made.

Alos, visit the articles below:

Salesforce Documentation : Experience Cloud

Experience Cloud Key Features

Setting Up and Customizing Experience Cloud

It’s a need of the hour and the topic of discussion – How to stay safe online. Promptly, Cybersecurity Awareness session was hosted by WIT, India. The speaker of the day is Sanjana Rathi, Cyber security specialist. She shared her wisdom on Cybercrimes, preventive measures and practical solutions to the problems.
In this blog the victim is called Mr. David and Scamster/Predator is called Goliath.

The mobile number magic
We tend to be free with our Phone number and basic details and while billing in a hotel, service provider, coupons for Free raffles, we tend to share the number for free without thinking much on the consequences. There are no proper policies with the application to guard our data and hence it gets leaked to the predators who are waiting for an opportunity to prey on us.

Call forwarding scam:
Mr. David was approached by Goliath asking him to dial few numbers and at that time David was unaware, call forwarding would be activated in his mobile and his data would be stolen, As the call forwarding is activated in his mobile and Goliath used WhatsApp for Business installed newly in his phone and messaged his contacts asking for money. Few people got scammed and others reached out to this Mr. Dávid and only then he was aware he and his friends were under cyberattack.

Cyber security:
“Cyber security is about being aware and takes lots of practice to stay safe from Scammers”.
There are lot of challenges in the digital era. We tend to agree to Application license without going through the documentation granting them access for our personal data such as Contacts, Photos, location and much more.

Types of Cyberthreats:
Cyber threats are classified majorly into four categories.
• Malware
• Phishing
• Ransomware
• DDos attacks

Phishing:
Goliath uses social engineering tactics to send you link, we are prompted to download link/ respond to a mail or pay our utility bills using the link. Once we click it by mistake, we would be routed to a fake website asking us for our bank details and we would be scammed.

Voice cloning/Face cloning in Ransomware:
Cyber Crime tools using AI, Metaverse – predators use Voice cloning/Face cloning asking for money transfer. A businessman’s secretary was asked by a man pretending to be his boss asking for money transfer through voice call. The secretary was vigilant and as the ransomware amount was huge. He did reach out to his boss and found out it was a fake Request. If at all he wasn’t careful, they would have got scammed.

Data Hygiene:
      Data Hygiene is important while we look out to buy new electronic devices and haul away the older ones. Some of the suggestions to be practiced are,

• Get a phone/system from a credible source.
• For Important data, have cloud storage and backup.
• Reg the Disposal of the data regarding the resell of phone, degaussing of data must be done to erase/dispose the data in the Mobiles/Systems.
• Cyber criminals make use of E-waste from foreign nations. They look in for the Recycle bin of the systems for data.
• Always be cautious and verify before taking a step for transaction.

UPI Fraud:
• RBI regulations – on the first transaction, Report the crime on time by calling 1093 (Cybercrime helpline) – 4 hours within the incident and contacted the bank to freeze the account. Report to the ombudsman. It’s likely the bank has to refund the amount.
                     “Scamsters fuel on the fear of the Victim to prey on them”

Digital Arrest:
The recent day scam is as follows, At midnight, Mr. David got a call from Goliath impersonating that he is a Customs officer calling to say that Mr. David has sent a Package which contains a Illegal item distant nation. The call gets connected to the Police Commissioner where they asked Mr. David is enquired on video call and team member of Goliath’s impersonate as police commissioner with the whole setup uniform and background and prey on the fear of David.

Mr. David is asked to Withdraw a huge amount of money from the bank. The bank employees found Mr. David acting weird and trying to close a huge amount of his savings in short notice. Meanwhile Goliath’s team would stay on call while Mr. David was at the bank. After multiple counselling by Banker and his trustworthy nature, David agreed that he was victimized and hence the scam is avoided.

Cyber security measures at Perficient:
ISMS awareness month is celebrated every year with various interesting games in order to educate and make us aware on the Domain spooking, different threats and solutions, Various mails been shared to us regarding the Do’s and Don’ts of using Perficient email and password management.

Conclusion:
With the advancement in AI, metaverse and Technology, Team of Goliaths comes up with various scams. They even use books like How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carenidge in order to trick people in liking them and to eventually scam them. We cannot eradicate cybercrimes completely. The best thing we can do is be aware of the ongoing scams and follow the safe practices in daily life. Staying cautious and vigilant and best practices will save us from cybercrime.

On December 10, 2024, the Perficient Towers in Chennai buzzed with energy and anticipation as we hosted the first-ever Perficient – BrowserStack Partner Day event. This milestone event united colleagues from across India—including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Nagpur—and virtual participants, creating a hybrid experience that combined in-person dynamism with the inclusivity of online access. The numbers speak for themselves: over 80 attendees participated live, while more than 600 joined virtually, marking the event as an incredible success. 

A Warm Welcome to Inspire the Day 

The day commenced with a heartfelt welcome from Ramya Jayakrishnan, setting an optimistic tone for what was to come. Following this, our esteemed India VP, Prakash Chembai, shared his vision for this partnership, expressing his belief in its potential to become a game-changer in the industry. 

 Next, Managing Director Siva Paramesh took the stage, emphasizing how this event serves as a launchpad for unlocking new potentials in product quality assurance across diverse testing platforms. Siva also conveyed warm wishes for the event’s success from Mary Beth Ostasz, AVP, Global QA. 

The BrowserStack Team: Insights and Expertise 

The event was honored by the presence of four distinguished guests from BrowserStack: 

• Mukund Srinivasan, Director – Marketing & Strategy 
• Karthik Raj, PM-1, Strategy 
• Vijay B, Senior Partner Lead 
• Abishek Surendrababu, Senior Customer Engineer 

Together, they offered a deep dive into BrowserStack’s cutting-edge capabilities. Mukund Srinivasan’s introduction to the synergy between BrowserStack and Perficient laid the groundwork. His overview covered BrowserStack’s evolution, recent flagship products, and a visionary approach to leveraging AI to enhance quality assurance processes. 

A Showcase of Innovation: Live Demo 

One of the event’s highlights was the live demo by Abishek Surendrababu, who provided a hands-on walkthrough of BrowserStack’s versatile features. The demonstration showcased how the platform streamlines QA processes, from test case and test suite creation to test management and real-time report generation. The demo also introduced BrowserStack’s AI-powered offerings for automation, accessibility testing, and assistive testing, illustrating their real-world applications and transformative potential. 

Engaging Discussions and Interactive Q&A 

The live demo seamlessly transitioned into an interactive Q&A session. Both on-site and virtual participants posed insightful questions, sparking dynamic discussions. The BrowserStack team’s real-time responses addressed the queries and provided actionable insights and expert tips for optimizing their tools. 

A Unified Experience Across Geographies 

The day concluded with a thoughtful vote of thanks by Kavitha Vasudevan, who expressed gratitude to all the teams that contributed to the event’s success, including Infrastructure, HR, IT, and Marketing. This hybrid QA event—blending online and offline elements—fostered a remarkable unity. Colleagues from diverse locations shared a collective learning experience, reinforcing Perficient’s commitment to collaboration and innovation. 

Looking Ahead 

The Perficient – BrowserStack Partner Day has set the stage for an exciting future in quality assurance. By combining BrowserStack’s state-of-the-art technology with Perficient’s expertise, this partnership promises to drive innovation, enhance product quality, and redefine industry standards. The event was not just a celebration of collaboration but a glimpse into the transformative potential of this partnership. 

        It’s the time of the year again. Perficient celebrates the International Yoga Day that happens every year on 21st June. This year we had Gesture yoga and Face Yoga session by Ms. Kalpana Rajasekran, who is a Yoga trainer with 14+ years of experience specializing in Therapeutic Yoga sessions to cure diverse health conditions. This session happened over online where the employees from India attended it Live and had a great refreshing and knowledgeable session.

Agenda
The agenda for this hour-long session was to understand the mudras and how to use them in a proper way and to know the health benefits of the mudras and how to practice the face yoga forever glowing and clear skin.

Advantages of Mudra

  Mudra means gesture and it balances the five elements of our body. Mudras can be practiced while doing our daily activities like walking, sitting, and standing or lying down. It relives all the blockages in Chakras and Nadis. The health benefits of mudras are immense. It can cure from headache to heart problems.

Types of Mudras and how to practice them
     Trainer is highly professional, and she made us all feel at home. She clearly explained the poses of each gesture and Number of repetitions that needs to be practiced in order to get the maximum benefits out of the gesture. The health benefits ranges from gesture to improve oxygen level in brain, clarity of thoughts and increase vision power and there are gestures to even relives knee pain. Arthritics and stiffness of muscles. Learning about the benefits made us go in awe as have a sedentary lifestyle and a desk job. On practicing these gestures, we can overcome all our minor ailments and conditions can be fixed at the first stage.

Face Yoga
      In Today’s world, we tend to spend on skin care, makeup and to look presentable. Kalpana challenged us stating practicing face yoga is an affordable option for the facial wellness. Face yoga is a combination of Acupressure, massage and breathing. There are techniques designed to relieve and rejuvenate the facial muscles.

Advantages of face yoga
It reduces dark circles as we focus massaging on the 5 acupressure points around the eyes also helps in reducing double chin and face fat providing a clear skin from pimples and wrinkles.

Conclusion
As yoga is an ancient practice from India, WIT India takes a great pride in making it reach each one of the employees for a healthy life and to destress from the work. Gesture and face yoga are incredibly awesome ways to bring harmony in the body and keeps us forever young and healthy.

PS : Attaching the PPT : mudras and face yoga (1) 

We’re pleased to announce that Perficient has been named a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Adobe Experience Cloud Professional Services 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US51741024, December 2024). We believe this recognition is a testament to our commitment to excellence and our dedication to delivering top-notch Adobe services to our clients.

Continue reading to learn more about what the IDC MarketScape is, why Perficient is named a Major Player, and what this designation means to our clients.

Understanding This IDC MarketScape

This IDC MarketScape evaluated Adobe Experience Cloud professional service providers, creating a framework to compare vendors’ capabilities and strategies. Many organizations need help planning and deploying technology, and finding the right vendor is critical.

According to Douglas Hayward, senior research director for CX services and strategies at IDC, “Organizations choosing an Adobe Experience Cloud professional service should look for proof that their vendor has high-quality professionals who have a track record in empowering their clients and delivering the best value for the fairest price.”

This IDC MarketScape study provides a comprehensive vendor assessment of the Adobe Experience Cloud professional services ecosystem. It evaluates both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that contribute to success in this market. The study covers various vendors, assessing them against a rigorous framework that highlights the most influential factors for success in both the short and long term.

Perficient is a Major Player

We believe being named a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape is a significant achievement for Perficient and underscores our Adobe Experience Cloud capabilities, industry and technical acumen, global delivery center network, and commitment to quality customer service. We further believe the study is evidence of our expertise and continued focus on solving our clients’ business challenges.

Hayward said, “In our evaluation of Perficient for the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Adobe Experience Cloud Professional Services 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment, it was evident that Perficient has global delivery expertise that combines an experience design heritage with strong capabilities in digital experience transformation.”

The IDC MarketScape also says, “Based on conversations with Perficient’s clients, the vendor’s three main strengths are value creation, people quality, and client empowerment.”

Our Commitment to Excellence

At Perficient, we are committed to maintaining and improving our services and solutions. We continuously strive to innovate and enhance our capabilities and offerings to meet the evolving needs of our clients, further empower them, and drive value.

Learn More

You can also read our News Release for more details on this recognition and make sure to follow our Adobe blog for more Adobe platform insights!

In modern software development, design patterns play a crucial role in building scalable and maintainable applications. One such powerful pattern is Dependency Injection (DI). While it’s widely recognized in other programming paradigms, DI can also be effectively utilized in Salesforce to promote clean, modular, and testable code.

Whether you’re a seasoned Salesforce developer or just starting your journey, understanding and implementing Dependency Injection can elevate your application design.

What is Dependency Injection?

Dependency Injection is a design pattern where an object’s dependencies (such as services, repositories, or configurations) are provided externally rather than the object creating them itself. This approach promotes loose coupling between components and enhances flexibility.

In Salesforce, this pattern becomes particularly useful for Apex classes, Lightning Web Components (LWC), and custom frameworks.

Key Benefits of Dependency Injection in Salesforce

1. Loose Coupling: Components are no longer tightly bound to specific implementations, making them easier to replace or modify.
2. Enhanced Testability: Dependencies can be mocked or replaced with test implementations, leading to more effective unit testing.
3. Reusability: Shared services can be injected into multiple classes, avoiding redundancy.
4. Scalability: Applications become more modular and straightforward to extend as business requirements grow.

Implementing Dependency Injection in Salesforce

1. Using Interfaces in Apex

One of the simplest ways to implement DI in Salesforce is through interfaces. This ensures that a class doesn’t rely on a specific implementation but can work with any object implementing the interface.

Example: Service Class Injection

// Define an interface
public interface GreetingService {
    String getGreeting();
}

// Implement the interface
public class MorningGreetingService implements GreetingService {
    public String getGreeting() {
        return 'Good Morning!';
    }
}

// Another implementation
public class EveningGreetingService implements GreetingService {
    public String getGreeting() {
        return 'Good Evening!';
    }
}

// Consumer class using Dependency Injection
public class GreetingController {
    private GreetingService greetingService;

    // Constructor injection
    public GreetingController(GreetingService service) {
        this.greetingService = service;
    }

    public String deliverGreeting() {
        return greetingService.getGreeting();
    }
}

Usage

GreetingController controller = new GreetingController(new MorningGreetingService()); System.debug(controller.deliverGreeting()); // Output: Good Morning!

2. Using Custom Metadata for Configurable Dependencies

Salesforce allows you to externalize configurations using Custom Metadata, making dependency management dynamic.

Example: Dynamic Service Injection

1. Create Custom Metadata to map classes to services:
   • Name: MorningGreetingService
   • Class Name: MorningGreetingService
2. Use Reflection to Inject Services Dynamically

public class GreetingController {
    private GreetingService greetingService;

    public GreetingController() {
        String serviceName = 'MorningGreetingService'; // Dynamically retrieved, e.g., from Custom Metadata
        greetingService = (GreetingService) Type.forName(serviceName).newInstance();
    }

    public String deliverGreeting() {
        return greetingService.getGreeting();
    }
}

Benefit: Easily switch between services by updating metadata without changing code.

3. Applying Dependency Injection in LWC

In Lightning Web Components, DI can be achieved by externalizing logic into shared JavaScript modules or injecting services through custom events or APIs.

Example: Injecting a Service

// service.js
export function getGreeting() {
    return 'Hello from the Service!';
}

// LWC Component
import { LightningElement } from 'lwc';
import { getGreeting } from 'c/service';

export default class GreetingComponent extends LightningElement {
    greeting;

    connectedCallback() {
        this.greeting = getGreeting();
    }
}

Real-World Use Cases

1. Multi-Environment Configuration: Inject different services based on the environment (e.g., Sandbox, Production).
2. Dynamic Business Logic: Swap out business rules or algorithms, driven by Custom Metadata, without altering core logic.
3. Testing and Mocking: Replace real services with mock services in unit tests to validate edge cases.

Example: Mocking Services in Test Classes

@IsTest
public class GreetingControllerTest {
    private class MockGreetingService implements GreetingService {
        public String getGreeting() {
            return 'Mock Greeting!';
        }
    }

    @IsTest
    static void testGreeting() {
        GreetingController controller = new GreetingController(new MockGreetingService());
        System.assertEquals('Mock Greeting!', controller.deliverGreeting());
    }
}

Best Practices 

• Use Interfaces Wisely: Design flexible interfaces that can accommodate future changes.
• Leverage Custom Metadata: Externalize configuration to make the system dynamic and avoid hardcoding.
• Minimize Constructor Logic: Keep constructors lightweight to avoid complexity.
• Combine DI with Unit Tests: Ensure dependencies are mockable for better test coverage.

Conclusion

Dependency Injection is a game-changer for Salesforce developers aiming to write clean, maintainable, and scalable code. By embracing this pattern, you can reduce coupling, enhance reusability, and create a system that adapts to change effortlessly.

Whether you’re building Apex services, dynamic LWCs, or leveraging Custom Metadata for configurations, DI empowers you to design better applications. Start small, explore its potential, and watch your Salesforce solutions reach new heights of efficiency and elegance. Happy coding!

Securing Your Salesforce Ecosystem: A Comprehensive guide to using Checkmarx

In the world of search, delivering accurate and relevant answers quickly is key to enhancing user experience. Coveo’s Smart Snippets already provide users with the most relevant information directly on the results page, saving time and effort. But what if we could push this functionality further?

In this post, I’ll walk you through a custom feature I’ve developed for Coveo Smart Snippets. I’ve integrated custom context into the model by setting specific context rules. This has influenced how Smart Snippets respond, tailoring them even more precisely to user needs. This custom enhancement ensures that the snippets not only show relevant content but do so in a way that is fine-tuned based on the exact query context, delivering an even smarter search experience.

Smart Snippet Model in Coveo

The Coveo Machine Learning Smart Snippets model shows users direct answers to their questions on the search results page. Instead of clicking on links, users can quickly see the most relevant answer right there.
The Smart Snippet scans the search results, picks the most relevant one, and displays it at the top of the page with the important content highlighted.
It also suggests related questions or topics in a “People also ask” section so users can explore more without leaving the results page

Concrete Scenario

Imagine you run a big online store where customers often search for details about products, such as their features, reviews, or prices.

Without Smart Snippets: When someone searches for “wireless headphones,” they might see a generic preview of the product page. This preview might not show specific details like features or reviews, so users might have to click through the page to find what they need.

With Smart Snippets: When someone searches for “wireless headphones,” the Smart Snippet Model provides a preview that highlights the key features, latest reviews, or pricing details directly in the search results. This way, users can see important information immediately without visiting the product page.

Example: If someone searches for “wireless headphone features,” the Smart Snippet Model will ensure that the search result preview shows the most relevant details about the headphones’ features. This helps users quickly find the information they seek and decide if the product is right for them.

Setting Up the Smart Snippet Model in Coveo Admin Console

Note: Before starting, you should have the required license to create a model of this type.

• Access Coveo Admin Console: Log in to  Coveo Admin Console with the necessary permissions.

• Navigate to Recommendations: In the left-hand menu, click “models” under the “Machine Learning” section.

• Create a New Model:  Click the “Add Model” button to start the setup process and select the “Smart Snippets”.
  
  In this step, you must choose the specific sources containing the items you want the model to learn from. This helps the model understand which information to use when training.
  
  In this step, you can specify the metadata field, but it’s optional and can be skipped.
  
  This step is also optional and can be skipped for now, but you can exclude CSS properties.
  
  In this step, provide a name for your model and click “Start Building” to begin creating it.
  
  You’ll see the status of your smart snippet model as “Build in Progress.”
  
  Once the model finishes building, it will be marked as ready for association.
  
  

• Create a query pipeline: To utilize the Smart Snippets model, you need to create a dedicated Query Pipeline for proper association

• Create Hosted Search Page: To implement the Smart Snippets model in the UI, follow these steps:

  • Go to the ‘Search’ menu.
  • Select ‘Search Page.’
  • Click ‘Add Search Page.’
  • Access the ‘Classic Interface Editor.’
  • Enter the ‘Page Name’ and ‘HTML Title.’
  • Click ‘Add Search Page’ again.
  • Go to ‘Setup Search Page.’
  • Select ‘All Content.’
  • Click ‘Create Page.’

Integration of Smart Snippet Model in Hosted Search Page

To add Coveo’s Smart Snippet feature to your search interface, simply include the following HTML code to the hosted search page and then save and test it:

<div class="CoveoSmartSnippet" style="section.coveo-smart-snippet-content-wrapper :
            font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
            font-size: 14px;
            color: #373737;
">
</div>
<div class="CoveoSmartSnippetSuggestions" style="p {
            font-family: Lato, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
            font-size: 14px;
            color: #373737;
}">
</div> 

• CoveoSmartSnippet: Displays the main answer snippet.
• CoveoSmartSnippetSuggestions: Shows additional related suggestions.

Results

After integrating the Smart Snippet Model into the search page, users will directly see relevant, concise snippets in the search results. These snippets highlight key information that matches their query.

To see the query-based snippets, Enter any search term in the search interface to view the snippets based on that term.

For Example:

search term: Customizing Search Results Ranking and Ranking Functions

Here, you also see the SnippetSuggestions, also called “People also ask.”


Inspect the current page and check the Network tab to view the smart snippet object. Look for the ‘questionAnswer‘ object under the Preview tab. You can also see the similarity score assigned by the model to the displayed snippets by checking the score value.

Conclusion

Coveo’s Smart Snippets provide a robust solution for delivering precise, contextually relevant information directly within the search results, significantly enhancing user experience. This blog demonstrated how to take this functionality to the next level by integrating custom context into the Coveo Smart Snippet Model, tailoring the snippets even further to meet specific query intents. This improves the relevance of the information and streamlines the decision-making process for users.