Are you struggling to connect various systems, data sources, devices, and applications with your Salesforce system?
Do your teams spend excessive time, resources, and money on developing and maintaining custom integrations only to fall short of expected results?
And now, you are concerned about missing out on new business opportunities and failing to meet customer expectations due to limited integration capabilities within your Salesforce ecosystem.
If any of these challenges resonate with you, then it’s time to consider the power of well integrated Salesforce alongside the external tools your team relies on.
An integration solution is a software tool that effortlessly connects different systems, applications, data sources, and devices, enabling seamless communication and data exchange. It provides a range of features and capabilities, including connectors, adapters, APIs, workflows, orchestration, transformation, routing, monitoring, security, and governance.
However, choosing the right one for your business needs can be challenging, considering the many factors and the abundance of options available in the market.
To help you navigate this decision-making process, we have curated a comprehensive guide outlining key considerations for selecting the perfect Salesforce integration tailored to your unique business use case.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an Salesforce Integration Solution for Your Business
Business Requirements
The first thing that should concern you is identifying and outlining all the business requirements and goals for integration.
- What problems are you trying to address by introducing an integration?
- What business areas need Salesforce integration, and what outcomes are you expecting?
- What key performance indicators do you want to measure?
- How do you plan to scale your integration efforts in the future?
Some of the common business requirements for Salesforce integration are:
- Increasing operational efficiency by automating manual boring tasks and making teams more productive.
- Improving customer experience and satisfaction by providing personalized services consistently across different interaction channels.
- Increasing revenue and profitability by enabling new business models and opportunities.
- Reducing costs and risks by eliminating data silos, ensuring data quality, and fulfilling all compliances.
- Innovating faster and staying ahead by leveraging new technologies and trends.
Once you clearly understand your business requirements, you can map them to the technical requirements and capabilities of different integration solutions.
Integration Patterns
Second, our consideration list contains the integration patterns that must be identified per your business scenarios. Integration patterns help implement use cases based on the data and processes’ type, source, destination, frequency, and complexity.
Here are some Salesforce integration patterns that are used frequently:
Point-to-point integration-
The simplest form of integration where you connect two systems of applications directly. It is most suitable for simple and low-volume data exchange cases where you don’t need mediation or transformation in the integration process.
Hub-and-spoke integration-
Centralized form of integration. In this pattern, a hub or middleware is an intermediary between multiple applications or systems. This pattern is ideal for complex and high-volume data exchange scenarios where there is a need for transformation, routing, orchestration, or governance.
Bus or mesh integration-
a decentralized form of integration where you connect multiple applications or systems through a common bus or a network with each other. When the data exchange scenarios are dynamic and disturbed, and there is a need for scalability, flexibility and resilience, these patterns always work better.
Hybrid integration-
This combines different Salesforce Integration patterns that promise both on-premise and cloud-based technologies. Most modern and heterogeneous data exchange scenarios prefer to use this, having agility, interoperability, and innovation requirements.
You can evaluate different integration tools/platforms based on your integration patterns and their support for various protocols, standards, formats, and technologies.
Integration Features
Another crucial thing is to evaluate how different integration solutions match your specific needs and preferences regarding features and capabilities. Here are a few features and capabilities that you should look for:
- Connectors
They are pre-built components that simplify and speed up connectivity to various endpoints such as databases, ERP, CRM, cloud, social media, IoT, etc. They hide the technical details and provide a uniform interface for integration. You should choose having several connectors for different endpoints.
- Adapters
These are like connectors but with more options to customize and configure integration with specific endpoints. They let you change the connectors’ behavior and functionality per your needs. You should pick an integration solution with adapters for complex or legacy endpoints needing more control over integration.
- Salesforce APIs
API or Application Programming Interfaces expose systems, applications and data functionalities to external users. They empower users with standardization, abstraction, and reuse of integration logic. You should select the one that supports various Salesforce APIs such as REST API, SOAP API, Bulk API, Pub/Sub API, etc., and API management features such as documentation, testing, security, monitoring, etc.
Check out the following factors that will help you in making the right decision:
Scalability and Flexibility
While exploring options, remember it must help you in growing your business and supports various applications and data formats. Cloud-based platforms offer seamless expansion and adaptability.
Security and Data Privacy
Prioritize a tool that offers you all at once: encryption, authentication and access control for data security. Remember to check for compliance with industry standards like GDPR or PCI DSS and consider the presence of masking data features.
Ease of Use and User-Friendliness
Opt for something with a user-friendly interface, visual mapping, and drag-and-drop functionality. Look for comprehensive documentation and responsive customer support for smooth onboarding.
Performance and Reliability
Select a reliable platform to integration with your Salesforce system that can easily handle high data volumes, performs efficient data transformations, and supports real-time integrations. You can also try assessing performance through client reviews and case studies.
Connectivity and Compatibility
Be it on-premises, cloud-based or hybrid environments, select the one that supports all of them and is compatible with your existing system. Pre-built connectors and APIs for popular applications add more versatility.
Cost and ROI
When assessing, take into account the pricing structure and overall cost of ownership of your preferred platform, encompassing factors such as licensing, implementation, maintenance, and support. Additionally, carefully evaluate the potential savings in both time and expenses that can be achieved through process automation and improved efficiency.
Conclusion
Choosing the right integration solution is critical for businesses aiming to optimize their operations and stay competitive in the digital landscape.
Remember that the right solution should meet the current needs and be adaptable enough to support future growth and technological advancements.
But we all know that selecting the right integration tool or system is just part of the planning process; the rest of the story includes data integration and post-deployment activities.
To ensure you have ample knowledge, join the ultimate live talk between two Salesforce experts on July 19, 2023, on the Salesforce Hulk YouTube channel. Know the hidden secrets that simplify integration with Salesforce in this webinar featuring Salesforce Hulk, aka Shrey Sharma, and Vishwajeet Srivastava, Salesforce expert.
Register Now.
