Exploring Salesforce Integrations

Salesforce is the world’s leading CRM (customer relationship management) platform, with more than 100,000 organisations using it worldwide. Thanks to its extensive range of powerful features that help businesses simplify their sales, marketing, and customer service processes, it’s no wonder that Salesforce has become the most popular software as a service CRM. 

As a business with so many different applications and systems to manage it can be difficult to ensure operations run smoothly and with the most up to date, reliable data. However, integrating your website with Salesforce allows these systems to connect and share data seamlessly, enhancing efficiency and providing a holistic view of customer interactions. Here we will explain what Salesforce Integration is, how we have implemented it into a real-life scenario and how this has benefited our client’s business so you can understand better how a Salesforce integration could benefit your business.

Salesforce Integration refers to the process of connecting the Salesforce platform with other applications or systems to enable seamless data exchange, automation, and collaboration. It allows businesses to unify their data sources, streamline workflows, and harness the full power of Salesforce alongside other essential tools. This connection between the Salesforce platform and other external systems essentially allows data to flow back and forth between applications creating a very powerful tool as it helps companies create a 360-degree view of their customers and their business. Integrations with additional databases can bring even more value and information to the Salesforce environment resulting in data-driven decision making.

There are various ways in which Salesforce can integrate with external systems and we can help you navigate your way through each of them or implement them if required. Each type of integration caters to different requirements, complexity levels, and desired outcomes. Some of the most common types are.

• Point-to-point integration: This involves establishing a direct connection between Salesforce and another application or system. This type of integration creates a straightforward connection and is suitable for simple scenarios where data exchange is only required between Salesforce and a limited number of systems.
• Middleware integration: As the name suggests, this utilises an intermediary layer between Salesforce and other systems to facilitate data exchange. This intermediary layer, acts as a hub, enabling seamless communication and integration between systems allowing businesses to handle more complex integrations involving multiple systems, data transformation, and business reasoning.
• Cloud integration: This type leverages cloud-based integration platforms to connect Salesforce with various cloud applications and services. It allows businesses to integrate with marketing automation tools, e-commerce platforms, or customer support systems, enabling a fast and seamless flow of data.
• Real-time integration: Simply put this focuses on enabling immediate data synchronisation between Salesforce and other systems. It ensures that changes made in one system are reflected in real-time across all integrated systems. Real-time integration is crucial for scenarios where up-to-date data is vital, such as lead management, inventory management, or customer support.
• Batch integration: Batch integration involves scheduled data transfers between Salesforce and external systems. It’s commonly used for scenarios like data migration, data backups, or bulk data imports as it allows businesses to handle large volumes of data efficiently while minimising the impact on system performance.
• Mobile integration: This connects Salesforce with mobile applications, enabling users to access and interact with Salesforce data on their mobile devices. Used by field sales representatives, service technicians, or mobile workforce to access real-time customer information, update records, and collaborate with teams while on the go.

Our favourite Salesforce Integration project so far for a leading housebuilder…

We have utilised Salesforce integration in a real-life scenario for a leading housebuilder with outstanding results.

The Salesforce integration system performs daily data syncs for the client to guarantee the most up to date data regarding plot pricing and plot availability is shown on their website. Along with this are the Realtime data entry updates received from web applications such as new enquiries, plot reservations and availability changes. Together this ensures that the plot information shown is accurate and actionable for users as all the plots listed are available for reservation as opposed to inaccurately listing plots that may already be reserved which would be the case if we were relying on manual plot management. This 2-way data flow also utilises Realtime outbound data from Salesforce to their external web applications. Whenever actions are taken by users within Salesforce, such as offline sales, 

Salesforce integration processes also create bespoke document storage within Content Delivery Network (CDN) which reduce storage costs for the housebuilder whilst still ensuring Salesforce is updated and reliable links are available for users to view any documents required. It also adds an extra layer of data to Salesforce records such as the acquisition source and the medium that directed the user to the website. This provides the housebuilder with further insight and understanding into the impact of their marketing activity. They can begin to understand how well their website is performing in terms of lead generation and ultimately final return on their investment. For example, they can use this detailed information to understand how many house sales were completed because of their paid search activity.

There have been numerous benefits to our client by utilising this 2-way Salesforce Integration system.  

• Streamlined Data Management – this client has benefitted from multi-channel, Realtime plot availability whilst ensuring Salesforce is the single version of truth, guaranteeing true cross platform and offline selling across their entire development estate. 
• Enhanced Productivity – their productivity has benefitted by Salesforce automating pricing, plot reservations and availability updates to the website which has reduced maintenance time and improved accuracy. 
• 360-degree Customer View – having a centralised storage of enquiry and opportunity data within Salesforce from all channels gives the housebuilder a holistic approach to understanding their user’s behaviour and then allows for personalised marketing campaigns, targeted sales efforts, and enhanced customer service, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.  
• Improved Efficiency – bespoke document management for customers without the high costs of document storage or exposing Salesforce, allowing the client to control user journey and User Interface, resulting in a more professional yet personal look and feel.  
• Optimised Business Processes - reduced touchpoints for the housebuilder team, allowing them to use Salesforce as their application to fulfil their job roles rather than having multiple, disconnected systems, providing a more streamlined, efficient process.

Salesforce integration and its many positive features have had a significant impact on our client's business processes, efficiency, and overall effectiveness. By streamlining their data management processes and employing Realtime data they can now act upon accurate and reliable data in regard to online sales, lead generation and sales conversion rates. Documents can be stored and managed more efficiently providing a smoother customer journey and ultimately a better customer experience. 2-way data flows, outbound messages and webhooks all allow for Realtime customer notifications increasing the standard of communication between the housebuilder and its users which again positively enhances the customer experience. This is just one example of how we have helped one client; if you’re looking for ways to make your website work smarter for you, we can do the same for you too.

Salesforce Integration is a critical aspect of realising the full potential of the platform and optimising business processes. By connecting Salesforce with external systems, businesses can streamline data management, automate processes, and gain valuable insights for enhanced customer experiences. With careful planning, consideration of key factors, and adherence to best practices, businesses can achieve successful integration with Salesforce and unlock the power of unified data. If you’re looking for a two-way Salesforce Integration or need Salesforce to work harder for you then look no further.  Here at Pixelbuilders we can utilise the main aspects of Salesforce Integration to ultimately make your website work harder for you and help you achieve your desired outcomes. Let’s talk about your Salesforce integration today.