Introduction
Digital Transformation (DX) is a strategic move that businesses need to make. 70 percent of organizations across various industrial sectors globally have either adopted digital transformation already or are in the process of adopting it.
If you too intend to undergo a digital transformation, you must be aware it is not restricted to IT systems alone but encompasses your complete business value chain. By deploying Salesforce, you can leverage cutting-edge digital technologies to understand your customers better with real-time data points, offer them top-notch innovative products and services and improve your sales revenue in a big way. Today, we will look at various ways to connect with Salesforce and the different types of integrations that companies opt for. But let’s begin by trying to understand when your business needs digital transformation.
When Does Your Business Need Digital Transformation?
1. When You’re Not Getting the Desired Number of Referrals
83 percent of customers are ready to refer a business after a smooth purchase experience. Most of the referrals today are shared online. Given this, if your business doesn’t have a strong brand presence online, you will be missing out on potential clients. This is why you need to rethink and execute a strategy that establishes and increases your digital presence. And, digital transformation is key to enriching your business by attracting more clients online.
2. When You’re Not Able to Generate the Targeted Number of Leads
Businesses allocate 13 percent of their revenue for marketing and advertising spend, on average. And, the advertising revenue worldwide is expected to hit $651 billion by the end of 2021. On this note, if your business is not generating the leads that you’ve forecasted, despite shedding those dollars on promotions, it’s time that you need a transformation. Salesforce can help you address this problem and bring you a solution.
3. When Your Existing Business Systems and Processes Need to Be Modernized
Following only conventional ways of doing business in this digital era results in reduced productivity and profits. And, if your employees are voicing out to make improvements in the process digitally, it’s time that you need to let go the outdated practices and embrace the new. Transforming your business by integrating your IT systems with Salesforce gives your employees better access to data and helps them serve your customers better.
Now that you understand when to turn to digital transformation, it’s time to know how Salesforce can be integrated with your business systems which leads us to the next section.
What Are the Possible Ways to Integrate Salesforce into Your Business?
Businesses generally use enterprise-level applications that include the user interface, business logic interface and data interface. By integrating Salesforce at each level, companies can achieve greater levels of operational efficiency and maintain quality consistency throughout their processes. Let’s learn how integration at each level can build your business.
- User interface integration allows users to collate and use multiple applications in a single platform. Facebook is the best example of user interface integration.
- Business logic integration improves end-to-end business processes by applying Apex web services for inbound processes and Apex callouts for outbound processes.
- Data integration allows you to synchronize your data with SOAP and REST APIs.
What Are the Aspects You Need to Focus on Before Initiating a Salesforce integration?
Planning and Documenting Requirements
Any process works the best when it is properly planned and documented. And, Salesforce integration is no exception. Effective planning and documentation play a key role in identifying technical requirements precisely and gaining holistic insights into business necessities. You must:
- Recognize the business goals
- Learn about the requisite standards of integration
- Identify all the data that is involved in the entire integration process
Ensuring Your Applications are Robust
To ensure the success of your integration project, you need robust applications. Hence, it is critical to invest time wisely to understand the applications that are being integrated and ensure the following.
- Comprehend the role of every application in your business
- Make sure that all APIs empower users to complete the task at hand
- Keep a tab on the API limits
- Ensure that all the integrated devices have the same architecture
- Prepare data of the processes involved in the integration
Making Sure Processes Are Properly Analyzed
A business process defines the flow of data. You need to analyze each process in detail, before embarking on a Salesforce integration. And, this includes the following steps:
- Identify the starting and ending data points
- Measure the performance of data
- Understand third-party integration tools and data connections
Types of Salesforce Integrations
Salesforce offers various integration solutions for businesses. But how would you know which one to use for your business? Let’s look at some of the widely-used integration solutions.
Batch Integration
This is widely used by businesses to import data from other CRM and ERP applications into Salesforce. Batch integration helps companies extract and transform information on the go.
Real-time Integration
Sales and marketing teams lie at the forefront of your business. If you’re looking forward to aligning these teams and making them even more effective, then you need to go in for real-time integration, which allows you to replicate data instantly in other systems as soon as any change is made. Thus, your teams can gain access to the latest information, enabling them to control queues and errors effectively.
AppExchange Integration
Salesforce AppExchange is a dynamic platform that gives you access to a world of third-party applications. AppExchange helps you install a wide variety of apps to boost your productivity.
Real-Time Mashups Integration
This type of integration is used to access data from external platforms. Real-Time mashups from Salesforce help you create customized user interfaces in Visualforce too.
Conclusion
Most businesses have reaped the benefits of Salesforce integration as it helps them speed up their business processes. However, it’s not that easy to carry out a Salesforce integration without expert assistance. 70 percent of organizations struggle to integrate Salesforce with third-party platforms and applications. For this reason, you need the help of a specialist to integrate your IT platforms with Salesforce and take your digital transformation journey forward.
Solunus, a dedicated Salesforce partner, has a seasoned team of professionals who can cater to your end-to-end Salesforce integration needs. Our team of experts will identify your business requirements thoroughly and provide you the ideal Salesforce integration solution for your business to achieve your goals efficiently.
About Solunus
Solunus is a dedicated Salesforce partner organization, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Our unrelenting focus on comprehending the unique needs of our clients coupled with our unrivaled expertise of the Salesforce platform enables us to deliver the perfect solutions that create the best value for IT and business analytics firms.
