Salesforce Integration Solutions: Cloud & On-Premise
As you may already know, integrating salesforce with other enterprises systems will provide many benefits to business as well as fulfilling their necessary specific requirements. In this article, let’s take a closer look into the two common scenarios of Salesforce integration including: Cloud to cloud and Cloud to on-premise applications.
- Cloud to cloud: Cloud to cloud integration is fundamental for Salesforce application. This is also referred to as SaaS integration (Salesforce, in itself, is SaaS), this scenario allows the connectivity between Salesforce application and other types of cloud based services (e.g. marketing, ERP, expense etc.) in real-time.
- Cloud to on-premise: Cloud to on-premise integration, also referred to as hybrid integration. This will enable the seamless and secure connectivity between cloud and on-premises applications and services.
Cloud to cloud
With advanced technology, cloud services are gaining more and more adoption from users every day. There are many benefits of cloud-based applications over on-premise, including: low initial cost, easy and fast implementations, mobile access to application improving business productivity, scalable without additional hardware requirements, and seamless integration, etc.
In the case of Salesforce, which is a leading sales automation and CRM provider, business users will be able to quickly access important sales and marketing features anytime, anywhere using either mobile or desktop devices. As cloud to cloud integration is a cloud-based solution, the time required to carry out the implementation process is also reduced.
Cloud to on-premise
However, many enterprises do required on-premise applications to fulfill other needs of their businesses. In order to derive the maximum benefit, Salesforce application should be integrated with existing systems – both with on-premise and cloud solutions. On-premise integration provides access to applications which might contain business data and information that are normally unavailable to cloud applications, allowing for streamlined business processes and collaboration, improved employees’ productivity and ultimately enhanced business value.
For example, by integrating Salesforce with ERP and Accounts Receivable systems, Salesforce users can synchronize and retrieve account information across system about product information, inventory level and pricing etc. Important business information will be accurately shown across the Salesforce portal, accounting staffs can issue invoice for sales that are initiated through Salesforce as well.
Key Factors
For both scenarios, there are aspects that an enterprise needs to take into consideration for their Salesforce integration strategy:
- Security: This is one of the main concerns for users and organizations as they worry whether their business data and information will be secure once integrated to be used across system.
To provide a solution that meet the security standard in accordance with law and regulation (for certain businesses), the integration must be able to authenticate and authorize access to enterprises’ resources, both on-premise and in the cloud.
Furthermore, the integration should also be able to store encrypted data, especially in a multi-tenant environment. With the growing need for the integration of Salesforce and other applications, as well as social media services, in order for users to access business data securely without compromising the firewall, it is of great importance to apply security measures that will make sure users have confidence in the Salesforce integration solution.
- Flexibility and Scalability: An optimal Salesforce integration solution must support multiple integration flows that move in both directions, i.e. across the on-premise enterprise app and other cloud service. In addition, the solution must also meet the enterprise scalability requirement.
- Maximum utilization of resources: To maximize the return on investment (ROI) in new applications, it is important to combine both on-premises and cloud systems. Employing a salesforce integration strategy connecting with on-premise apps allows full access to important information and leveraging of new applications.
- Open Platforms: An increasing number of SaaS providers have begun offering out-of-the-box connectors as a solution to address the issue of cloud-based integration. However, employing vendor connectivity solution will often result in the restriction of company’s ability to select and manage the solutions according to their specific needs. A solution to this particular issue is to implement Salesforce with open platforms that enable companies to connect/disconnect as desired whilst integrating their applications and data.
Conclusion
Integration is important and critical for a company to derive maximum benefit out of their Salesforce CRM system. Planning an integration strategy can be a very time consuming and challenging process. The planning process should thoroughly consider the on-premise resources and infrastructure that a company possess. With careful planning and cutting-edge technology, Salesforce integration issues can quickly be addressed.
In addition, companies should determine how they are going to move forward with the data migration process and upgrades by configuring the interfaces so that these systems can communicate. To avoid the troubles that come with lack of in-house resources, especially for companies that are not in the IT industry, the solution is to outsource the integration and maintenance, letting your Salesforce partner take care of the process and take control of all the integration issues from the start to finish.
With many years of experience working and managing various projects integrating Salesforce with third party apps and systems, TP&P team of Salesforce experts in Vietnam know what’s typically involved in an integration project, and we can help you overcome unexpected technical challenges that arises out of such project.
Need more information? Contact us today, we have the expert solutions for your business Salesforce integration requirement.
