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Top 7 Salesforce Integration Tools in 2024
Salesforce recently shared a report by IDC, which states that Salesforce economy powered by AI will generate $2.02 trillion in revenue by 2028. The figure on its own is enough to prove the popularity of the CRM in the business world.
In most organizations, Salesforce works in tandem with other tools such as Power BI, ERP systems, POS systems, etc., bringing us to the importance of Salesforce integration tools. These tools make it easier for businesses to combine data from Salesforce with other internal and external sources to break down data silos and achieve a single source of truth (SSOT). In this blog, we will discuss the best salesforce integration tools and how you can choose the right one.
Why is Salesforce Integration Crucial for Businesses?
Salesforce is a powerful CRM that centralizes customer data and interactions. However, while comprehensive, it doesn’t cover every aspect of a business’s operations. It excels in managing customer relationships but may not provide the functionality needed for other critical functions like finance, inventory management, or HR. So, when it is used in isolation, it creates a fragmented view of customers.
To deliver exceptional customer experiences, businesses need a comprehensive view of customer behavior, preferences, and history. Here is how Salesforce integration helps:
Data Consistency: Businesses accumulate data from various sources, and without integration, this data can become siloed and inconsistent. Salesforce integration ensures that data is synchronized and up to date across all systems.
Sales and Marketing Alignment: Integration between Salesforce and marketing automation tools ensures that leads generated by marketing are seamlessly passed to sales teams, improving lead nurturing, conversion rates, and revenue generation.
Inventory and Order Management: For businesses involved in e-commerce or product sales, it is important to integrate Salesforce with inventory and order management systems to manage inventory levels, order processing, and fulfillment efficiently.
Lead Nurturing: Salesforce integration is crucial for lead nurturing, especially in B2B where sales cycles are typically longer and involve multiple touchpoints. Integration with marketing automation tools enables lead nurturing campaigns that provide valuable content and information to prospects over time.
Salesforce Integration Challenges
Data Mapping Method
Integrating Salesforce CRM with other applications or databases is a multi-step process. Unfortunately, mismatched data types and fields between source and destination can affect data consistency and may impact your Salesforce data mapping project. Therefore, to ensure that your project doesn’t suffer due to mapping inconsistencies, opt for a solution that offers simple, point-and-click data mapping options.
Data Quality Issues
According to Ebsta, data quality has been a significant challenge for Salesforce users for the past three years. Data quality issues such as duplicate records lead to insufficient data, which in turn leads to inaccurate results in the long run. Inaccurate data can create a domino effect and can spread wrong information across the enterprise and affect the company’s finances, day-to-day operations, and other processes. Therefore, an integration solution with robust data quality management is important for accurate decisions.
Salesforce Integration Approaches
Salesforce database integration methods can be categorized into two types:
Custom Coding
Until a few years back, organizations relied on internal IT teams to write custom codes to connect legacy systems to Salesforce The main benefit of this approach was that the developers could create customized solutions for specific use cases.
However, this approach was time-intensive and didn’t account for system volatility. In case of a version rollout of Salesforce, the coded integrations would stop working, and the developers would have to rewrite the code.
Using Salesforce Integration Tools
These tools integrate systems and applications with Salesforce via API. They come with various in-built transformations that convert data into a destination-compatible format, simplifying data processes and promoting automation. Salesforce integration tools are a cost-effective and scalable alternative to the manual integration approach. Moreover, operating them does not require advanced technical knowledge.
Top 7 Salesforce Integration Tools
1. Astera
Astera is one of the best automated data integration tools designed with business users in mind. Astera offers a visual, drag and drop environment, which makes it easier for users, whether technical or business, to work with data without coding.
It is a powerful platform backed by an industrial-strength ETL engine that is capable of handling large volumes of data. The best part about Astera is that it comes equipped with native connectors for multiple data sources and destinations, including Salesforce. All the user needs to do is just drag and drop the connector and connect to the required application, data warehouse, database, or file formats within seconds. On top of it, the tool also has inbuilt transformations and functions that allow users to manipulate data with ease. Once the user has mapped their data from source to destination, they can automate the entire data pipeline.
This Salesforce data integration solution has advanced features, such as support for custom objects and fields, data source browser, auto-mapping capability, and SQL query source and bulk inserts.
Here is why Astera is best solution for Salesforce Integration projects:
- 100% no-code
- Visual, drag-and-drop data mapping powered by AI
- Native Salesforce connector and connection to popular databases, data warehouses and applications
- AI-powered unstructured data extraction
- Built-In transformations and functions
- In-built data quality features
- Automation features with trigger-based job scheduler
- Instant data preview
2. RapidiOnline
RapidiOnline is a code-free tool. It is a good choice if your use case is to integrate your Salesforce data with Microsoft Dynamics ERP. The platform offers native connectivity to popular ERP systems. However, it doesn’t support other databases, data warehouses or file formats. So, it is not a comprehensive solution in that sense. Moreover, the solution is ideal for small businesses that want to integrate data from a few applications.
Key Features of RapidiOnline
- Built-In connector for Salesforce and popular ERPs
- Code-free
- Best for: Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics integration
3. Panoply
Panoply is a code-free cloud-based ELT solution that provides data warehousing and data integration capabilities for businesses. The platform comes with a pre-built salesforce connector that allows users to consolidate data in a secure data warehouse and then explore it with SQL workbench, in-product graphs, and charts.
While panoply offers a fully managed cloud data warehouse that scales to meet the needs of businesses, the solution relies on third-party cloud providers (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud) for infrastructure. So, any disruptions or changes on the part of these providers can potentially affect Panoply users. Plus, it is not an ideal solution for extremely complex data scenarios, such as those involving unstructured data or specialized data formats,
Key features of Panoply
- Code-free
- Pre-built connectors, including Salesforce
- SQL workbench to explore data
- Data warehousing
4. Action Desk
Actiondesk is a spreadsheet software that offers connectivity to various data sources, including Salesforce, for enhanced data analysis and manipulation.
Users can integrate Actiondesk with Salesforce and access data within the Actiondesk spreadsheet environment. This integration not only makes it easier to analyze data from Salesforce but also ensures that users constantly work with the most current Salesforce data.
Beyond data syncing, Actiondesk enables users to perform manipulations on Salesforce data using familiar spreadsheet functions. Users can apply formulas and functions to Salesforce data and perform tasks such as data sorting, filtering, and in-depth analysis.
Key Features of Action Desk
- Spreadsheet like software
- Data manipulation capabilities
- Inbuilt functions such as sorting and filtering
- Can easily connect with Salesforce
5. Apache Airflow
Apache Airflow is an open-source platform designed to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows using Python, which gives users flexibility in building workflows. It is particularly well-suited for orchestrating complex data pipelines, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, and automation tasks. The platform offers Salesforce integration through API.
Key features of Apache Airflow
- Python based
- Salesforce Connection available through API
- wide range of operators, which are templates for different types of tasks.
- Uses PostgresSQLto store metadata about DAGs, tasks, executions, and historical data
6. Skyvia
Skyvia is a cloud-based data integration and backup platform designed to help businesses manage and manipulate their data. Skyvia offers Salesforce data loader that allows you to import CSV files to Salesforce and Salesforce data into CSV. You can load up to 100,000 records per month for free. The tool also offers data mapping features for data transformation.
Key Features of Skyvia:
- You can link data from SQL Server and other databases and cloud apps to Salesforce in just a few minutes
- Supports connections to popular data sources such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Google Sheets, SQL Server
- SQL-based transformations
- Automation and scheduling
- Data quality and validation capabilities
- User-friendly interface
7. Talend
Talend is a data integration and ETL tool that provides capabilities for integrating Salesforce with various systems and applications. It allows users to easily extract data from Salesforce and cleanse, enrich, and transform it as needed.
Key features of Talend:
- Built-in Salesforce connector
- Data validation and quality features
- Error handling
- Batch processing
How Salesforce Data Integration Tools Work
Business data is usually scattered across different systems, and this isolation can lead to an inconsistent experience for employees and customers. Salesforce data integration tools combine the information dispersed across diverse internal and external sources, specifically Salesforce and create a unified view of the customer data, simplifying data management.
Enterprise software with built-in CRM Salesforce connector is an integral part of various data management processes, including:
Data Integration
Integrating salesforce with other systems, such as data warehouses, databases, or ERP systems, enables organizations to break data silos and acquire actionable insights from customer data. This reduces manual work, provides faster access to data, and shortens the response time.
For instance, in the CRM integration below, we export Salesforce data to SQL Server to create a consolidated view.
Figure 1: Integrating Salesforce data from two sources and writing to SQL Server
Data Migration
Whether you are implementing Salesforce for the first time or carrying out your monthly business processes, your Salesforce implementation will most likely involve data migration at some point. Unfortunately, migrating data to and from Salesforce can be challenging due to data inconsistencies, invalid mapping, or improper formatting.
An integration tool that migrates data in and out of Salesforce and offers built-in data quality, data profiling, and data conversion features ensures a successful and error-free data migration.
In the example below, customer ticket data from a delimited file is migrated to Salesforce after being validated through data quality checks to identify records with no information in the Reason and Status fields.
Figure 2: Migrating data from a delimited file to Salesforce
Checklist for Choosing the Right Salesforce Integration Tool
There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to finding the right . Here’s a checklist that can help you find the right solution for your enterprise needs:
- Easy-to-use, visual interface executes data processes without writing a single line of code.
- Support for large data volumes without compromising performance.
- Drag-and-drop data mapping features.
- The ability to integrate with disparate systems, including databases, cloud applications, and BI tools.
- Pre-built connectors and transformations that can process complex integration flows.
- Streamlined deployment with automation capabilities, such as job scheduling, workflow automation, etc.
Strategies for Effective Salesforce Integration
Employing a tool for Salesforce integration is the best way to leverage Salesforce data. However, if you want to make the best out of your salesforce data it is important to follow these salesforce integration best practices:
Define Clear Objectives
Start by defining clear integration objectives. What specific business processes do you want to streamline or improve? Are you looking to enhance customer engagement, sales, or operational efficiency? Having well-defined goals will guide your integration strategy.
Data Mapping and Transformation
Ensure that data from various sources is mapped correctly to Salesforce fields. You may need to transform, clean, and enrich data before integration to maintain data quality and consistency.
Plan for Data Synchronization
Determine how often data should be synchronized between systems. Real-time synchronization may be necessary for some processes, while batch updates may suffice for others.
Testing and Quality Assurance
Rigorous testing is essential to identify and resolve issues before they impact operations. Create test cases to validate data accuracy, system functionality, and process workflows. Perform load testing to ensure the integration can handle anticipated volumes.
Astera – Simplifying Salesforce Integration
Salesforce integration tools are going to become indispensable as businesses continue to adopt Salesforce as their preferred CRM. These tools are important to give a complete overview of customer journey; they are the key to unlocking exceptional customer experiences and improving the efficiency of the sales department. So, it is critical that you choose the right tool that is not only easy to use but is also equipped with all the necessary functionalities.
Astera offers a powerful, AI-powered data integration tool that makes it significantly easier to leverage Salesforce data along with data that resides in other sources. Want to see how the tool works? Download a 14-day free trial today.
Authors:
Tehreem Naeem
