Salesforce is one of the most widely used CRM solutions today. It offers valuable insights into consumer behavior and assists businesses in devising strategies that help them cater to their customers better and improve profitability. It is a budgeted option and can easily be integrated with third-party tools to improve sales operations and customer service. It is hence an economical yet unique solution that can help in business growth and performance improvement.
If you use Salesforce as a CRM, you can make it an even more powerful tool by integrating it with your business processes and systems to address your unique business needs and leverage Salesforce to the maximum. Here are five pro tips to help you integrate Salesforce Software.
Start Small
The first step is to load the sales and CRM data into the software, after which you can integrate it with your business systems and leverage its use across the company. Use an integration technology to connect Salesforce to business applications. However, it is recommended to start with basic point-to-point integration and avoid complex integration projections in the beginning.
For instance, you can start with a quote-to-cash assimilation to export sales quotes from the software in the ERP system or the accounting platform to enable invoice generation and recording of the payments. This can be your first step towards automating your workflows.
Leverage Your Business Applications
To get the most out of Salesforce integration, you must understand and leverage the unique features of your business applications. Suppose you have been using specialized applications for HR management, accounting, logistics, or inventory management. In that case, you must realize that each app has a purpose and different strengths and weaknesses.
If you identify your options, use the best ones so that when you go for integration, it helps you get the best out of these business applications. It must all help you automate your workflows, ensure data uniformity, and speed up business processes. Therefore you must create a flexible roadmap that helps you leverage the applications to the maximum and enables you to optimize the returns on IT investment.
Identify Your Business Workflows for Seamless Integration
Once you have identified the most suitable business applications, you must identify your business workflows to move toward automation. Consider how data moves across the company, which function requires what kind of data, and what roles Salesforce can play.
For instance, if you use Salesforce to record customer data like their contact details or address, consider how this information can be communicated to other departments or systems. At the same time, you must consider how information from other functions can be used in Salesforce, for instance, notifying the sales team if a product has been shipped. Rather than logging in to different systems to track shipping data, the salesperson can get the information from Salesforce if the data is integrated.
Hence when you map your workflows, you will recognize how different functions require the same information to carry out their work. You can also form a schedule for updating data, as some days may have to be updated in real-time and some periodically.
Secure Your Data
Data is critical for any business, and you must take measures to protect it and prevent data loss. While you are busy integrating your business applications with Salesforce, you must also employ tools to create backup and ensure recovery of the Salesforce data. Salesforce data replication tools can be handy in providing data backups for documents, any attachments, and even custom objects.
They are usually compatible with multiple databases like Oracle, My SQL, SQL Server, and IBM Db2. They can quickly and easily replicate the Salesforce data into the database, enabling effortless restoration when required.
Train Your Team
Salesforce is equipped with various features that can assist businesses in enhancing their performance via strategy improvement. For instance, the dashboard and reports can provide valuable consumer insights and help you monitor key metrics like sales performance, campaign effectiveness, customer satisfaction, etc.
However, to use Salesforce to its full potential, you must train your team to use it effectively. You can arrange training for key features, the platform’s functionality, and the best practices employed for its usage. This can help your team understand how the software is integrated with your business processes and how they can use it to streamline their work and make their job easier.
Final Thoughts
Salesforce has become integral to marketing and sales operations in many organizations. Its functionality and compatibility with other business systems and applications have made it a valuable tool that helps businesses improve customer engagement and satisfaction by understanding their needs better.
If you are also considering using Salesforce for your business, you must learn how to optimize it to make the most out of it. Consider the tips in this article to understand how to manage the technology before integrating Salesforce into your business processes. You can derive numerous benefits by customizing it to fit your business needs.
