Unveiling the Top Trio: A Comprehensive Comparison of Three Most Effective Ways to Integrate Multiple Salesforce Instances

Salesforce has long been a dominant force in the CRM landscape, setting the gold standard despite its high costs and challenging implementation process. Its ability to enhance the company’s sale value could be the decisive factor in choosing this powerful tool. This blog post will delve into the three popular approaches to Salesforce integration, looking at their pros and cons.

What is Salesforce to Salesforce Integration and Why It is Important?

Salesforce to Salesforce integration is vital for businesses that employ multiple Salesforce instances. This connection is pivotal in various scenarios, including collaborations between businesses, mergers, acquisitions, or sharing essential records with different entities.

Why is Salesforce to Salesforce Connection Important?

The connection between Salesforce systems is vital for businesses running essential processes, as any delay can hurt customer service. It lets users easily link with other companies and share information, with options for one-way or two-way communication.

If a company uses Salesforce.com, they can easily connect and share various records, such as leads and accounts, with each other.

Also, this connection can save money on extra licenses and permission setups when a company needs to work with sales operations from other businesses. Instead of buying more licenses and setting up a partner community, they can simply adjust the Salesforce settings to work together.

Don't forget to check out: Best Practices for Salesforce Integration: Streamlining and Optimizing Your Workflow

Who Might Need Salesforce to Salesforce Integration Setup?

Businesses that use multiple Salesforce systems within one company.
Companies using Salesforce that want to share data with partners, distributors, suppliers, or investors across different organizations.
Newly acquired businesses that want to use their Salesforce separately but share important records with the main office.
Companies merging or being acquired that need to combine sales and marketing data from two Salesforce systems.

Three Most Effective Approaches to Integrating Two and More Salesforce Orgs

Approach 1: Salesforce to Salesforce Connection (S2S)

Advantages

Streamlined Integration: S2S offers immediate integration without the need for coding.
Automatic Error Handling: Built-in retry and error-handling mechanisms save development time.
Free and Native: This connection is a native solution and free of charge.

Limitations

Outdated UI: It's maintained via the retired Salesforce Classic UI, which may not be suitable for all scenarios.
Potential Delays: Record updates processed asynchronously could lead to delays.
Fixed Once Enabled: This feature cannot be disabled once activated.
Not Suitable for Complex Integration: May not suffice for complex data exchange needs.

Approach 2: Salesforce Connect: Cross Org

Advantages

Real-time Data Access: Offers real-time access to external data without copying.
Seamless Integration: Seamlessly integrates with the Lightning Platform and various Salesforce tools.
Real-time Search Capabilities: Allows real-time search of external data directly from Salesforce.

Limitations

Additional Cost: Available at an extra cost.
Limited External Objects: Only up to 100 external objects can be established (200 upon request).
Other Constraints: Such as a maximum of 4 joins per query and an upper limit of 2,000 rows for server-driven paging.

Approach 3: Salesforce REST API Integration

Advantages

Flexible and Affordable: A cheap and flexible solution for custom integration scenarios.
Enhanced Security: Offers extra security layers via authentication.
Powerful Interface: A convenient REST-based web services interface for interacting with Salesforce.

Limitations

Complicated Process: Integration is complex and requires time and resources.
Limited Calls: Restrictions on total calls per 24-hour period, depending on the edition.

Check out another amazing blog by Angie here: Salesforce Slack Integration and Configuration: Our Tried and Trusted Approaches

Final Words

The integration of two or more Salesforce organizations is an essential aspect for businesses that need to share and collaborate on data. While the three discussed approaches offer robust capabilities, they come with their unique strengths and challenges.

The Salesforce to Salesforce Connection is suitable for businesses looking for an efficient, native solution, while the Salesforce Connector provides more flexibility for real-time data access. Meanwhile, the Salesforce REST API Integration offers a more customizable and secure approach, albeit with complexities.

Understanding the specific requirements of your organization, budget constraints, and desired functionalities will help in selecting the best approach to Salesforce integration. Choose wisely to leverage Salesforce’s power and contribute to your business’s success.