Most Common Challenges in Salesforce Integration

Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) product designed to optimize and improve business process management with a user-friendly platform. The company was founded in 1999 and is actively developing in the field of enterprise software as a service (SaaS) as well as cloud computing. In this way, customers receive a unique and practical solution that is constantly being improved.

In general, CRM is one of the most popular and sought-after feeds of enterprise software, so the number of companies developing such products is growing. According to the Statista research, by the end of 2022, the global amount of spending on it will be $670 billion. 

At the same time, Salesforce is the leading supplier in the CRM market globally and, again, according to Statista, for 2020, the company had a market share of 19.5%. In order to get the full picture: the next on the leaderboard are SAP and Oracle, whose share is only about 5%.

To maintain its leading position and stay on the wave of competition, Salesforce is working with giants such as IBM and Accenture. They help improve services, better understand customers and provide the best industry solutions.

However, integrating such software and its configuration for maximum efficiency have its own circumstances. So let's talk about the challenges faced in salesforce development and ways to address these issues. In this article, we’ll try to understand how to deal with a company’s data quality and migration challenges, how to ensure the security of this data between two and more systems, and why it is so important to use Salesforce documentation and pay attention to its limits.

Challenge 1. Dealing With Data Migration

Data migration is one of the most common challenges in Salesforce implementation for several reasons. First of all, importing to Salesforce transfers duplicate entries from an external program. The second issue is the data storage which can be quite different in each Salesforce version.

So, as this is a cloud solution, data from hard drives and servers should be transferred only by competent staff. Data migration professionals need to ensure that all data is complete and not duplicated.

It's quite a complicated process, even though Salesforce offers ready-made features that allow you to manage duplicates, determine the correct access control and define custom code. In addition, you should pay special attention to the External ID, which is a critical identifier in data migration and the record's creation or updating.

Challenge 2. Security Between Systems

Security is key when it comes to integration, and it is also one of the most complicated implementation challenges of Salesforce. Even the most minor flaws can be targets for attackers, so it is essential to follow a few basic rules:

1. You must use an encryption certificate.
2. Carefully study and apply Salesforce security techniques.
3. Middleware is a helpful tool for migration or supporting firewalls to avoid leaks.
4. Before integrating, a data security professional should carefully inspect your system and ensure that inadvertent data exposure to end users on both systems is not malicious.

Each cell in the data chain must be safe and secure, especially if data from Salesforce is transferred to other software. You should use all possible security features of each of the systems. 

Also, before integrating, it will be useful to identify potential security holes and vulnerabilities in your system. It would be best if you had a plan of action in case of any unforeseen situation.

Challenge 3. Data Quality

Among the crucial Salesforce problems is data quality. Obviously, you need to check and clean the data before importing it to be able to use the synchronization and duplicate management tools effectively. Sometimes it’s not possible to import all production environment data at once. You will have to transfer the pieces of data to the sandbox and filter out the issues until they are fixed.

However, this is still not enough. You also have to validate the data when entering it from an external system in Salesforce, as it must meet all the validation requirements for future synchronization. Any changes during the verification phase are significant. Setting up this process is necessary because CRM is not only about a user-friendly interface and graphics but also about practical analysis and reporting. Incorrect data disrupts all processes and brings to naught all efforts.

Therefore, both in the integration process and after, controlling the data and ensuring their uninterrupted flow is necessary. Automating the transferring contacts, invoicing, etc., can help solve problems.

Challenge 4. Improper Data Mapping

The problem of data mapping (mismatch of data types and fields) is one of the most annoying Salesforce developer challenges. Fields in Salesforce may differ from fields in other systems or apps, resulting in confusion and incorrect operation.

What’s the developer’s task in this case? You must convert the data into a target field type or ensure that the correct fields are mapped. Proper conversion will help reconcile relevant Salesforce and target software data, and it also helps avoid converting all field types to target app field types.

Challenge 5. Data Rate Limits

The Salesforce API has specific limits on the amount of data you can receive per day and in one call. Such restrictions are simply necessary to run a multi-tenant environment, but going beyond the limits makes the data compressed with serious errors. This, in turn, affects the correct operation of the entire system.

It’s equally important to remember that some applications may remain out of sync due to the import and export of data from Salesforce. Therefore, it’s necessary to ensure that the data are consistent and accurate.

Limitations cannot be circumvented, but mistakes can be avoided by developing the right solutions during Salesforce APIs integration and within the given limit.

Challenge 6. Dealing With Duplicate Records

As already mentioned, duplicate records are one of the most common Salesforce integration challenges that negatively affect company data quality and correctness. That is why it’s essential to have a system that identifies duplicates and helps deal with them.

The solution to this problem is Salesforce's built-in tools and external IDs. It will help avoid creating duplicate records when importing accounts or custom objects. The External ID attribute contains a unique identifier for each system record outside of Salesforce. Thus, when importing, duplicate data can be deleted after matching.

You can also use the Unique ID features. It’s a setting that prohibits using the same value in multiple records for a specific field. In this way, the external IDs become unique for each record. For example, if you enter specific numbers in a field with this setting, they can no longer be used as values for that field in any other record.

Challenge 7.  Auto-ID Creation

During the process of importing or creating objects, Salesforce automatically generates an ID for them. As a result, records that have been imported from external software and have their own identifiers associated with other records lose this connection. It turns out that when importing, there are two sets of identifiers – external system IDs and Salesforce record IDs, and external ones and their links may be lost.

The Unique ID setting described above helps avoid such mistakes, and it’s really helpful in preventing the overriding of external identifiers. You can read more about Salesforce development services.

Challenge 8. Misinterpreting Real-Time Integration

Real-time integration is a perfect option that allows you to quickly and efficiently process errors, align sales with marketing efforts and manage queues. However, this is not the same as importing/exporting data from Salesforce. Unfortunately, many companies confuse these concepts, and business processes suffer.

Importing/exporting records is performed in batches, so it’s impossible to synchronize all changes in real-time. Until the end of the current batch, Salesforce data remains out of sync, and it’s important to remember this. Only a thorough check of the accuracy of the data helps to avoid the problem. There is no other tool to solve this yet.

Challenge 9. Different Technology Stacks

Your program must have the proper infrastructure to prevent errors and seamless integration with Salesforce. Mismatch of technology stacks and inadequate software architecture negatively affect the timing of integration and its cost.

There are several ways to avoid the problems associated with using different technology stacks and inconsistencies in the system architecture. First, you should create an up-to-date prototype and only then proceed to development. Second, it’s essential to use Force.com configurations and the correct software code, namely Apex.

Apex is an OOP language designed to execute traffic and transaction management operators on Salesforce servers. Developers use it for data updating, restoring, etc. You should also read the developer documentation and all the Salesforce cloud restrictions. Your Salesforce Edition licenses must be in line with the system architecture.

Challenge 10.  Low User Adoption

The primary Salesforce users are your employees, and they should make the most of the system. The sales and marketing team's daily routine helps achieve the goals, and Salesforce should be a convenient and reliable tool in this process. 

Improper set-up and even minor problems with the system use lead to the routine pipeline failing, and users can’t perform their tasks. It’s annoying and has a destructive impact on all business processes.

Salesforce offers many unique tools and performs many essential functions, such as reporting, creating dashboards, monitoring and evaluating sales, etc. However, all this is useless if users have difficulties with the system. And if you don’t provide proper support and resources to solve even the slightest problems, your staff will simply stop using the system. And engaging users is critical in optimizing the benefits of Salesforce.

So, it would help if you had specialists who could quickly solve the problems at the administrator level. You also have to find someone to set up the system according to the needs and goals of your company. This will allow you to receive accurate reports, monitor data quality, have regular support, and your staff will significantly increase their productivity and efficiency.

How Ardas Can Help You 

We have extensive experience working with cloud-based applications and integrating various fintech systems, including Salesforce. Ardas has enough specialists who can develop custom solutions for each particular client and any company's needs.

For example, we’ve created an interactive trading education portal, provided effective integration with Salesforce, created a custom set-up for this system, and provided regular customer support.

How can we be helpful?

• We easily solve salesforce architecture challenges because we have experienced developers and system architects.
• We help determine the real benefits of using Salesforce for a specific company, offer practical business analysis to assess risks and create a clear action plan.
• We ensure the security of your software, so you can rest assured about your data protection.
• We customize the system to your needs and your business goals so that every user can get the best from the software.

We will also be happy to share our experience and help you with such an excellent tool. To do this, you just need to contact us in any convenient way.