What is salesforce API integration ?
Salesforce is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that gives companies a single, integrated system to manage their customer, partners, vendors, and suppliers. It provides organizations with an organized view of their customers, their partners, and their vendors, allowing them to more effectively manage their customer relationships. With an integrated Salesforce system, users can take advantage of the many powerful features of the software, such as custom workflows, visual analytics, and more. This article will answer the following questions-
Salesforce API Integration- Simplified for You!
What is an API?
API or Application Programming Interface is a medium or an interface that allows two applications to communicate. Just like we use language or facial expressions to express our thoughts and emotions, applications and software use API or Application Programming Interface to interact with each other.
An API acts as an intermediary between an application and web server that process data. In today's era of web service and cloud , you will find yourself using API multiple times a day. The moment you pick your smartphone to browse Instagram reels or order a pizza, API gets active!
Let's understand how API works-
For instance, you decide to order a meal for dinner so you log into the food delivery website. To place the order, you interact with the food website to access their services data to see the menu and if it is delivering your fav chicken wings and what the bill is. And you order accordingly.
However, what if you are not using the restaurant's website a channel that has direct access to the data? Instead, you are using a third party food delivery service website, like Uber Eats, that can show the information of several restaurants. This third party food delivery service, here, interacts with the restaurant's API.
The food delivery service asks Application Programming Interface (API) to get the information from the restaurant's database regarding menu , price. This API then takes picks this data and delivers it to the third party food delivery service, which at your request shows you the most relevant information.
Why is Salesforce API Integration necessary?
System Integration is that power-booster dose that can double the efficiency of your software. When you integrate your Salesforce platform, it can optimize the salesforce data for multiple departments, consequently doubling the efficiency of salesforce services.
1. Access to detailed information-
Salesforce platform being a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system gives access to customer-related information like contact number, email, and order history. Salesforce platform tracks customer interaction with the business. This salesforce services data can be a huge help to various departments like marketing and sales teams.
It is possible only through salesforce API integration that the Salesforce platform can extract data from Supply Chain or HR portal. Marketing teams can study the customer order history, customer preference, and customer demographics and can design the content marketing and email marketing strategies accordingly.
2. Boosts Productivity
There are times when sales representatives require information from two or more software, say Salesforce platform and accounting software. However, going through the two platforms separately can be quite time-consuming. Salesforce integration with the accounting software can fetch the required information in a few clicks, enabling staff to meet their targets on time.
3. Automates work
In a corporate, a lot of tasks are required to be done daily, sometime even multiple times a day. Salesforce API integration can automate the workflow of your office and cut down the repetitive tasks that require no human intelligence.
4.Better decision making
Salesforce integration with other software and platforms like social media, ERP or accounting platform , can give you access of information from all nooks and corners. This salesforce integration gives you a 360 view of the company's interaction with internal and external parties. More the information, better the analysis. Thus, this salesforce services data can be used by the departmental heads take informed decisions.
Integrating your CRM with other applications is a pain.
It’s time-consuming, costly, and often requires a developer.
Types of Salesforce API Integration
There are several types of Salesforce API . They are-
1. SOAP API
It stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. SOAP is an XML based messaging protocol. SOAP API is one of the most common ways of salesforce API integration and can be found in large enterprises.
2. REST API
Another salesforce integration is REST API . REST stands for Representational State Transfer. REST API is considered to be a lighter alternative of SOAP API. It's due to its light weight tendency and user-friendly nature that REST API is the first pick of third party for mobile applications.
3. Bulk API
This salesforce API ca Types of Salesforce API Integration n be used to work with large number of records.
4. METADATA API
This salesforce API help in building tools and managing customization.
5. Chatter REST API
The Chatter REST API allows to access chatter feed and social data using REST.
When to use REST API and SOAP API ?
- REST API is a web interface that can give you access to your Salesforce data , eliminating the need of using a salesforce platform or interface .
- Using REST API , you can integrate Salesforce with your application depending on the requirement.
- Tech savvy building mobile applications and web projects prefer using REST API as it is easy to develop and integrate.
- REST API is truly a gift of tech and Business Intelligence .
- While if a project is search intensive, techies choose to work with for SOAP API. You can use SOAP API in any language that supports web service .
Benefits of Salesforce API Integration
1. Cost and time efficient- With salesforce API integration , employees get all the information they need at one place. This effortless access to data saves their valuable time, that can devote to productive work.
2. Reliable data- Since the entire system and integration with third party and everything else is automated, there is an extremely less room for error. Thus, it is safe to say that you can trust your Salesforce data .
3. Improves Communication- There is a high chance that one department might USE Salesforce platform , while the other department might use some different system. With Salesforce integration , everything is connected , allowing seamless communication.
To know more, read Onboarding Software , Inventory Management
Integrating your business with Salesforce is a lot of work.
It’s not just the time and effort it takes to find a good API integration team; it’s also the constant need to update the API.
How can you connect to Salesforce API ?
1. Configuration-
This is the first step of salesforce API integration. Configure both the salesforce platform and the external system or the third-party app. It is recommended to create a website and a connected application for the purpose of customization.
2. Call-
Now, this is a bit technical. There are three classes and each has its method to interact with the other systems.
HTTP to start an HTTP request and response.
HTTP request via get (), delete (), put (), post ().
HTTP response- to response sent by external systems (HTTP.send () operation).
3. Web service-
This requires writing a custom web service using a code that can call the external environment.
Conclusion
Salesforce platform can help your business save a lot of time and money. Salesforce integration can automate the workflow, reducing repetitive tasks. It improves the productivity of your employees, helping them meet targets regularly.
Salesforce platform also has a feature of custom objects . Custom objects help you to store information specific to your business. Thus, irrespective of your business type, you can use Salesforce.
Make sure you try it. Salesforce platform is one of the best for Small Business , atleast that's what the
Customer Stories suggests!
Integrating your CRM with your other systems can be time-consuming and costly, but it’s worth the investment.
Salesforce API Integration is a powerful, easy-to-use tool that lets you integrate your Salesforce data with other tools like Google Sheets, Zapier, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Salesforce have an open API?
Salesforce has a broad range of applications and services for companies of all sizes. With so many different ways to integrate with Salesforce, it's no wonder the company has an open API program. Salesforce's open API program gives you the opportunity to build applications that automate processes, expand data sets, and more. However, before you get started with your Salesforce API project, you'll want to know if Salesforce has an open API.
How does REST API integrate in Salesforce?
REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software design principle that favors statelessness. It encourages the use of a uniform interface so that data can be easily shared between different applications. In the world of APIs, the principle is the same. APIs should be stateless so that they don't become a single point of failure or slow down your endpoints. However, not all APIs are created equal, and there are some best practices you need to follow to make sure that your API will integrate seamlessly with Salesforce. In this blog post, we'll discuss the best practices for integrating Salesforce with an API, and what you need to keep in mind when creating a REST API for Salesforce.
How do I integrate third party API in Salesforce?
You've built a solid foundation for managing your company's customer data. You've built an intuitive, easy-to-use customer experience that encourages your customers to stay on top of their leads and their orders. The only thing missing is the last piece of the puzzle- integrating third party services into Salesforce. You could build your own custom integrations or you could leverage the power of an API. Let's see which option is best for your business.