The Ultimate introduction to Salesforce Integration

ThirdEye Consulting is my Solution Architect. I've been working in Salesforce for nine years, and am a certified System and Application Architect. I had the privilege of attending the System Architect Bootcamp in Dreamforce. It gave me a lot of knowledge about integrations that I didn't have a clue about when I was there. I've attempted to give here an overview of what I learnt, but it's geared towards salesforce replication professionals that are new to this.

My aim is not to teach you how to integrate every step. Instead, my aim is to give you a general overview of the concepts involved in integration that allow you to move on into more complicated aspects. The most important topics are integration types, capabilities, and patterns. Let's begin with the basics.

Salesforce Integration What is it mean?

Salesforce Integration is the process of bringing two or more of your systems together. This helps you streamline your separate processes.

Imagine scenarios within your own technology stack in which information is kept in one system , but needed in another. When you integrate them, you will be able to manage all that information through various business processes that are running across several systems.

Why is integration important?

Digital technology is now a fact. We must constantly enhance our efficiency and our customer experience to remain in the game. It is rare to find a system that works in isolation. Integration is a skill that needs to be developed to make it more efficient and more adaptable.

What exactly is an API?

API is the abbreviation of Application Programming Interface. API is the method which allows two software applications to communicate with each other.

When you use an app on your smartphone, it connects to the internet, retrieves data from a Server, and then displays it in a format that is readable. With the right API the entire process should happen without a hitch.

There are various types of APIs that I will cover later in the 'Salesforce Integration Capabilities' section.

Types of Salesforce Integration Architectures

Each type of integration architecture comes with both benefits and drawbacks worth mentioning. Three kinds I'll discuss:

Point-to-Point Integration

Also called one-to-one integration an integration that is point-to point sends a message to another system through a 1-1 relationship. Imagine you have an application for sales that transmits new orders to a billing system, to an application for shipping as well as a tracking system all separately as an individual integration. If you want the shipping tracking and the tracking to communicate, then that's another integration that must be set up.

This type of integration has several disadvantages. It's expensive to build and maintain and, if you wish to upgrade the system, you'll require numerous new integrations to connect to the systems.

Hub-and-Spoke Integration

With hub-and-spoke integration you have a centralized hub system that facilitates communication between the various systems. It only requires one connection for every system. This is an enormous improvement on point-to-point integration.

Enterprise Service Bus Integration (ESB).

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is the latest version of the hub-and-spoke integration architecture model. This is due to the integration engine that creates connections between software and other applications that are different.