Integrating Salesforce with Stripe, Square, or Braintree
It’s a given that your sales and customer data is an essential asset to your payment processing tools. This is even more the case when we think about automated payments, subscription billing, etc. Your CRM NEEDS to speak to your payments software (and vice versa) in order to significantly enhance efficiency and effectiveness in managing transactions, customer data, and revenue streams. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the why and how of integrating these platforms.
Why integrate Salesforce with your Payments software?
Integrating Salesforce with Stripe, Square, or Braintree benefits businesses of all sizes. Here are some compelling reasons:
- Streamlined Processes: By integrating payment software with Salesforce, you can automate various tasks such as invoice generation, payment tracking, and customer data synchronization, reducing manual efforts and minimizing errors.
- 360-Degree View of Customers: Combining payment data with customer information stored in Salesforce provides a comprehensive view of customer interactions, enabling personalized communication, targeted marketing campaigns, and enhanced customer service.
- Improved Decision-Making: Access to real-time payment data within Salesforce empowers decision-makers to analyze sales trends, forecast revenue, and identify growth opportunities more effectively.
- Enhanced Reporting and Analytics: Integrating payment software with Salesforce facilitates seamless data transfer, allowing businesses to generate comprehensive reports and gain actionable insights into their financial performance.
Integration technologies and methods
When it comes to integrating Salesforce with payment software, there are several approaches to consider:
- Extensible Product: Many payment providers offer pre-built integrations or connectors specifically designed for Salesforce. These extensible products typically require minimal configuration and can be deployed quickly, making them an ideal choice for businesses seeking a straightforward integration solution.
- Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS): iPaaS solutions such as MuleSoft, Zapier, or Workato provide a comprehensive platform for integrating Salesforce with various third-party applications, including payment software. These platforms offer advanced features such as data mapping, workflow automation, and API management, enabling highly customizable integrations tailored to specific business requirements.
- Custom Code: For businesses with unique integration needs or complex workflows, custom development may be necessary. Building custom integrations using Salesforce APIs (such as REST or SOAP) and payment provider APIs allows for maximum flexibility and control over the integration process. However, this approach typically requires significant development resources and expertise.
Why you should evaluate integration technologies’ category first’
When evaluating integration technologies for integrating Salesforce with payment software, it’s essential to consider the broader category of integration solutions before diving into specific tools or platforms. Here’s why:
- Scalability: Assessing the scalability of integration technologies allows businesses to future-proof their integration efforts and accommodate growth without encountering scalability issues down the line.
- Flexibility: Different integration technologies offer varying levels of flexibility in terms of customization, extensibility, and compatibility with other systems. By evaluating integration technologies at a category level, businesses can identify the most suitable solution that aligns with their unique requirements.
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Understanding the TCO of integration technologies involves considering not only upfront costs but also ongoing maintenance, support, and scalability expenses. By evaluating integration technologies at a category level, businesses can make informed decisions based on long-term cost considerations.
- Time-To-Value: With the wide variance in implementation times of each category, TTV is essential to consider evaluating. For example, suppose both an extensible product and an iPaaS can solve your immediate use cases. In that case, it makes sense to choose not only the most cost-effective but also the quickest to add value, helping to shrink that payback time.