​​Salesforce and HubSpot: Augmenting the Native Integration with Vertify 

By Matt Klepac, Vertify CEO and Founder

In the modern business landscape, customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation have become indispensable tools for organizations aiming to streamline their operations and enhance customer experiences. I have personally been in the business of marketing for almost two decades now, so I have seen the launch and maturation of both the CRM and the Marketing Automation Platform first hand. A lot has changed with these platforms, and a lot has stayed the same. 

Two prominent platforms in this realm are Salesforce and HubSpot. While each of these platforms offers a multitude of features to optimize customer interactions, the question of data integration arises when using them in tandem. One thing that has changed in recent years is that data has become increasingly complex and integration has risen to the surface as one of the most – if not the most – important strategic topic for enterprises. Let’s explore the options of achieving seamless data integration between Salesforce and HubSpot, comparing the benefits of native synchronization with the augmentation provided by a dedicated data integration partner like Vertify.

The Need for Data Integration

In many organizations, Salesforce is the go-to CRM solution, empowering sales teams with tools to manage leads, opportunities, and customer relationships. Meanwhile, HubSpot is a comprehensive Marketing Automation Platform that helps businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. Sure, HubSpot has a CRM offering as well, but for many organizations, Salesforce is still the top choice for scaling businesses who want a best-of-breed CRM application. To make the most of these platforms, data silos must be eliminated, enabling departments to work cohesively and access a holistic view of customer interactions.

Data integration offers several advantages:

• Efficiency: When customer data is seamlessly shared between Salesforce and HubSpot, teams spend less time manually transferring information and more time focusing on strategic tasks.
• Data Accuracy: Integration reduces the risk of data duplication and errors, ensuring that both systems have access to the most up-to-date and accurate information.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: With integrated data, customer-facing teams can provide personalized and relevant experiences based on a complete understanding of customer behaviors and preferences.
• Real-time Insights: Integration enables real-time reporting and analytics, facilitating data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Native Sync: Pros and Cons

Both Salesforce and HubSpot offer native integration capabilities to connect their platforms. Native sync solutions typically enable the automatic transfer of data between the two systems without the need for third-party tools. Here are the pros and cons of using native synchronization:

Pros:

• Simplicity: Native sync solutions are usually designed with user-friendliness in mind, making setup and management relatively straightforward.
• Up Front Cost: As these integrations are typically offered as a part of the CRM or MAP package, they are usually a low cost option. 

Cons:

• Limited Customization: Native sync solutions lack the flexibility needed to map and transform data according to your organization’s unique requirements. For the enterprise organization or for businesses with intricate data structures, a native sync is incapable of handling their complex integration needs.
• Duplicates: The ability to set up custom deduplication rules is non-existent and a huge problem with the native integration.
• Potential Downtime: Native integrations could suffer from downtime during updates or system changes, impacting data flow. And, since the native integration is often not the primary focus or value-driver for CRMs and MAPs, support for the native integration and updates to it are not always well-maintained. 
• Multiple CRM or MAP Instances: If two or more Salesforce or HubSpot instances are in place, the native will not be able to support the integration.
• Hidden Cost: There is a hidden cost associated with native integrations, which is the number of weekly hours the CRM or MAP user spends on troubleshooting and finding work-arounds for native sync failures. Error handling is typically a “black box” with native integrations, and figuring out which records synced successfully and which didn’t is often difficult or impossible. 

Related: How to Optimize HubSpot Salesforce Integration

Augmenting with Vertify: Advantages and Considerations

In scenarios where the native sync falls short, configurable integration solutions like Vertify can step in. Vertify specializes in data integration and provides a bridge between Salesforce, HubSpot, and other revenue platforms. Let’s explore the advantages and considerations of augmenting with Vertify:

Advantages:

• Highly Configurable: Vertify offers extensive data mapping, deduplication rules, and transformation capabilities, accommodating complex integration scenarios and ensuring your data appears where and how you need it. A templated recipe can only take you so far, while Vertify is the most elastic solution on the market. This allows you to configure your workflows to align with your business process. 
• Scalability: As your business grows and evolves, Vertify can adapt to changing data needs, ensuring a seamless flow of information.
• Data Governance: In today’s world, data governance is not a luxury; it’s a must.  Vertify is a platform you can depend on when it comes to data governance.
• Comprehensive Insights: Vertify’s ability to surface sync errors (including which records were impacted, what the error with the data was, and how to resolve it) takes the guesswork out of data diagnostics. And, Vertify can push data into advanced analytics platforms, empowering organizations with deep insights on customer trends to enhance decision-making.

Considerations:

• Time to Value: Sure, native integrations are 100% plug and play, which results in a quick time to value. But, is there really value if you are not getting what you need out of the platform? Consider spending 12-30 hours with a Vertify data specialist in order to get exactly what you need to run your business. That is extreme value, quick. 
• Additional Cost: Integrating with a dedicated integration partner like Vertify involves additional costs beyond the Salesforce and HubSpot subscriptions. Yes, this is something to consider, but I think you may be surprised that the barrier to entry is quite low. Companies that budget for this expense get the most out of both Salesforce and HubSpot, and see a return on their investment in 2.5 months on average. 

Conclusion

The choice between native synchronization and a dedicated integration partner like Vertify depends on your organization’s specific requirements. Native sync solutions are a good fit for simpler integration needs, providing convenience and a quick time to value. On the other hand, Vertify offers the flexibility and scalability necessary for more complex data scenarios and organizations with diverse integration needs.

Ultimately, the goal of integrating Salesforce and HubSpot is to break down data barriers, foster collaboration, and enable your teams to deliver outstanding customer experiences. Whether you opt for native sync or choose to augment with Vertify, the key is to create a data ecosystem that empowers your business to thrive in the era of seamless connectivity. 

Want to learn more about Vertify’s elastic, no-code solution for HubSpot-Salesforce integrations? Click here to schedule a demo with our team.