Introduction
Salesforce Integrations play a vital role in achieving data synchronization, automation, reporting, and comprehensive analytics. They empower organizations to gain a cohesive perspective of their clientele and operations across diverse platforms and channels. Nevertheless, integrating systems can present intricacies, financial implications, and time-intensive setup and maintenance. As enterprises delve into Salesforce integration, they must take into account multiple critical factors, including security, performance, scalability, dependability, and adherence to compliance standards.
To address these challenges and streamline the integration process, Salesforce has introduced a new feature in its latest release: the 5x Free Integration User Licenses. This feature simplifies integration tasks and reduces costs by permitting organizations to establish up to five dedicated users exclusively for integration purposes, without incurring additional expenses. These designated users gain access to Salesforce’s API, facilitating the seamless exchange of data between Salesforce and other applications, while simultaneously preventing entry to the Salesforce user interface and any additional functionalities.
In this article, we will elucidate the concept of the 5x Free Integration User Licenses, elucidate their operational mechanics, enumerate the advantages of their implementation, and offer guidance on how to initiate their utilization.
What Changes For You?
As you know, each Salesforce user needs to have one license assigned, which ensures their access to the functionality they need to use within Salesforce. For example, a user with a Salesforce license has access to the full CRM functionality and apps, while one with a Salesforce Platform license has their access limited to custom apps. You can view all the available licenses in your org, including this new one, by navigating to the Company Information page in Setup.
Developer Edition orgs include one Salesforce Integration license, while Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance Edition orgs include five free licenses.
Make sure you take a look over the Standard User Licenses and all other User License types when deciding which is the best option for a certain scenario.
The new Salesforce Integration license is available after March 14, 2023 and is specifically designed for system-to-system integrations, as it only provides the user with API access. Simply put, your instance’s functionality or data cannot be accessed through the user interface by users who are assigned this license type.
This means that it’s time to reevaluate the existing integration for users in your Salesforce org and properly migrate them to an API-only access license – this will free up one of the other licenses for an actual human user who can better make use of it. The Salesforce Integration API permission set license (which includes many of the permissions generally granted to Salesforce Admins) should be used to extend and restrict user or object permissions, alongside other relevant permission sets to ensure access to an uniquely tailored sub-set of data, thus reducing risks of a potential data leak.
Additionally, the individual permissions associated with the Salesforce Integration license or the API Only profile cannot be removed – this also applies to clones of the profile.
What are the 5x Free Integration User Licenses?
These licenses, offered by Salesforce, are a novel type of user license accessible to all customers, irrespective of their edition. They are tailored for facilitating system-to-system integrations, permitting exclusive access to Salesforce API for data exchange purposes. Other Salesforce functionalities and features are inaccessible through these licenses.
These 5x Free Integration User Licenses will be accessible after March 14, 2023. Each Salesforce organization can have a maximum of five free integration users concurrently. Should more than five integration users be required, additional licenses can be procured at a rate of $10 per user per month.
Salesforce allocates the 5x Free Integration User Licenses to users through a new profile known as “API Only,” featuring the bare minimum permissions necessary for integration purposes. This profile is non-adjustable and non-duplicable but can be coupled with permission sets or permission set licenses to grant supplementary permissions or access to objects and fields.
It’s worth noting that Developer Edition organizations include one Salesforce Integration license, while Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance Edition organizations encompass five free licenses.
Benefits of Using Your 5 Free Integration User Licenses
Salesforce’s 5 free integration user licenses are perfect for system-to-system integrations. Available for all customers, these user licenses are designed for seamless data transfer between systems via the Salesforce API. Plus, they come with limitations that ensure they only function for their intended purpose.
These licenses became available on March 14, 2023 to all Salesforce organizations. If more than 5 users are required, additional licenses can be purchased at a rate of $10 per user per month.
The 5 Integration User Licenses allow businesses to create distinct integration users for each Salesforce integration they have. For instance, a business with three integrations (ERP system, e-commerce platform, and marketing automation tool) can create three integration users, one for each integration.
By creating separate users for each integration, businesses can adhere to best practices of having one use per integration. There are several advantages to this approach:
1. Enhanced visibility and traceability of data transfers between systems
Businesses can easily monitor their activity through reports or logs and identify which user is responsible for which integration.
2. Better security and compliance for data transfers
Businesses can apply appropriate security policies and settings for each integration user, such as restricting access to certain objects or fields or enforcing IP restrictions or two-factor authentication.
3. Improve performance and scalability
Businesses can allocate resources and limits for each integration user based on their needs and demands, such as adjusting API request limits or batch sizes.
5 Types of Integrations You Never Want to Break
Integrations are vital for leveraging the full potential of Salesforce and ensuring smooth operations across various business functions. When these integrations break, ops teams face the risk of inefficiencies, data inconsistencies, reduced productivity and negative impacts on customer satisfaction, ultimately affecting the bottom line. Let’s dive into five types of integrations you never want to break.
1. Marketing automation & sales acceleration platforms
Hubspot… Chili Piper… Salesloft. These integrations are crucial for optimizing sales and marketing efforts. They ensure seamless data flow, allowing teams to synchronize customer information, automate lead nurturing, and track campaign performance.
If these integrations break, the downstream impact can be significant. Sales and marketing teams may experience a lack of visibility into prospects and leads, leading to misalignment and missed opportunities. Additionally, reporting and analytics may suffer, hindering data-driven decision-making and the ability to optimize sales and marketing strategies.
2. e-Commerce and payment gateways
Integrating point of sale and payment gateways like Shopify, WooCommerce or Strike are essential for businesses that rely on e-commerce. These integrations enable real-time synchronization of sales data, inventory management, and order fulfillment.
If broken, businesses may encounter inventory discrepancies, delayed order processing, and inaccurate financial reporting. This can result in a poor customer journey, lost sales, and potential reputational damage as well.
3. Customer support & helpdesk software
Customer support and Helpdesk software integrations with Salesforce such as Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Help Scout, play a pivotal role in delivering exceptional customer service. These integrations facilitate the exchange of customer information, ticket management, and case resolution.
When these integrations break, customer support teams may struggle to access relevant customer data, leading to inefficiencies, missed SLAs, and reduced customer satisfaction.
4. Contact center/UCaaS solutions
Contact center and unified communications solutions like MS Teams, Talkdesk, Five9, and Nice integrate with Salesforce to enable seamless communication and collaboration between sales and customer service teams. Ensuring that customer interactions are logged, tracked, and accessible, these integrations are essential to keeping processes running smoothly.
If these integrations break, orgs may experience fragmented communication channels, leading to delays in response times, disjointed customer experiences, and potential revenue loss.
5. Business, finance & accounting softwares
Integrations with Netsuite, Quickbooks, or Avalara streamline financial processes and enhance visibility into financial data. In addition, they automate invoice generation, billing, and tax calculations, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting.
Without these integrations working efficiently, orgs may encounter challenges in tracking revenue, reconciling financial data, and maintaining compliance, leading to operational inefficiencies, financial inaccuracies, and potential legal implications.
Summary
Salesforce’s 5x free integration user licenses are a game-changer for organizations seeking to unlock efficiency and drive digital transformation. By empowering wider adoption of the platform and fostering deeper ecosystem integration, these licenses pave the way for a future of connected workflows, data-driven insights, and innovative solutions. As organizations embrace the opportunities presented by these free licenses, we can expect to see a new wave of productivity, collaboration, and competitive advantage unleashed within the Salesforce ecosystem.
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