Written on July 24, 2024.

Explore how seamless Workday integration can transform your organization's efficiency, with a focus on overcoming challenges and reaping substantial benefits using no-code solutions.

6 minute read

What is Workday Integration?

Let's start by understanding what Workday Integration really is. Think of it as building a bridge between different parts of your organization, allowing for smoother and more efficient operations. This bridge ensures that all your systems can work together harmoniously, sharing vital information and enhancing overall efficiency. 

Challenges of Workday Integration

Integrating Workday with your existing systems sounds straightforward, but it comes with its fair share of hurdles. Let’s explore some common challenges that you might encounter along the way.

Complexity of Integration

Integrating Workday with other systems can be like solving a complex puzzle. The technical difficulties in creating and maintaining these connections require specialized knowledge and careful planning to ensure everything works together seamlessly.

Data Consistency and Integrity

Ensuring that data remains consistent and accurate across all integrated systems can be a significant challenge. Inaccurate or inconsistent data can lead to errors, inefficiencies, and compliance issues, making this a critical aspect to address.

Security Concerns

Security is always a top priority, especially when sharing sensitive data across systems. Protecting data integrity and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards is crucial during the integration process to avoid potential security breaches and compliance issues.

Customization and Scalability

Every organization has unique needs, which means customization is often necessary. However, these integrations must also be scalable to accommodate future growth and changes in business processes, adding another layer of complexity.

Vendor Compatibility

Ensuring compatibility between Workday and third-party software solutions can sometimes feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Compatibility issues need to be managed effectively to ensure all systems work together seamlessly.

Benefits of Workday Integration

Despite the challenges, the benefits of Workday integration are substantial. Let’s dive into how it can transform your organization for the better.

Time Savings and Reduced Manual Work

One of the biggest advantages is the time saved by automating data transfer between systems. This reduces the need for manual checks and data re-entry, streamlining operations and allowing your team to focus on more strategic tasks.

Enhanced Employee Onboarding Efficiency

For example, Overstock.com managed to significantly streamline their employee onboarding process, reducing the number of interactions from 60-80 to just 6. This efficiency boost reclaimed 1,000 days of lost productivity annually, allowing HR teams to focus on more critical activities.

Improved Data Quality and Decision Making

Centralized employee reporting and activity tracking lead to better decision quality. Improved data accuracy helps in making informed decisions, driving better business outcomes and reducing the risk of errors.

Enhanced Self-Service Capabilities

A user-friendly interface enhances self-service options, reducing the need for HR agent manual updates. Employees can manage their information more efficiently, leading to increased satisfaction and productivity.

Process Automation

Straight-Through Processing (STP) enables automatic processing of requests and approvals without manual intervention. This automation covers processes like employee onboarding, training, asset management, and team management, streamlining operations, and increasing efficiency.

Cost Reduction

Workday integration can lead to significant cost savings by reducing duplication of license costs across systems and lowering IT expenses through a managed and supported integration solution. This cost efficiency can significantly impact the bottom line.

Operational Capacity Increase

Improved synchronization of processes across teams and systems increases operational capacity. This efficiency allows organizations to handle more work with the same resources, driving growth and productivity.

Real-World Examples

To really understand the impact of Workday integration, let's look at some real-world examples.

Improved Employee Onboarding Efficiency at Overstock.com

Overstock.com integrated Workday and ServiceNow to streamline their onboarding process. They faced challenges in manual data entry and multiple touchpoints, but the integration led to significant time savings and reclaimed productivity. Overstock.com reclaimed 1,000 days of lost productivity annually and reduced onboarding interactions from 60-80 to fewer than 8. Additionally, they automated 115 routine onboarding tasks, enhancing overall efficiency.

Enhanced Data Quality and Decision-Making

A company integrated Workday with its HR and financial systems to ensure accurate data and better decision-making. They overcame data consistency challenges, resulting in improved decision quality and operational efficiency. The integration increased forecasting accuracy by 25%, leading to better-informed business decisions. Additionally, automated data collection and aggregation saved 70% of the time spent on these tasks.

Cost Reduction Through Integration

A business reduced duplication of license costs and IT expenses by integrating Workday with other enterprise systems. The integration process streamlined operations and achieved significant cost savings. The company reduced its licensing costs by 40%, saving approximately $300,000 annually. Additionally, improved system integration decreased maintenance costs by 30%, further enhancing their financial efficiency.

Step-by-Step Guide to Workday Integration

Ready to get started with Workday integration? Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you through the process.

Step 1: Define Integration Objectives

Identify the specific goals and desired outcomes of the integration project. What problems are you trying to solve? Are you looking to improve data accuracy, reduce manual work, or enhance decision-making? Clear objectives will guide the entire process.

Step 2: Assess Current Systems

Evaluate your existing systems and infrastructure to understand integration requirements. Identify which systems need to communicate with Workday and assess their compatibility. This step helps you understand the scope of the integration and plan accordingly.

Step 3: Choose Integration Tools and Methods

Select the right tools for the job. With a no-code solution like Put It Forward, you don't need extensive coding knowledge. This platform allows you to create and deploy integrations quickly using intuitive, user-friendly interfaces. No-code solutions significantly reduce the complexity and time required for integration.

Step 4: Design the Integration Framework

Design the architecture and framework for the integration. Map out how data will flow between systems and ensure compatibility and scalability. Using a no-code solution simplifies this step, as pre-built connectors and templates can be easily customized to fit your needs.

Step 5: Develop and Test Integration Solutions

Build the integration solutions using the no-code platform. Conduct thorough testing to identify and fix any issues. No-code solutions like Put It Forward provide testing environments to simulate data flow and ensure everything works smoothly before going live.

Step 6: Implement the Integration

Roll out the integration in phases to ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruptions. Start with critical processes and gradually expand to other areas. The no-code platform allows for easy adjustments and scaling, making the implementation process more flexible and less risky.

Step 7: Monitor and Optimize

Continuously monitor the integration and make necessary optimizations. Use the analytics and monitoring tools provided by the no-code platform to track performance and identify areas for improvement. Regular reviews will help you maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of your integration.

Conclusion

In summary, Workday Integration is essential for enhancing organizational efficiency and achieving seamless information sharing across systems. By addressing challenges and leveraging the benefits of integration, businesses can streamline operations, improve data quality, and reduce costs. The future of Workday integration holds promising advancements that will further enhance efficiency and organizational success.

Visit our website for more information on how to implement Workday integration and explore no-code solutions like Put It Forward. By leveraging innovative integration solutions, you can unlock new levels of efficiency and insight for your organization.

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Written on 18 February 2023.

5 minute read

Connecting your customer experience directly to the heart of your organizations business systems is something that takes care and thought.  By the end of this article you'll know how to approach integrating Sitecore and SAP.

First - What is the combination of SAP and Sitecore?

This question, while super important at the implementation level, is less important at the planning level because a number of the integration patterns are very similar if not the same.  For example integrating Sitecore Order Cloud to SAP ECC is very much the same approach as integrating it into SAP CRM.  Conversely when integrating content solutions like Sitecore CMS, Sitecore XM or Sitecore DAM type into SAP the patterns are very similar.

Now let’s take a look at factors to consider and approaches.

This video walks you through the steps of how to set up and configure an SAP Sitecore integration using the best practices described in this article.

The Business Case for SAP Sitecore Integration

Integrating Sitecore and SAP can offer a range of benefits for businesses, such as streamlined business processes, improved customer experience, and increased efficiency. Here's what you need to know about integrating Sitecore and SAP:

Integration Options: There are several integration options available for Sitecore and SAP, including using pre-built connectors from Put It Forward or developing custom integration solutions. Sitecore offers an out-of-the-box SAP connector through Put It Forward which are highly tuned to the integration scenario while SAP offers various integration options, such as SAP Cloud Platform Integration or SAP Process Integration which are more build your own type.

Benefits of Sitecore and SAP Integration: Integrating Sitecore and SAP can offer a range of benefits, including improved customer experience through personalized content, streamlined business processes by automating data exchange between systems, and increased efficiency by eliminating manual data entry and reducing errors.

Use Cases for Sitecore and SAP Integration: Sitecore and SAP integration can be used in a variety of business scenarios, such as synchronizing customer and product data, integrating e-commerce platforms with order management systems, automating inventory and order management, and enabling real-time data exchange.

Best Practices for Sitecore and SAP Integration: To ensure successful Sitecore and SAP integration, it is important to follow best practices, such as defining clear integration goals, ensuring data quality, establishing data governance policies, securing data transfer, and testing the integration.

Sitecore and SAP Integration Challenges: Integrating Sitecore and SAP can be complex and challenging, as both systems have their own unique data models and integration points. Additionally, data mapping and transformation can be difficult, and custom development may be required to meet specific integration requirements.

Sitecore and SAP Integration Partners: Many IT service providers specialize in Sitecore and SAP integration and can help businesses develop custom integration solutions to meet their specific requirements.

In conclusion, integrating Sitecore and SAP can provide significant business benefits, but it is important to approach the integration with a strategic mindset and follow best practices to ensure success. Working with experienced integration partners can also help businesses to overcome the technical challenges of integrating these systems.

How to Plan for SAP Sitecore Integration

Planning for SAP integration requires a well-defined strategy that considers your business goals, IT architecture, and the requirements of your SAP system. Here are some steps to help you plan for SAP integration:

Define your Integration Goals: Clearly define your integration goals and what you hope to achieve from integrating SAP with other systems. This will help you to identify the specific use cases for integration and define the scope of the project.

Assess your Current IT Architecture: Assess your current IT architecture and identify the systems, data sources, and applications that need to be integrated with SAP. This will help you to identify any potential integration challenges and ensure that your integration plan is aligned with your overall IT strategy.

Identify Data Requirements: Identify the data requirements for the integration project, including the data objects, fields, and data types that need to be exchanged between systems. This will help you to identify any data quality or governance issues that need to be addressed and ensure that the data exchange is secure.

Choose Integration Approach: Choose the integration approach that is best suited for your specific requirements, considering factors such as the complexity of the integration, the systems that need to be integrated, and your technical expertise.

Select Integration Tools: Select the integration tools that are required to implement the integration, such as middleware or integration platforms. These tools will help you to connect SAP with other systems and automate the data exchange between them.

Develop an Integration Plan: Develop a comprehensive integration plan that outlines the integration steps, timelines, and resources required to complete the integration project. This will help you to manage the integration process effectively and ensure that it is delivered on time and within budget.

Test and Monitor the Integration: Test the integration thoroughly to ensure that it is working as expected and monitor it regularly to identify any issues or performance problems. This will help you to ensure that the integration remains stable and meets your business requirements over time.

Planning for SAP Sitecore integration requires a comprehensive approach that considers your business goals, IT architecture, and specific requirements for data exchange. By following the above steps, you can develop a successful integration strategy that delivers value to your organization.

How to Use a Pre-built Connector for SAP Sitecore Integration

Using a pre-built connector with SAP and Sitecore integration can help simplify the integration process, reduce development time, and ensure that the integration is built using industry-standard best practices. Here are some steps to follow when using a pre-built connector with SAP:

Choose the Right Connector: Choose the pre-built connector that is best suited for your specific requirements. Different connectors may support different integration scenarios, so make sure that you select a connector that supports the integration use case that you need.

Install and Configure the Connector: Install and configure the connector according to the vendor's instructions. The installation process may involve downloading and installing software components, configuring connectivity settings, and setting up authentication and security options.

Map Data and Business Logic: Map the data and business logic between your SAP system and the system that you are integrating with. This may involve configuring data mappings, setting up field-level transformations, and defining the data flow between systems.

Test the Integration: Test the integration thoroughly to ensure that it is working as expected. This may involve testing data exchange, system performance, and error handling, and validating that the integration meets your business requirements.

Monitor and Manage the Integration: Monitor the integration regularly to identify any issues or performance problems. This may involve setting up alerts and notifications, managing system logs and monitoring data flow, and troubleshooting any errors that occur during integration.

Update the Connector: Stay up-to-date with any updates or patches for the connector, and apply them as necessary to ensure that the integration remains stable and secure over time.

Using a pre-built connector with SAP from Put It Forward can significantly help simplify the integration process and ensure that the integration is built using best practices. By following the above steps, you can successfully integrate your SAP system with other systems using a pre-built connector.

Working With Multiple SAP and Sitecore Environments.

Working with multiple SAP environments is going to be a reality in many cases beyond just foundational tiers of dev, QA, pre-prod and production. Considering that many organizations have regional and departmental SAP systems that will need to synchronize data and processes across different environments. Here are some best practices to help you manage multiple SAP environments effectively:

Define Environment Strategy: Define a clear environment strategy that outlines the purpose and usage of each SAP environment. This may include development, testing, staging, and production environments, each with their specific roles and access levels.

Set Up a Release Management Process: Set up a release management process that ensures that changes are deployed consistently and predictably across all environments. This process may include code reviews, testing, and approvals, and should ensure that changes are tested and verified before being released to production.

Use a Single Source of Truth: Use a single source of truth for data, configuration, and customizations across all environments. This may involve using a version control system or a centralized repository for storing data and configuration files.

Automate Deployment: Automate deployment of changes across environments using scripts, automation tools, or integration platforms. This will help ensure that deployments are consistent, repeatable, and reduce the risk of human errors.

Establish Communication Channels: Establish clear communication channels between teams working on different SAP environments. This may include setting up regular status meetings, sharing progress reports, and using collaboration tools to keep everyone informed.

Plan for Disaster Recovery: Plan for disaster recovery by setting up backups and failover procedures for each environment. This will help you recover quickly in case of system failures or other unexpected events.

In summary, working with multiple SAP environments requires a well-defined strategy that includes release management, automation, and communication best practices. By following the above steps, you can manage multiple SAP environments effectively and ensure that changes are deployed consistently and predictably across all environments.

To make SAP Sitecore come to life for you and talk to a real person about what this can all mean you can find many resources on our blog or contact us directly.  

Written on September 7, 2023.

Discover use cases and benefits of building Omnichannel Customer Experience by Integrating Sitecore. 

6 minute read

In the currently highly competitive business environment, providing a seamless customer experience across multiple channels is crucial for success. Businesses need to be present and responsive on various platforms, such as social media, websites, mobile apps, or even physical locations. This is where the concept of omnichannel customer experience comes into play. In this article, we will explore this topic further. We will answer the question of what an omnichannel customer experience is, what benefits it offers, and how you can improve it by using Sitecore. If you are a customer service, marketing, or sales manager, then we encourage you to read on.

What is an Omnichannel Customer Experience?

An omnichannel customer experience refers to a holistic approach that seamlessly integrates all available channels to create a consistent and personalized journey for customers. Nowadays, the boundaries between purchasing online and offline are beginning to shrink. Customers often check e-commerce websites during their visits to physical stores, they buy products from various channels – through apps, online stores, and the physical ones, thus they desire a unified experience across all these touchpoints. Focusing on omnichannel communication is the way to achieve that and create a seamless transition between what is online and offline.

An omnichannel customer experience is contrary to the multichannel one. The former focuses on creating one, united approach, while the latter looks at each channel separately. The difference may be presented as a simple comparison:

• Omnichannel: Our customer
• Multichannel: Our e-commerce customers, our Apple Watch customers, our physical store customers, etc.

What are the benefits of omnichannel customer experience?

Before we delve into the topic of how to build an omnichannel customer experience, it is crucial to understand all the benefits of such an approach. Implementing an omnichannel customer experience strategy can yield numerous advantages for a company. These include:

• Enhancing customer satisfaction

By opting for an omnichannel approach, customers are given additional options. They might begin their customer journey in one channel, yet end it in a different one. They are not restricted by the place – real, or virtual – in which they found your products or services. Instead, they might embrace full freedom without having to provide the same information every time they change the channel, letting them transfer from one to another seamlessly.

• Creating a complete customer profile

Unifying data between channels enables companies to cater to the needs of their customers. In a multichannel approach, e-commerce will collect only the data regarding online purchases, while physical stores will acquire data on offline transactions. Yet, while creating an omnichannel customer experience, it is possible to gather them both into one profile. As a result, the client will be provided with highly personalized offers, marketing materials, and loyalty programs, improving their overall experience.

• Improving customer loyalty and retention

By understanding the true needs and preferences of the customers, it is also possible to make them much more loyal and prevent them from running away to your competitors. Since building an omnichannel customer experience strategy enables preparing more accurate customer profiles, the clients feel like your business is the best for them – it satisfies their desires and demands. As a result, they do not look for alternatives – instead, they remain loyal to your brand.

How Sitecore integration streamlines omnichannel customer experience?

Sitecore is a leading customer experience platform that offers powerful tools to enhance your omnichannel strategy. If you are wondering how to create a customer experience strategy that will be unified for all channels, here are the options that Sitecore offers:

• Centralizing data

The first use of Sitecore integration is for centralizing data. Think of this program as the heart of your information system – the place where the data from all your channels is gathered and processed. By integrating Sitecore, you will have it all in one place, which is crucial for creating an omnichannel customer experience.

• Personalization and segmentation

Sitecore’s robust personalization features enable you to tailor content and experiences based on individual customer profiles. You might leverage data such as browsing history, purchase patterns, or even demographics to create custom content tailored to your particular target audience.

• Marketing automation

Sitecore’s marketing automation capabilities empower you to orchestrate personalized customer journeys. All that needs to be done is configuring automatic targeted e-mails or triggered notifications. This allows you to both create better marketing campaigns and save on revenue due to low-value tasks being performed by the system.

How do you build omnichannel customer experience by integrating Sitecore? – Use cases

Since now you know what are the benefits of Sitecore integration, it is time to answer another question: How do you build omnichannel experience with it?

• Creating a single source of truth

Integrating Sitecore with in-store point-of-sale systems might answer your question on how to create an omnichannel customer experience. Purchase history, customer data, preferences – all of these may be unified through such an integration. You are, thus, able to access a complete overview of your business performance, eliminate duplicated data and break down data silos. This leads to a boost in productivity, and transparency and enhances your business’ ability to scale.

• Connecting channels

In traditional systems, data flow between channels is synchronized manually. This also means that customers need to re-input their information whenever they change the channel, instead of that being done automatically for them. Yet, by integrating Sitecore, you can create an environment for omnichannel customer experience, by avoiding all these issues. Measuring customer satisfaction, creating a personalized customer journey, and building unified customer profiles that will travel through the channels along with the customers – this is the way to increase customer satisfaction and thus retention rates.

• Unifying the Content

Content is a critical component of marketing strategies. Therefore, the messages need to be unified across all channels. Sitecore integration enables that, by giving your company a full insight into the customers. Yet, it also has some additional uses.

For content unification to be effective, it has to be done automatically. It is especially important if you desire to send personalized content to each customer and aim to find the best time to do so. You can do that by integrating Sitecore. As a result, customer satisfaction will skyrocket and your clients will be more likely to purchase your products.

The takeaway

Building an omnichannel customer experience and knowing how to improve it is essential in today’s digital age, where the border between online and offline worlds is slowly fading out. By integrating Sitecore into your customer experience management systems, you will be able to enhance personalization by creating unique, customized customer journeys. Adapting an omnichannel approach has numerous benefits: increases customer satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty and thus stimulates business growth. Therefore, it should be embraced and used if possible.

You might also read: How Put It Forward Helps to Integrate Sitecore XM Across the Enterprise

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Written on July 25, 2023.

Learn how to integrate Marketo with Salesforce, the essential integration steps, and how to efficiently align marketing and sales teams in this Marketo Salesforce integration guide.

6 minute read

Why integrate Marketo and Salesforce

In today’s changing world with technology-boosting innovations and domination of hybrid sales models, it becomes essential to meet and often exceed customers’ expectations. Considering the amount of information each professional consumes throughout the day in today’s world, consistent messaging and customer experience are the basic needs on the market. 

Building a seamless customer journey and message consistency can feel like juggling too many balls if marketing and sales activities are running separately and are not connected by shared goals, strategy, and up-to-date customer data. It is critical to ensure these departments work in unison to target the right customer, start meaningful conversations, and increase sales wins. In fact, organizations with aligned sales and marketing activities are 67% more efficient at winning deals.

In order to orchestrate the customer journey across multiple touch points organizations must ensure timely  Salesforce and Marketo integration which streamlines lead management, improves message consistency, and provides better customer understanding and personalization.  

However, maintaining the native Marketo to Salesforce integration, especially for organizations with large datasets and complex business processes, isn’t as simple as adjusting a few settings. Successful integration requires the right project planning and a deep understanding of both Salesforce and Marketo. 

Choices When Integrating Marketo and Salesforce

You will have multiple options to work with when integrating Salesforce and Marketo together.

The following will step you through the limitations, optimal choices, and long-term considerations of this critical path decision.

1. The native vendor supplied a connector from Marketo
2. Build your own
3. The no-code Marketo Salesforce connector

Steps to integrate Marketo and Salesforce

Here are steps to consider before setting up Marketo Salesforce integration.

Understand your lead lifecycle

Before setting up Salesforce Marketo integration, you should understand the lead lifecycle from the first touch point till conversion into paying customers. Identify areas where Salesforce and Marketo can complement each other to streamline your lead management process and improve customer experience. For instance, you may need to ensure proper marketing and sales teams alignment for account-based marketing strategy implementation. 

Map out the business process

The business process or the execution steps are the most critical consideration in a successful Salesforce and Marketo integration because it determines how your organization will function, the downstream execution, attribution, and customer journey. For example, the lead-to-close process is never a one-way step function because all leads aren’t created equally. The lead and customer data is often part of multiple engagement steps and different qualifying criteria on the journey from MQL to SQL. Mapping out the business process helps identify automation points in the process, business rules, and triggering events to help manage leads efficiently at scale.

Identify your integration needs

Determine what data you want to integrate between Marketo and Salesforce to reach your revenue goals. For example, you may want to have contacts, accounts, and other records up-to-date across your revenue funnel to ensure marketing and sales teams' alignment in order to improve retention and sales win rates.

Understand your data

For successful Marketo-to-Salesforce integration, it's important to understand how data is structured. Since both tools have a lot of customization options, it's crucial to map out an existing schema both in Marketo and in Salesforce so that data can sync cleanly between the tools. By mapping out each Marketo record to a compatible Salesforce record, you can make sure that none of the data is lost during the transfer.

Develop an integration plan

Plan the integration carefully, including evaluating integration tools, identifying the necessary frequency of data transfer, and any potential issues that may arise during the integration.

Test and monitor the integration

Test the integration thoroughly to ensure that the data is moving between systems accurately. Monitor the integration regularly to ensure that it continues to function properly.

Challenges when integrating Marketo with Salesforce

The premise of the native integration design is that your data is clean, well structured, and is the same in both systems leading to perfect synchronization every time. Here are a few operational problems you may come across when using native Salesforce Marketo integration. 

Data integrates unidirectionally except for leads, contacts, and Salesforce campaigns

It’s important to keep in mind that native Salesforce and Marketo integration is mostly unidirectional and allows data to flow in only one direction.

In practical terms, this means that any updates or changes made in Salesforce will automatically be reflected in Marketo, on the other hand, any customer engagement or intent data will not be transferred from Marketo to Salesforce. If focusing on prospects most probable to convert is your priority, you won't be able to create a proper segmentation in Salesforce unless manually update information. 

This could result in lower sales win rates and revenue loss. 

Failed record syncs

Sometimes, your records may not sync due to several reasons such as missing information, required fields not filled, validation errors, or improper sync settings. Fixing these records manually can be time-consuming and may distract you from working on more important projects. As a result, ongoing maintenance may become challenging and accumulate over time.

Slow syncs

Marketo and Salesforce users may experience delays in syncing, especially if their organization has millions of records. Although syncing can take only a few seconds or minutes, larger updates can overload the system, making it difficult to access real-time data or trigger events based on it. For example, if you are running multiple campaigns in Marketo simultaneously, the constant updates may slow down your sync, which can prevent your Salesforce instance from triggering additional events based on campaign status. 

Overwritten data

Sometimes, the connection between Marketo and Salesforce can cause lead data to be lost, especially when syncing campaigns with leads that came directly from Marketo forms. For example, if you have an ongoing campaign that is continuously syncing records between the two systems, new leads that come in from Marketo forms might sync too quickly for Marketo to process all of the necessary lead enrichment and preparation. As a result, Salesforce may sync back to Marketo and overwrite any data that you generated in the meantime. This can cause essential data to be lost, making it difficult for your marketing and sales teams to follow up with valuable leads. It can reduce productivity and directly affect your sales pipeline.

Duplicated data

Marketo has a built-in feature that helps prevent duplicate records, but this feature doesn't check for duplicates when syncing data from Salesforce. Marketo assumes that all incoming data is correct and doesn't check for duplicates, which can cause problems if duplicate data is received. If you encounter regular issues with duplicate data, you may need to manually fix the records or seek help from a third-party service.

How to Enable Marketo Salesforce Integration With Intelligent Automation

While the native Marketo and Salesforce integration is a proper approach for simple syncs of small databases, most professionals need more advanced and flexible tools to configure their integration for proper sales and marketing alignment and customer experience improvement goals. An alternative to the native integration is the Intelligent Automation Platform (IAP) of Put It Forward.

An IAP is a low-code platform that allows building custom process automation without technical skills. Each process automation or workflow combines prebuilt integration connectors to different applications with rule-based triggers using a drag-and-drop visual interface. The IAP easily orchestrates powerful, multi-step automation that kicks off a variety of operations, responding to any custom trigger. With an IAP, you can save hours of manual work, drive productivity, and scale mission-critical processes.

Challenges and complex processes that you can leverage the IAP for

One-to-many or many-to-many relationships

In a Marketo Salesforce integration, one-to-many or many-to-many relationships between objects can cause data integrity issues. For example, if a lead has multiple contacts in Salesforce, which contact should be associated with the lead in Marketo? Using the IAP you can specify the rules and unique identifiers for determining which objects are related and how. 

Duplicate contacts

Another common challenge in a Marketo Salesforce integration is duplicated contacts. This occurs when the same contact exists in both Marketo and Salesforce, leading to inconsistencies in data. The solution to this is IAP implementation which regularly identifies and merges duplicate contacts.

Audit and traceability

Maintaining an audit trail and traceability of data changes is critical for compliance and data governance. In a Marketo Salesforce integration, data changes can occur in either system, making it essential to track changes across both platforms. A solution to this challenge is to implement a comprehensive data governance framework that includes change tracking and audit trails.

Process automation and event triggers

Process automation and event triggers are essential for ensuring timely and accurate data synchronization between Marketo and Salesforce. For example, when a lead is created in Marketo, an event trigger can be used to automatically create a contact record in Salesforce. A solution to this challenge is to define a set of rules and triggers that automate the data synchronization process.

Lead routing

Lead routing determines how leads are distributed to sales reps for follow-up. By automating distribution using business rules-based triggers you can ensure leads are assigned to the right sales rep according to predefined criteria.

Custom lead scoring

Custom lead scoring is a powerful tool that allows businesses to assign a score to each lead based on their likelihood to convert into a paying customer. The score is typically calculated based on a set of predefined criteria, such as demographic information, behavior on the company's website, engagement with email campaigns, and communication sentiment. Marketo captures information on leads' behavior and engagement with marketing campaigns, while Salesforce provides data on the leads' demographic information and engagement with sales reps. By customizing the lead scoring process based on triggers, businesses can calculate a more accurate lead score and improve their lead prioritization.

Marketo Workspace integration with Salesforce

Marketo Workspaces allow businesses to organize their data and campaigns into separate workspaces. Integrating Marketo Workspaces with Salesforce can be challenging, as it requires defining the relationships between different workspaces and objects. A solution to this challenge is to apply business rules to different objects to sync between the systems to ensure data consistency.

Multiple Marketo to Salesforce relationships

In some cases, a business may have multiple Marketo instances that need to be integrated with Salesforce. A solution to this is process automation by the IAP that accounts for multiple Marketo instances and ensures data consistency across all systems.

Advanced data transformations

If you need to transform data in a complex way before syncing it between Marketo and Salesforce including data segmentation, cleansing, or enrichment.

Bi-directional integration

Data can flow between the two systems in both directions, allowing for seamless synchronization of data across all touchpoints. This means that any records updates made in one system are automatically reflected in the other, ensuring that both teams have access to the most up-to-date information at all times.

Integrated Reporting and Analytics

Finally, integrated reporting and analytics are essential for gaining insights into the lead lifecycle in order to identify blockages or opportunities. The IAP implements a reporting and analytics framework that integrates data from both systems and provides actionable insights such as full touch attribution, predictive analytics, customer lifetime value (CLV), and householding.

See this short demo video on how to set up custom Marketo and Salesforce integration using the Intelligent Automation Platform or talk to us if you would like to learn more.

Legacy Sitecore API integration tools are being replaced with modern no-code solutions such as Put It Forward through its partnership. In the following, we'll walk through the steps needed to integrate Sitecore through the Put It Forward data integration platform.  Best yet, it's all done through the api without any code.

How To Use The No Code Sitecore Integration Platform To Improve Scale 

Legacy Sitecore api integration tools and solutions which rely on deep technical skills are being replaced by no code data integration tools like Put It Forward.  Organizations like Sitecore have chosen to embed Put It Forward data integration automation into their tools and solutions because it is modern, creates scale and addresses the solution needs of the digital world.

Why this matters to you is that the competitive landscape is changing fast and the solution software of yesterday doesn't map to the modern digital world.

Why Start Using Sitecore Integration To Save Implementation and IT Development Resources?

Many people spend 40-70% of their Sitecore implementation budget and time on integration.  This is a very expensive proposition when timing is everything in the digital world.  In fact the number one reason why Sitecore Commerce and Experience projects fail to start or don’t fully execute is because of the cost of integration.  Access to the critical data within Sitecore and the external business processes is a mandatory component of any successful digital strategy.

Very simply it’s impossible for development resources to more efficiently manage heavy lines of code development than it is to work with a no code integration solution.

Recognizing this Sitecore and Put It Forward have invested resources in raising the integrity of the integration options available for a successful integration implementation.

Creating more options for Sitecore integration for those that choose to go the build it themselves route or those that want to leverage the prebuilt no code solution.

Compare the no code Sitecore integrationcapabilities with legacy coder tools.

Best Practices For Sitecore Commerce Integration

There are several core best practices that can be leveraged to get the most out of a Sitecore integration connector.  

• Decide on the business processes which need to be integrate
  • Such as customer updating or inventory management
• Determine the events when data should be updated
  • Such as when inventory is updated in an ERP system like SAP should Sitecore Commerce be updated right away
• Define what data should be included in Sitecore
  • Such as CRM data from Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics or marketing data from Marketo
• Establish the integration frequency needed to meet your commerce critical data sla’s
  • Such as real time, once every 5 minutes or perhaps twice a day

Out Of the Box Solution Scenarios For Sitecore Integration

Put It Forward and Sitecore product management have defined several core bi-directional integration scenarios which are turn key out of the box ready to deploy.  

1. Automatically creating or updating a customer
2. Automatically creating or updating an account
3. Automatically creating or updating an item
4. Automatically creating or updating inventory
5. Automatically or creating the Sitecore catalog
6. Automatically or creating promotional items

There are many things that can be done and set up to automatically integrate with other technologies.

Each of these Sitecore integration solutions are completely configurable and require no code to extend or customize, saving you a lot of time and resources.

Here's a quick video of some of the Sitecore integration key features:

Extending and Customizing Your Sitecore Integration Platform Solution

There’s going to be times when you want to take that out of the box turn key solution and extend it to meet your needs.  Maybe you have multiple Sitecore Commerce deployments or they need to be connected to a custom system or there’s a specific critical data element that IT needs to manage or integrate into your business intelligence solution.

The beauty of a no code integration solution like this is that it can be done quickly and efficiently at scale.  The only limitation is your imagination.

Leveraging the Sitecore Integration API 

Traditional middleware is all about creating code heavy black boxes for anyone that is not a developer because that was how you could leverage the api to its fullest.  Using the integrated data services of Put It Forward that have analytics, data stage, data preparation and data security functions built right the IT developer can go faster and further than with just writing code for Sitecore api integration solutions.

The beauty of the Put It Forward Sitecore integration solution is that it brings the power of the api right into the hands of those that want to scale.

Integrating Into Business Processes

There will alway a wide range of scenarios that you want to integrate Sitecore Commerce and content solutions into.  Using the process management and business rules engine within the connectors you can bring your enterprise and engagement systems into the story.  There are over 350 different out of the box connectors available for Sitecore.

Covering everything from Sitecore active directory integration for identity management.  Some scenarios are more about engaging the social audience through Sitecore Facebook integration and others start with the CRM solutions like Sitecore Dynamics 365 integration.

How To Set Up  

Set up is super simple, contact your Sitecore account manager because they manage the licensing.  If you need some help getting connected let us know below.

How Much Does Sitecore Integration Cost?

The days of you having to pay $15,000 or $25,000 or $50,000 or over $100,000 for unsupported Sitecore integration projects is over.  Best thing to do is contact your Sitecore account manager to get the price and cost discount that’s associated with your contract.

Put It Forward is a long term member of the Technology Alliance Program that Sitecore manages to control the quality of solutions being offered.

Additional Sitecore Integration Assets and Solution Info

Written on August 23, 2023.

Learn how to integrate Workfront with Marketing Automation platforms to enhance teams’ alignment.

6 minute read

In today’s fast-paced environment, effective collaboration between project management and marketing teams is crucial. An organization has to streamline processes seamlessly, quickly, and effectively to achieve success. This is why IT organizations invest in AI automation – it is a key to successful project management. But what does it have to do with marketing?

Integrating Marketing Automation and Workfront is highly beneficial. This is why, in this article, we will focus purely on that. We will discuss how to merge these two solutions and present you with use cases of such fusions. Are you interested? If yes, then you should definitely read this article.

How to integrate Workfront and Marketing automation

We will begin with a short guide on how to sync Workfront with Marketing Automation platforms. Here it is:

Define goals

The first step should be defining what you want to achieve by integrating Marketing Automation and Workfront. Specify your goals – if you aim at improving the workflow between teams, choose a measurable factor that you will be later able to evaluate. You need to work on data – this will help you introduce improvements and optimize your automation platform. You might set a KPI – Key Performance Indicator – to analyze the effectiveness of your fusion.

Choose an integration option

After deciding on what you want to achieve and selecting the way to measure success, you should focus on choosing the right tool for the fusion. There are numerous intelligent automation platforms that enable Workfront integrations. However, each of them is different and might be difficult to operate.

The main aspect that you should consider when integrating Workfront to Marketing Automation Platform is whether the latter is intelligent. Intelligent automation platform includes technologies such as Data Integration, AI, and RPA. This means that it’s much more effective – it formulates predictions based on data and optimizes and automates workflows within repetitive tasks. Intelligent automation has an advantage over traditional automation, so this is definitely an aspect that you should look into.

The second feature that you should consider is whether the integration solution requires coding. If it is so, you will need to involve your IT team to set up your integration and to introduce changes. This is, however, inefficient: it takes more time to modify your configuration and increases the costs generated by the IT department. 

No-code integration option, on the other hand, allows users to create trigger-based events. This means that you do not need to make any manual actions to set up the integration - just provide the integration scenario you need, and it will be executed automatically. 

Configure integration settings

When you finally chose your option for Workfront and Marketing Automation Integration, it is time to configure your merge. When doing so, you should pay special attention to:

• Data integration – define how often should the data be synchronized and what kind of data do you need to integrate in order to reach your goals.
• Mapping data fields – depending on your aim, define what data your business undergoes and apply suitable functionalities.
• Set up automation triggers – conditions that will automatically update your data during a marketing project.

Train the team

If you desire for your final, merged Workfront and Marketing Automation solutions to work efficiently, you will need to train your employees, especially project managers. They don’t only need to know how to operate the fused platforms – it is crucial to explain to them what data is integrated, where to access it, and how to benefit from smooth data flow.

Monitor the results and add improvements

If you set a KPI in the first step, now it is time to verify it. Check whether your teams reached the goal, and introduce any essential improvements. Proper evaluation is a key to creating effective workflows, especially if you use Workfront and Marketing Automation platforms.

Pay attention to what processes you could automate further, but also which can be done manually – your aim is to achieve the best results, and while automation is often the solution, it might not be the best option at all times. This is why you need to monitor the processes and ask your teams for opinions – after all, they will be working in this system, so they will know what works and what doesn’t.

How Workfront and Marketing automation streamlines teams alignment

See the essential Workfront fusion use cases referred to the teams and processes alignment:

Integrating Marketing Automation platforms into Workfront is an excellent way to improve the speed and quality of cooperation between teams, departments and employees.

Integrating these platforms is often used when several teams work on separate aspects of a project but need to sync data. After all, the marketing team needs to acquire information from the development team, to prepare accurate product descriptions and marketing materials. They also need to have access to data from sales – it’s the direct performance indicator for them. By integrating the systems, the information flow becomes seamless, thus the tasks are completed more quickly.

Marketing teams also use such integrations to gather information from the customer service and experience departments. After all, it is often quite valuable to dive into the issues reported by customers and make use of them in marketing campaigns. But also, on the other hand, if there are issues with particular aspects of a product, the marketing team ought to know about them – promoting a flawed feature could be a PR disaster. Integrating Marketing Automation Platform with Workfront gives marketing managers access to information on known issues, resulting in better-targeted campaigns.

Fusing Workfront to Marketing Automation platforms is also used to streamline the data-exchange process and automate it. The marketing team has to focus on promoting the product – the less time it spends on administration, the better. Automating data workflow allows the team to spend less time on manual tasks and more on generating leads.

Key takeaways

Integrating Workfront with Marketing Automation tool provides a powerful boost to productivity and effectiveness across the business. It is best to do this with a no-code Intelligent Automation Platform. When syncing Workfront and Marketing Automation together, it is crucial to set up a clear aim, train the team and configure the fusion – at the beginning, and after evaluations. With proper implementation, a Workfront and Marketing Automation integration will be a powerful solution for team alignment – both inside an organization and vendors.

If you found this article interesting, consider reading: 7 Reasons Why Organizations Need an Integration Solution. 

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