AWS provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, as well as companies. It works on a pay-as-you-go basis, and offers web services in the form of abstract technical infrastructure and distributed computing blocks.
What happens when you combine the leading CRM and the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform? Over the past year, Salesforce and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced new integration abilities—and this is good news for businesses worldwide.
This partnership is giving its users the possibility for innovation through strategic, secure, and yet simple integrations, with AWS offering more than 175 products and services, such as storage, networking, database, analytics, developer tools just to name a few.
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How Salesforce and AWS Work Together
First, it’s worth noting that in all cases, Salesforce and AWS environments can either be data sources or destinations, depending on the business’ needs.
The Salesforce and AWS integration options can be divided into three layers:
- Connectivity
- Integration
- Application
Connectivity
The connectivity layer refers to the network connectivity between Salesforce, AWS and an on-premises data centre.
Integration
Integration, on the other hand, includes services such as Heroku, MuleSoft, and Amazon AppFlow. AppFlow, for instance, is a no-code tool that can be used to connect flows between AWS and Salesforce without the need to write any code. On the other hand, Heroku and Mulesoft is a more traditional coding tool, through which Salesforce and AWS developers can get access to data from both platforms, facilitating secure bidirectional data transfer without any complications.
Application
Application is the layer in which applications such as Amazon Connect CTI Adapter, Salesforce Service Cloud Voice and Alexa for Business can be integrated. For instance, the Amazon Connect and Service Cloud integration means that users are now provided with an improved use of CRM data, as insights from compensation, order, accounting, shipping and inventory data can be combined with CRM data. Customer service can be taken to a whole new level as contact centre as all data, such as phone, digital channels and CRM data can be brought into one single view through a unified console.
Why use AWS and Salesforce Together?
Here are two top advantages of using AWS and Salesforce together – plus some examples.
Scalability
AWS’s scalability makes it flexible and cost-effective – can easily increase or decrease your cloud capacity once your needs and demand increases or decreases, and you will only pay for what you use. Companies no longer need to shell out huge amounts of money for hardware or data centres, which also eliminates the need to understand or guess your infrastructure needs, in turn minimising capital expenditure.
Data Security
One other major advantage of combining Salesforce and AWS is increased data security. AWS-based recovery solutions give its users fast and reliable disaster recovery in case of IT issues like data centre failures, server corruption or cyber-attacks. This also means that in case of device loss, data can still be accessed through another machine, with it being stored in the cloud—making the loss of sensitive data a thing of the past.
Learn more about AWS as a Salesforce Professional
When it comes to skills and training, AWS and Salesforce have you covered. Both have pledged to address the skills gap in the field through Trailhead, for free.
Not only will these resources make your day-to-day life at work easier, but earning badges and certifications will also make your CV stand out to employers, as AWS skills become increasingly more requested worldwide. So, whether you’re already in the Salesforce ecosystem, or are yet to become part of it all, being familiar with AWS will definitely pay off in the long term.
The advantages of this strategic alliance are bound to attract even more customers to the cloud, making any professionals with both Salesforce and AWS knowledge more in-demand and well-compensated within this industry.