There is a Smarter (and Cheaper) Way to Integrate External Data into Salesforce

Salesforce is a giant in the CRM space, holding more than 21 percent of the market share—more than Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Adobe combined. More than 150,000 organizations worldwide rely on Salesforce to help them manage their customer relationships, streamline sales operations, and integrate data across business systems. Many of those organizations also use Salesforce Connect to integrate external data sources, whether in the cloud or on-premises. This provides unified access to all their relevant data through Salesforce. But it can come with a big price tag.

Salesforce Connect charges for each external object connection. This translates to one license for every unique external data source. One license will cost $48,000 per year ($4,000/month). For companies with just one external source, it’s an expensive but (perhaps) justifiable convenience. But if a company grows enough to need more external sources, the price can quickly drain an entire budget.

You can rest easy because there is a way to connect multiple external sources to Salesforce without buying multiple licenses (actually, there are three, but who’s counting?). Read on to learn more.

How Salesforce Connect pricing works

Salesforce Connect enables data integration with external sources, which allows real-time data visibility entirely within the Salesforce experience. This is very convenient as it doesn’t require migration, which can surface challenges with old, erroneous data or accidental duplication.

While this makes data access within Salesforce much easier, the cost model can produce sticker shock, even with the most generous budgets. Pricing is based on the number of external data sources you want to integrate. The more external data sources you connect, the more licenses you need to purchase. So, if you need to integrate multiple external sources, such as a database in the cloud, another database on-premises, and an ERP system, you’d need to buy three separate licenses.

Because Salesforce is so widely used, some growing companies might assume they have no choice but to stick with Salesforce’s built-in options and keep buying more licenses. If they didn’t account for the added expense upfront, they may be caught off guard by the unexpected spike in costs.

CData solutions for taming Salesforce Connect costs

Salesforce Connect requires external data sources to expose the data through specific protocols, OData (Open data protocol) being the most common. So, the source system must natively support OData or be exposed as an OData API. We won’t get into the details in this article, but you can read up on that here.

Luckily, CData has you covered with a range of data solutions that simplify the connectivity you need with only one Salesforce Connect endpoint. Instead of paying for multiple Salesforce Connect licenses, businesses can consolidate their external data sources into a single virtualized connection. By creating a semantic layer that integrates data from all your external sources—on-premises, cloud, ERP, or whatever—Salesforce will see only one source. Of course, you can’t get completely out of buying a Salesforce Connect license. But you don’t have to buy more than one.

Some databases and applications, like SAP and SharePoint, already provide OData endpoints. Others, like SQL Server or Oracle, would need an intermediary layer to translate queries into an OData-compatible format. You can bypass that requirement easily with CData. We offer three solutions based on your architecture and data needs:

Solution 1: Seamlessly integrate multiple SaaS data sources with Salesforce Connect with minimal coding

If you’re just looking to connect your existing data systems, select your data, and quickly get it into Salesforce, live data connectivity with CData Connect Cloud is the way to go. There is little to no coding involved, and you can get started in just a few minutes. It’s the fastest way to expose your external data in Salesforce with just one license. From there, any data source can be linked using only one platform, Connect Cloud, querying the destination. By leveraging caching and scheduled queries, the amount of calls to Salesforce can even be controlled. Think of Connect Cloud as a single virtual layer between your SaaS systems and sources and Salesforce, where you want to see your data.

Solution 2: Consolidate multiple databases and data warehouses using an OData API gateway

If the data you need to integrate into Salesforce primarily lives in databases and data warehouses, CData API Server is the ideal solution. You can easily build an OData API endpoint from any database or data warehouse, consolidating multiple sources into a single API. This allows Salesforce Connect to access your data without requiring multiple direct connections.

By acting as a unified access layer, CData API Server simplifies integration by exposing multiple data sources as a single OData API, reducing the number of Salesforce Connect access points and licenses required. This makes integration more cost-efficient while ensuring seamless data access.

Solution 3: Scale data architecture with an enterprise semantic layer

With an enterprise semantic layer, you can integrate the data from various sources before connecting to Salesforce. It becomes a gateway between Salesforce and all external data sources, converting them into a format that Salesforce Connect interprets and recognizes as a single external source. Salesforce retrieves and interacts with the data in real time as if it were stored natively. This is the best solution to scale access to multiple users who need to manage and update the data in Salesforce. CData Virtuality is an enterprise semantic layer solution that helps unlock connectivity complexity for a simpler and more cost-effective data architecture.

The benefits: More than just cost savings

When you’re not locked into multiple Salesforce Connect licenses, you can save an enormous amount of money—up to tens of thousands annually. But there are other benefits beyond the obvious cash savings:

Scaling is easy and seamless

Growing companies have growing data needs. Adding more external data sources into Salesforce becomes a simple and familiar process. Because our solutions work like a centralized hub, new sources can be added without modifying existing connections. Businesses can expand their data ecosystem without disrupting workflows, rewriting queries, or overhauling integration logic. The process remains streamlined and consistent.

No copying or moving data

Accessing data is easier because it stays in the original location, ending complexity and effort. It removes the potential problems associated with duplicating or migrating data, ensuring consistency and accuracy across systems. Teams always work with the most current data from a single, accurate source of truth.

Simplifies IT management

Since CData’s solutions can manage external connections, IT teams spend less time constantly adjusting individual integrations and troubleshooting problems. Reducing the complexity of managing separate sources also streamlines data governance and security.

Extends data accessibility

Building your data connection capability goes well beyond simplifying Salesforce connectivity. The same connections can be used for analytics, reporting, business intelligence, and much more. This flexibility can extend to all departments and business needs, allowing different teams access to the same real-time data without custom-built integrations for each tool.

CData data solutions: Smarter, simpler Salesforce connectivity

Salesforce is a powerful tool, but integrating external sources can be expensive, especially for growing businesses with modest budgets. CData has the tools to help you integrate all your external sources into a single, Salesforce-ready connection in a variety of approaches—saving time, complexity, and money.