Integration Insights: Qualifying Integration Questions and Next Steps

[AllisonZ]

Hi there,

My name is Allison Ziehr and I work in HubSpot's Solutions Engineering Team. Part of my role as a Solutions Engineer is scoping how we can best integrate different systems with HubSpot. 

HubSpot can do a lot, but not everything, which is why it's so important to scope out what our options are for integrating with other systems. Some of the benefits of an integration include:

• The ability to sync data between systems to avoid data silos
• Driving efficiency
  
• Stronger team alignment

A question I receive on a daily basis is:

"How do we integrate X?"

Whether it is the sales team I support, prospects or customers I am currently speaking to, or internal colleagues, my approach to answer this question always stays the same.  This post aims to give you a framework on how to approach the question "How do we integrate X?"

To kick off the integration scoping, we should ask the following questions:

1. What data should be synced?
   
2. In which frequency should the data be synced?
3. In which direction should the data sync?
4. What is the goal of the integration?

Given this information, it is easier for us to evaluate what a fitting or not so fitting solution is for integrating the systems. At this point, I check 3 methods of integrating with HubSpot:

• HubSpot Ecosystem
  • Data Sync
• IPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)
• Custom API connector
  

Generally speaking*, we can plot these methods across the following matrix:

*This will not hold true for every single integration, but is generally the experience that I have had in differentiating between the 3 methods.

When presenting my scoping findings to stakeholders, I like to present the different methods (when applicable) as well as the up- and downsides of using each method. This can help a prospect/customer evaluate what might be the best solution for integrating a system with HubSpot.

Resources:

• HubSpot Ecosystem
• Data Sync
• Data Sync Requests (Ideas Forum)
• APIs
• API developer guides & resources
• Understanding the CRM
• APIs by Tiers
• Developers Forum
• Introduction to the HubSpot APIs (Academy)

Let me know if you have any questions or comments! Happy to provide additional insight 😊

Allison

[MDan5]

Thank you so much for this post. It saved me a lot of work and it is hard to find these much of details on a specific topic these days. I am starting hubspot with my small hand grips project. Thank you again! 

[amadhiya]

@AllisonZ this is really great article, Now a days we have more focus on All types of Custom Development work inside HubSpot. We are currently working on 4 API Integration projects in HubSpot for our clients. 

Our team is expertise in connecting third-party APIs with HubSpot and we are looking forward to providing this support to any HubSpot customers who are looking for API Integration experts. 

[katie_cort]

Love this Allison, very helpful! Thank you 🙂

[johnelmer]

@AllisonZ Great post! Thank you for sharing it.  We have a very similar process for qualifying integration requests.  One issue that come up regularly is that the software application to be integrated with HubSpot is located on premises, rather than in the cloud. For example, we frequently get requests from clients who want to integrate an ERP system with HubSpot.  We ask whether their version is installed "on prem" or in the cloud. On prem apps are more complicated to integrate (and in some cases not possible).

Another technical issue we qualify for is what kind of APIs are available for the app to be integrated.  We still see many instances of SOAP APIs, for example. Some older platforms have no public APIs at all.  So a critical step in qualifying a software app for integration with HubSpot (for which there is no Data Sync or App Marketplace connector, and no existing iPaaS solution) is the quality of the public APIs and their documentation.

[AllisonZ]

Spot in @johnelmer ! This is such an important consideration to make and can even be a deal-breaker.