Salesforce Teams Integration: 5 Easy Steps

This decade has seen an immense rise in the number of digital customers that businesses can acquire and this has led to companies being drawn to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to manage their consumer data. Salesforce is one such CRM that is used globally by companies to manage their Sales, Leads, User Interactions, etc. This tool automates the day-to-day tasks of your Sales Team and allows you to improve the buyer’s journey and retain the customers better.

Microsoft Teams is a well-known communication platform designed by Microsoft and is used worldwide by organizations to carry out the employee interactions and data sharing aspects of their work. However, nowadays, businesses are looking to set up the Salesforce Teams Integration with the goal of bringing the valuable Salesforce data into the conversations across the Microsoft Teams channels. The companies which have used the Salesforce Microsoft Teams Integration, have experienced great results and their Sales Teams performance has increased significantly.

This article introduces Salesforce and Microsoft Teams with their unique features. It will also provide you the various steps necessary for creating the Salesforce Teams Integration. Furthermore, the article will explain the numerous benefits that this combination can add to your business. Read along to learn more about the popular Salesforce Teams Integration!

Prerequisites

• A Salesforce account.
• A Microsoft Teams account.
• Working channels in Microsoft Teams account.
• Decision on the amount of data access that will be provided to the users.

Introduction to Salesforce

Salesforce is the leading Cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform that provides businesses with advanced data automation and customer management solutions. It allows you to manage and track the information related to your Marketing Campaigns and Leads on a single platform. Plus, it has a Data Analytics module that can provide a great insight into your customers. Also, with collaboration tools, this module brings all your teams together and allows them to stay on the same page. 

These attributes make it a versatile solution for the Marketing and Sales Teams of your business. With this tool, you can customize its built-in features, such as various data structures and user interfaces, and join forces for Marketing, Sales, and other Teams. A major reason for Salesforce’s ever-increasing popularity is that it provides a holistic view of your company’s daily customer interactions.

Key Features of Salesforce

Salesforce is a tool that can revolutionize your business due to its following features:

• Easy setup: Salesforce can be easily set up from scratch in just a few weeks, unlike many CRMs on the market, which can often take up to a year to fully install and deploy. 
• Ease of Use: Salesforce’s user interface and workflow are simple and require absolutely no training to get started. 
• Customizable Setting: Businesses can easily customize some of the built-in Salesforce features. Therefore, companies can modify this tool according to their strategies. 
• Invoice Planning: Salesforce provides enough information about your customers, so your Sales Team can develop optimal strategies for those Leads, targeting them individually. It can make your customers feel more valuable and increase your chances of success. 
• Availability: Salesforce can be accessed from any remote location as it is a Cloud-based software. Therefore, as long as you have an active Internet connection, you can easily work with this tool. Plus, Salesforce has an attractive and powerful mobile application that adds to its popularity.

Introduction to Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a complete chat-based software platform that allows users to share documents, host online meetings, and provide other extremely useful business communication features. Teams is Microsoft’s product to counter the likes of Slack and Google Hangouts. Microsoft Teams is the perfect collaboration tool as it provides a fully equipped environment for online meetings, chatting, voice, video, and document filing. It’s designed to be used by local, remote, and distributed teams which imply, basically anyone in any company can benefit from it.

Key Features of Microsoft Teams

The following features provide you the best user experience with Microsoft Teams:

• Converse with Everyone: All the members of your company can view and participate in conversations using the General Channel and can use an @ function to even invite other members to private conversations.
• Online Screen Sharing: Microsoft Teams provide you with seamless video calls to employees within your business and also to clients outside your business. Moreover, one can also enjoy simple and fast desktop screen sharing for better assistance and multi-user real-time collaboration.
• Document Storage: Every team that uses Microsoft Teams is allotted a site in SharePoint Online, that will contain a document library folder. All files shared across all conversations will automatically get stored in this folder. 
• Security Customization: You can customize the various permissions and security features according to the sensitivity of your information.

Steps to Set Up the Salesforce Teams Integration

You can add significant advantages to your business by combining Salesforce insights with the communication channels of Microsoft Teams. If you have accounts in both of these tools then the following steps will easily set up your Salesforce Teams Integration:

• Step 1: Log into your Salesforce and open Setup. Enter “Teams“, in the Quick Find box as shown in option 1 of the below image, and then select Teams Integration.

• Step 2: Activate the Let Users Access Teams integration option. Now, read the agreement of Salesforce Teams Integration and accept it.

• Step 3: Now, to enable the Salesforce Teams Integration, you must grant the required permissions. So, go to the Assign Permission Set, and allow the User for Teams Integration permission set to your users who should have access to Salesforce in Teams. The permission set will look similar to the below image.

• Step 4: Finally, decide what part of the Salesforce data to include in the records shared by users from Salesforce to a channel of Microsoft Teams as part of the Salesforce Teams Integration. To do this, enable one of the following 2 options:
• Step 4 (Option 1): When a member will mention a record in any conversation, only the information regarding the object type will be visible to others. The users who have access to the Salesforce account will preview more record details in Teams. However, the rest of your employees will view only that a record was mentioned and its type, such as Contact, Opportunity, Lead, Account, or Case will be visible to them. The data incoming from Salesforce to a Microsoft Teams channel using this option of Salesforce Teams Integration is shown in the below image.

After clicking on the Preview Record option, the user will see one of the following 2 views shown in the below image. The view visible to the user will depend upon whether he has access to the Salesforce account or not.

• Step 4 (Option 2): This option provides a compact layout of the record mentioned by any member in the channel. So, the shared records detailed preview will be visible even to users who don’t have access to the Salesforce account. This option of Salesforce Teams Integration provides great insight into the shared record and is best for cases when you need to build collaboration within Teams. However, you must ensure that the compact layout’s structure and the data included in it are appropriate for all members of a channel to view. The data incoming from Salesforce into a channel of Microsoft Teams using this option is shown in the below image.

Now, if a user will have access to the Salesforce account, by clicking on the View in Salesforce option, the user will be able to see the details present in the record as shown in the below image.

• Step 5: Once the Salesforce Teams Integration is set, all you have to do is to help your Microsoft Teams administrator to manage the integration in the Teams application. To ensure the users can access of Salesforce app in Teams, help your Teams administrator to add the Salesforce app to the permission policies of Teams. Furthermore, visit the Microsoft Teams admin center, add Salesforce to the global app permission policy or to any other custom policies assigned to the users who require to use the app. 

That’s it! Your Salesforce Teams Integration is ready for use.

Benefits of the Salesforce Teams Integration

Setting up the Salesforce Microsoft Teams Integration will provide the following major benefits to your business:

• Improved Customer Engagement
• Convenient Data Sharing
• Multiple Ways to Access Data
• Enhanced Capabilities

1) Improved Customer Engagement

The Salesforce Teams Integration supports the collaboration which your business teams require in their current hybrid customer engagements. This combination has something for everyone. Your Sales Team will have the latest and relevant context related to the user accounts as they interact with their customers to provide a joyful buying experience. The Service Team can create improved coordination and quicker response times to open cases and can also increase customer satisfaction. Thus the Salesforce Teams Integration has a positive impact on all of your teams.

2) Convenient Data Sharing

You can share Salesforce records in your Teams channels and chats easily with the Salesforce Teams Integration. This enables you to start a conversation on any record and allows you to attach various documents, links, and comments with the record. Also, the members of your Teams channel who have the access to the Salesforce account can conveniently view additional records details without leaving Teams as shown in the below image.  

Moreover, the Salesforce Teams Integration will save your employees’ time by preventing them from juggling between the 2 software. Also, the Teams users can use Salesforce records in Teams chats to discuss relevant Cases, Contacts, Accounts, Leads, etc.

3) Multiple Ways to Access Data

The Salesforce Teams Integration enables your Teams users to interact with Salesforce records not only through conversations but also via channel tabs. You need to click on the +new tab in the specific channel and select the required Salesforce records. Also, you can pin the Salesforce record and also review it in detail. This way, your users can easily view details, activity, timeline, and chatter right in the Teams tab as shown in the below image. 

Also, you have the option to select which users will have access to the details of the records shared from Salesforce to Microsoft Tables. This can be decided while choosing a sharing option during the setup of Salesforce Teams Integration.

4) Enhanced Capabilities

The Salesforce Teams Integration builds a close connection between the chat and workspace capabilities present in Teams with the insightful information and actions present in the Salesforce. This increases the effectiveness of the collaboration worker required in business. Also, you can integrate the major customer details right in line with your Teams conversations, keeping details right in context and alongside your daily conversations. These details related to customer contact information can be displayed within the broader chat stream or in the private conversation channels. So, the Salesforce Teams Integration allows you to present multiple views of your valuable data.

Conclusion

The article introduced you to Salesforce and Microsoft Teams along with the features that make these 2 tools so popular in the current market. It then explained the step-by-step procedure using which you can easily set up your Salesforce Teams Integration. Furthermore, the article discussed the key benefits of combining Salesforce and Microsoft Teams. These 2 tools when used together can enhance your company’s business efficiency and may lead to its faster growth.

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