New Salesforce AWS Integrations Target CRM Security

As Microsoft previewed what’s to come from its cloud-based CRM product line at Ignite this week, Salesforce held its Dreamforce event on the other side of the country and announced new integrations with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that aim to make CRM installations more secure.

Based on an existing strategic alliance, Salesforce AWS integrations will allow customers to lessen their exposure to security threats with private endpoints, and launch a new solution in 2019 that will make it easier to synchronize data from Salesforce and AWS.

In research released earlier this year, Gartner noted that CRM systems typically contain vast amounts of personal data and are kept for a considerable amount of time, making them prime targets for hackers and susceptible to GDPR compliance violations.

AWS PrivateLink integration with Salesforce APIs will give SaaS application developers who build on AWS access to private endpoints, adding another layer of protection from security threats. According to Salesforce, these endpoints can help developers do more with customer data than what is possible with custom, one-off integration points.

Salesforce AWS integration with Salesforce Platform Events is slotted for availability in 2019 and will allow mutual customers to easily trigger actions in AWS products from events in Salesforce, such as the creation of a sales opportunity.

“For example, enterprises who are managing fleets of connected devices on AWS would be able to leverage usage data to alert sales, service, and marketing teams who are using Salesforce so they can proactively resolve customer incidents, generate sales leads and cross-sell new services,” a press release said.

Finally, Salesforce is expanding its integration with Amazon Connect for Salesforce Service Cloud, allowing customers to build voice experiences with a Lightning-integrated agent, which could include support for bots and AI built with Amazon Lex and Salesforce Einstein.

CRM is the largest of all software markets, according to Gartner, with worldwide CRM software revenue reaching $39.5 billion in 2017, a trend set to continue with a growth rate of 16 percent. Gartner said that while the growing market is attracting new entrants, major vendors including Salesforce and Microsoft show stronger than average growth and are successful at cross-selling additional modules to existing customers.

"Organizations are keen to avoid silos of information and to obtain a 360-degree view of the customer,” Gartner research director Julian Poulter said in April. "The 360-degree view allows better application of artificial intelligence to make the users of the CRM system more effective."

Salesforce is already a significant AWS customer, hosting the vast majority of its public cloud workloads on AWS. The company is planning to add to its investments in the AWS Canada (Central) Region and AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region with new locally-based instances.

"Salesforce's growing strategic relationship with AWS is fueled by a shared commitment to customer success," Bret Taylor, president and chief product officer, Salesforce said. "Our newest integrations will empower CIOs to securely share and synchronize data across two of the world's most trusted cloud platforms to accelerate their digital transformation."