Connect 2nd Act-On Instance with CRM (Salesforce)

Cedric Brun
Hi,

We are running 2 instances of Act-On for 2 different domains.
But we only have one instance for our CRM and Act-On is already connected to our Salesforce.
Question is: can we connect both Act-On instances to the same Salesforce production environment?

Thank you
Cheers,
Cédric

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Cedric Brun
Head of Marketing & Lead Generation, Web Geo Services - Google Cloud Premier Partner
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0

Comments

3 comments

  • Comment author
    Troy O'Bryan

    Hi Cédric,

    In our research, we were only able to do this via the Act-On and Salesforce.com APIs. We explored creating a separate object in Salesforce.com to store the Activity data and present it in a related list on the Contact and Lead objects. 

    Possibly others have found an easier solution as ours required custom development.

    If you find a more simplified solution, please share!



    ------------------------------
    Troy O'Bryan
    VP of Growth
    tobryan@thinkbonfire.com
    ------------------------------
    -------------------------------------------
    Original Message:
    Sent: 04-13-2018 09:19
    From: Cedric Brun
    Subject: Connect 2nd Act-On Instance with CRM (Salesforce)

    Hi,

    We are running 2 instances of Act-On for 2 different domains.
    But we only have one instance for our CRM and Act-On is already connected to our Salesforce.
    Question is: can we connect both Act-On instances to the same Salesforce production environment?

    Thank you
    Cheers,
    Cédric

    ------------------------------
    Cedric Brun
    Head of Marketing & Lead Generation, Web Geo Services - Google Cloud Premier Partner
    ------------------------------
    0
  • Comment author
    Leah Bartell

    It's possible to connect two Act-On accounts to a single SFDC instance, but like Troy mentions there are some things to consider:

    • You'll need two different Act-On Lead Score fields to know which score is from which Act-On account. 
    • If you have Sales Users, each SF user can only be associated with one Act-On account, so they'll only see 'Act-On Activity History' and 'Hot Prospects' from the Act-On account they're connected to. 
    • Both Act-On accounts will be able to overwrite Lead and Contact data in Salesforce, be careful with the fields you write to so you don't constantly change data back and forth.
    • You're effectively doubling the number of API calls being made to your SF account, since both Act-On accounts will be syncing. Watch your API limits in SF to make sure you don't lose any data due to hitting your quota for each 24-hr period.
    If each Act-On account is going to utilize different groups of Leads & Contacts, such as from different business units, then using Record Types will make this much easier. Create two users, one for each Act-On account, and limit those users' visibility to the 'Record Type' associated with that Act-On account. This solution isn't for everyone, but if it sounds right for you, the SF directions are here: https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=customize_recordtype.htm&type=5.

    P.S: If you do move forward with connecting SF to multiple Act-On accounts, and you also have Sales Users in both Act-On accounts, make sure you contact Act-On support and let them know. They have to enable a feature on their side, otherwise your 'Send Act-On Email' and 'Activity History' buttons won't work. This *only* applies if you have Sales Users in both Act-On orgs though. Cheers!

    ------------------------------
    Leah Bartell
    Riskalyze Inc.
    ------------------------------
    -------------------------------------------
    Original Message:
    Sent: 04-13-2018 09:19
    From: Cedric Brun
    Subject: Connect 2nd Act-On Instance with CRM (Salesforce)

    Hi,

    We are running 2 instances of Act-On for 2 different domains.
    But we only have one instance for our CRM and Act-On is already connected to our Salesforce.
    Question is: can we connect both Act-On instances to the same Salesforce production environment?

    Thank you
    Cheers,
    Cédric

    ------------------------------
    Cedric Brun
    Head of Marketing & Lead Generation, Web Geo Services - Google Cloud Premier Partner
    ------------------------------
    0
  • Comment author
    Cedric Brun
    Thank you very much Leah and Troy for your detailed answers. Awesome.
    I will let you know once we'll have connected our 2nd Act-On instance with our Salesforce.

    Have a great day !

    Cheers

    Cédric

    ------------------------------
    Cedric Brun
    Head of Marketing & Lead Generation, Web Geo Services - Google Cloud Premier Partner
    ------------------------------
    -------------------------------------------
    Original Message:
    Sent: 04-16-2018 13:33
    From: Leah Bartell
    Subject: Connect 2nd Act-On Instance with CRM (Salesforce)

    It's possible to connect two Act-On accounts to a single SFDC instance, but like Troy mentions there are some things to consider:

    • You'll need two different Act-On Lead Score fields to know which score is from which Act-On account. 
    • If you have Sales Users, each SF user can only be associated with one Act-On account, so they'll only see 'Act-On Activity History' and 'Hot Prospects' from the Act-On account they're connected to. 
    • Both Act-On accounts will be able to overwrite Lead and Contact data in Salesforce, be careful with the fields you write to so you don't constantly change data back and forth.
    • You're effectively doubling the number of API calls being made to your SF account, since both Act-On accounts will be syncing. Watch your API limits in SF to make sure you don't lose any data due to hitting your quota for each 24-hr period.
    If each Act-On account is going to utilize different groups of Leads & Contacts, such as from different business units, then using Record Types will make this much easier. Create two users, one for each Act-On account, and limit those users' visibility to the 'Record Type' associated with that Act-On account. This solution isn't for everyone, but if it sounds right for you, the SF directions are here: https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=customize_recordtype.htm&type=5.

    P.S: If you do move forward with connecting SF to multiple Act-On accounts, and you also have Sales Users in both Act-On accounts, make sure you contact Act-On support and let them know. They have to enable a feature on their side, otherwise your 'Send Act-On Email' and 'Activity History' buttons won't work. This *only* applies if you have Sales Users in both Act-On orgs though. Cheers!

    ------------------------------
    Leah Bartell
    Riskalyze Inc.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message:
    Sent: 04-13-2018 09:19
    From: Cedric Brun
    Subject: Connect 2nd Act-On Instance with CRM (Salesforce)

    Hi,

    We are running 2 instances of Act-On for 2 different domains.
    But we only have one instance for our CRM and Act-On is already connected to our Salesforce.
    Question is: can we connect both Act-On instances to the same Salesforce production environment?

    Thank you
    Cheers,
    Cédric

    ------------------------------
    Cedric Brun
    Head of Marketing & Lead Generation, Web Geo Services - Google Cloud Premier Partner
    ------------------------------
    0

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