When you can’t find an integration – to connect your system to HubSpot – then you either need a Third Party Connector or a Custom HubSpot Integration.
You can connect HubSpot with hundreds of popular apps using HubSpot Integrations, but your application isn’t always listed.
You can integrate with hundreds more apps using 3rd party systems like Zapier, Automate.io. But they may not have all the features you need to successfully integrate your system with HubSpot.
Integrations automatically transfer information between different systems so you can be better informed, make better decisions and analyse data so you can improve your business.
Integrations are usually automated which saves you time, eliminates stale data and reduces the potential for errors that occur with manual data transfer.
No more collating spreadsheets from different systems. It used to take forever to collate your data but now it can be fully automated so you can spend less time collating and more time analysing the data.
Basically, information is passed from one system to the other using an integration.
The data is transferred over the internet via APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). These APIs are constantly sending and receiving data over the internet.
Here's a simplified high level diagram of a HubSpot Integration:
This will depend on the system you use. Most online systems have an API to access data from mobile apps and other systems. You’ll want to check their website and look for API Documentation, or Developer Documentation. If you have a real person to contact you can ask them. Or, if you’d like us to take a look then please contact us.
If the system doesn’t have an API or other way of getting data out then life is going to be a lot more difficult and it may not be possible to integrate.
The HubSpot Marketplace is your first place to look for integrations. You can search by integrations that have been approved and certified by HubSpot.
A native integration will be easy to set up and give you immediate access to the functionality you need.
Here are some typical examples of standard integrations:
In the HubSpot Marketplace there are hundreds of integrations for applications systems.
If you can’t find a native integration in the HubSpot Marketplace you next best bet is using an intermediary service.
Here's a few of the well known integration services:
You can use intermediary services to transfer data between HubSpot and other systems. The intermediary services give you a number of options to push and pull data between systems based on triggers. A trigger could be as simple as adding a new Contact in HubSpot.
Here are some typical Custom HubSpot Integrations:
Unfortunately not all intermediary services can do exactly what you need. You may find that you can not synchronise complex relationships, nor handle certain data types. So, you'll want to try a few different providers and try them out. If you can't get an intermediary service to transfer your data you may need to consider a Custom HubSpot Integration.
A Custom HubSpot Integration is custom code, that runs in the cloud, separate from HubSpot and the App that you want to sync data with.
The custom code moves data – between HubSpot and your App – at scheduled intervals or in real time using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
If there’s no native integration and your system is not supported with an intermediary service then you probably need a custom HubSpot Integration.
A custom HubSpot Integration can be developed to automate your business process between systems.
HubSpot Integrations allow other systems to communicate with HubSpot via an integration server.
The normal integration requires an external Integration System to do the following jobs:
Here’s a more complex example from Survey Monkey to HubSpot. This Custom Integration renders a PDF based on the answers from a Survey Monkey Questionnaire.
Our experience over the years has shown us lots of potential issues that can be exposed when building Custom Integrations. Here are a few of the issues we’ll need to check with you – specifically how to handle the exceptions:
It’s extremely important that all data, transmitted and received, by APIs is encrypted. If your data is being transmitted without encryption then it’s possible to intercept and read the information.
Privacy is also of paramount importance to us. We do not store any private information on our systems.
You may need to update your terms and conditions when you integrate with 3rd party integration services.
The last decade of development has helped us refine our process to improve the success of the project, deliver the outcomes for our clients and keep on track with time and budget.
Our typical process goes through the following stages:
Because every business process is different and every API is different it’s impossible to guess a project budget… which is why we’ve created a research and development project so we can accurately estimate the final project.
Stage 1 – 3 are a fixed price project that allows us to create a project plan with pricing and timeframes for the next stages.
One of our clients had a manual operation which we replaced with an automation. They had approximately 500 customers and every year they would run a series of manual tasks for every customer.
For every manual step we replaced with an automation, most of which took a single minute, we saved 8 hours and 20 minutes of admin time per year per task.
This freed up the administrators time to work on proactive tasks rather than mundane tasks. Ultimately the saving was several weeks per year and a happier team member.
A native integration, or an intermediary service will be your easiest and probably cheapest way forward. If you need help setting up an integration please complete the form below.
However, if your business is complex and there aren’t any existing integrations available than a custom integration is the best way forward.
Please fill out this form and we’ll send you our Custom HubSpot Integration questionnaire that will help us understand your needs. Once we’ve reviewed your information then we can arrange a time to meet to discuss the next steps.