Salesforce Integration Companies: When To Hire vs DIY

Often, when a Salesforce integration is required, budgets are tight, internal resources are stretched, and everyone is trying to prove marketing value as clearly as possible. Sometimes, this means the cheapest path is the most appealing. Of course, the lowest up-front investment isn’t necessarily the best long-term.

If you rely on Salesforce Marketing Cloud or a HubSpot + Salesforce CRM setup to report on ROI, automate campaigns, and build reliable attribution, even a small integration issue can cause a long trail of confusion. That confusion can cost budget and time you don’t have.

In this article, we’ll walk through the pros and cons of each route, common scenarios that influence the decision, the hidden costs that often catch teams by surprise, and a clear framework to help you choose what’s right for your business.

Whether you’re syncing contacts, custom objects, behavioural data, or transactional information, the integrity of your integration shapes everything that comes after it.

A strong integration supports:

• Accurate attribution

• Reliable dashboards for C-suite conversations

• Confident segmentation and journey design

• Personalised campaigns that don’t accidentally target the wrong people

• Clean reporting for budget planning

A weak or incomplete integration, on the other hand, tends to reveal itself slowly. For example, a journey stops triggering, a contact field is missing, or a dashboard shows a sudden drop in opportunities that doesn’t match what the sales team is seeing. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find the problem started months ago, maybe even during setup.

To put it simply, it could have been avoided.

It’s easy to assume external specialists just “connect system A to system B” and that’s that. In reality, a good Salesforce integration partner covers:

Technical scoping

Before a single field is mapped, they’ll look at your data model, CRM setup, Marketing Cloud configuration, and any custom requirements. This is where hidden risks are usually discovered.

Build, test, and deploy

From field mapping to deduplication rules, API behaviour to error handling, the job isn’t solely to make data sync, it’s to make sure it syncs predictably.

Documentation and knowledge transfer

A well-run Salesforce integration includes clear documentation so your internal teams aren’t left guessing and there’s no risk of processes being messed up.

Long-term stability

Your systems will evolve. Salesforce will release new features. Campaigns will become more advanced. External partners help you adapt without breaking what’s already working.

Compliance and data governance

Particularly important for regulated industries, where a misconfigured permission or sync rule can cause compliance and other major issues. In short, integration specialists bring experience that’s difficult to replicate in a small or even mid-sized marketing team.

1. Expertise you don’t have to build internally

Most marketers know Salesforce well enough to run campaigns, not to build enterprise-level integrations. External partners do this every week. They spot problems long before they materialise.

2. Fewer hidden mistakes

Many integration issues don’t reveal themselves right away. They surface months later, when reporting is skewed or journeys fail. A specialist build reduces this risk significantly.

3. Better long-term ROI

When your attribution, dashboards, and automations work as intended, everything else becomes easier. Budget conversations feel less stressful, and you can focus on strategic work rather than troubleshooting.

4. Less pressure on internal teams

Internal ops and marketing teams are often already stretched. Adding a complex integration on top of business-as-usual work can cause unnecessary strain.

5. Future-proofing

Salesforce changes quickly. Whether it’s new API limits, Marketing Cloud releases, or updated best practices, integration companies typically stay ahead of all of this, so you don’t have to.

To stay fair (and to help this article rank well), we need to cover the downsides too.

1. Higher upfront cost

Professional work comes with investment. For businesses with very simple requirements, this may feel disproportionate.

2. Ongoing partner dependency

Some organisations prefer to have full control in-house. Working with an external partner means you’ll return to them for updates or support unless you choose to bring the skill set in-house later.

3. Communication needs to be clear

Any outsourced project requires alignment on scope, timelines, and expectations. A good partner will manage this well, but it still takes attention from your team.

There are situations where building the integration in-house genuinely makes sense.

1. Full internal control

Your team understands your business inside out. This can help with decision-making during the build.

2. Lower initial cost

DIY is typically more affordable upfront, particularly for smaller businesses or simple one-way syncs.

3. Team skill development

If you have internal appetite and capacity, a DIY build can upskill your team.

This is where things start to become more nuanced.

1. Hidden costs that appear later

A small misconfiguration today could turn into a much larger issue six months down the line. And by then, you may need to pay a specialist not just to build the integration, but to untangle the existing problems.

2. Limited Salesforce specialism

Most marketing teams aren’t aware of the dozens of tiny decisions that go into a strong Salesforce integration. Nor should they be, it’s not their core job!

3. Inconsistent reporting and attribution

Incorrect field mappings, sync delays, incomplete data, and mismatched objects can lead to dashboards that don’t reflect reality.

4. Lost time and slower campaign delivery

The Salesforce learning curve can be steep. What an external consultant does in two weeks may take an internal team two months.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, so here’s a loose way to assess your situation.

If you’re a small business with simple needs

A DIY approach may be perfectly fine. A straightforward sync, a basic data model, and limited systems reduce the risk considerably.

Tip: Consider a light-touch advisory engagement with an external partner to sense check your plan.

If you’re mid-sized

This is where things become more complex. You likely:

• Rely on attribution

• Need reliable dashboards

• Have multiple teams depending on Salesforce

• Are scaling campaigns

In this case, a hybrid model works well: external specialists for the initial build, internal teams for day-to-day management.

If you’re an enterprise

Complexity, compliance, internal processes, and volume make external expertise almost essential. Mistakes at this scale can have a real financial impact.

Most teams exploring integration partners have already experienced at least one of these:

• Duplicate records cause journeys to trigger twice.

• Incorrect lead-source mapping leads to misleading ROI reports.

• Sync delays create conflicts between marketing and sales data.

• Missing field mappings break personalisation in Marketing Cloud emails.

• Integration loops clog up the system and slow performance.

If any of the following apply, outsourcing is generally the safer route:

• You use Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connect and/or Data Cloud

• You handle large volumes of data

• Multiple teams rely on CRM reporting

• You have custom objects or a complex data model

• The business is preparing for personalisation-at-scale, AI features, or new automation strategies

• Internal teams don’t have spare capacity for a detailed technical build

In these cases, professional support is virtually risk management.

Upfront cost

• DIY: lower

• Partner: higher

Long-term cost

• DIY: often higher due to rework, troubleshooting, and lost time

• Partner: predictable, with fewer surprises

Opportunity cost

This is the one many teams overlook. When the integration is handled externally, your marketing and ops teams stay focused on their core work. Ultimately, your integration project delivers Opportunities and ROI sooner.

If you decide external support is the route you want to take, here’s what to look for:

• Experience with both Salesforce CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud

• Previous integrations similar to your size, sector, or setup

• Clear documentation and handover

• Knowledge of data governance, security, and compliance

• Technical competence paired with marketing understanding (a rare but valuable combination!)

A good Salesforce partner will avoid jargon, explain any trade-offs, involve you where necessary, and design something that fits how your teams work and your business plans to scale.

So, what’ll it be?

DIY integration is absolutely possible. And in some cases, it’s a reasonable option. But it’s important to be honest about your internal resources, technical depth, and the role Salesforce plays in your organisation.

Most mid-sized and enterprise teams rely heavily on accurate reporting, reliable journeys, and clean dashboards to secure budget and demonstrate ROI. In these situations, Salesforce integration companies offer stability, confidence, and the reassurance that you won’t be unpicking hidden mistakes later.

Get in touch with MarCloud for a smooth integration between Salesforce, HubSpot, and third-party software. Our in-house developers are certified experts and marketing pros, meaning we have the strategic and technical skills to lead your integration.