Tag Archive for: data integrity

Is Your Business Prepared For Salesforces Multi-Factor Authentication?

,

As we all know, technology is constant and continues to evolve. Businesses need to continue to evolve and protect their systems from cyber-attacks, especially if their employees work remotely. If their systems are not protected from attacks, confidential information about their customers and business will be exploited, which can lead to serious implications. In order to prevent this from happening, Salesforce has provided an extra layer such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to protect all customers from any technological threat. That is why the NPWR Group (“NPWR”) has decided to team up with Commercient to help their mutual customers in safeguarding their information on Salesforce, by providing the right tools and required knowledge for customers to have a seamless integration experience.

NPWR is a boutique, registered-Salesforce implementation partner. Driven by their passion for service and business transformation, they leverage the ever-expanding Salesforce customer success platform to improve the lives of their clients. Providing a full life-cycle of services, NPWR has completed projects across the entire Salesforce platform for customers in a broad range of industries. These include professional services, technology, retail, consumer goods, healthcare/life sciences, manufacturing, construction, professional services, general business, and non-profit. 

The NPWR team has deep experience with clients’ purchasing and leveraging technology to drive business optimization. Their client-side experience provides a unique perspective that contributes to successful outcomes for our clients. 

“Commercient has provided a reliable and effective solution for our clients with ERP and/or Salesforce integrations,” said Taylor Nen, Sales and Marketing Specialist at NPWR. “We have confidently referred Commercient to our clients, and they’ve delivered great results. We are working together to ensure Commercient and our clients are prepared for the new changes.”

What is MFA and How Does it Work?

MFA is an extra security layer for protection against cyber-attacks, such as account takeovers, phishing, and credential stuffing. The extra security layer involves a two-step authentication to prove you are who you are. The first step is for a client to utilize their username and password combination, and the second step is to provide a verification method that the user has in their possession, such as a security key or app. 

When Does MFA Go Into Effect, and Does Salesforce Need Their Customers to Use MFA?

By February 1, 2022, customers will be required to use MFA to log into Salesforce products through the user interface. The Salesforce Spring 2021 releases may impact an org, therefore it is advised to start implementing this change now.

With the Spring 2021 updates, when you log into Salesforce, you may see an update notice requesting you to activate MFA now. But it is advised to set your org up first in order to be ready for MFA, otherwise, users may get locked out, or they may not be able to log in to Salesforce.

Is There Anyone Not Required to Use MFA?

External users — your customer’s customer and partners — who log into e-commerce sites, help portals, Experience Cloud Sites, and more. 

Which Verification Tools can be Used for MFA?

There are a few verification tools, including:

  • Time-based one-time passcode (TOTP)
  • Salesforce Authenticator Mobile App
  • Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator or Authy
  • WebAuthn
  • Security Keys that support U2F

Each time a user logs into a Salesforce product, a verification method will need to be given.

How Will This Affect Current Commercient Customers Updating Their Salesforce to MFA?

If you update your Salesforce to MFA, a ticket will need to be logged with Commercient, explaining you are upgrading to MFA because MFA may disrupt your OAuth. If your OAuth is disrupted, Commercient will have to re-do OAuth with the MFA and Commercients customers will need to supply the MFA code.

How Does Commercient Work with MFA Going Forward with New Customers?  

If you have MFA set up in your new Salesforce org, or going forward when Commercient first integrates, they will need the MFA code for the first time. Commercient will not set up cell phone numbers, as per Commercient’s company security policy, and customers will need to provide this. If you do not have it set-up, Commercient will continue working with the OAuth token for API integrations.

Conclusion 

What do you think about these FAQs? If you would like to get your Salesforce org set up for MFA now in order to avoid issues, NPWR can help! They recommend taking immediate action to avoid any potential problems. If you are struggling with your data integration, or have any questions, Commercient and NPWR are here to help. Contact us today

Six Quick Tips for a Successful Salesforce Integration

Facing a pandemic, businesses around the world had to make tremendous changes in order to operate efficiently – which in many cases included data integration. With employees working remotely, they needed to make sure everyone had the data they needed, when they needed it, without having to rely on a desktop computer located in the office. That’s when a successful Salesforce integration comes in handy!

In order to help businesses in industries such as manufacturing in this transition for data integration, Commercient is proud to have Abelian as a trusted partner. Abelian is a Silver Salesforce Consulting Partner with over 55 Salesforce Certifications that encompass various specializations in addition to Salesforce architecture.

Abelian specializes in implementing and aligning businesses and partners with the most modern technological capabilities Salesforce currently offers.

Abelian has seen Commercient successfully help various organizations ranging from the manufacturing industry to bio-tech and everything in between. That’s why we asked them for tips that can lead to a successful Salesforce integration.

Is your team properly set up for integration success? Check out  the top tips from Nico Gutierrez – Salesforce Consultant at Abelian:

Have the right project champions on the team: 

A business can have many departments and it is best suited to have one project champion in order to guide you through the Salesforce implementation. If there are too many, there is a higher chance of mistakes through miscommunication as each project champion will have their own ownership for the tasks at hand. By having one project champion each task will have its own prioritization and it will be worked through systematically. Since there is only one project champion, that will for example overlook the sales or marketing department, they will need to have enough authority to work through each department, to make decisions, to streamline work, and to make sure daily goals are met. To be a project champion, for example, a salesforce administrator, it is recommended they take that certification and be qualified for their role as well as, have a good reputation at what they do.

Celebrate Small Wins

For most of us, we believe that we should only celebrate the big wins but this way of operating can prove to be troublesome in the long run because if we do not look at all the milestones we achieve from start to finish during the implementation of Salesforce, we can become discouraged. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the integration of Salesforce making progress as that will motivate the integration team and once it is done, leads can be turned into customers. For instance, before Salesforce becomes integrated it could have been difficult for the sales team to find the correct information which can result in taking longer to close a deal, and with the integration, there will be immediate access to their prospects.

Address All Security Challenges

In order to ensure data is protected and privacy is maintained for the implementation of Salesforce, it is best that your business communicates with Salesforce through their Application Program Interface (API). The API is an intermediary between the software applications and sets out data formats. To avoid any security challenges and to have a smooth integration, the following is useful to consider:

  • IP Address:  The integration user will need to provide their IP address or range. This can be done by having the IP address constricted.
  • User Access: Integration users will only have limited access to the necessary objects.
  • Passwords: They need to be at least 120 characters long, with symbols, numbers, and some letters in uppercase. 

Use the Right Tools

Salesforce is viewed as one of the top Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the world. It is known for increasing productivity in the sales or marketing department, which can lead to closing deals faster with more accuracy and predict what customers need which can all be accessible in one place. However, Salesforce always works best with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and to do that, the right tools are needed and this enables customer accounts as well as inventory to be shared. 

Integration between your Salesforce and ERP system, in your business, is crucial to perform its best by tracking information in one stored place, managing client details without error, viewing your accounts, keeping track of your client’s billing and shipping, and keeping on top of your sales. But this cannot be done without an integration tool like Commercient SYNC, which offers a hassle-free and seamless integration experience. Not only that but SYNC is flexible to your needs and this tool offers no coding, no mapping, no server, and no ETL.

Monitor Performance

Taking the next step for your business by integrating data can be quite daunting and that is why Commercient SYNC offers the best package to assist in monitoring your sync performance. If your schedule is looking deranged and you are unsure how to monitor the integration performance, Commercient has got you covered by providing alerts and notifications to your email or, they can rearrange the integration or the rate at which the frequency for integration happens to be increased. If you feel like monitoring the process, Commercient provides a customer panel for you to check the status of your sync process from your ERP to Salesforce or vice-versa and the frequency to see if it suits your needs, which can be done by looking at comprehendible graphs. 

Justify Costs

Just like any person or business, we always need to be certain about buying or implementing a new system as naturally, we always fear something new or something unknown. But it just takes that leap of faith, trust, research, and careful planning to make sure it is justified spending the extra money. By choosing Commercient SYNC, we can easily justify the costs for you by making SYNC customizable to what your business needs. The benefits of integrating with Salesforce are:

  • Better Reporting: By implementing Salesforce all your data will be organized, stored, and analyzed which can be easier to understand and interpret.
  • Dashboards: Integrating with Salesforce, you will automatically have access to a dashboard that will visualize all the data within your company instead of, manually entering it into a worksheet.
  • Customer Information: One of the benefits with Salesforce CRM is that customer information is more accessible across departments as it is stored in one place and if an employee is out of the office, a colleague can step in and access that information.  
  • Collaboration: This means that records can be shared amongst employees in order to make a decision or to see the progress of certain records.
  • Accessibility: Salesforce CRM is a cloud platform which can be accessed from any location, at any time of the day and team members can constantly communicate with each other provided there is the internet.

If your team is struggling to find the right partner for your next integration, then you need Commercient.

Commercient continues to be a leader in integrations and helps align teams looking for a more seamless and aligned process among their marketing, customer service, and sales teams. Here is how Commercient SYNC works.

Contact us and discover how we can align with your team’s unique needs and arm you with the tools for an easy and winning integration.

What Is Blockchain And How Can It Keep Your Data Safe?

What is Blockchain?

blockchain is a distributed database maintaining a frequently expanding list of records that are securely stored from tampering or revision. It consists of data-structure blocks that contain data or programs, with each block storing batches of individual transactions and the results of any blockchain executables. Every node is stored in a decentralized system and has a copy of the blockchain. There is no “official” copy that exists in any centralized system and no user is given more access rights than the other.

Data Security is no longer an afterthought or luxury, most of our private, personal, and sensitive information is stored and transmitted online daily, tight security is now a necessity for everyone. With so much more of our lives being online, we are starting to hear so much about data breaches and hacks than ever before. We are going to take a look at how Blockchain technology can enhance current centralized data security solutions, and help keep us safe and in control of our data.

Let’s take a look at how Blockchain can protect your data:

Encryption and Validation

The blockchain platform ensures that data is encrypted, making data modification a difficult task. You can also save a cryptographic signature doc or a file on Blockchain. This gives users a way to make sure files are not tampered with, without having to save the entire file on the Blockchain. Because  Blockchain is decentralized, you can always cross-check file signatures across all the ledgers on all the nodes in the network and verify that they haven’t been revised. When you look at the file, you can be guaranteed that it is the same version of the document that existed previously. If someone has changed a record, then the signature will be rendered invalid. Blockchain offers highly reliable data verification which can be trusted.

Difficulties in hacking

Blockchain is a chain of digital “blocks” containing loads of records and transactions. Because these records and transactions are not contained in a central location, blockchains do not have a single point of failure and cannot be revised from one computer. Records are decentralized and distributed ledgers across peer-to-peer networks that are frequently updated and kept in sync. Each digital block is connected to all the other digital blocks before and after. Hackers can break into traditional networks and find all the data in a single repository and extract or corrupt it, the blockchain makes this really hard.

Decentralized way of securing data

As mentioned above Blockchain is a decentralized technology it does not depend on a single central point of control. The best way to explain it is: it is a digital ledger of transactions with all the computers having the entire copy of the data. A lack of single authorized access makes the system more secure and fair. Blockchain uses advanced process protocols across a network of nodes instead of depending on a centralized system authority to securely transact with other users, validate transactions, and record data without it getting corrupted. As blockchain is a ledger of data it is very important that the information being stored is truthful and accurate. The data is saved on multiple computers rest assured it is highly secured even if one or two computers malfunction.

Blockchain is a growing technology worldwide, blockchain is now the perfect solution for companies to store data. The biggest benefit of Blockchain for companies is that it’s not just highly secured but it is also very reliable and transparent. Contact Commercient today to take the first step of securing your data, improve the security of your digital transactions, and optimize operations.

The Importance of Data Integrity for Your Business

Every day, organizations make decisions based on real-time data. And data integrity is essential to analyzing reliable and trustworthy information. Making data-driven business decisions based on corrupt data can have serious ramifications for your company’s future. It can lead to errors, missed opportunities and even loss of profits.

What is Data Integrity?

Data integrity is the maintenance and the assurance of the accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life-cycle. It’s a critical aspect to the design, implementation and usage of any system which stores, processes, or retrieves data. [Source: Wikipedia].

In essence, it is the characteristic of information to remain complete, consistent and reliable during its life cycle.

Data Integrity Threats

Data can be transferred to other systems, modified and updated multiple times throughout its existence. The problem arises when unexpected changes to data occur.

Unintentional changes or the deletion of parts of data may render the data useless. It is no longer accurate and reliable, as it is different from its original form.

Common threats to the integrity of your business data include:

  • Human error – accidental alteration or deletion
  • Unintended transfer errors
  • Compromised hardware
  • Cyber attacks
  • Security errors
  • Malware

Tips to Minimize Data Integrity Risk

While there is no perfect solution, the following controls can be put in place to preserve data integrity and minimize risk:

  1. Protect Your Documents
    You can protect documents by adding restrictions to the files. Vendors such as Adobe and Microsoft have the ability to restrict actions that can be taken on documents – from read-only to allowing only certain changes. You can also password-protect your documents and PDFs.
  2. Integrate Your Data Systems
    When you have multiple departments entering data into multiple disconnected systems, you will more than likely end up with data that’s inconsistent and unreliable. A connected CRM and ERP system helps to eliminate this problem. Commercient SYNC, the #1 data integration platform for sales, can help you minimize risk to the integrity of your business data by securely integrating your ERP data with your CRM data. You will no longer need to manually transfer data between systems, reducing the risk of human error.
  3. Introduce Access Controls
    Personnel without official access and with malicious intent can do serious harm to data. Implementing a least privilege model, where only users who need access to data get access, is a very common form of access control.
  4. Implement Backup and Recovery Procedures
    Regular data backups are critical, and go a long way in maintaining data integrity and preventing valuable data loss. In the event of a breach, data that is regularly backed up can be recovered in its original form.
  5. Leverage Audit Trails
    A computer-generated, time-stamped audit trail records the identity, date and time of data entries, changes and deletions. In the event that data is compromised, audit trails provide the breadcrumbs that lead to the source of the problem.
  6. Passwords
    Use passwords to prevent unauthorized access to all storage devices where data is kept. Don’t store your passwords on your computer or write them down on post-it notes.
  7. Ensure Security
    Cyber security practices such as file encryption can also contribute to minimizing data integrity risk. It’s also recommended to use anti-malware software to block malicious attacks and files from reaching your computer and modifying your data.

The effects of corrupted data can have serious consequences for any business. It is therefore absolutely necessary to implement measures to protect the integrity of your data at all costs.

To find out how Commercient SYNC can help you minimize data integrity risk by securely integrating your sales and marketing systems, please contact us today!

About the Author

Anna Kinnear is a Sage Financials Consultant at Edgeware, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting Science from the University of South Africa. She has always had a passion for reading and writing.

SYNC ERP and CRM