HubSpot Unleashed Integration. There is no one size fits all.

Now let’s be honest about integrations in this post. In an ideal world every software platform would have an off-the-shelf integration to help manufacturers achieve seamless end-to-end sales order, data and customer management.

However, we don’t live in a perfect world, which in some ways is a good thing, because this helps us strive to create new, more optimised ways of doing things, instead of sticking with the status quo.

So let me get to the point of this article, Red-Fern recently completed a project for a leading UK manufacturer. Crest Pumps, who specialise in chemical resistant pumps and needed to migrate away from an existing bespoke CRM due to the existing platform not offering the flexibility and features required to match the demands of today’s technology and marketing trends.

Enter HubSpot and Unleashed

To meet these technology and marketing demands HubSpot became the platform of choice, a trend we are seeing across the manufacturing sector and with HubSpot offering their specific sales and marketing hubs, it would allow the business to progress with confidence.

However, as we see with nearly all projects, (Did you know Red-Fern are a Platinum HubSpot Agency?) there will always be an incumbent piece of software in a manufacturing business that HubSpot or any other platform has to integrate with, in this case that platform is Unleashed inventory management software.

Manufacturing companies are increasingly adopting HubSpot to streamline and optimise their data management for sales and marketing. HubSpot’s robust CRM and marketing tools allow these companies to centralise customer data, track interactions, and automate key processes, ensuring that sales and marketing teams work in sync. By leveraging HubSpot’s data analytics and integration capabilities, manufacturers can gain deeper insights into customer behaviour, tailor marketing campaigns, and enhance sales strategies, ultimately driving more effective and targeted business growth.

The process to maximise successful outcomes

Before any new piece of software can be introduced into a manufacturing business, there has to be a full data audit, otherwise, I’m sure we all know the saying ‘Shit data in = Shit data out’ (Sorry for the language but we are all old enough to be honest).

Once Red-Fern had completed a full data export from the previous CRM, cleansed and manipulated the data, creating all the relationships and associations, it allowed the project stakeholders to have full visibility and understand how the migration of data would work.

Unleashed Off-the-shelf plugin for HubSpot

To be honest the Red-Fern team had already done our due-diligence on the existing Unleashed/HubSpot integration module, so we understood it was not going to be fit for purpose, however, we did download and install it into the clients HubSpot portal. 

The challenge we came up against is the plugin does not open up enough connections between the HubSpot objects and properties to then sync with the properties within Unleashed. So, to the point of this article, ‘HubSpot and Unleashed Integration, there is no one size fits all’. 

99% of the time we know that a custom integration will be required to achieve the desired data and automation flows. Why is this? Simply put, every business uses software and data in different ways.

Custom HubSpot and Unleashed API integration

With the above being such a true statement, this means as long as each software platform has an ‘Open API’, it allows for custom integrations to be developed. Which in this case had to happen.

In most custom integration instances we opt to write them from scratch in the open-source Laravel framework. This is a small web application that would sit in the background between HubSpot and Unleashed, listening for any updates/changes on specific data objects/properties, allowing us to automate pushing and pulling data to the correct properties in each platform.

Custom APIs significantly enhance the efficiency of your systems by enabling seamless communication between HubSpot and Unleashed. These integrations automate data transfers, ensuring real-time updates across platforms, which reduces manual data entry and minimizes errors.

By customising API connections, businesses can tailor the data flow to meet specific operational needs, leading to a more optimised and streamlined working process. This integration allows for better alignment between sales, inventory, and customer service, ultimately driving more informed decision-making and improved overall performance.

A seamless launch

Based on our extensive experience working on projects such as this, the whole project took around 6 weeks to complete and only one day to launch. The key to achieving no disruption is clear and transparent communication, backed up with a clear process and project phases.

Crest Pumps now have a long-term growth strategy that can be confidently executed with a clear data structure and integration between HubSpot and Unleashed.