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SFDC Professional Edition customers - sync change alert - please read!

Question asked by Erica Harris on Jan 6, 2017
Latest reply on Mar 10, 2017 by Erica Harris

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I have posted this in the general discussion about sync changes but Grégoire Michel suggested I start a new discussion here for maximum visibility as it could potentially affect all PE customers using Marketo.

Historically, SFDC allowed Professional Edition customers to integrate with Marketo without a specific API subscription in SFDC, as they have done with a number of AppExchange products, but now appearing to be withdrawing this from Marketo. This is causing real issues with my Professional Edition customers.

I have just had a worrying conversation with our SFDC account manager. We had a note just before Christmas from our Marketo account manager telling us that we would need to purchase API access in order to continue to sync to SFDC after the end of January. However, when speaking to the SFDC account manager, he tells me that API access for Professional Edition only allows one-way access, i.e. into SFDC, so would not allow us to sync bi-directionally.

SFDC tells me they are doing this because Marketo is a competitive product to Pardot.

SFDC are telling me that it is not possible to purchase 2-way API access for the Professional Edition. The rep stressed that only 1-way access is provided to PE customers. This is really major - it will affect ALL Marketo customers using the Professional Edition. SFDC are more or less forcing us to upgrade to Enterprise, which will cost a bomb for a small R&D company.

Are other PE customers hearing this from SFDC? Is our rep telling the truth about API access for PE only being one way?

I would appreciate other PE customers weighing in here after speaking to their SFDC account managers!

Thanks,

Erica

Arjun Nair

Jan 6, 2017 10:16 AM

Correct Answer

Erica Harris ,

A clarification on the one-way/2-way thing. The Marketo integration with sf.com is bi-directional. But, we manage this bi-directional integration from the MKTO side. At a high level:

- We use the sf.com API (from Marketo to sf.com) to ask what has changed in sf.com and then update MKTO

- We use the sf.com API (also from Marketo to sf.com) to update/create sf.com records based on changes and workflow in MKTO

In both these cases, we use the API's into sf.com to manage the integration. We do not need to make any calls from sf.com into MKTO.

Please let us know if any clarification is needed.

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Grégoire Michel Jan 6, 2017 9:04 AM

HI again Erica,

Copying here some of the comments I made on the other thread, and adding a couple:

List price for EE is 2 times list price for PE.
Yet, Salesforce cannot just cut this as they want. People have contracts, some of them multi-year contracts, and the products delivered cannot be changed at least until the contract is ended. So if someone can be hit by this in January, it's only those whose contract will be renewed now, or customers who just want to acquire the API now.
I am investigating on my side of the ocean and I'll keep you posted, but here in France, no one has ever got the API on PE for free. It's being charged an additional 30% on top of the PE licence.
Also, and that's my personal experience, when SFDC stops something, it only impacts new customers, not existing one. I, for instance benefit from the old FREE self service portal that has been discontinued 3 years ago, but since we have been renewing our contract for 7 years now, we still get it.
The fact that Marketo is a competitive product to Pardot is really not a good argument: the API can be used for any third party product. It's documentation is completely public and SFDC cannot control what one is using the API for. Furthermore, legally, in the EU, you cannot refuse to sell the API to 1 customer and agree to sell it to another. So if SFDC wants to stop the product, they will have to do it for everyone. This means that simply interrupting the API for all PE customers would not just drive mad Marketo customers, but thousands of SFDC customers using the API for any other purpose, excepted Marketing automation. Not a very good move if you want my take. This would end up upgrading everyone to the EE for the price of the PE and opening a very large door to salesforce alternatives

So all this seems quite weird, even may be is it a personal initiative of a not so ethical sales person.

-Greg

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