Before diving into how Salesforce experts can help protect your data, let’s review all the tools that Salesforce makes available. You may find that you’re already using some.
Salesforce has several features to keep your data safe, and we can categorize them as follows: Data Security and Data Maintenance.
Data Security
1. Profiles and Permission Sets
Profiles and permission sets control what users can see and do in Salesforce. For example, you can decide if a user can view, edit, or delete records of a specific object. This can also grant users general system settings. It is very important to keep Profiles as secure as possible to avoid users making unnecessary system changes that can potentially impact everyone in the organization.
2. Roles and Role Hierarchies
Roles and role hierarchies define who can view and edit data based on their position in the company. In simple terms, people higher up in the hierarchy can access the data of those below them. This is a commonly used feature, and larger organizations can greatly benefit from implementing it.
3. Sharing Rules
Sharing rules let you share specific data with certain users or groups of users, even if they don’t have access through roles or profiles. Using public groups, you can open up your data to external users, such as your customers or partners.
4. Field-Level Security
Field-level security controls allow users to see or edit specific fields within a record. For example, you might allow only certain users to see the Amount field on the opportunity, or fields such as commissions, SSNs, or credit card information can be restricted as well.
5. Audit Trail
This security feature tracks changes made to data and settings so you can see who did what and when. It is important to understand the difference between changes stored in the audit trail vs. record history. Audit trails show changes made to the system, typically the system’s backend, automations, and customizations, while the record history shows changes to specific fields.
6. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), a recently enforced feature, adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to verify their identity using Salesforce or Google authenticator apps. This ensures that in case your password is compromised, there is a 2ndry layer of safety to block access.
Data Maintenance
Data Maintenance is about keeping your data clean, accurate, and up to date. This includes:
1. Data Cleansing
Data cleaning includes maintaining duplicate and matching rules, regularly removing duplicate records or outdated information, and fixing errors to ensure the data stays reliable.
2. Data Validation
Then, set up validation rules to make sure data entered into Salesforce is correct, complete and in the accurate format.
3. Data Backup
You should regularly back up your data to protect against accidental loss or corruption. This can be done using the scheduled backup option available in setup.
4. Data Import/Export
First, ensure that only specific users have access to export/import data. They should always be properly trained on what can be included in the import, and proper permissions should be granted. This is especially applicable to exporting data!
How Salesforce Experts Improve Data Security
As an exceptionally experienced team, we can help you increase your data security by reviewing and applying the following:
Customizing Your Security Settings
Our Salesforce experts assist you in configuring profiles and roles sharing rules to make sure your team members only see and edit what’s necessary.
Implementing Best Practices
We’ve worked with multiple organizations and Salesforce, gathering best practices for a variety of industries, which allows us to quickly understand your needs. We will customize field-level security, two-factor authentication, and more.
Automating Data Maintenance
In some cases, we can set up an automated process to keep your data clean and reduce human errors, like automatically flagging duplicate records or sending reminders to update information.
Security Reviews
We conduct regular security assessments to identify and fix any vulnerabilities in your system, ensuring your data remains protected.
Training Your Team
We offer custom and personalized training programs on best practices of data handling and security. We will be happy to chat and train your team uniquely on your Salesforce.
Talk to a Salesforce Expert
Our Salesforce consultants and architects can help your organization with not just full-scale org security review but also support you in establishing implementation-wide security best practices to increase protection long-term. Contact our team to get started.
