A prominent U.S.-based SaaS company in the automotive retail industry needed to synchronize customer interactions between different software systems and teams. The sales and marketing teams utilized HubSpot to manage their accounts, while the software development teams managed projects and customer data in Jira.
We built a custom integration between HubSpot and Jira so the cross-functional teams could use their preferred platform and still have access to the information they needed to do their job.
“From the sales team's point of view, they had long relationships with people they were selling contracts to, and when it came up for renewal or touching base, the sales team had no indication of what had happened since they last spoke.”
– Will Lench, Director of Technical Services
Improving Auto Retail: How HubSpot Is Helping Shape the Future of Car Sales
Our client, a SaaS and service company, is a significant player in the eCommerce automotive retail landscape. They've revolutionized online buying and selling by offering a platform that seamlessly integrates various functionalities to manage buying and selling for dealerships and large dealer networks.
Their solution facilitates online commerce by providing car dealerships with innovative tools to create an efficient and user-friendly digital marketplace. This platform enables dealers and their floor staff to create a user-friendly online presence and integrate various selling features such as inventory management, payment processing, and digital marketing tools.
This company has gained a reputation for its strong customer support and continuously updating its feature set to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital car-selling marketplace. As a result, it has gained a significant customer base and strong market standing in a relatively short time.
Industry: Automotive, eCommerce
Company Size: 20-50
Location: United States
Software: HubSpot Service Hub, Jira
Customer Interaction Details Lost In Translation
When we started working together, the software teams, which included customer service and technical support, were using Jira for customer issue intake. They had implemented extensive automation and architecture on the ticketing system and wanted to keep what they built. (a fair request) The system was working flawlessly for the team, and they were hesitant to invest time in learning a new system.
However, the sales and marketing team were in HubSpot. They needed greater visibility into the post-sale customer lifecycle, but couldn't because that information was logged in Jira. The lack of visibility made reaching out to customers for follow-ups or contract renewals difficult. Siloed data meant not knowing if customers had faced issues or required assistance from the software development team.
Led by a brilliant executive team, the company determined that the sales department really did need more detailed information about customer interactions within HubSpot.
“Their customer success team and their sales team were on two different bits of software, which means neither could see what was going on with each other.”
– Will Lench, Director of Technical Services
In short, the software development team were happy in Jira, and the sales and marketing team wanted to continue using HubSpot. The cross-functional teams worked well together, but their tech stack was limiting each department to critical customer information.
A Unified View For Sales & Customer Service
How Our Custom HubSpot-Jira Integration Streamlines Customer Account Management
Our Client Services team explored a few potential solutions. The first option was using the native HubSpot-Jira integration in the HubSpot App Marketplace.
As they discovered, this basic HubSpot integration created a ticket in HubSpot but did not associate it with the correct company or contact record. Similarly, the Jira option synced tickets created in HubSpot to Jira with simple mapping. However, when someone added new information to a ticket via Jira, it did not sync back to the original HubSpot ticket.
Both potential solutions should have included key components that the client required to manage their customer accounts successfully. But neither did.
Unlimited determined the best path was to develop a custom integration to combine Jira and HubSpot. After designing a workable solution and testing key data mappings, the team designed, built, and automated the necessary workflows so information could flow seamlessly behind the scenes. The custom integration created a two-way synchronization, aligning the required data for each department.
How Our Custom Integration Works
When the software development team in Jira creates an issue ticket, the same ticket is created in HubSpot. The custom integration associates the ticket with the correct contact and company in Hubspot and syncs the information across. As an added bonus, the integration creates a link to the original Jira ticket with all the comments and history in HubSpot. Anyone logged into HubSpot can see the status of the Jira ticket at any moment. And the HubSpot ticket is constantly updated and connected with the original Jira ticket.
Now, our client can visualize mirrored data in HubSpot and Jira. When one platform updates, the other does as well.
Everyone has access to the same customer data.
Benefit 1. Cross-Platform Integration: New Solution for Unified Customer Interaction and Issue Resolution
The two teams needed a way to collaborate and share critical customer interactions while each remained in their preferred software platforms. Our Client Services designed a custom solution that fits the client’s needs to a T, a connection between two otherwise disparate systems.
Now the sales and marketing teams can access the information about any technical issues their customer may have encountered since their last interaction. And the software development teams can use Jira to tackle customer concerns.
By implementing effective change management strategies, we minimized disruptions for both teams and ensured the integration we built helped the company achieve cross-functional team collaboration.
Throughout the process, we provided timely updates so everyone understood why the change was happening, how it would affect them, and what they needed to do differently. By associating the tickets across the two platforms, all teams can see what is happening with any given client at any time.
Benefit 2. Leveraging Jira and HubSpot for Better Sales and Superior Customer Service
The sales and marketing team can continue to cultivate their long-standing customer relationships. And now, when the time comes to discuss contract renewals, the sales team has a detailed picture of their customers’ interactions with the help desk, with a list of resolved issues and, if any, are still outstanding. Such information makes for a more meaningful conversation with customers. HubSpot is now their single source of truth for customer details and account history.
The software development team is pleased to continue working in Jira, a platform that serves the team well and helps them tackle customer issues without worrying if data gets to other teammates who need it.
Taking The Next Step
Ready to explore how custom integrations can improve the functionality of your CRM and eliminate technical pain points between systems? Take the next step by connecting with a specialist from the Unlimited team here.
