Question

Pros & Cons - Using Customer Info Object or Company Gainsight Connect

  • 27 November 2017
  • 9 replies
  • 113 views

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I understand that the Customer Info object in SF and the Company MDA table work very similarly in that they are regularly updated copies of information from other SF objects.  Can someone explain to me the pros and cons of each and whether or not it's recommended to use one over the other?  It seems like I'm repeating a lot of the same work to have all fields represented in both places. 



Thanks! 

9 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi Kate,



This article provides more info on the Customer Info object in particular.
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Thanks for the details Lila - I'm pretty familiar with loading data into the Customer Info object using the rules engine and using it for display in the Customers tab or in reports. 



I'm looking for more clarity on whether I should choose the Company standard MDA object over the Customer Info object, or if I should use both in conjunction. I like how the Company standard object can be joined to other MDA tables easily.  Wondering if there are other pro's or con's. 



Thanks again!
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I would like to know as well. I'm currently using both and wonder if I should be. 
Userlevel 7
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Hi Kate & Angela , Our Feature direction will be on Company object.So I would recommend you to use Company object.  Please create all the fields in Company which are in Customerinfo and use Gainsight Connect to sync. Please let us know if you need more help here.
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Thank you for this insight, Sai.  This will be helpful as we move forward with our data management.
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Hi Sai - I noticed that in Gainsight Connect for the Company object, that there are three fields that are mapped to the Customer Info object that we cannot change.  Is it your understanding that we will always depend on the Customer Info object for this purpose?



Hi Kate, the Stage and Status fields are the only 2 fields for which we mandate a mapping in Gainsight Connect from Customer Info. We depend on Customer Info to populate the corresponding Company:Stage and Company:Status fields for data coming into Salesforce via Gainsight Connect. 



While the mapping is mandatory, you do not necessarily need to load data into these fields if you do not wish to consume them.



Moreover, if your data resides outside of Salesforce, you could use Gainsight Bulk API or the S3 connector to load data into Company object independent of Customer Info.  
Hi Kate,



Adding to what Kunal said,

If your data is lying is some other object in Salesforce or in MDA, you can use the Load to company action to populate these fields.



More information here https://support.gainsight.com/Product_Documentation/Rules_Engine/Admin_Configuration/Setup_Rule_Acti...



Thanks and Regards,

Lakshmi
Sai,



The challenge I have with the direction of moving all customers to Company is that we have a distinct difference between Company and Customer in our world, because we have Enterprise Companies that pay us for their End Users for one or more of our products (I want to use Company Person and possibly Relationship Person for this), end users that pay us on their own to upgrade within a company, so they are both Company Person and Customer to us, and individual users that are a Customer but are not a Company and I don't really want them in the Company Object.  I need to use Company to track hierarchical enterprise customers with end users in offices and offices in parent company and I want to use Account Hierarchy to aggregate usage data from Person to Office to Parent Company so that we can monitor usage at the end user level, the branch office level, and the overall customer.



Thanks,



Chris...

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